By Eleanor Shearer, The GuardianFriday, December 12, 2025 READ FULL ARTICLE Luxury tourism in the Caribbean sells a kind of timelessness. A paradise of sun, sea and sand. But to step off the cruise ship or away from the all-inclusive resort is to see a more complex picture: a history of colonialism and a future … Continue reading In the news | ‘Rebranded plantations’: how empire shaped luxury Caribbean tourism
Jesup Library Event | Eden’s Other Sons: MDI Seafarers, Shipbuilders, and the Slavery-Based Economies of the West Indies Trade with Anna Durand on 8/8/24
Mount Desert Island’s shipbuilders, sea captains, and sailors hold a special place in our collective memory. Hardworking and self-reliant, these men (and occasionally their wives) created a living from the sea. But historical records also show that trading Maine-made products like salt cod and barrel staves for rum, sugar, and molasses brought MDI seafarers into economic partnership with the slave-holding plantations of the West Indies.
Maine Historical Society Event | Maine and the West Indies Trade with Seth Goldstein on 2/22/24
Hosted by the Maine Historical Society Thursday, February 22, 2024 at 7:00 pm ET Register here Seth Goldstein researches the economic ties between Maine and the luxury-producing plantations of the West Indies. In this talk, Goldstein will explore the various commodities, such as lumber, draft animals, and salt cod, that Maine supplied to West Indian … Continue reading Maine Historical Society Event | Maine and the West Indies Trade with Seth Goldstein on 2/22/24
Mainers in the Sugar Trade
Cipperly Good describes an 1837 trading voyage that took a 24-year-old Maine captain from West Prospect, Maine to Barbados, Trinidad, and St. Thomas, with stops at Puerto Rico and New York City.
Event | Portland’s Complicity in African Enslavement on 5/29
Hosted by First Parish Unitarian Universalist Sunday, May 29, 2022, at 10 a.m.First Parish Unitarian Universalist425 Congress St.Portland, Maine Seth Goldstein, instructor at Maine College of Art and educational director of Atlantic Black Box, will speak Sunday, May 29, 2022, at 10 a.m. at First Parish Unitarian Universalist, 425 Congress St. His two-part talk will … Continue reading Event | Portland’s Complicity in African Enslavement on 5/29
Event | Portland’s Complicity in the Economics of Atlantic World African Enslavement on 1/29/22
Hosted by Spirits Alive Saturday, January 29 at 1:30 pm ET Register here Historian Seth Goldstein will discuss Portland’s complex relationship with Atlantic world African enslavement. Through a deep dive into what was known as “The West Indies Trade,” Seth will explain how various commodities like lumber and salt cod from Maine were shipped to … Continue reading Event | Portland’s Complicity in the Economics of Atlantic World African Enslavement on 1/29/22