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September 27, 2017 @ 6:30 pm
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Sharon Milagro Marshall
Barbadians were among the thousands of British West Indians who migrated to Cuba in the early twentieth century in search of work. They were drawn there by employment opportunities fuelled largely by US investment in Cuban sugar plantations. Tell My Mother I Gone to Cuba: Stories of Early Twentieth-Century Migration from Barbados is their story. The migrants were citizens of the British Empire, and their ill-treatment in Cuba led to a diplomatic tiff between British and Cuban authorities. The author draws from contemporary newspaper articles, official records, journals and books to set the historical contexts which initiated this intra-Caribbean migratory wave. Through oral histories, it also gives voice to the migrants’ compelling narratives of their experience in Cuba. One of the oral histories recorded in the book is that of the author’s mother, who was born in Cuba of Barbadian parents.
About the Author:
Dr. Sharon Milagro Marshall is an award-winning journalist and corporate communication professional from Barbados.
She is a former television news anchor with the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), and was one of the presenters of the regionally syndicated TV magazine programme Caribscope produced by the Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU). Dr. Marshall also served as Director of News and Current Affairs with CBC, and as Manager, Programme Operations with the CBU.
Since leaving journalism, she has headed public relations departments in the fields of telecommunications and financial services in Barbados and the Cayman Islands.
She was educated at Hindsbury Primary School, Queen’s College, and the Barbados Community College. Dr. Marshall earned a Bachelor of Arts degree (summa cum laude) in Radio Production from Howard University, and was awarded a Master of Arts in English and a Ph.D. in History by the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill.
She received an award for Best Television Feature/Documentary from the Barbados Association of Journalists (BAJ), and the Outstanding News/Feature Presenter TV award from the Caribbean Publishing and Broadcasting Association. In 2013, she was awarded the Gold Quill of Excellence by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) for Communications Skills.
Dr. Marshall has also won awards for her writing and artwork in Barbados’ National Independence Festival of Creative Arts (NIFCA). Her work has appeared in such publications as the National Cultural Foundation’s magazine Banja, CARICOM Perspective, Asuntos Cubanos and Essence magazine. She also contributed chapters to the books Whose Story?: Reporting the Developing World After the Cold War and Regional Footprints: Trials and Travails of Early Caribbean Migrants.
Her first single-authored publication is Tell My Mother Gone to Cuba: Stories of Early Twentieth-Century Migration from Barbados (UWI Press: September 2016). It is a Finalist in the 2016 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards.