Name: Keith Treco
School: Prince William High
Subject: History
Candidate#:
Centre#:
Question#: 1a

Introduction
The events of the Burma Road Riots came as a result of the agitation by laborers for equal pay for equal work, regardless of color or nationality. As you know, a satellite airfield was being constructed in Western New Providence for use by the American armed forces. A labor dispute ensued over equal pay and this dispute took on a life of its own and became intimately interwoven with the overall movement for freedom and social justice. According to “SOURCE A”, “The 1942 riot in Nassau was short-lived spontaneous outburst by a group of disgruntled laborers, and occurred against a backdrop of narrow socioeconomic and political policies”.

On June 3, 1942 thousands of Bahamian workers came to Bay Street in a march of solidarity that would come to be known as the Burma Road Riot. The riot was the result of years of oppression of Bahamian workers but was triggered by a wage dispute involving Bahamian construction workers at the Oakes Field Airport. The wages for all workers was set at four shillings ($1.00) per day even though the Pleasantville Construction Company was willing to pay eight shillings per day. The white oligarchy decided eight shillings was too much money for black Bahamian workers, so they influenced the company to pay the workers less. Fortunately, workers from Exuma had previously worked on similar projects in the Caribbean, told the other workers that the company was willing to pay higher wages but, were prevented from doing so by the Bay Street Boys. As a result a number of requests were made to the Labor Officer by the Bahamas Federation of Labor (BFL) for increase wages, but the prevailing attitude was, take it or leave it”. According to “SOURCE B” and it states, “as a consequence of the riot, the first awakening of