Interactive Experience
The Emigration Pass
Journey
Scroll through the story of Giridhari — a real ancestor whose 1891 emigration pass we'll progressively fill in, field by field, showing how each week of the course transforms cold colonial data into a living family narrative.
How It Works
From Data to Story in Six Weeks
An emigration pass is a single sheet of paper — a colonial form filled out by a clerk in Calcutta. It records a name, an age, a caste, a village. But behind every field lies a universe of meaning. As you scroll, watch the pass fill in and discover how each week of the Shaking the Family Tree course teaches you to unlock the stories hidden in your own family's records.
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British Guiana Coolie Immigration
MAN'S EMIGRATION PASS
The Empty Pass
Before you is a blank emigration pass — the kind issued to hundreds of thousands of Indians who left for British Guiana between 1838 and 1917. Scroll down to begin filling it in, and discover the story each field contains.
From One Sheet of Paper,
A Life Reclaimed
Giridhari's emigration pass was a single page in a colonial filing cabinet. But through the Shaking the Family Tree course, we transformed it into the opening chapter of a family story that spans continents and generations. Your family's records hold the same potential.
"To empower the Indo-Guyanese diaspora to preserve cultural heritage and strengthen family bonds by transforming fragmented memories and oral histories into enduring family narratives for generations to come."
238,979
Indians brought to British Guiana during indentureship (1838–1917)
358
Shiploads recorded in the Guyana National Archives ship registers
6 Weeks
To transform your family's records into enduring narratives