St. Eustatius’ blue beads carry stories of resilience, identity, and survival. Once symbols of African traditions, they became intertwined with the lives of enslaved communities, bridging distant homelands with the island's harsh realities. This episode sheds light on the darker sides of history while celebrating the strength of memory and culture. Join us as we explore the years 1650–1700, preparing for the island’s dynamic rise in the next chapter.

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Produced by Simpler Media

>> Dr. Sahidi: You know, it's interesting because they're such a.

They're such a common find,

but we actually don't really know that much about

them, especially in terms of the

details.

>> Unidentified (Podcast Host): Welcome to Whispers of the Past. I'm your host,

Fi De Vit. We continue our journey along

Syntastacea's historical timeline,

arriving between the years 1650

and 1700s. In this

episode, the Curse and the Magic of the Blue

Bead, we enter a new and intricate

chapter of the island's past. Here

we'll take a closer look at the mysterious

bluebead, an object often whispered

about in legends and folklore. And

we'll examine its profound cultural, economic

and symbolic significance.

But before we begin, an important

disclaimer. The stories we continue

to share include the harsh realities

of enslavement and, uh, at times,

discussions of sexual violence.

These truths are unsettling

and may stir deep emotions.

We do not recount them to cause harm, but to

confront long hidden chapters of

history. By speaking

openly and sincerely, we seek to honor these

individuals, especially women, who

bore these injustices with unimaginable

resilience. During this

era, countless women,

men and children on

synthesias live beneath the

crushing weight of enslavement.

And for women in particular, this burden

was compounded by physical, emotional

and sexual violence. These are

painful realities to acknowledge, yet they

must be spoken about if we wish to see,

hear and remember all sides of history.

As the saying goes, mold grows in

dark places, and by shining a light on this

darkness, we can prevent it from festering

and begin to lift some of the heaviness

and inspire transgenerational collective

healing.

As we acknowledge these truths,

it's important to remember that

syntostacias did not exist in

isolation. The hardships endured

here were part of a larger pattern. They were

woven into the economic, political and

cultural tides that swept across the Caribbean

and the Atlantic world. To understand

why a single blue bead could hold such a deep

meaning, we must first broaden our

perspective and situate the island and its

people within the wider currents that shape their

reality. Historian and

teacher Dr. Elaine will guide us through these

broader historical landscapes, helping us

place synthesias within the larger

tapestry of forces at play during this

pivotal period.

>> Dr. Elaine: So this is an extremely important period in

the history of Atlantic slavery because it marked

the beginning of the legal codification of

matrilineal inheritance of slave

status. In 1662,

the colony of Virginia, which was part of the British

Empire, um, enacted a law that said

children would inherit their mother's status

as either free or Enslaved. So the

name of this doctrine was partis sequiter

ventrum. That's Latin. And the translation

is offspring follows belly.

The legal roots of this doctrine are actually really

complicated. And there's a fair amount of, um, debate and

discussion as to how much partis equator

ventrum either broke with or, on the

contrary, was an inheritance of Roman

slave law. Um, and in my bibliography that

I provided, I reference a few historians who kind of

explore the roots of this doctrine. But

regardless, for our purposes, the most important thing

to know is that the 1662

passage of this law set a

precedent among all Atlantic

slaveholding systems, or at least all American

slaveholding systems, that inheritance of

slave status would be passed from

mothers to children. For

enslaved women, knowing that their bodies

gestated slavery shaped their

experience of slavery. Slavery. On a really

core level, it was really

important for Europeans to sort of

cast black women as

inherently animalistic.

So that the justification for

enslaving them and their children was more

overt. European, uh,

writers who traveled to Africa and who

were sort of invested in the racial apparatus

of slavery slavery started writing and talking

about enslaved women and increasingly

animalizing and

dehumanizing ways to sort of

make the ideological separation between

African women who were enslavable and white

women who were not enslaveable. Right. So we start

to see the descriptions of African women become

more racist, more kind of

violent, as slave labor becomes

in higher demand.

>> Unidentified (Podcast Host): Enslaved women faced a unique set of horrors,

including sexual violence, which was

both a tool of power and a method

of control. Many

women bore children who inherited their

enslaved status through the doctrine

the child follows the belly. This

legal principle meant that enslaved women's

bodies became sites of

exploitation, perpetuating

generational enslavement.

