Special Collections: The Contract

The Contract, also known as "The Project" was a farm labour programme established on 16 March 1943 by the governments of The Bahamas and the united States of America. The programme continued, with changes in its organisation, until 1966. It allowed thousands of Bahamian men and women from islands throughout the archipelago to carry out agricultural work in many American states. Bahamians cultivated and harvested a variety of crops, from tobacco in Tennessee and peaches in Georgia to corn in Minessota, citrus in Floridaand peanuts in North Carolina. Some workers returned to the Bahamas. Others settled in communities located around the united States, particularly in the of Florida and New York. Bahamian society as a whole felt the impact The Contract, socially as well as economically.