James L. Sweeney, Ph.D., became interested in the history of St. Vincent Island and the Black Caribs while researching for a history thesis on the Second Carib War. While he continued reading about the history of the Caribs, Atlantic slavery, and the Caribbean, he made four trips to St. Vincent and another to visit the Carib Reservation on Dominica. His background as an anthropology and history teacher at both the secondary and college levels and his graduate degrees in anthropology, humanities/history, education, and fine arts/fiction have prepared him to tell the fascinating story of one of the unique peoples of the Caribbean, the Black Caribs/Garifuna. As a teacher and coach living next to the Panama Canal, he enjoyed the tropical jungle and visited indigenous villages by canoe, along with racing the length of the Panama Canal each year in an Indian dugout canoe/cayuco. His time living overseas finished with teaching college to the military community in Japan, Italy, and Spain and teaching English to Japanese and Italians. California's Bay Area is now home, where he enjoys paddling Hawaiian outrigger canoes and taking writing classes.