This violence wasn't confined to women

alone. Men also faced sexual

abuse, often as a form of

punishment. However,

enslaved women's proximity to plantation

households. Expose them to daily

physical and psychological abuse.

The legacies of these traumas continue

to ripple through generations.

Dr. Elaine shows us how deeply

enslavement reach into every aspect of

life, Shaping identities before birth

and positioning women's bodies as vessels

of oppression. Sexual violence,

though certainly not exclusive to women,

weighed especially heavy on them, leaving scars

that echoes through generations.

To understand how these brutal realities

translated into everyday life, we need to

consider the roles and expectations placed

upon enslaved individuals.

Who was permitted to learn a trade,

to oversee others or move with

relative freedom or even

limited. And who was confined to

grueling labor or domestic servitude with no

refuge from violence and control?

M By examining these distinctions

between men and women's experiences,

we'll gain a clearer view of how deeply

gender influenced every facet of

enslavement. Dr. Elaine

will now continue to shed light on these crucial

differences, guiding us further into the

complex hierarchies that shape people's lives

across the Caribbean.

>> Dr. Elaine: Another difference between the experiences of

enslaved women and enslaved men has to do with

sexual violence. I just want to say I think it would be

wrong to assume that enslaved men didn't

experience sexual violence. We don't have a ton

of archival evidence of this, but knowing

what we know about how violence was such an everyday

feature of Caribbean slavery, I

suspect that men were victims of sexual abuse more than

we know about. However, as in Caribbean

slave societies were societies in which women

were especially vulnerable to sexual

violence.

>> Unidentified (Podcast Host): As Dr. Elaine explains, the laws and

perceptions that emerged during this period

did more than define who was enslaved.

They shaped the core of how an individual were

seen, treated, and

valued. Within this world, gender

added another complex layer to the already oppressive

structures of enslavement.

To understand the lived realities of

those here on Cintastasius, we must consider

how these overlapping systems affected

both women and men, often in distinct

and deeply unjust ways.

How did these societal frameworks translate into

daily life for the enslaved individuals?

Which rules could they access and

which spaces were they forced to occupy?

And most importantly, how did women and

men's experience differ beneath the weight of these

harsh hierarchies? By

examining the difference in their labor, status

and vulnerability, we gain a clearer

sense of how power and violence

shaped every aspect of their existence.

Dr. Elaine will continue to elaborate on these

insight as, ah, we explored these crucial

distinctions.

>> Dr. Elaine: One major difference between the experiences of

enslaved women and enslaved men has to do with the kind

of work they did. So Caribbean plantations were

very hierarchical. White people were on top. But

even among the enslaved, there was a hierarchy.

And enslaved men had much greater access to than

enslaved women to particular roles that afforded them a

higher status. For example, some men worked

as slave drivers, which meant that they oversaw and

disciplined enslaved laborers as they worked. And

this is not a role that women generally had

access to. Enslaved men also had access to

certain skilled trades, such as blacksmithing. And

in the French Caribbean, enslaved men also had access to the

position of chef. And this again, offered them more

authority and status. One exception I can

think of is that in the French Caribbean, enslaved women

sometimes held nursing roles in plantation

hospitals. This was a fairly privileged

position. Um, while the majority of

enslaved women worked in the fields

alongside men, and in fact, in Certain parts of the

Caribbean, at certain junctures, women actually

outnumbered men among those who worked,

uh, in the fields. A small number of women worked

as domestics within plantation households.

And there's this sort of long standing myth that

enslaved domestics had easy lives or were

in cahoots with slaveholders. And,

you know, household work was indeed easier on the

body than harvesting sugar cane, because harvesting

sugarcane was notoriously, just

incredibly physically taxing.

Um, but one of the downsides to

working in plantation households was that it placed

enslaved women in close proximity to

slaveholders. And, uh, this exposed them

to extreme daily violence, physical violence,

sexual violence, and psychological torture.

There's a book called out of the House of the

Transformation of the Plantation Household that

describes this in the context of the United States.

And I think the same thesis kind of holds true for the

Caribbean.

>> Unidentified (Podcast Host): Dr. Alain's words paint a troubling

picture. Even in the roles considered more

privileged than field work, enslaved

women were not separated from brutality.

Proximity to the enslaver's household meant

proximity to profound emotional and physical

harm. What seemed less

taxing on the body often proved more

harrowing for the spirit.

This stark truth leaves no illusion.

