The Importance Of Slavery In Caribbean Studies

Caribbean history is a very important topic that should be learned and taught in a specific manner to students. When students learn Caribbean history they remember the mistakes that our ancestors made when colonizing the region, what was done to change it, and how these changes are still visible in our world today. In addition, Students see how that change has impacted society, learn what we have to do in order for history to not repeat itself, and see what we can today in order to change the problems that still linger today. When beginning a course in Caribbean Studies students are introduced to many pressing issues and may formulate questions regarding how it started and what was done in order to change. The first very important pressing issues that must be understood when introducing students to the Caribbean region is slavery. Although most students will have a basic knowledge of slavery from the US perspective, many fail to understand the differences between the combat of slavery in the US and the Caribbean. Although slavery ended a long time ago the citizens of the Caribbean have not forgotten. Lillian Guerra discusses in his essay “Why Caribbean History Matters,” how the impact of slavery has yet to dissipate in …show more content…
The surgeon said that “much of the Haitian staff suddenly disappeared … I think they resented us because they believe we are somehow responsible for slavery” (Guerra, 1). After the surgeon asked “is there anyone in Haiti today who can remember slavery,” Guerra went on to say that he would be surprised if there was actually someone who didn’t remember slavery (Guerra, 1). This idea of slavery being a thing of the past and that has been forgotten is not true in the Caribbean. The Caribbean people remember exactly everything from the past and have not simply moved