Loving the conversation; however, just a quick CORRECTION:
South Carolina DID have a majority of blacks at some point. An excellent book about it is: “BLACK MAJORITY: Negroes in Colonial South Carolina from 1670 through the Stono Rebellion” by Peter H. Wood.

Listeners and Mr. James (if he doesn’t already know) might be interested that John Gay in the 1720’s wrote a sequel to THE BEGGARS OPERA called POLLY in which McHeath flees to Jamaica to continue his life of crime. The play shows the power structure of the white sugar planters, the Maroons (in revolt) and slaves.POLLY was never performed but I attended a reading of it at Yale University last year.

Tom, When I did not think you could cover anything that resonates more for me, you and your staff never let me down. This topic is near and dear to me. As a Jamaican-American woman living in the Washington DC, it really hits home to listen to this conversation. I have been fortunate to know both of my Great-Grandmothers, and Grandmothers who were very strong women, so the premise of this book does not surprise me whatsoever. My ancestors were slaves in Devon House. I hope your author discusses the significance of Devon House. Thanks for your show! This is why I support NPR! NN in DC

Great show! Could someone ask Marlon while he is still on the show how he researched this book? Did he get most of it from historical records, books? Did he interview Jamaicans and listen to tales of slavery that had been passed down?

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African americans or blacks in america and jamaicans are not mixed breeds.
Yes many or most black americans do have some form of admixture.
Only about 65% do,for african americans it’s 80%.

Anyway here is what the population makeup of jamaica.this is from wikipedia. look up Jamaica.

According to the 2001 census, Jamaica’s population mainly consists of people of African descent, comprising 91.2% of the demographics. Multiracial Jamaicans make up 6.2% of the
population,[ and “other or unknown” Jamaicans (including Indian, Chinese, British, Irish, and German Jamaicans) make up 2.6% of the population. Immigration has been greatly rising
from China, Haiti, Cuba, Colombia, and other Latin American countries; 20,000 Latin Americans currently reside in Jamaica. 7,000 Americans also reside in Jamaica.

So you see most blacks in jamaica ARE UNMIXED.
THE MOTTO OUT OF MANY THERE IS ONE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH MIXING. it had to do with different ethnic black africans or the same groups of africans coming to the west and being sent to different countries and to united this is the saying.
so your last caller was wrong and your guest to a point.

Yes there was race mixing but not to a large extent like it was in u.s.
Rememeber the whites in jamaica was to small for widespread mixing.

My question is, when will the cycle of abuse stop and the affects of slavery stop resonating? Corporal punishment is still very much used in the West Indies – legal in schools and children, women are very much abused in the home. Must stop this cycle of abuse in order for the West Indies to move into the 21st Century. West Indians need to speak up and stop the violent cycle.

[...] The interview is available here. [...]

Mr. James,you really caught my ear when you talked about your families history of attempting to genetically breed out the African gene to make the family whiter. I was astounded because I have heard few speak of it. As you said it is not widely spoken of in our family circles.

I wonder if you know of the author Lalita Tademy who wrote the fictional novel “Cane River” which deals with practice of “bleaching” in her family, descendants of French Planters in Cane River Region of Louisiana. My family shares this history as do many African Americans of that region. Many free blacks in New Orleans descended from Haitians who fled the Haitian slave revolts. When you spoke of the casts systems and social clubs of the light skinned blacks of Jammica, I was reminded of stories about these people told to me by my grandmother. Les Gens de Couleur Libres formed an important segment of the population of New Orleans during the years before the Civil War and of which my ancestors were a part. Though I clearly knew and understood my families history I never spoke about it outside of the family. My Daughter became facinated with this subject however upon reading Ms. Tademys book at age 17. It became such an eye opening experience for her she made it the subject of her college essay.

The fact that so much ignorance still exists on the topic of slavery in general and the connection between African American, Caribbean and South American blacks in particular is is amazing to me. Particularly among African Americans. Quite frankly, until the subject is introduced to students in the secondary education system as part of an honest curriculum designed to teach the truth about slavery,i.e. the brutality and in humanity of it, ramifications of it on the societies in which it was practiced and its continued impactto this day on current social and economic conditions in the slave holding nations i.e the US, the Caribbean and South American countries such as Brazil and Venezuela, true healing and forward progress will never be achieved. My daughter and I both eagerly anticipate reading your offering. Congratulations and thank you for keeping this important conversation in the mainstream.

liberal politics have always been sick still is