St. Croix Sugar-Rum-Molasses Production 1848-1863

In this activity, students will use questions to interpret official statistics from St. Croix’s rum and sugar production industry from 1848-1863, practice reading and retrieving information from a table, and research the significance of the territory's rum industry today.

Activity Type
Written Document
Historical Period:
Danish West Indies
Keywords
St. Croix

About

Scattered throughout the Danish and American archives relating to the Virgin Islands are official, government compiled statistics relating to such matters as crop production, overseas trade, and population development. Such documentation generally provides the most reliable economic or social data for a specific period and locale. This document lists the annual amounts of sugar, and its by-products rum and molasses, shipped from the Danish West Indies to Denmark, other European markets, St. Thomas and the United States in the immediate aftermath of emancipation (1848-1863). 

Primary Sources in this Activity

Item:
St. Croix Sugar-Rum-Molasses Production 1848-1863
Author / Artist:
Government of the Danish West Indies
Date:
1863
Source:
Danish National Archives
View Primary Source

Suggested Teaching Instructions

Analyze the Primary Source

You may load the Analyze a Photograph worksheet on the smart board or on computers so that you can lead students through answering the questions, print the worksheet and distribute to your students, or adapt the questions from the worksheet to create your own. Primary Source Analysis Worksheets

Independently, with a partner, in small groups or as a class, have the students answer the Analyze a Written Document worksheet questions. Help students as needed to complete the worksheets. Review their answers and the observations as a class.

Class Discussion

Prompt the students in a discussion about how the data in the statistics could be used. Do they think there could be more data to help draw conclusions? Is it enough data to identify trends?

Reading Tables:

Identify: What is being recorded by this table? The product was being sent to what three locations? What year had the lowest production? What year had the highest?

Understand: This table starts recording in 1848. What significant event(s) occurred in this year in St. Croix and in the Danish West Indies? Do you notice any trends in the data? Would it be helpful to see data before the emancipation? Why/Why Not? Do you have any hypothesis on what that would show?

Think Critically: Write one paragraph using evidence answering the following prompt. How could someone studying the economics of St. Croix post-emancipation use this data? Would they need more information?

Project Ideas

Make Connections: Research the rum industry in the Virgin Islands today, and write an essay answering: Is the rum industry in the Virgin Islands significant to the territory’s economy and to the government of the Virgin Islands? Explain your answer, and include the sources you used to research the topic.

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