There has been debate on social media recently about good hair vs bad hair, persons of mixed ethnicities, light skin vs dark skin.

After a conversation with someone deeply concerned with these issues, I decided to dig up a column I wrote in June last year:

We see a large proportion of Bermudians who are fair or light-skinned, with straight or semi-straight hair. Why is that, you ask? Let’s look at history to understand.

Old pirates

Bermuda was initially populated by white English shipwreck survivors in 1609. They went on to settle and work farmland to grow crops such as tobacco. To aid with this, they imported African slaves in about 1620. So what do we get in early Bermuda history? Female slaves from Africa were forced to submit to being raped by white English sailors and slave masters.

Many female African slaves produced mixed-race children from these acts of rape.

During this 1600s, the British had literally wiped out or captured many of the Native American people of New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts. Many Native Americans where sent here by the British forces in North America

Most of the Native Americans sent here were males, who sooner or later had children with African slave women, once again producing generations of mixed-race children throughout Bermuda.

Azorean connections

Fast forward to the 1870s when the first Azoreans arrived here — mostly men who were not allowed to bring their wives to Bermuda.

Once again, the black or mixed-race women were targets of their attention and affection. This resulted in another generation of mixed-race children, many of whom were given Azorean surnames such as De Roza, DeSilva or Moniz. Many persons we deem “black” can claim Azorean heritage.

Ships ahoy

Now let’s throw in the significant presence of the Royal Navy for more than 300 years. Sailors seek two things when they reach port: cold beer and beautiful women. How many thousands of babies were born to black or mixed-race Bermudian women from relationships with British naval personnel? The world will never know.

Most of the sailors never knew if they fathered a child, which resulted in many of these children not even knowing their fathers.

By the 1930s, we have a significant proportion of our population that were of mixed ethnicity.

Make love not war

The Second World War brought us the US bases and thousands of single sailors, airmen and soldiers. Again, this brought a whole new set of DNA to swim in our gene pool, producing more mixed-race babies.

In the 1960s we had a massive influx of English citizens via the UBP’s efforts to control the vote.

In a somewhat more newly liberalised “free love” society, these white English males and females met and got involved with Bermudian men and women of all complexions, producing more and more mixed-race children.

A swirled society

What do you end up with after 400 years of this constant mixing of multi-ethnic emotions, love, lust and passions?

• You get many “black” Bermudians who can say they have a white ancestor.

• You get many “white” Bermudians who are biologically related to black Bermudians.

• You get black persons with Azorean surnames.

• You get an Island where the majority of persons are biologically of more than two ethnic groups.

• You get an Island full of what we used to term “yella skin” people.

Not many persons can claim to be 100 per cent black or 100 per cent white. Skin tones and hair texture are not the determining factors of one’s ethnicity. Nor does one’s ethnicity define one’s character or ability.

There are a growing number of interracial relationships in Bermuda, where many will see “swirling” as a good thing. Naturally we will see a growing number of multi-ethnic children. We need to embrace all of the above. It has been part of our past and it is going to be part of our future.

As the old Sunday school song goes: “Red or yella, black or white, we are all precious in His sight.”