Watson investigates the emigration of indigenous Amerindians in the West Indies during the period 1834-1900 and their replacement with enslaved Africans. After the emancipation of the slaves in 1833, the poor whites, who used to perform militia service on plantations in the West Indies, were forced to emigrate due to lack of employment opportunities.;
Reviews several books regarding Cuban history which focused on the areas of race, identities, ideology and nationhood. Between Race and Empire: African-Americans and Cubans Before the Cuban Revolution, by Lisa Brock and Digna Castaneda; `El Directorio Central de las Sociedades Negras de Cuba, 1886-1894,'by Oilda Hevia Lanier; Nationalizing Blackness: Afrocubanismo and Artistic Revolution in Havana, 1920-1940, by Robin Moore.;