There was no safe haven from the oppressive

grip of enslavement, and any appearance

of comfort came at an unforgiving

cost. These insights remind

us that the reach of enslavement and the cruelty it

fueled stretch far beyond a single

place. To understand how they took root

here on Sint Eustacea specifically, we must now return

to the island's own narrative, one shaped by

distant trade routes and imperial ambitions,

yet formed by the fairy people who built its

warehouses, worked its fields, and

sealed its shores. We

now turn to Mrs. Tutikao, a longtime resident

and founding member of the island's archaeological

research center. She will help guide us from

the broad regional picture into the tangible

changes unfolding here on

Sintostatius.

>> Dr. Sahidi: After the war with France in 1650, the

Asia belonged to the Dutch, was

raided several times by other people. But the

Dutch began to establish. They first started

raising crops. They actually raised

tobacco, and they started raising

sugar. Um, and when we

were exporting those, they started building

warehouses on the waterfront. By

1700, there were already 20 warehouses on

the waterfront. Those warehouses were

exporting products. It was the beginning of the

actual trade of, uh, project to and

from Stacia.

>> Unidentified (Podcast Host): As Mrs. Tsutakow explains, by the

dawn of the 18th century, Sinter Statius

was evolving into more than a distant colonial

outpost. It was becoming a thriving center of

commerce. Warehouses lined the

waterfront, enabling a steady flow of goods

in and out. Yet trade isn't

defined by infrastructure alone. It, it's shaped

by the objects exchanged, the values they carry,

and the human stories woven through them.

To understand how a seemingly humble

glass bead could embed itself so deeply

into this island's story, we now turn

to archaeologist Dr. Sahidi.

Having previously lived and worked here on

Sintostatius, Dr. Sahidi has

extensively researched the island's

bluebeads. Specializing in post

colonial community heritage, she

brings valuable insight into their origins,

significance, and the method used to create

them, Starting with the exploration of what these

beads looked like and how they were produced.

>> Dr. Sahidi: So then they started producing these beads

in different parts of the Netherlands. There were a couple of

factories in Amsterdam, and there were

also several, um, factories in Bavaria.

But then when the beads came to Stacia, they were kind of

entangled in this economy of enslaved people on the

island. So the beads were made in a few different

ways. There's two main types.

One is called a furnace wound bead,

where you would take a, uh, rod

and then take a piece of essentially

glass thread and, uh, wind

it around the rod to make the shape of the

bead. So when you find those big

round beads that kind of have those very fine

lines and crevices in them, those are wound

beads. The five sided blue beads that

we find on Stacia are hold

beads. And so you would have a long rod

of glass and then divide it

into pieces and shape it. And so

sometimes when you find those five sided beads, you'll find a double

bead. And that means that that bead wasn't

broken at the line where it was supposed to be

broken. It just, um, stayed a double

bead. So those are the main

types in terms of the five sided

beads that we see on Stacia. We call it the stacia

bead. They are

found in an unusually high concentration on

stacia, but they're not only found on

stacia. Um,

unfortunately, with a lot of these

histories that are tied to

enslavement, we

don't really have a lot of information apart from

what we find in the archaeological record

and from oral histories. Blue beads aren't

really written about that much in the archives, and that's why oral

histories are so important. As

for why so many are on stacia, we don't really

know. It seems pretty clear

that bluebead hole was

a shipwreck site

because we find ballast stones at blue bead hole and a high

concentration of stacia beads.

Um, it's Possible that

for a period that they were being produced, that was

a time when there was a lot of trading happening in Stacia

and many rounds of those beads were brought to Stacia, and

that's what we find now.

But there's so much to learn about them.

>> Unidentified (Podcast Host): The underwater site Dr. Uh, Tsahidi refers to as

Bluebeet hole remains an intriguing dive

site here on Cintastasius where remnants

of these beads can still be found today.

The underwater site offers us

a unique glimpse into the journey of these beads

as they traveled across oceans and through time.

As we continue tracing their path, we now turn

to Mr. Richardson, the island heritage

inspector. He will guide us further into

understanding how these blue beads were first

crafted in European factories, then

carried along global trade routes and

ultimately becoming an integral part to

everyday life for the enslaved community here on um Sint

Eustachius, and how they continued

to hold meaning well beyond their material

worth.

