Yes, I’m a year older and spent me day doing what I love to do – Black history research.
What I was looking into was my grandmother’s service as a nurse during WWI. As it turns out, there is very little research on the presence of Black women or women of Colour. When you discuss race in Guyana, things can get complicated. My grandmother was Black, Indian and Portuguese (and likely Dutch). Based on my conversations with my mother, Guyanese are very particular about what is deemed “white”. If you had Portuguese heritage, you were not considered white (something in my reading was encouraged by the British).
I did come across and essay by maritime scholar Jo Stanley who explores this in her post Searching for Histories of Black Women’s Service across the Seas in the Second World War. The thing is her post was made in 2013 and I don’t see further work on the topic.
But I will keep looking.
Also on the go, I found a new resource online called History Workshop. For Black history topics, see here.
Many Black Histories 