St. Thomas 1803 Crossroads of the Diaspora (The 1803 Proceedings and Register of the Free Coloreds)

Description

Rarely does a document speak as loudly as the 1803 registration of the free-colored community of Charlotte Amalie. It gives a remarkably complete picture of a distinct part of the population of the island of St. Thomas in the Danish West Indies at that time, and most of the information could not be gleaned from any other sources. The size, diversity, and mobility of the free-colored population of Charlotte Amalie in 1803 are astounding, as shown by the entries in this document and summarized by the charts and tables in the appendices to this book. The geographical diversity is extensive, ranging from the Caribbean basin to Africa, the United States, and almost all of the European countries that possessed colonies in the West Indies.

Genealogically, biographically, and historically, this document is a treasure. St. Thomas 1803: Crossroads of the Diaspora provides a detailed glimpse into the composition of the Danish West Indies’ Free-Colored community at the pivotal period of the turn of the nineteenth century.

Edited and compiled by David W. Knight Sr. & Laurette deT. Prime. Translation of the Danish Text by Dr. Gary T. Horlacher. Introduction to the Register by Henry B. Hoff.