These islands were bought by US. Now they have a message for Greenland.

These islands were bought by US. Now they have a message for Greenland.

Karissa Waddick, USA TODAY

Sat, January 24, 2026 at 11:02 AM UTC

5 min read

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Traces of Denmark’s 250-year imperial reign are still visible on St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. John and the smattering of tiny islets that today make up the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Cities and street signs hold Danish names, like Frederiksted; buildings feature yellowish-red bricks brought on boats across the Atlantic; and the stone facades of sugar plantations where enslaved Africans were forced to labor still stand.

They’re interspersed with evidence of the islands' vibrant Caribbean culture ‒ from colorfully costumed dancers to drum-driven melodies — and the McDonald's and Home Depot stores that reflect its now century-long status as an unincorporated territory of the United States.

As President Donald Trump negotiates a "framework of a future deal" with Denmark for access to Greenland, some residents of the tropical territory say they feel like they're rewatching their own past.

People attend a protest against President Donald Trump's demand that the Arctic island be ceded to the U.S., calling for it to be allowed to determine its own future, in front of the U.S. consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, Jan. 17, 2026.

People bear Greenlandic flags as they march to protest against President Donald Trump and his announced intent to acquire Greenland on Jan. 17, 2026 in Nuuk, Greenland. Greenlandic, Danish and other European leaders are hoping they can still avert an intervention by the United States to forcefully acquire the island as Trump continues to insist the U.S. must have Greenland, suggesting even by military means if necessary.

Protesters take part in a demonstration to show support for Greenland in Copenhagen, Denmark on Jan. 17, 2026.

Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen walks with people during a protest against President Donald Trump’s demand that the Arctic island be ceded to the U.S., calling for it to be allowed to determine its own future, in Nuuk, Greenland, Jan. 17, 2026.

A child is wrapped in Greenlandic flag as people attend a protest against President Donald Trump’s demand that the Arctic island be ceded to the U.S., calling for it to be allowed to determine its own future, in front of the U.S. consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, Jan. 17, 2026.

Jens Kjeldsen, a 70-year-old carpenter and former judge from Greenland, paces with flags of Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Greenland (Kingdom of Denmark) protesting outside the US consulate's wooden cabin in Nuuk, Greenland, on Jan. 20, 2026. The 70-year-old carpenter and former judge from Greenland is holding daily early morning protests outside the US consulate this week in hopes of getting his message across to US officials.

Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen waves a flag during a protest against President Donald Trump's demand that the Arctic island be ceded to the U.S., calling for it to be allowed to determine its own future, in Nuuk, Greenland, Jan. 17, 2026.

People wave Greenlandic flags as they take part in a demonstration that gathered almost a third of the city population to protest against President Donald Trump’s plans to take Greenland, on Jan. 17, 2026, in Nuuk, Greenland. Trump escalated his quest to acquire Greenland, threatening multiple European nations with tariffs of up to 25 percent until his purchase of the Danish territory is achieved. Trump's threats came as thousands of people protested in the capital of Greenland against his wish to acquire the mineral-rich island at the gateway to the Arctic.

A mother and daughter with their faces painted with the Greenlandic flag stand on a street after they participated in a march to protest against President Donald Trump and his announced intent to acquire Greenland on Jan. 17, 2026 in Nuuk, Greenland. Greenlandic, Danish and other European leaders are hoping they can still avert an intervention by the United States to forcefully acquire the island as U.S. President Donald Trump continues to insist the U.S. must have Greenland, suggesting even by military means if necessary.

A couple depart after they participated in a march to protest against President Donald Trump and his announced intent to acquire Greenland on Jan. 17, 2026 in Nuuk, Greenland. Greenlandic, Danish and other European leaders are hoping they can still avert an intervention by the United States to forcefully acquire the island as Trump continues to insist the U.S. must have Greenland, suggesting even by military means if necessary.

Protesters on City Square during a protest in support of Greenland on Jan. 17, 2026 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The United States president continues to insist the U.S. must have Greenland, even by military means if necessary. Greenland is a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, which has forcefully pushed back on the U.S. threats, saying they jeopardize the future of NATO.

Greenlanders march in defiance of Trump’s efforts to claim the island

People attend a protest against President Donald Trump's demand that the Arctic island be ceded to the U.S., calling for it to be allowed to determine its own future, in front of the U.S. consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, Jan. 17, 2026.

More: Trump says US getting 'total access' to Greenland

“History never repeats itself in the same way, but it shows up in a different form,” said Stephanie Chalana Brown, an Afro-Caribbean visual historian with deep roots in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Brown said her ancestors were among the first enslaved by Danish colonial powers and she is now among a cohort of people working to secure reparations from Denmark.

