The Question of Racial Mixing in the American Possessions

Author(s):  
Paul Schor

This chapter discusses the imposition of the US system of racial classification in the US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii. The original use in certain US territories of a “mixed” racial category highlights the national norm that made mulattoes into “lighter-skinned” blacks. In the various territories acquired by the United States after 1898, a rigid imposition of the categories of the US census was difficult because they were the product of a national history that had not been shared. Whether in the US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, or Hawaii the perception of what made a person black, white, or mulatto was very different from North American usage, showing that binary black and white mainland tradition was not working there.

Author(s):  
Gunvor Simonsen

From the 1670s to 1917, Denmark (until 1814 Denmark–Norway) maintained colonies in the eastern Caribbean. The island of St. Thomas was colonized in 1672, St. John in 1718, and St. Croix was bought from the French in 1733. Racial slavery soon came to dominate the Danish islands and was only abolished in 1848. Most people arrived to the islands as captive Africans, while most Europeans were of either Dutch or British origin. In 1917, the islands, constituting the Danish West Indies, were sold to the United States of America and became the US Virgin Islands. As part of the centennial of 2017, commemorating the transfer of the Virgin Islands to the United States of America, major Danish cultural institutions, such as the National Archives, the Royal Library, and the National Museum, digitized large collections concerning Danish activities and Danish rule in the Caribbean, including the archive of the Danish West India and Guinea Company, the archives of local government agencies in the Caribbean, large collections of photos, drawings, and maps, as well as a significant part of the written works concerning the Danish West Indies published prior to 1917. In combination with older digital platforms, new online resources facilitate the triangulation of many different kinds of evidence, which in turn promises to generate fascinating new histories of the people who lived in the US Virgin Islands while they were under Danish rule.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Germán Añez ◽  
Maria Rios

Dengue is a febrile illness caused by any of the four dengue virus types (DENV-1 to -4, genusFlavivirus, family Flaviviridae) mainly transmitted by the mosquitoAedes aegypti. DENV can be transmitted by blood transfusion. Dengue has been historically present in the continental United States (US), in the state of Hawaii, and in the US insular territories in the Caribbean and the Pacific. During the second half of the 20th century, most of the cases reported in the US were imported cases brought to the country by travelers. Since 2009, cases of autochthonous dengue have been recognized in the state of Florida after 75 years of absence, followed by intensification of transmission in endemic places including the US territories of US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, which experienced a large dengue epidemic in 2010. The widespread distribution of dengue mosquito vectors, deficient mosquito control measures and increased frequency of DENV-infected visitors to the US coming from dengue-endemic locations or places experiencing epidemics appear to be jointly responsible for the emergence and reemergence of dengue in the US and its territories.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 66
Author(s):  
S. Grace Prakalapakorn ◽  
Lucas Bonafede ◽  
Linda Lawrence ◽  
Daniel Lattin ◽  
Nicola Kim ◽  
...  

Among children born with laboratory-confirmed Zika virus (ZIKV) infection, visual impairment (VI) can occur despite normal ocular structure. The objective of this report is to describe ocular findings and visual function among children examined during the Department of Health Zika Health Brigade (ZHB) in the United States Virgin Islands in March 2018. This analysis is based on a retrospective chart review of children eligible to participate in the ZHB (i.e., part of the US Zika Pregnancy and Infant Registry) and who were examined by ophthalmologists. Eighty-eight children attended the ZHB. This report includes 81 children [48 (59.3%) males] whose charts were located [average gestational age = 37.6 weeks (range: 27.6–41.3) and average adjusted age at examination = 9.1 months (range: 0.9–21.9)]. Of those examined, 5/81 (6.2%) had microcephaly at birth, 2/81 (2.5%) had a structural eye abnormality, and 19/72 (26.4%) had VI. Among children with normal ocular structure and neurologic examination, 13/51 (25.5%) had VI. Despite a low incidence of abnormal ocular structure and microcephaly, about a quarter of children examined had VI. Our findings emphasize that ophthalmological examinations should be performed in all children with suspicion for antenatal ZIKV infection, even children with normal ocular structure and neurologic examination.


2015 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 242-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine E. Wirt ◽  
Pamela Hallock ◽  
David Palandro ◽  
Kathleen Semon Lunz

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Kaganiec-Kamieńska

Borders and Boundaries, Real and Symbolic: The Case of Puerto RicoThe aim of this article is to outline the real and symbolic borders and boundaries, of geographical, political, cultural and racial nature, in the history and present of Puerto Rico, and their role in shaping and transforming the Puerto Rican identity. The main part of the article focuses on the borders and boundaries between Puerto Rico and the United States. The second part looks at the lines dividing the population in the island and the Puerto Rican diaspora in the US. Granice rzeczywiste i symboliczne. Przypadek PortorykoCelem artykułu jest zarysowanie rzeczywistych i symbolicznych granic, geograficznych, politycznych, rasowych i kulturowych, wpisujących się w historię i współczesność Portoryko oraz ich roli w kształtowaniu się i przekształcaniu tożsamości portorykańskiej. Główna część artykułu skupia się na granicach biegnących między Portoryko a Stanami Zjednoczonymi. W drugiej części wskazano linie podziału powstałe między mieszkańcami wyspy a diasporą portorykańską w USA.


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