Working Title: The Construction of Race and its Impact on Black Economic Development Post Desegregation – A Bermuda Ethnographic/Grounded Theory Study

In 2009, Bermuda marked 50 years of the Theatre Boycott which formally ended segregation. Such was the racial intensity then, and to some extent now, that the young college graduates who started the movement remained anonymous until only about a decade ago. The story of the boycott is now well documented in a book and documentary. That was social progress but another measure of racial equity is characterised by economic progress. In many economies, small businesses and entrepreneurship under gird the accumulation of wealth which lifts people out of their impoverished state. This study will focus on the impact desegregation had on Black businesses since the 60s and whether this impact has been economically beneficial.

My hypothesis is that desegregation has not been as beneficial as it could have been. Anecdotally it is believed that there are fewer Black businesses today then there were in the 60s and 70s. If this is so, then I should like to uncover the reasons. Bermuda’s schools were desegregated in the 70s as well, so educational attainment by Blacks is a relatively new phenomenon. What role did education or the lack thereof, play in the economic development of Blacks?

In their book, ‘By the Color of our Skin’ Leonard Steinhorn and Barbara Diggs-Brown raise the argument that “it is entirely possible to desegregate without integrating.” Did this happen in Bermuda? How did this impact on Black economic development?

In the late 90s, Bermuda elected its first majority-supported Black government which remains in power today. Did that usher in a new era of hope for Blacks and did that translate into greater racial and economic equity for Blacks or was hope deferred yet again?

The story I wish to tell is what it was like to be a Black entrepreneur during a major period of social change in Bermuda compared to being a Black entrepreneur today. Did the change from a climate of segregation to desegregation aid Black development? To tell this story, I will be interviewing Black entrepreneurs in the 60s and 70s, to determine what it was like to have a business during major social change and how, if at all, those changes benefited them economically. And if they did not I would like to know why. Then I want to link the past to the present by interviewing current Black entrepreneurs to see if they have benefited by past social changes and what racially-impacting challenges they face now, if any, and what their prospects are on the future of Black economic development.