1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,920 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:09,280 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:09,280 --> 00:00:12,240 Speaker 1: a show that flips through the pages of history to 4 00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:16,639 Speaker 1: deliver old news in a new way. I'm Gay Bluesier 5 00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:21,600 Speaker 1: and today we're celebrating the independence of Barbados by looking 6 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:25,239 Speaker 1: at the island nation's path to sovereignty, as well as 7 00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:38,040 Speaker 1: how that quest has taken on new meaning today. The 8 00:00:38,159 --> 00:00:44,440 Speaker 1: day was November nineteen sixty six, the East Caribbean island 9 00:00:44,479 --> 00:00:49,000 Speaker 1: of Barbados gained its independence from the United Kingdom. The 10 00:00:49,040 --> 00:00:53,240 Speaker 1: tiny nation measures just twenty one miles long and fourteen 11 00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:56,800 Speaker 1: miles wide. It was home to about a hundred and 12 00:00:56,880 --> 00:01:00,640 Speaker 1: forty five thousand people in nineteen sixty six, but the 13 00:01:00,680 --> 00:01:05,840 Speaker 1: population is nearly double that today. For centuries, the island 14 00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:10,600 Speaker 1: was dominated by an incredibly lucrative sugarcane industry built on 15 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:15,920 Speaker 1: the exploitation of European indentured servants and enslaved African workers. 16 00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:19,760 Speaker 1: The descendants of the latter group account for most of 17 00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:24,280 Speaker 1: the island's residents today. From about five hundred a d 18 00:01:24,600 --> 00:01:28,039 Speaker 1: to fifteen hundred a d. The island is thought to 19 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:33,240 Speaker 1: have been inhabited by the Arawak and Calinago people, indigenous 20 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:37,240 Speaker 1: tribes of South America and the Caribbean. In the early 21 00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:42,560 Speaker 1: sixteenth century, Spaniards became the first Europeans to visit Barbados, 22 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:47,520 Speaker 1: followed shortly by Portuguese explorers. It was these early visitors 23 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:51,880 Speaker 1: who gave the island its familiar name Barbados, meaning the 24 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:56,240 Speaker 1: bearded Ones. The name was likely a reference to either 25 00:01:56,400 --> 00:01:59,600 Speaker 1: the bearded tribesman who lived on the island or to 26 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:05,160 Speaker 1: the hanging roots of the bearded fig trees that grew there. Unfortunately, 27 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:10,040 Speaker 1: the explorers didn't stop it naming Barbados. Over the next 28 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:15,080 Speaker 1: few decades, they repeatedly raided the island, enslaving the inhabitants 29 00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:19,240 Speaker 1: and shipping them off to labor and Spanish colonies. By 30 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:24,760 Speaker 1: the mid sixteenth century, Barbados had been almost entirely depopulated. 31 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:28,720 Speaker 1: Because of this, as well as the island's small size 32 00:02:28,760 --> 00:02:33,519 Speaker 1: and remote location, Spanish and Portuguese explorers gave up their 33 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:37,079 Speaker 1: claims to it. This allowed the British to swoop in 34 00:02:37,240 --> 00:02:42,040 Speaker 1: and establish a permanent colony. The settlers began building vast 35 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:46,920 Speaker 1: sugarcane plantations and shipping in thousands of enslaved Africans to 36 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:51,920 Speaker 1: work the fields. Nearly two hundred years later, that slave 37 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:56,480 Speaker 1: trade was finally abolished, and by eighteen thirty three all 38 00:02:56,560 --> 00:03:00,920 Speaker 1: the enslaved workers and Barbados had been freed. At that 39 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:04,240 Speaker 1: point the island was a British colony, and it would 40 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:07,520 Speaker 1: remain one for another one hundred and thirty three years. 41 00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:11,880 Speaker 1: By the nineteen thirties, the island was primed for a 42 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:17,040 Speaker 1: labor revolt. The last two centuries had transformed Barbados into 43 00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:21,480 Speaker 1: a plantocracy, where the wealthy plantation owners were the dominant 44 00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:25,760 Speaker 1: class and the descendants of their formerly enslaved workers were 45 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:29,480 Speaker 1: on the bottom. The rights to vote in Barbados had 46 00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:33,079 Speaker 1: only been granted to males and was further limited by 47 00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:38,520 Speaker 1: income and property requirements. Middle class reformers began to push 48 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:42,120 Speaker 1: back against these voting restrictions, as well as the poor 49 00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:46,960 Speaker 1: social services provided by the British government. This civil unrest 50 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:50,680 Speaker 1: led to the rise of Sir Grantley Herbert Adams, a 51 00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:54,920 Speaker 1: West Indian attorney and social reformer, who helped establish the 52 00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:59,080 Speaker 1: Barbados Progressive League, or as it later became known, the 53 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:04,320 Speaker 1: Barbados Labor Party. Within a decade, the movement succeeded in 54 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:09,080 Speaker 1: lowering the income qualification for voting rights. As the face 55 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:13,000 Speaker 1: of that victory, grantly, Adams was elected as the country's 56 00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:18,279 Speaker 1: first premier. His mission to dethrone the plantocracy is now 57 00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:22,200 Speaker 1: viewed as the nation's first step on the path to independence. 