The History Forum

 Dame Ruth Nita Barrow, President of the World YWCA 1975 to 1983  By, Sherill Yvette Ashby HIST 3030 The Evolution of Social Policy in Barbados  At the beginning of the 20 th century Barbadian women had to make many social and economic adjustments as they determined to move away from the plantation’s tenantry system. During this post-emancipation era women fought against a Victorian gender ideologies which sought to keep them at home doing woman’s work. Due to the decline of the sugar industry in Barbados many of their men folk emigrated to Cuba , Costa Rica and Panama seeking employment. Although women now made up a large proportion of the labour force they were being paid very low wages.          As women moved into the urban areas, they continued to be active workers in all sector of the economy. In 1911 labour statistics showed that 77% of the employed were females. This also included African-Caribbean workers whom they h...

By Sylvan Spooner HIST 3030: The Evolution of Social Policy in Barbados Self-help housing in Barbados Over the past few years Barbadian newspapers and call-in programs have been inundated by the public outcry for affordable housing. In its response to address the concerns of those seeking to own their own home, the Government of Barbados has launched a series of building projects to satisfy the growing need for housing for every Barbadian. Housing projects at Coverley, Constant, Lancaster , West Terrace and Greens among others have been commissioned by Government and private entities to meet the needs of Barbadians who wish to own their homes. Furthermore, the ambitious 500 lot program at St. John- Pool, Cherry Grove/Henley, and Guinea , St. Joseph serves only to highlight the fact that a large number of Barbadians currently depend on government for their housing solutions.   A look through the lens of history reveals to us that this was not the case in early 20 th centu...



Welcome to the Department of History and Philosophy 's HISTORY FORUM o n Friday, November 16th at 4:30 pm in the New Bruce St. John Room [located in the Humanities Quadrangle] Mr. Cozier Frederick will present a paper entitled: "A History of the Kalinago Territory from 1900 to the Present: A Story of Underdevelopment" For more information on The History Forum, please contact Dr. Tara Inniss, Department of History and Philosophy E-mail: tara.inniss@cavehill.uwi.edu    

Professor Emeritus Henry Fraser's new TV series entitled, "Pillars of Worship" will begin on CBC TV Channel 8 in Barbados this evening (October 30, 2012) at 8:30pm. Learn more about Barbados' rich eccesiastical architectural history and heritage. The series continues next week.

The Barclay's Family Vault in St. Mary's Churchyard, Bridgetown Barbados "Many Barbadians are unaware of the role their middle-sized island in the Caribbean played in building the West African nation of Liberia. They would be surprised to find out that two of Liberia’s presidents were of Barbadian ancestry. And not only that, both presidents came from the same family, the Barclays. In addition, the Barclay family consisted of very strong women who were the backbone to the success of their men." Read more on the Barbados-Liberian Connection

Watch Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole jostle for position in the History Books -- Horrible Histories is a BBC television historical sketch show for children...

EXTRACT from BGIS Article: "Mr. Diène proposed that, even before determining benefits, it was crucial for there to be an examination of what heritage denoted and how it was presented. He underlined that "the two dominant features of enslavement are silence and invisibility; the silence on the history of slavery and the invisibility of [the people]. One of the first challenges for modern tourism...is first to break the silence...the way tourism is practised, it wipes out the historical content and the meaning of the societies concerned; because the dominant factor is to promote [aesthetic]... According to the former UNESCO Director, modern tourism "in many ways is an avatar of the old ideology of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, the time of slavery, because its basic values are competition, domination, exploitation, profit. Are we going to accept this practice of tourism which cut us from our identities our true heritage?...[or are we] going to promote another type ...

Echoes Caribbean was launched this past month at the Barbados Museum and Historical Society. The editor, Mr. David Michael, is one of our graduates from the MA Heritage Studies programme and he is an enthusiastic and dedicated supporter of the region's heritage  -- so much so that he started his own magazine. Visit Echoes Caribbean for more information and pick up your copy from the Barbados Museum and Historical Society in the Garrison, St. Michael. The inaugural issue celebrates the inscription of Barbados' first World Heritage property, Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison.

