{"product_id":"black-labor-migration-in-caribbean-guatemala-1882-1923-9780813044422","title":"Black Labor Migration in Caribbean Guatemala, 1882-1923","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the late nineteenth century, many Central American governments and countries sought to fill low-paying jobs and develop their economies by recruiting black American and West Indian laborers. Frederick Opie offers a revisionist interpretation of these workers, who were often depicted as simple victims with little, if any, enduring legacy.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Guatemalan government sought to build an extensive railroad system in the 1880s, and actively recruited foreign labor. For poor workers of African descent, immigrating to Guatemala was seen as an opportunity to improve their lives and escape from the racism of the Jim Crow U.S. South and the French and British colonial Caribbean.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUsing primary and secondary sources as well as ethnographic data, Opie details the struggles of these workers who were ultimately inspired to organize by the ideas of Marcus Garvey. Regularly suffering class- and race-based attacks and persecution, black laborers frequently met such attacks with resistance. Their leverage--being able to shut down the railroad--was crucially important to the revolutionary movements in 1897 and 1920.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrederick Douglass Opie\u003c\/b\u003e, professor of history and foodways at Babson College, is the author of \u003ci\u003eHog and Hominy: Soul Food from Africa to America\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University Press of Florida","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50845476454674,"sku":"9780813044422","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_5d855b03-659b-46db-87af-531362d8310f.jpg?v=1737351885","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/black-labor-migration-in-caribbean-guatemala-1882-1923-9780813044422","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}