58 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:27,720 Speaker 1: Twenty years later, in nineteen sixty one, Adams was replaced 59 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:31,960 Speaker 1: by a new Premier, Errol Walton Barrow. By the time 60 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:36,480 Speaker 1: he took office, the Barbadian economy had expanded and diversified, 61 00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:40,279 Speaker 1: largely as a result of the policies instituted by he 62 00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:45,120 Speaker 1: and Adams. The elite class of planters and merchants no 63 00:04:45,240 --> 00:04:48,960 Speaker 1: longer had the power they once did, finally enabling the 64 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:52,040 Speaker 1: working class to call for an end to British rule. 65 00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:57,800 Speaker 1: Five years later, the Barbados Independence Act of nineteen sixty 66 00:04:57,839 --> 00:05:02,000 Speaker 1: six made the transition of ischal. Through this act of 67 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:06,839 Speaker 1: British Parliament, Barbados became the fourth English speaking country in 68 00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:11,000 Speaker 1: the West Indies to be granted full independence from Great Britain. 69 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:15,800 Speaker 1: As a result, Errol Barrow became the first Prime Minister 70 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:20,120 Speaker 1: of Barbados, and today he's remembered as the father of 71 00:05:20,160 --> 00:05:25,839 Speaker 1: independence and social transformation. When independence was declared on November, 72 00:05:26,680 --> 00:05:30,200 Speaker 1: It kicked off an island wide celebration, complete with a 73 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:33,680 Speaker 1: parade and a ceremony that featured the first playing of 74 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:37,840 Speaker 1: the national anthem and the first raising of the national flag. 75 00:05:38,600 --> 00:05:43,840 Speaker 1: Native resident Sandra Straker recalled the historic day in twenty sixteen, 76 00:05:44,160 --> 00:05:47,279 Speaker 1: saying quote, I was a little girl and I will 77 00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:50,880 Speaker 1: never forget that night as we watched the flags change. 78 00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:55,279 Speaker 1: There used to be whites only areas we as little 79 00:05:55,320 --> 00:05:59,080 Speaker 1: black people could not walk there. That's all changed now. 80 00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:03,520 Speaker 1: The island has thrived in the nearly sixty years since 81 00:06:03,520 --> 00:06:07,640 Speaker 1: achieving independence, now boasting one of the most stable political 82 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:12,440 Speaker 1: systems in the Caribbean. It's made tremendous strides in education, 83 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:15,880 Speaker 1: health care, and housing, and now has an economy based 84 00:06:15,920 --> 00:06:21,680 Speaker 1: on tourism rather than plantations. However, the story of Barbadian 85 00:06:21,760 --> 00:06:26,600 Speaker 1: independence doesn't end there. Although the island became a sovereign 86 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:31,520 Speaker 1: nation in nineteen sixty six, it remained a Commonwealth realm, 87 00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:34,800 Speaker 1: meaning that Queen Elizabeth the Second was still the head 88 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:39,080 Speaker 1: of state, but that all changed on November thirtieth, twenty 89 00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:43,520 Speaker 1: twenty one. In the lead up to the island's independence celebration, 90 00:06:43,960 --> 00:06:49,640 Speaker 1: Barbados Governor General Sandra Mason announced that quote, the time 91 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:54,960 Speaker 1: has come to fully leave our colonial past behind. Barbadians 92 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:58,400 Speaker 1: want a Barbadian head of state. This is the ultimate 93 00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:01,800 Speaker 1: statement of confidence and who we are and what we 94 00:07:01,880 --> 00:07:06,520 Speaker 1: are capable of achieving. Hence, Barbados will take the next 95 00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:11,320 Speaker 1: logical step toward full sovereignty and become a republic by 96 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:15,480 Speaker 1: the time we celebrate our fifty fifth anniversary of independence. 97 00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:21,200 Speaker 1: When this symbolic act took effect, Sandra Mason became the 98 00:07:21,320 --> 00:07:25,920 Speaker 1: first ever president of Barbados and the former British colony 99 00:07:26,200 --> 00:07:31,520 Speaker 1: became an independent republic. That shift also means that today 100 00:07:31,840 --> 00:07:37,040 Speaker 1: is Independence Day in Barbados two times over. In many ways, 101 00:07:37,200 --> 00:07:40,640 Speaker 1: the country is still shaped by its British heritage. But 102 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:44,880 Speaker 1: whether that continues and to what extent, is now, at 103 00:07:44,960 --> 00:07:51,000 Speaker 1: long last for the people of Barbados to decide. I'm 104 00:07:51,080 --> 00:07:54,320 Speaker 1: Gabe Louzier and hopefully you now know a little more 105 00:07:54,360 --> 00:07:58,680 Speaker 1: about history today than you did yesterday. You can learn 106 00:07:58,720 --> 00:08:02,320 Speaker 1: even more about history by following us on Twitter, Facebook, 107 00:08:02,320 --> 00:08:06,680 Speaker 1: and Instagram at t d i HC Show. If you 108 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:11,480 Speaker 1: enjoy today's episode, consider rating and reviewing on Apple Podcasts, 109 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:14,480 Speaker 1: or drop us a line at this day at i 110 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:18,760 Speaker 1: heart media dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mace for producing 111 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:21,760 Speaker 1: the show, and thank you for listening. I'll see you 112 00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:25,520 Speaker 1: back here again tomorrow for another day in history class. 113 00:08:35,040 --> 00:08:37,080 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the i 114 00:08:37,120 --> 00:08:39,760 Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 115 00:08:39,800 --> 00:08:40,600 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.