Please see the link for some Old Barbados Photos. Some of them have been identified as being taken in Jamaica, Trinidad or Grenada but the majority are in Barbados. Enjoy! http://www.flickr.com/photos/caribbeanphotoarchive/sets/72157608812597002/

ACH CALL FOR PAPERS The 45 th Annual Conference of the Association of Caribbean Historians will be held in Ambergris Caye, Belize , from Sunday, May 12, to Friday, May 17, 2013. Information about how to propose either an individual paper or a panel-along with the forms for each-is posted online at the ACH website http://www.associationofcaribbeanhistorians.org (look under "Annual Meeting"). We had a record number of new presenters at the 2012 Curaçao conference, a trend we hope will continue. More information about proposed conference topics and information about the ACH prizes (including the Elsa Goveia Book Prize and the Gould-Saunders Memorial Endowment Travel Fund Award ) appear online as well under "Prizes and Fellowships ." In the meantime, please consider joining us in Belize in 2013, and remember that all proposals are due to the ACH Secretary-Treasurer by October 1, 2012.

 

Adventure Weekend is here again from Friday January 18 th to Monday January 21 tst 2013, 3 days and 3 nights on Dominica, The Nature Island and includes 3 nature walks , the Carib Village tour with lunch, exploring Roseau on Market Day, Saturday the 16 th , and meeting and interacting with the locals. We take care of all the details. Space is limited so book now.

 

Barbados is hosting The 8th Annual African Diaspora Heritage Trail (ADHT) Conference at the Llyod Erskine Sandiford Centre from September 17-19, 2012. Visit the ADHT website to learn more!

Dr. Marcia Burrowes, Lecturer in Cultural Studies, UWI Cave Hill Campus delivers the NCF Crop Over Heritage Lecture entitled "Losing Our Masks: Masquerade and Changing Concepts of Barbadian Identity" at the Barbados Museum and Historical Society on June 14, 2012. Watch now   [extract]

Mary Prince, "author" of one of the only (auto)biographical slave narratives by a Caribbean woman, is made a National Hero in Bermuda... but she lived in several Caribbean territories before finally living in England when her story was transmitted by Abolitionists in the early 19th Century.  During a ceremony two days ago, Mary Prince, the daughter of slaves born in 1788 at Brackish Pond in Devonshire, now known as Devonshire Marsh, was pronounced a National Hero of Bermuda... Learn more at Mary Prince made a National Hero . 

Jodensavanne and Cassipora Cemetery -- The First Autonomous Jewish Settlement in the Americas The first mention of Jewish colonists arriving in Suriname goes back to the beginning of the seventeenth century in the 1630s, but clearly confirmed is that Jews came to Suriname in the 1650s from Barbados with the English Governor-General for the West Indies Lord Francis Willoughby of Parham. Some sources note that Willoughby invited most of them to strengthen the plantation economy. Jews might also have come to Suriname from the Pomeroon settlement, in what was the Dutch colony of Essequibo (today, the Republic of Guyana). While the exact demographic make-up of the Jews who settled Suriname may be debated, it is certain they were not a homogenous group.

images: Historic Bridgetown Receives Its World Heritage In... : A great moment in the history of Barbados took place this afternoon, June 13th at our Garrison Savannah, as we witnessed the island's first World Heritage Inscription Ceremony. The importance of these areas of our island to the smooth and profitable functioning of the British empire and the strategic importance of Barbados as the first port of call for ships crossing the Atlantic Ocean is now recognised as enshrined in the ancient layout of the city, medieval in origin and yet New World in purpose and evolution...

Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison is now an official UNESCO World Heritage Property   Check out The Barbados Advocate - It’s official!

Listen to this radio programme hosted by Prof. Verene Shepherd from Jamaica. Her programme highlights discussions about Caribbean history and heritage. She also has a special segment dedicated to the CXC syllabus. Listen Online  Now! Listen every Saturday morning... Visit: Talking History Facebook

 

On June 13th 2012, Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison will be officially inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Property! Barbados will join a select number of countries in the world recognized as being home to a site considered to be of outstanding universal value to humanity and worthy of being shared with all peoples of the world. We invite you all to join us on Wednesday June 13th at 4:30pm at the Garrison Savannah to witness this piece of Barbadian history and to enjoy the celebrations of this major international achievement. Keep checking our page for more details as we lead up to this very exciting event! Have a great day everyone! http://www.facebook.com/HistoricBridgetownAndItsGarrison

