Barbados adventurers sailed to the Carolina Colony in the 17th century with enslaved Africans and a plan to govern life in a new colony, including business ventures.
Three and a half centuries later, coming meetings in Charleston will center on business partnerships between Barbados and South Carolina. But this time, African descendants on both sides of the trade talks have money to invest.
On April 24, three days of meetings dubbed “Barbados Comes to Charleston” will be held at venues around the city with 24 visiting business and government leaders from the Caribbean nation. In October 2022, 53 Charlestonians flew to Barbados for a seven-day business and cultural tour organized by the Barbados and the Carolinas Legacy Foundation, which promotes the country’s historical ties with Charleston, along with Invest Barbados and the country’s chamber of commerce.
“The Barbadian delegation’s visit back to Charleston proves that we can move beyond our colonial history where the trade benefited only some and imposed harsh costs on others,” said Charleston attorney Dwayne Green, a foundation board member. “Descendants of those who were once enslaved are now building new connections, showing that we’re not defined by our past but by the chance to work together for a better future.”
Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg, who led the visiting Charlestonians last year, added: “With ties dating back to the founding of Charles Towne in 1670, Charleston and Barbados share a unique and powerful kinship that we will be working to strengthen even further during next week’s events.”
Establishing relationships for more trade
The agenda, Green said, has “a whole slate of activities focused around letting the Barbados delegation meet people in our local, state and federal governments to help facilitate trade between the two regions.”
Talks will cover the digital economy, agro-tech, ocean sciences, food and cultural tourism, Green said, adding that sustainability is a core concern throughout the areas of interest. Barbados hopes to use abandoned sugar cane fields to grow medical cannabis, which is not legal in South Carolina. In South Carolina, however, legal industrial hemp is spreading across the state while industrial hemp is not legal in Barbados. Green said both sides hope to learn “from one another on how to harness the economic possibilities of the plant.”
Events will be held at the Charleston Visitors Center, Charleston Towne Landing, the South Carolina Aquarium and the Charleston County Public Library on Calhoun Street.
The Barbados visitors are scheduled to get an early peek of the exhibits at the International African American Museum (IAAM) that is scheduled to open June 27. Last year’s visit to Barbados led to a collaboration between the Barbados Museum and Historical Society and the IAAM. Barbados is developing a Heritage District next to the Newton Enslaved Burial Ground Memorial, the largest and earliest known burial ground in Barbados with the remains of hundreds of enslaved Africans.
The Barbados Sea Turtle Project also hopes to improve treatment and rehabilitation of sea turtles through a collaboration with the South Carolina Aquarium.
“All of this is exploratory, but we look to get some tangible goals set through these meetings,” Green said. “The goal is to set [understandings] so we can begin to have dialogue and then different government and non-government agencies are tasked to carry the goal to its logical conclusion.”
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