Introduction

Analyzing Evidence presents case studies that demonstrate how scholars interpret different kinds of historical evidence in world history. On this screen you see part of a manifest record from the SS Atenas. This ship sailed from Kingston, Jamaica, to New York City in 1920. These records provide information on individual passengers for 29 categories, including age, race, gender, marital status, occupation, how the cost for the voyage was paid, and the nearest relative living in New York. On this screen, you also see a photograph of household workers from the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe just after their arrival in New York in 1911.

Examine these sources carefully. What kinds of information can you gather from the manifest record alone? What does it say about the experiences of West Indian immigrants in the Caribbean and in New York? How could you use photographs like this one to develop a more complex understanding of the experience of West Indian immigrants in the early 1900s? What other sources might you use to draw conclusions about this experience?

Now listen to Professor Wendi Manuel-Scott analyze these manifest records.
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