While searching the internet for an article to relate to this week’s chapter on the Caribbean, I came across an article on Foxnews.com entitled Caribbean delegations gather to push effort to get slavery reparations from 3 European nations. This article briefly mentioned that political leaders in over 12 Caribbean countries are joining together to get compensation for slavery from three European countries. After reading this short article, I decided to do some more research and found another article,Caribbean nations seeking compensation for slavery, which describes the situation in more detail. This second article details how the group, The Caribbean Community (known as Caricom), is seeking retribution for the lingering legacy of slavery in the area from Britain, France and the Netherlands. Caricom says that this legacy “includes widespread poverty and the lack of development that characterizes most of the region.” The 14 countries that make up this group include Jamaica, Antigua, Barbuda, Haiti, among others. While a specific amount has not been stated, representatives of a couple Caricom nations have mentioned that at the time of the 1834 emancipation, Britain paid 20 million pounds—worth about 200 million pounds—to their planters, but gave nothing to the newly freed slaves except their freedom.

These articles relate to chapter 5 because the legacy that the Atlantic slave trade left in the Caribbean is an example of the extreme poverty and economic concerns found throughout the region (pages 80, 86, and 87).