The traces of 250 years of Danish imperial rule are still clearly visible on St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. John, and some of the smaller islands that today make up the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Danish names such as Frederiksted appear on city and street signs; buildings are constructed of yellow-and-red bricks brought by ships across the Atlantic; and the stone facades of sugar plantations where enslaved Africans were forced to labor still stand.
They’re dotted with evidence of the island’s vibrant Caribbean culture—from colorfully costumed dancers to drum beats—as well as McDonald’s and Home Depot stores, reflecting the island’s century-long status as an unincorporated U.S. territory.
As President Donald Trump negotiates a “future agreement framework” with Denmark for access to Greenland, some residents of the tropical region say they feel like they are revisiting their past.
More: Trump says US is ‘fully in’ Greenland
“History never repeats itself the same way, but it does appear in different forms,” said Stephanie Chalana Brown, an Afro-Caribbean visual historian with roots in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Brown said her ancestors were among the first people to be enslaved by the Danish colonial powers, and she is now among a group of people working hard to get reparations from Denmark.
Brown said her relatives were sold as slaves without their consent. A century later, she worries that Greenland’s residents face the same threat as her ancestors, namely being left without a seat at the table in decisions that determine the land’s future use.
“I understand that because the same thing happened to my relatives,” Brown said. “I don’t want to see this happen anywhere else.”
On October 22, 2025, a cruise ship docked at St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.
Annex the Virgin Islands
More than a century ago, President Woodrow Wilson purchased the islands, then known as the Danish West Indies, from Denmark for $25 million after threatening to seize them by force.
At the time, war was breaking out in Europe and the United States was seeking to consolidate its dominance in Latin America. Wilson used many of the same arguments Trump used in his fight for control of Greenland, saying he wanted the islands for strategic reasons: to secure new trade routes and prevent rivals from dominating the region.
The country’s competitor at that time was not China or Russia, but Germany, the aggressor in World War I. The war heightened fears that Germany would annex Denmark and its territories—a threat to the United States.
Purchased in 1917, the islands served for decades as a strategic outpost and center of naval operations for the U.S. military in the Caribbean. But the naval air station on the territory closed in 1948, and the islands never became the critical military assets once envisioned.
On October 22, 2025, a dock in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, was filled with ships.
More: Greenland is not the first territory the United States wants to acquire from Denmark. Here’s another one.
In 1917, the roughly 26,000 residents scattered across St. John’s, St. Croix, and St. Thomas were not given a say in the takeover, although Denmark did hold a referendum for its mainland residents. After the deal was completed, it took more than a decade for Virgin Islanders to obtain U.S. citizenship.
In 1970, islanders were given the right to vote for their own governor. Today, like residents of other U.S. territories, citizens of the Virgin Islands cannot vote for president and have no voting representation in Congress.
Virgin Islanders reflect on Greenland
Felipe Ayala, a member of the St. Thomas Historical Trust, said he has heard conversations about Trump’s desire for Greenland, but mostly in “private circles.” People are more concerned about international actions taking place in their own backyards, he said.
Two Navy aircraft carriers, the USS Gerald R. Ford and the USS Iwo Jima, docked in the U.S. Virgin Islands in December to assist the Trump administration in its fight against drug trafficking and subsequent capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
The ships mark the first naval presence on the island in decades. Ayala said some residents welcome the ships and the sailors they bring as a welcome economic boost to the island. Everyone else is scared.
“When we stepped out on the porch, most of the houses looked over the harbor and the bay,” he said. “Seeing the aircraft carrier and understanding the political climate in the region caught us a little off guard.”
Tourists take photos with the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) at the Charlotte Amalie Observation Deck in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, on December 1, 2025.
Following military action in Venezuela, Trump stepped up efforts to annex Greenland and refused to rule out the possibility of achieving it through military force.
On January 23, Trump appeared to walk back some of his remarks, saying the United States would have “full access” to the Arctic island through a deal he was negotiating. He acknowledged that he may not ultimately formally acquire Greenland.
“It’s possible. Anything is possible,” Trump said of U.S. ownership.
Details of the impending deal remain unclear. So does the role that Greenland’s own legislative body plays in the discussion.
For Brown and other Virgin Islanders with ties to Danish colonialism, recent discussions about Greenland’s future have stirred sympathy and concern for the 57,000 residents of the 836,000-square-mile island, which has a climate vastly different from their own.
Stephanie Chalana Brown, 42, is an Afro-Caribbean visual historian from the U.S. Virgin Islands.
“Will he bring them to the table to discuss policy?” she asked about Trump’s plans for the U.S. military footprint on the island. “These things do not extend to Virgin Islanders.”
Most Greenlanders are Inuit, the indigenous people who live in Alaska and Canada. The Greenlandic language they speak is very different from Danish. Their traditions differ from those of Denmark, Western Europe and the United States.
Brown also said that if the U.S. increases its military presence in Greenland, she fears the island could undergo what she described as the same Americanization of the Virgin Islands.
“You see our children’s identities being washed away and you know they’re learning about American culture through the influence of things like television and radio,” she said. “We are losing our Caribbean identity.”
“I hope this doesn’t happen to them either,” Brown said of Greenland.
Contributing: Michael Loria, Francesca Chambers and Kim Hjelmgaard, USA Today
Karissa Waddick covers the sesquicentennial for USA TODAY and can be reached at kwaddick@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared in USA Today: Virgin Islands bought by US sends a message to Greenland
