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Caribbean studies and history at CAPE and CXC levels only scratches the surface of what the Caribbean region has endured. Caribbean civilization however, lays out every aspect of history and removes all misconceptions and ambiguity by presenting facts from actual Caribbean authors and historians. This course has reawakened a passion for history within the author it also created a feeling of pride knowing how resilient and creative African people are. The unifying of all three campuses forged friendships with people from around the region and with this course the author wouldn’t have had that opportunity. This course and its assignments pushed the author to her limit and tested how analytical she could be about history. The assignments once completed provided the author with a sense of accomplishment and new knowledge about hidden lessons that can be learnt once critical analysis is applied. Forms of resistance by slaves amazed the author the most, and encouraged her to be as strong and steadfast in who she is as an African young woman in a modern Caribbean society where there are many forces trying to influence and pressure young people into how they should be rather than who they want to be.

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A long-standing perspective from plantation to modern day society is that of the roles of women. However, in today’s society there are more strides to move away from such ideologies, women are speaking out and demanding equality and respect. Plantation society did not only set up an economic system it also established a set of social relationships based on force and fueled on racial tensions. The continuation of plantation ideologies has been passed from one generation to the next due socialization, enslaved female children were taught to follow the adult females day to day routine and instruction, failure to do so would result in punishment. One of the many roles of an enslaved woman was that they tend to the children while the enslaved male is laboring whether in the field or factory. This ideology is very much present in the Caribbean today where there are many female headed households whether the male is present or not. Women of the Caribbean are strong, resilient, and hard-working and possess immense amounts of patience, traits passed down from their just as incredible ancestors. The success of Trinidadian Audrey Jeffers who was elected to the Port of Spain city corporation in 1937 assisted in making advances towards gender equity, similarly to today’s Caribbean society the advancement came under attack by the conservative male patriarchy. Regardless of this opposition females of today’s society, just like Miss Jeffers push through and continue striving.

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In the history of chattel slavery women had to endure the burden of bringing a child into the horrendous life that was being a slave, women would be forced to give themselves to the master of the plantation and they themselves along with the male slaves worked in the fields. Female slaves creatively found ways in which to resist the forms of oppression and in today’s society African women are no different. Female slaves resorted to abortions, suicide and more subtle forms such as working slowly and destroying machinery.  In the Caribbean society presently women express their frustrations in many ways, one in which is through dances such as wining, dutty wining and bele. This motion of waywardly swing one’s head around and around, called dutty wine, is a representation of the female shaking off the oppression of eurocentrism and imperialistic ideals. She is also expressing her frustrations of her ancestors since they were never given the opportunity to express themselves. She is trying to send the message of refusal to conforming and refusal to accepting standards set for her. Instead she is shaking the mould and forging her own belief system, one in which she is the master of her life and body.

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The United States of America has been in the Caribbean since the late 19th century. The USA’s imperial tendencies can be seen not just via its interference and manipulation in the economic and political affairs of the Caribbean but also in the lives of Caribbean women. The United States and its developed status has been viewed by underdeveloped regions with admiration and disdain and is considered the holy grail of accomplishment in regards to a society’s advancement. In the Caribbean region the United States has influenced the fashion choices of females; they influence ideologies and have a hand in determining what some standards of beauty are. The adoption of certain aspects of the United States’ culture only cements its greatness in terms of influence. Caribbean women adopt habits and wear clothing that is not suitable for the climate, even at the risk of a heat stroke. This way of adapting to the trends set by an influential and powerful country is reflective of the Caribbean’s past. In the time of slavery women did find ways to resist the master of the plantation whether it was subtle or radical, but they also were influenced by the white women on the plantation, the master’s wife more particularly. This influence is a result of the wives exposing the enslaved females to something foreign and the fact that she was white did have an influential factor.

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The issue of discrimination based on skin colour has its roots in the plantation society that existed and some of those ideologies still exist today. In the modern Caribbean society women are judged based on their skin colour due to influences of the past. To some, beauty is measured by the amount of melanin one possesses and this has led to some women seeking ways or alternatives to lighten their complexion. Colorism began during slavery when darker-skinned blacks were relegated to field work and lighter-skinned blacks, often the children of slave masters, were given housework. For years after, many blacks internalised the declaration that the lighter one was the better one. This belief has hybridized and has become a part of the socialisation and everyday life of the Caribbean woman. Some females resort to bleaching their skin in order to live up to what society considers a standard of beauty. There is also the issue of light-skinned versus dark-skinned, this where those women of a lighter skin-tone faced with hostility by their darker-tone female counterparts and vice versa. In the article below the issue is discussed by a female who has been a victim of such discrimination by her co-workers. Due to her position and her lighter complexion she is seen as trying to be better than and “feeling like she white”. The plantation ideologies existing in the modern Caribbean society has created an inferiority complex amongst women and in reference to my introduction it is important as an African female in today’s society to understand where your roots originated and the struggles in which your ancestors endured. This understanding would grow the appreciation and harbour the development of one’s ability to stand firm in who you are in a world that tries to manipulate and influence one’s identity.

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The question of identity for the Caribbean woman is complex because of the hidden stories of centuries of misunderstanding and undervaluing the independence and strength of Caribbean women. A past rooted in the dual burden of production and reproduction, these females worked alongside the men and did hard labour in their field gangs.  The black enslaved woman was seen as being inferior and of little importance, added also was the belief of females being weak, this assumption however could not stand as strength was certainly needed as these women were required to dig and cut cane from sunrise to sunset. Females were important in plantation production and the key sex relied upon. In Caribbean society today the same can be said about women, they are relied upon greatly and tend to be the head of operations in households in the Caribbean even those were the male is present. Numerous qualities African female slaves possessed such as their strength, perseverance and their ability to take on various authoritative roles have translated into the contemporary Caribbean woman in the form of a legacy of dignity and struggle. It is important as an African female in today’s society to understand where your roots originated and the struggles in which your ancestors endured. This understanding would grow the appreciation and harbour the development of one’s ability to stand firm in who you are in a world that tries to manipulate and influence one’s identity.