The Virgin Islands of the United States: A Journey Through History and Identity with Stephanie Chalana Brown

Exploring the US Virgin Islands: History, Identity, and Cultural ShiftsStephanie Chalana Brown joined me to discuss the history of the Virgin Islands, a territory of the United States. Comprised of St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. John plus smaller islets and cays, it’s often described as laid-back, with quaint towns, turquoise waters, a perfect vacation spot for sailing, divers, and sun-seekers.In this episode we go beyond that. From its indigenous Taino roots, colonial past with strong Danish influences, and present-day struggles, Chalana shares her personal insights into citizenship issues, her ancestral family history, and the importance of local scholarship, digital archives, and historical narratives.About Stephanie Chalana BrownStephanie Chalana Brown is a Virgin Islands–based photographer, cultural thinker, and public intellectual whose work explores African diasporic history, place, and memory across the Caribbean.Her practice moves between photography, archival inquiry, and cultural interpretation. She documents everyday life, heritage spaces, and community rituals with an eye toward how history lives in bodies, streets, buildings, and shared traditions. Her work treats culture as a living record, something carried, practiced, and remembered rather than frozen in the past.Chalana’s interests sit at the intersection of African studies, Caribbean history, visual literacy, and public education. She is particularly engaged in how communities preserve memory outside of formal institutions, and how photography can function as both documentation and archive.Her work has appeared in exhibitions, publications, and national media, and she regularly contributes to conversations about heritage, representation, and cultural accountability in the Virgin Islands and the wider Black Atlantic world.She lives and works in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where she continues to photograph, research, and write in dialogue with place.InstagramThese islands were bought by the US. Now they have a message for Greenland.ResourcesVirgin Islands Taino Welcome Tribal Members from CaribbeanThe Danish National ArchivesNational Museum of DenmarkSociety of Virgin Islands Historians The 1733 Akwamu InsurrectionFireburn: The Uprising of 1878 The Fireburn FilesThe St. Croix Educational Complex Drama Club