The Coal Women of St. Thomas

By Enrique Corneiro

The Coal Women of St. Thomas uses more than 200 images to help tell the story of the women (and men) that worked on the St. Thomas coal wharfs between 1841 and 1940.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Oct 4, 2020
• ISBN: 9781716536328

Book preview

Coal Carriers

A whispered call from door to door A careless laugh, a cry,

A double rap and a smothered snore,

Coal carriers passing by.

The mad moon smiling overhead,

The longroadsilvergrey,

But somber shadows hold nodread Forworkerson theirway.

That dim dark hulk along the dock,

Still seen in silhouette,

Must coal at once despite the clock, A scheduled time is set.

Black, willing toilers trampalong From coal to ship toshore,

Dimmiragedawn is hailed with song, The shipcanhold nomore.

The blushing morn now shames the moon, And the workers homeward hie

Those dollars earned, a welcome boon.

Coal carriers passing by!

by  J. Antonio Jarvis

Triple E Enterprise

19711 Norfolk Ridge Way Richmond, Texas 77407

Copyright 2020

Registration Number: Pending

ISBN: 978-1-71688-782-6

EnriqueF.Corneiro

All RightsReserved.

Including those to reproduce this book or parts thereof in any form for use by anyone other than the original purchaser.

Manufactured in the United States of America

Coal Carriers

Their watch is the skyline which touches the sea,

The soft plunging rollers that billow the sand; They hear the steam-blast of the blue-bosomed lea, And the thrilling salt-echoes that ramble the land.

The anthracite lumps they flingfastin thehold, And jingling pennies their slim pursesfeed,The hard hours write in a volume ofgold,

Their solemn exchange of the commonest need…

Black-bathed in an ocean of dignified dust, They greet the work smile of a glorifiedday; Co-sharers in toil and co-partners in trust, They sink with the sunatclose of hissway.

by Cyril Creque

      

For almost 100 years, women on the island of St. Thomas (some as young as 12 and some as old as 76 years old) worked on the coal wharfs. The Royal Mail Steam Packet Company (RMSPC) was one of the companies that fueled steamships each month at St. Thomas in the then Danish West In- dies. The St. Thomas coal carriers who loaded and unloaded coal onto the RMSPC’s steamships, in baskets or sacks, were once enslaved women and men that were hired out by their owners. After Emancipation in 1848, many continued to work on the coal wharf… the only difference was that it was now done for pay. Robert Woolward, a junior officer onboard one of these vessels during the 1840s, later wrote in his memoirs of the coaling process at St. Thomas: I saw the ladies and gentle- men employed at the work, they were kept moving by a white man with a whip in his hands; the la- dies also carried baskets on their heads which held 112 lbs. coal, and had to move smartly with their load, or the whip came into requisition. It was a sorry sight to see women driven like cattle.

The Danish West Indian government helped the planters by passing a law called the Labor Act of 1849. Under the terms of the Labor Act, laborers had to sign a yearly contract to work from Octo- ber 1st through September 30th. October 1st was then known as Contract Day. The Danes de- fined a vagrant as anyone who was able to work but was unemployed. If a laborer was out of work, he was considered to be a vagrant and could be arrested and put in jail. Once in jail, the prisoner would be fed only bread and water. Needless to say, no person wanted to be considered a vagrant and put into jail and no one wanted to be forced to clean the streets and gutters as punishment for being unemployed. So many laborers had to work at whatever, and for whatever pay was available.

There exists today, a strong work ethic and drive to excel in Virgin Islanders. Just as it was when they (the enslaved Africans) were first brought to the islands back in the 17th and 18th centu- ry. The Coal Women of St. Thomas optimize the hard work and determination once shared by their African ancestors. Harsh working