The Caribbean Development Fund (CARICOM) recently announced that it will invest $12 million into the revitalization of villages founded by formerly enslaved African people in Guyana.
Following their emancipation, many of the Afro-Guyanese purchased land, sometimes even their former plantations and created villages in hopes of a more promising future for their descendants.
Buxton and Victoria Village are two of the 41 Afro-Guyanese villages that might benefit from this investment.
In 1840, former Black people in bondage purchased the land now known as Buxton for $50,000. They went on to build farms, schools, churches, housing and other infrastructure in hopes of being self-sufficient.
Victoria Village is said to have been purchased by 83 ex-enslaved Africans in 1839 for a little over $10,000 and was one of the first villages to have codes of local government in Guyana. The village also became one of the leading exporters of goods made from cassava and coconuts.
See full article in the Atlanta Black Star by Feathers Scott + photo credit.