As slaves, then as residents of the Danish-turned-United States territory, Brown said her relatives were sold without their consent. A century later, she worries residents of Greenland are facing the same threat her ancestors did of not having a seat at the table over decisions on the future use of their lands.

“I understand it because the same thing happened to my relatives,” Brown said. “I don't want to see it happen to another place.”

A cruise ship is docked on St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, October 22, 2025.

The annexation of the Virgin Islands

More than a century ago, President Woodrow Wilson bought the islands, then called the Danish West Indies, from Denmark, for $25 million after threatening to take them with force.

At the time, a war was raging in Europe and the United States was seeking to assert its dominance in Latin America. Using many of the same arguments Trump has in jockeying for control of Greenland, Wilson said he wanted the islands for strategic reasons: to secure new trade routes and prevent adversaries from dominating the region.

The nation’s rival then wasn’t China or Russia but Germany, the aggressor in World War I. The war heightened fears that Germany would absorb Denmark and its territories – a perceived threat to the United States.

After the 1917 purchase, the islands served for decades as a strategic Caribbean outpost for the United States military and a hub of naval operations. But the Navy air station on the territory closed in 1948, and the islands never became the significant military asset once envisioned.

Boats fill a marina on St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, October 22, 2025.

More: Greenland isn't the first territory America wanted from Denmark. Here's another.

The roughly 26,000 inhabitants scattered across St. John, St. Croix and St. Thomas in 1917 were not given a say in the acquisition, though Denmark did hold a referendum for its mainland residents. After the transaction, it took more than a decade for Virgin Islanders to gain United States citizenship.

Islanders were given the right to vote for their own governor in 1970. Today, like residents of other U.S. territories, citizens in the Virgin Islands cannot vote for president and do not have a voting representative in Congress.

Virgin Islanders reflect on Greenland

Felipe Ayala, a member of the St. Thomas Historical Trust, said he’s heard conversations about Trump’s Greenland desires, but mostly in “private circles.” People, he said, are more focused on the international actions happening right in their back yard.

Two Navy aircraft carriers, the USS Gerald R. Ford and the USS Iwo Jima, docked in the U.S. Virgin Islands in December to aid in the Trump administration’s efforts to disrupt drug trafficking and later to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

The ships marked the first major Navy presence on the island in decades. Some residents welcomed the ships, and the sailors they brought, as a welcome economic boost for the island, Ayala said. Others were frightened.

“When we step off our porches, most of the houses overlook the harbor and the bay,” he said. “To see aircraft carriers and knowing the political climate of the region, it took us a little off guard.”

Tourists pose for a selfie at the Charlotte Amalie Overlook with the U.S. Navy USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier (CVN-78) in the background, in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, December 1, 2025.

In the aftermath of his military actions in Venezuela, Trump ratcheted up calls to annex Greenland and refused to rule out doing so through military force.

Trump on Jan. 23 appeared to walk back some of that rhetoric, saying that the United States would have “total access” to the Arctic island through a deal he was negotiating. He conceded that he may not end up formally acquiring Greenland.

“It's possible. Anything's possible," Trump said of U.S. ownership.

The details of the emerging agreement remain murky. So does the role Greenland’s own legislature is playing in the discussions.

For Brown, and other Virgin Islanders with ancestry tied to Danish colonialism, the recent discussions over Greenland’s future have spurred heightened empathy and concern for the 57,000 inhabitants of the 836,000-square-mile island with a climate much different from their own.

Stephanie Chalana Brown, 42, is an Afro-Caribbean visual historian in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

“Is he bringing them to the table to talk about policies?” she asked of Trump’s plans for America's military footprint on the island. “Those things weren't extended to Virgin Islanders.”

Most Greenlanders are Inuit, an Indigenous people who also live in Alaska and Canada. Greenlandic, the language they speak, is vastly different from Danish. And their traditions are distinct from those found in Denmark, Western Europe and America.

If the United States builds up its military presence on Greenland, Brown also said she worried the island could experience some of the same Americanization she says is happening in the Virgin Islands.

“You see the washing of our children's identity away where you know they're learning about American culture from the influence of things like television and radio,” she said. “We are losing our own Caribbean identity.”

“I hope that doesn’t happen to them as well,” Brown said of Greenland.

Contributing: Michael Loria, Francesca Chambers and Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY

Karissa Waddick, who covers America's semiquincentennial for USA TODAY, can be reached at kwaddick@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The Virgin Islands, bought by the US, have a message for Greenland

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