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Dollar Fo’ Dollar Tour Brings St. Thomas Cultural History to Life

The Drummers of the Macislyn Bamboula Dance Company and Odomankoma Asawfo. From Left: Michael George, Shadion Brown, Keith “Keibo” Brown, Earl Demmin, and Delroy “Ital” Anthony.
The Drummers of the Macislyn Bamboula Dance Company and Odomankoma Asawfo. From Left: Michael George, Shadion Brown, Keith “Keibo” Brown, Earl Demmin, and Delroy “Ital” Anthony.

The 13th annual Dollar Fo’ Dollar Culture and History Tour whisked attendees aboard the Kon Tiki on Sunday for a morning of remembrance, cultural education, music, and dance.

Organized by The Dollar Fo’ Dollar Culture & History Committee, Inc., the tour commemorates the coal workers of St. Thomas whose strike on Sept. 12, 1892, garnered them better pay.

Tour guides Nadine Marchena Kean, Ruby Simmonds Esannason, D.A, and Vincent “Doc” Palancia told the story of the sights seen throughout the tour.

The event also featured poetry, a skit portraying the leader of the strike – Queen Coziah and her compatriots –the Meade Family Conch Shell Blowers, and performances by the Macislyn Bamboula Dance Company and the Ulla Muller Bamboula Dancers.

Dollar Fo’ Dollar Culture & History Committee, Inc. president Ayesha Morris acknowledged the spirit of the ancestors as she opened the event. Sen. Myron D. Jackson poured out libations with the help of the Ulla Muller Bamboula Dancers.

“This [the tour] is not an easy task to maintain. I implore you to support the organization, and pay tribute to the women of our society,” Jackson said.

Departing from the WICO dock, the tour gave attendees scenic views of Hassel Island and Veteran’s Drive from St. Thomas Harbor, interspersed with presentations from the tour guides about the social climate of that period, the events and decisions that led to the strike, and the names and actions of those who participated.

Tour guides went into vivid detail on the event that transpired in 1892. During that time, coal workers spent four to five hours a day carrying as much as 95 pounds of coal in baskets on their heads across steep planks to the ships that stopped at Hassel Island for coaling. Some workers were as young as 16 years old, one was as old as 83, and many of them were women.

Their main form of payment was Mexican silver, a currency that was entering its death throes; inflation had rendered it worth much less than Danish money. In late August of that year, Gov. Christian Henrik Arendrup passed an ordinance outlawing the use of Mexican silver in St. Thomas and St. John. He imposed high fines on anyone who continued to accept or distribute them.

The Meade Family Conch Shell Blowers signal the departure of the Kon Tiki.
The Meade Family Conch Shell Blowers signal the departure of the Kon Tiki.

The banks made it clear that they would not exchange the silver. The merchants on Main Street held a secret meeting wherein several of them refused to accept it, further angering the coal workers. Among the businesses at the meeting who refused the currency was A.H. Riise, a store that still exists in some capacity on Main Street.

Queen Coziah, a coal worker and bamboula dancer, stepped forward to lead the almost 700 workers in a protest that began as a stark refusal to work until workers were given “dollar for dollar Danish silver a day.” The situation quickly escalated into a demonstration in the streets of Charlotte Amalie.

Queen Coziah led the protestors from the principal steamship agencies to the police office, which was housed in Fort Christian, and to the Government Secretary Office on Government Hill. The size of the crowd was revolutionary, the tour guides said, and their intensity frightened many merchants on Main Street. All stores were shuttered until the protest ended.

The military was eventually dispatched under the command of Capt. Paludan to disband the group.

But the protest succeeded without violence breaking out between opposing sides. At the Big Market (present-day Market Square), steamship companies agreed to pay coal workers in Danish money. The crowd remained some time longer, until heavy rains forced them to leave.

Funding for the tour was provided by the Virgin Islands Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Office of Sen. Myron D. Jackson, DaraMonifah.com, WSTA 1340AM, Meder Mogzit Farm, Marie Paul, Jahweh David, and others.

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