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20th Century Bahamas tolerance
During the First World War in 1914 The Bahamas made a valuable contribution to the war by sending both men and money. When the war ended in 1918 The Country was threatened once again, but providence intervened in the form of prohibition. Nassau who had profited from Rum-Running when ships used it as a port to load liquor from England and Scotland to be smuggled into the United States; saw its streets and towns filled with visitors and racketeers, making a quick dollar transporting liquor to the United States, took a dive. When Prohibition ended, the Bahamian Economy which was based on agriculture and sponge fishing once again went into a recession.
 August of 1940, the Duke of Windsor formerly King Edward the VIII of England, became Governor General of The Bahamas (See photo on the left), occupying his post for nearly five years. During his tenure a serious riot over labour despite occurred in Nassau on June 1st 1942, known as the “Burma Road Riot“ the riot has been immortalized in Bahamian song. Looking for work elsewhere, thousands of Bahamian men and women (majority being men) went to the United States between 1943 and the mid-1960’s to work on “The Contract” for periods of six to nine months at a time. During this time deductions were made from their salaries and sent to their families via the Post Office Savings Bank in Nassau (The Post Office Savings Bank is still very much in effect still today). Workings in the United States exposed many Bahamians to both Cultural difference and discrimination.
The Second World War, in which only one Bahamian Contingent joined the war, the Country contributed money, fruits and scrap metal to the allied efforts. After the war ended, it was preceded by what was know as the ‘Oaks Era’ because in 1934 a Multi-Millionaire from Canada arrived in The Bahamas and became instrumental in the construction of the first airport in Oaks Field and purchased the New Colonial Hotel, renaming it The British Colonial Hotel. Sir Harry Oakes was murdered mysteriously in 1943.
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