”’Lesser Antilleans”’
”’Lesser Antilleans”’
Migration from “down-island” (a colloquial term for islands in the [[Lesser Antilles]]to the east and southeast){{Cite book |last=Connell |first=John |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Ends_of_Empire/ORP9DwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22down-island%22+%C2%A0virgin+islands&pg=PA295&printsec=frontcover |title=The Ends of Empire: The Last Colonies Revisited |last2=Aldrich |first2=Robert |date=2020-09-14 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=978-981-15-5905-1 |pages=295 |language=en}} occurred from 1918 to 1939, as many Eastern Caribbean islanders immigrated to St. Croix to work on the [[sugarcane]]plantations.
Migration from the Lesser Antilles happened again in the 1960s and 70s; during that period, agriculture declined as St. Croix’s major industry, replaced by tourism, [[alumina]]production, and oil refining. Jobs were plentiful in these industries and down-islanders came to St. Croix by the thousands. The demand for imported labor in St. Croix was exacerbated by the fact that many ancestral native Crucians, having acquired U.S. citizenship decades earlier, migrated to the mainland U.S. to pursue educational and career opportunities. Many down-islanders made St. Croix their permanent home, while others relocated to the mainland U.S. or returned to their native countries. Most down-islanders came from [[St. Kitts and Nevis]], [[Antigua]], [[St. Lucia]], and [[Dominica]], but people from every [[Anglophone Caribbean]]nation can be found on St. Croix. Down-islanders and their St. Croix-born offspring form most of St. Croix’s middle class, which has dwindled in size since the 2008 global recession.
Migration from the Lesser Antilles happened again in the 1960s and 70s that period, agriculture declined as St. Croix’s major industry, replaced by tourism, [[alumina]]production, and oil refining. Jobs were plentiful in these industries and down-islanders came to St. Croix by the thousands. The demand for imported labor in St. Croix was exacerbated by the fact that many Crucians, having acquired U.S. citizenship decades earlier, migrated to the mainland U.S. to pursue educational and career opportunities.
Many down-islanders made St. Croix their permanent home, while others relocated to the mainland U.S. or returned to their native countries. Most down-islanders came from [[St. Kitts and Nevis]], [[Antigua]], [[St. Lucia]], and [[Dominica]], but people from every [[Anglophone Caribbean]]nation can be found on St. Croix. Down-islanders and their St. Croix-born offspring form most of St. Croix’s middle class, which has dwindled in size since the 2008 global recession.
”’Continental Americans”’
”’Continental Americans”’
Inhabitants of St. Croix are called Crucians (pronounced ),[1] frequently written as “Cruzans”. There is much debate as to what constitutes a Crucian. Today, the general consensus in Crucian society is that anyone even yes (“born here” in Crucian dialect) on St. Croix can claim to be Crucian, but not necessarily a native Crucian (see below).
If the three definitions of U.S. Virgin Islanders proposed in 2009 by the Fifth Constitutional Convention [1] were applied to St. Croix, the following would be delineated: “Ancestral Native Crucian”—those born or living in the Virgin Islands before 1927 (and their descendants); “Native Crucian”—those born on the island after 1927 (and their descendants); and “Crucian”—any U.S. citizen who has resided in St. Croix for five years.
(Ancestral) Native Crucians
“Ancestral Native Crucians” and “Native Crucians” (using the unofficial definitions given in the previous paragraph) make up one-fourth to one-third of St. Croix’s population. They are largely consist of the descendants of enslaved Africans brought to the island by Europeans during the 18th and 19th centuries and the descendants of paid laborers the Danes recruited from the British and Dutch West Indies after the Danish emancipation law in 1848. As on other Caribbean islands, many ancestral natives are also descended from European settlers and planters who migrated to the West Indies during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Due to a low number of European women in the colonial West Indies, many European men in colonial St. Croix had children with the majority African population, whose mixed-heritage descendants bear their European ancestors’ surnames. There are also a handful of ancestral families on the island (traditionally known as bun) of full European ancestry.
Due to historical economic and political differences, as well as the remnants of a 19th-century caste system based on skin complexion, socioeconomic class differences among ancestral native Crucians can vary widely, even within the same family. Most ancestral native Crucians today are employed by the Government of the Virgin Islands, while others are involved in the tourism industry and the legal and medical professions.