>> Mr. Richardson: We know, of course, the whole story of them being

produced in the Netherlands. I've seen some of the factories

even still exist, one factory that many

people maybe do not notice. But you know, the

Mundplijn in Amsterdam, in the cellar of

that building on the Munplein in Amsterdam was actually one

of the factories where these beads were produced. So

it's quite interesting that that is completely intact and has

a different pur. And of course the bees

origin were made as decorations in the yard,

they were hung in trees, etc. Um,

but they then trickled their way down of course

into our island where they became really a

commodity in trading, especially for enslaved

people. If you go as early back

as for example, the Egyptians, um, present day

Iran, Persia, there was always bead trading in beads.

We know the history of even quite modern Manhattan, um,

being traded for a few beads by the Dutch. There was

trading in beads before money became

something.

>> Unidentified (Podcast Host): The story of Manhattan's so called purchase

with a handful of beads is one of those legends that

completely oversimplifies a far more

complex historical reality. In

1626, when Peter Maynoot,

acting for the Dutch West Indian company,

arranged an exchange with the native

indigenous Lenape people, the offer

reportedly included items such as

blue beads worth about 60 guilders

at the time. Yet

modern scholars suggest that the Lenape people

likely understood this arrangement quite

differently than the Europeans did, as

their concept of land use did not align with

European notions of permanent ownership.

This account, reducing a nuanced

negotiation to a simple story of

Europeans outsmarting supposedly

quote, unquote naive native indigenous

people, highlights once again how

Easily. Cultural complexities can be lost in

translation over time.

It mirrors the misunderstandings and

the imposed narratives that often

overshadows the intricate economies of the

past. Much like the blue beads here on

Cintastasius, the Manhattan legend

challenges our modern assumption.

It reminds us that value is never

fixed. It's molded by perspective,

purpose, and circumstances.

With this in mind, we return to Mr. Richardson's

insight into synthesis, where these

rare cobalt blue beads, once part of a

fast rate of networks, became woven into the

fabric of the island's enslaved community,

transforming from imported trinkets into

tokens of commerce and identity.

>> Mr. Richardson: What is interesting though, is that these blue beads, it

trickles down into St. Eustatius.

And the earliest record of blue

beads that I saw on St.

Eustatius, where it's noted in a government

document then, of a ship bringing in blue

beads, is one of the ship logs of 17, um,

10. You see there's a ship coming in

from Amsterdam that had a stop also in

Harlem. And on its way, it also stops

in a port in present day Belgium. And you see it's making these small

little stops along the European coast before it

descends straight into the Atlantic and it sails

all the way to Saint Eustatia. So one of the first, one of the

largest things on the the ship log

that's extracted from the ship and brought onto the

island. Blue or blue glass beads in

tonnage. So that means amount of weight, et cetera, that these beads

were, and they're being brought into the island and it

says for trade. What's interesting is, of course,

fast forwarding from 1710 onwards, you see that

the Blue Petes are becoming more and more prominent

on St. Eustatius, but not actually between the

Dutch and external traders like the French, but more

within the enslaved community. And then you

see that the blue beads from around

1710, that it's actually

intertwined into the community so far

that many people think it's more of an oral

tradition, but it was actually kind of, you

know, dictated to in the sense of the free people

of color, but also the enslaved people of color

amongst themselves started to also trade. So of

course, above you had the general economy of trade

going on, and then below that you had amongst the

enslaved people also the trade that's going on. And I

think that's also quite interesting because it's not really

often expound upon enough, um,

what exactly society of the enslaved people,

what it was like for them. So you see that the blue beads

started to become kind of traded among. And then you

see from earlier records that for three

fishes, you get two blue beads in one of the

letters from the governor. But you also see that, indeed, you

needed enough beads to put around your waist in

order to be married. But then I

tend to think that maybe in that

description, that it's kind of lost in translation, because

in African cultures, it was normal to have beads around

your waist as well. So there's a lot of these things that

you see popping up in different research. But I think,

um, seeing that beads were

also part of African culture before

people were enslaved, I think it was also only

natural that the enslaved people kind of use

that as a kind of way to batter and

trade amongst each other. And again, goes back to what I said in the

beginning of taking things out of Africa, but

taking especially memory with you out of

Africa.

>> Unidentified (Podcast Host): With Mr. Richardson's explanation, it

becomes clear that the blue beads were far

more than a simple form of currency.

Instead, they were deeply woven into the

social fabric of the enslaved community,

reflecting cultural traditions that

predated enslavement in Africa.

These small artifacts embodied

identity, memory, and

resilience, connecting distance,

homeland, with everyday life here on the island.

