Other 1898s

Other 1898s connects four histories from three islands to compose a portrait of working-class politics in the Caribbean in the late nineteenth century. After the legal end of slavery in the Americas, deepening imperialism and profound economic difficulty provoked debates over development, massive migration, and revolutionary projects. Piecing together and interpreting a fragmentary archive, decades into emancipation, Anne Eller recovers the rhythm of daily life, considers how Caribbean publics responded to the rising tide of colonial violence in Africa, and illustrates the growing influence of the United States throughout the Caribbean. Showing the interconnection of working-class movements in remote coasts, plantations, and growing cities, she details how communities found small political openings and achieved some hard-won victories. Rising market pressures engulfed every island. Eller reveals how, as political conflicts culminated in the fateful summer of 1898 and foreign warships circled, freedom contests across the Caribbean grew all the more urgent.