Puerto Ricans
Puerto Rican migration to St. Croix was prevalent from 1918 to 1939, as many from nearby islands immigrated to St. Croix to work on the sugarcane plantations.[2] During World War II, the United States Navy purchased two-thirds of the nearby Puerto Rican island of Vieques, resulting in the displacement of thousands of Viequensesmany of whom relocated to St. Croix because of its similar size and geography. By 2010, there were 9,282 Puerto Ricans in St. Croix, about 18% of the island’s population.
St. Croix’s Puerto Ricans have kept their culture alive in St. Croix while integrating it into native Crucian culture and society. For example, in informal situations, many Puerto Ricans in St. Croix speak a Spanglish-like combination of Puerto Rican Spanish and Crucian Creole English. The local holiday of Virgin Islands–Puerto Rico Friendship Day has been celebrated since the 1960s on the second Monday of October, the same day as Columbus Day.
Lesser Antilleans
People of both European and African descent from the nearby islands of Anguilla, St. Martin, Sint Eustatius, Saba, St. Kitts, Nevis, Antigua, and Montserrat have been migrating to St. Croix since the 1600s. Many ancestral native Crucians also share family ties with Barbados, as Bajans were heavily recruited to St. Croix to work on sugar plantations in the late 19th century.
In the 1920s and 30s, more immigrants came from “down-island” (a colloquial term for islands in the Lesser Antilles to the east and south)[3][4] to work on the sugarcane plantations of St. Croix.[2] Migration from the Lesser Antilles happened again in the 1960s and 70s. During that period, agriculture declined as St. Croix’s major industry, replaced by tourism, alumina production, and oil refining. Jobs were plentiful in these industries, and “down-islanders” came to St. Croix by the thousands. The demand for imported labor in St. Croix was exacerbated by the fact that many Ancestral Native Crucians, having acquired U.S. citizenship decades earlier, migrated to the mainland U.S. to pursue educational and career opportunities.
Many down-islanders made St. Croix their permanent home, while others relocated to the mainland U.S. or returned to their native countries. Most down-islanders came from St. Kitts and Nevis, Antigua, St. Lucia, and Dominica, but people from every Anglophone Caribbean nation can be found on St. Croix. Down-islanders and their St. Croix-born offspring form most of St. Croix’s middle class, which has dwindled in size since the 2008 global recession.
Continental Americans
Continental Americans, although small in number in comparison with Caribbean immigrants, have also been part of the St. Croix community. Most reside on the island’s east end, and they tend to work in tourism, real estate, and legal professions. Many are temporary residents or retirees.
Arab Palestinians
Arab Palestinians have been an influential part of the local economy since the 1960s, when they first started to migrate to St. Croix to set up shops, supermarkets, and gas stations.
20th century immigrants
In the 21st century, waves of migration to St. Croix have included people from the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, the Philippines, and various South American nations. St. Croix’s history of migration has sometimes caused tensions between immigrants and Crucians whose ancestry on the island dates back for generations. Tensions have subsided to some extent in recent years, mainly due to intermarriage among Crucians and other Caribbean peoples.
Table: Place of birth for population in households (2020)[5]
^ In 2009, the proposed U.S. Virgin Islands Constitution proposed by the Fifth Constitutional Convention established three definitions of U.S. Virgin Islanders:[6]
- “Ancestral Native Virgin Islander”—those born or living in the Virgin Islands before 1927 (and their descendants);
- “Native Virgin Islander”—those born in the Virgin Islands after 1927 (and their descendants); and
- “Virgin Islander”—any U.S. citizen who has resided in the territory for five years.
Critics of the proposed terminology have arguing that the term “Ancestral Native Virgin Islander” is being used incorrectly when applied to Crucians of African or European ancestry, saying that true ancestral natives “[are descendants] of the Siboneys, Arawaks, Tainos, and Caribs [who] were wiped out, or forced on to reservations in Dominica, St. Vincent, Belize and elsewhere”.[7]
The United States Congress rejected the proposed constitution in 2010 for violating the principle of equal rights for all citizens of the territory, and sent it back to the Convention for reconsideration and revision.[8][9]
