Con­trary to the be­lief of many, I, as a fourth gen­er­a­tion cit­i­zen of cen­tral Trinidad, am aware that many skilled ex-slaves and their de­scen­dants made sig­nif­i­cant con­tri­bu­tions to the sug­ar in­dus­try dur­ing the in­den­ture­ship pe­ri­od.

Up to about 60 years ago, the vast ma­jor­i­ty of skilled work­ers were Afro-Trinida­di­ans/To­bag­o­ni­ans. Those work­ers in­clud­ed black­smiths, car­pen­ters, boil­er op­er­a­tors, turn­ers, fit­ters, book­keep­ers etc.

The above his­tor­i­cal fact should not go un­recog­nised.

LE Roberts

Ch­agua­nas