The National Archives of St. Kitts and Nevis have added PDFs of laws passed in 1867 and 1868 to http://www.historicbasseterre.com/ .   They deal with the recovery effort in Basseterre following the fire that destroyed most of it.  They helped to change the layout of the town and attempted to make it safe from fire. http://www.historicbasseterre.com:88/1867%20Act%20No%2014.pdf http://www.historicbasseterre.com:88/1868%20Act%20No%208.pdf http://www.historicbasseterre.com:88/1868%20Act%20No%2023.pdf Contact: National Archives Government Headquarters Church Street Basseterre St. Kitts, West Indies Tel: 869-465-2521 ext1208 alternative e-mail address: nationalarchives@gov.kn visit http://www.historicbasseterre.com/   Discover our people, our stories, our buildings, our heritage.  See us as we were then and as we are now! See our weekly contribution to www.inSKN.com heritage page.

BARBADOS NATIONAL TRUST THE MILL TURNS AGAIN!!! Morgan Lewis Mill Turning. Date: Sunday, May 06, 2012                Time: 10:00 am – 2:30 pm. Entrance. Adults ……..Bds $15.00 Children under 12yrs Bds $5.00 Including  one free 2 litre Bottle of Cane Juice.  

"Voyage to the Islands: Has Sloane, Slavery, and Scientific Travel in the Caribbean" opens May 3 at the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. The exhibition is guest curated by James Delbourgo, Associate Professor of History, Rutgers University and Library, and the Natural History Museum in London. This exhibition uses the collections of the John Carter Brown Library to explore the relationship between early modern scientific knowledge, the Atlantic slave trade and the African diaspora in the Caribbean islands. While historians have long stressed the importance of travel in the making of early modern natural history, the relation between the natural sciences and European interactions with Africans through the slave trade has only recently received attention. Examining the intersection of science and slavery allows us to see how Africans in diaspora both contributed to European sciences and maintained their own knowledge t...

ROYAL FIDELITY NATIONAL DISTINGUISHED TEACHERS AWARDS OVERVIEW Royal Fidelity Merchant Bank & Trust (Barbados) Limited ("Royal Fidelity") established the National Distinguished Teachers’ Awards with the goal of rewarding outstanding teaching professionals while encouraging all teachers throughout Barbados to aspire to excellence. The Royal Fidelity National Distinguished Teachers’ Awards in association with the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) and the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development, will annually award prizes to teachers exemplifying at a high and consistent level, qualities revered in their profession. A Blue Ribbon Panel will select the 10 Nominees considered most worthy to each receive BDS $2,000 and the title, Royal Fidelity National Distinguished Teacher 2012. AWARDS Royal Fidelity is the awards sponsor and founder, in association with the Ministry of Education and Human Resources. The awardees will be selected from b...

You are invited to attend a walking tour of Bridgetown on Sunday April 29, at 3.30 . This tour will focus on the lives and experiences of some of our National Heroes within the inscribed UNESCO World Heritage Site Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison. The Tour will be conducted by well-known local  historian Morris Greenige and will commence in Heroes Square. It will be an exciting and informative experience and will give you the opportunity to fully understand the importance of this unique site.      

On Sunday, April 22, 2012, the Garrison Cadet Corps will conduct their version of the military, "Beating the Retreat Ceremony". The ceremony is conducted in celebration of the Queen's Jubilee. Report for duty at 15h30! Support the youth in our first UNESCO World Heritage Property, Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison .

 

Panelists will help participants begin a discussion about the economic benefits and opportunities of heritage development in Barbados in the light of the recent inscription of Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison as a UNESCO World Heritage Property. Take part in the discussion on Thursday, April 19th at 7pm in the Steel Shed, Queen's Park. For more information about Barbados World Heritage check out Facebook Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison

Check out what's available in the Open Library for historical research on the Caribbean. Open Library is an open project: the software is open, the data are open, the documentation is open, and we welcome your contribution. Whether you fix a typo, add a book, or write a widget--it's all welcome. We have a small team of fantastic programmers who have accomplished a lot, but we can't do it alone! Sample: Barbados Illustrated (1911) By Cave Shepherd and Co. Ltd.

Welcome to the next  Department of History  and  Philosophy 's HISTORY FORUM o n  Friday,  March 30th   at  4:30 pm in the New Bruce St. John Room [located in the  Humanities   Quadrangle] Captain Errol Brathwaite will present a paper entitled: "The Development of Methodism in Barbados and its Impact on Education During the Post-Emancipation Era "