The Untold History Of The Banana Massacre

The United Fruit Company was formed in 1899, and initially, the banana was sold as an exotic luxury. As the UFC's plantations started producing more and more bananas, bringing the price of bananas down, the company began marketing bananas in cities to the working class as well, according to the Financial Times.

The United Fruit Company was formed in 1899, and initially, the banana was sold as an exotic luxury. As the UFC's plantations started producing more and more bananas, bringing the price of bananas down, the company began marketing bananas in cities to the working class as well, according to the Financial Times.

By the 1920s, the UFC controlled fruit plantations in Jamaica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and Costa Rica. It also "owned chunks of Colombia and Ecuador." In Central America, UFC was widely known as "el pupo (the octopus) — [with] its tentacles everywhere." The company transported its fruit to North America and Europe with its 100 refrigerated ships, known as the Great White Fleet, which at the time was "the largest private navy in the world."

According to "Tropical Whites" by Catherine Cocks, the fleet was also used to bring American tourists to Central and South America. The "whiteness" of the fleet was especially underlined, so that even the crew members would switch to all-white uniforms as they journeyed south.

The UFC hired Black workers from the West Indies as well as Latinx workers in order to "play one race against the other," per H-Net, and undermine any united organizing effort. Housing was also segregated between Black people, Latinx people, and white people, with the homes of white people in a restricted "white people's zone," according to "Ethnicity at Work" by Philippe I. Bourgois.

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