To better understand how these vibrant

traditions emerged and evolved, we

turn again to the archaeologist Dr. Sahidi, as

she offers valuable insights into the

historical significance and cultural depths of

the blue beads.

>> Dr. Sahidi: Before Europeans colonized West Africa, there

was already an intricate and advanced barter

system that was used by different communities and

kingdoms. So when Europeans arrived, they realized there

was already a complex economic system in place

where many different types of objects were being traded.

And among those objects were beads.

And they exploited that knowledge of the value of beads

for different ethnic groups in west Africa and brought that

to the Caribbean with the people that they enslaved. Different

types of beads symbolize different things.

Cowry shells, for example, um, they civilized

wealth, power, fertility, protection.

And often cowrie shells were passed down over many

generations across different kingdoms

and ethnic groups. Certain colors

were also significant. So in particular,

cobalt blue, like the ones that we find in

stacia. Those types of that color of bead were

associated with elite status and the heavens or the

celestial bodies. So this bartering economy

was based on traditional economic systems in West Africa.

But when it was brought to the Caribbean, it prevented

enslaved people from participating in the wider economy of

the island. So instead of paying people

directly for their labor and skills, they were given the

beads. This prevented them from using their skills to build

capital. For example, in other islands where enslaved people were

paid, they could use the money that they received

from their expertise, whether that was blacksmithing,

Tailoring, ship, salvage, whatever. They used that

money to purchase things. Sometimes they even used it

to purchase their own freedom. So those abilities

were restricted on Stacia because of

colonial structures like the blue beet economy. And this is

just one example of how colonists exploited West

African systems for their own benefit. And then

that was transplanted into the Caribbean.

>> Unidentified (Podcast Host): As Dr. Sahidi explains, the blue

beads reflect a complex history, one

that began in the intricate barter system

of West Africa. These beads

carry deep cultural meaning, symbolizing

status, protection, and even

celestial connections.

Yet once brought to the Caribbean by

colonizers, these beads became tools of

exploitation, replacing wages and

restricting economic opportunities for enslaved

individuals. But the

story of these beads doesn't stop here.

Their journey extends far beyond

syntastaceous, revealing connections that

span continents and generations.

To trace this broader movement, we once

again turn to Mr. Richardson as he

explores how blue beads first came to

Stacia, traveled across the Caribbean and

beyond.

>> Mr. Richardson: What's also very interesting is that they weren't found anywhere

else. They're not found on any other Dutch

colony. They're found maybe in very little

quantities. And if they're found in a

Dutch colony, it's because they were enslaved people

from Saint Eustatius that ended up there or

prior or after emancipation. To give you an

example, um, there's a plantation in

Suriname where bluebeets from St. Eustatius was found. But

when you look at the year when the plantation

came into existence, and you go into the slave records of

Suriname, um, you see that for at one point,

maybe 40 enslaved people were transported from St.

Eustatius to Suriname. Um, if you look at former Dutch

colonies like Tobago, you

don't find any blue beads there, but you also don't find the

exchange of enslaved people between that island and the Dutch

islands. So it's quite interesting. You only find them where

the enslaved people were living and where the Dutch were trading.

So if you go to Brazil, again, there's a small quantity that would have

been found there in archaeological sites of

former plantations in Olinda. But what, again, what you see is

when you look in the records, you will see there's always

some kind of direct link, link to the island of Saint

Eustatia. So the bees were really traveling with

people off island as well, especially the enslaved.

>> Unidentified (Podcast Host): As we conclude this episode and this chapter

in time, the years between

1650 and 1700s have

revealed how a simple object like the blue

bead holds stories far greater than its

form, woven into the lives of the

inspiration enslaved communities here on Cintastasius. These

tiny artifacts remind us of

resilience, identity and

survival, bridging a distant

homeland with the life here on the island.

In tracing their journey, we've once again

shed light on a darker side of history,

confronting truths that are painful and

necessary. Within these stories, we also

find strength and the enduring power of

memory and culture to adapt,

persist and empower those who carry them

forward. As we close this

episode, we prepare, uh, to move into our next

chapter, where the years between 1700

and 1750 bring an even more

chaotic period. Here on Syntostatius,

as the island grows even busier,

its role in the Caribbean trade

intensifies.

As we step away from this moment, let the

whispers of the past continue to

resonate, illuminating both the

shadows of its history and the

resilience of those who lived it.