Flying Fish in the Great White North: The Autonomous Migration of Black Barbadians

by Christopher Stuart Taylor

Overview

Canadians are proud of their multicultural image both at home and abroad. But that image isn’t grounded in historical facts. As recently as the 1960s, the Canadian government enforced discriminatory, anti-Black immigration policies, designed to restrict and prohibit the entry of Black Barbadians and Black West Indians. The Canadian state capitalized on the public’s fear of the “Black unknown” and racist stereotypes to justify their exclusion.
In Flying Fish in the Great White North, Christopher Stuart Taylor utilizes the intersectionality of race, gender and class to challenge the perception that Blacks were simply victims of racist and discriminatory Canadian and international immigration policies by emphasizing the agency and educational capital of Black Barbadian emigrants during this period. In fact, many Barbadians were middle to upper class and were well educated, and many, particularly women, found autonomous agency and challenged the very Canadian immigration policies designed to exclude them.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781552668948
Publisher:	Fernwood Publishing
Publication date:	09/01/2016
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Christopher Stuart Taylor focuses on issues in diversity and inclusion, Barbadian history, Black Canadian history, race, Black identity and immigration.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1 Black Face for Black People: Ideas of "Black" and "Blackness" in Barbadian History 14

"White Canada": Blackness, Liberalism and the Liberal Racial Order 18

Constructing Black Barbadian Identity and the Transatlantic Slave Trade 24

Black Barbadian Colonial Identity 31

2 The Politics of Education 39

The Rise of Black Barbadian Democracy, 1938-1966 40

The Barbadian Education System 43

The Legacy of (Free) Education 49

3 The Agency and Culture of Movement: Barbadian Emigration Push Factors 55

A History of Emigration from Barbados 56

Barbadian Emigration to the United States 68

Barbadian Emigration to the United Kingdom 73

The Commonwealth Immigrants Act 80

Emigration and Barbadian Social, Political and Economic Implications 87

4 Barbadian- and West Indian-Canadian Relations 93

Economic and Political Relations 95

Social Relations 100

Race, Colour and the Ideological Paradox of Canadian Immigration 106

De-racialization of Canadian Immigration: The New Immigration Regulations of 1962 124

5 The Emigrant Ambassadors 142

Barbadian Women: A History 144

Barbadian Emigration to Canada: The Eve of the Domestic Scheme 150

The Domestic Scheme and the Nurses 154

The Barbadian Educator in Canada 170

Conclusion: Where Do We Fly From Here? 180

Afterword: Flying Further: The Future of (Hyphenated) Barbadians in Canada 186

References 192

Appendices 203

Index 211