1st February,2013
History
What factors contributed to the social unrest of the 1930’s and the 1940’s?
When citizens are not satisfied , something is lead to happen , this is called an unrest. The Bahamas between the years 1930 to 1940, social unrest came about. That Bahamians were fed up with the categorization or separation of society that they were placed in, in their own country. The Bahamas always experienced social unrest but it was during these years that its strength increased and it was very noticeable and changed the country extraordinarily. This period of time played a large part in the independence of The Bahamas, because there was a change in the state of mind of Bahamians. During this time political parties and unions were being formed, and also, there were a great number of Bahamians that left The Bahamas and worked in the United States for a long period of time before returning. All of these factors contributed in one way or another to the social unrest of the 1930’s and1940’s. The formation of political parties as well as unions took place during this time. Through the use of two sources, both found in, “Bay Street and the 1942 Riot, Social Space and Identity Work in the Bahamas” valid evidence of social unrest in the 1930’s and 1940’s is shown. The first of the two sources reads as follows, “The same men that owned Bay Street controlled the House of Assembly and used their political and economic power to tie the Governor’s hands and bend him to their will.” second source says, “Little had changed by 1942. The Bay Street Boys still used sleaze, corruption and terrorization to maintain their political hegemony.” As a result of the fight for equal rights, by the blacks, they tried to gain power in whatever way they could. It was for this reason that they formed unions. Both the taxi cab union and the labour union formed between 1935 and 1936, showing a sign of social unrest. Sources show that the power that both black and white