Story

Storyteller: Dr. Alicia Odewale

On Market Street in Christiansted, there stands a baobab whose roots reach deeper than the soil beneath it. Its trunk is thick with memory — a living archive of everything this narrow stretch of street has held. Long before the island knew freedom, this was one of the places where enslaved people were bought, sold, and inspected. The baobab stood there then, absorbing the weight of human suffering, the sound of chains, the forced transactions that shaped the island’s early economy.

But the tree did not only witness violence. It witnessed transformation.

As decades passed and emancipation reshaped the island, Market Street became something else — a corridor of Black economic power. Three Black women, dressed in all white, began anchoring the market system here. Their white garments were not simply tradition; they were a declaration. A visual grammar of freedom. A way of saying: I move through this world unbound.

Under the baobab’s canopy, these women sold their wares. They negotiated prices, built relationships, and sustained families. Their presence turned Market Street into a place where Black women’s labor and leadership were not only visible but central to the island’s daily life.

The baobab watched as the market grew — as people gathered, exchanged stories, and depended on the goods these women brought. It watched as the island’s economy shifted from one built on bondage to one sustained by the expertise and entrepreneurship of Black women.