The History Forum

Some Observations on Gender, Citizenship, Labour Rights since the Forde Commission Report on Women (1976) in Barbados By, Cherri-Ann Skeete, Student, HIST 3030 The Evolution of Social Policy in Barbados, Department of History and Philosophy, The UWI, Cave Hill Campus The Forde Commission on the status of women was carried out in 1976 and presented in 1978 by Norma Monica Forde on recommendation by Sir Henry Forde who was an advocate for women’s rights in Barbados. The Commission looked at women and their rights in terms of marriage, labour laws, citizenship, criminal laws, and divorce, just to name a few, and made recommendations for the improvement of women’s rights. Citizenship and labour laws are the topics of focus for this research.              The Constitution of Barbados at that time was discriminatory against women in terms of citizenship. In terms of citizenship by descent, a legitimate child of a fa...

Social Hierarchies and the Provision and Use of Recreational Space in Barbados By Donnisha Watson, Student, HIST 3030 The Evolution of Social Policy in Barbados, Department of History and Philosophy, The UWI, Cave Hill Campus Working citizens such as educators, clergymen, clerks and colonial officials identified a need for access to public space for recreational purposes as they were ‘pent up in a close and dusty atmosphere all day, day after day with nothing to relieve the monotony of their occupations’.   There were no public parks or gardens   where adults could go to socialize or no areas where the younger population could go to snatch an hour's enjoyment in the open air.     As such, recreational spaces were provided. However, 85 percent of the spaces in Barbados were created and controlled by the planter class , while the Government and other freeholders jostled for the remaining 15 percent. As such, the middle and upper class co...

SYMMONDS, OLGA aka PATRICIA SYMMONDS, 1925- PRESENT By Alvesia Weatherhead, Student, HIST 3030 The Evolution of Social Policy in Barbados, Department of History and Philosophy, The UWI Cave Hill Campus  Dame Olga Patricia Symmonds, GCM, DBE, commonly known as Patricia Symmonds, educator, politician, and member of the senate, was born on 18 October 1925 to Alga Ianthe Symmonds and Algernon Symmonds. She is the elder sister of Barbadian diplomat, the late Algernon Washington Symmonds, and aunt of Donna Symmonds, a prominent lawyer. Symmonds lived in both Strathclyde and Bank Hall Road in St. Michael while growing up. Symmonds currently resides in Strathclyde and is 94 years old. Dame Olga Patricia Symmonds She was first educated at a private school ran by Mrs. Maude Haynes, widow of a Moravian Minister, at 5 years . At 10 years, Symmonds won a St. Michael’s Vestry Scholarship to Queen’s College (QC), which was a First Grade School for girls at that ti...

By, Ariel Moore, Student, HIST 3030 The Evolution of Social Policy in Barbados, Department of History and Philosophy, The UWI Cave Hill Campus Women’s groups are increasingly becoming vehicles for social, political, and economic empowerment (NEHA KUMAR, 2018). Caribbean women advocated for women's rights drawing on a historical legacy of women's resistance and influenced by the first wave of the international feminist movement of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Their history of organizing includes religious and social welfare organisations, civic and political organisations, trade unions, and women's arms of political parties (Rawwida Baksh, 2013). The Women's Self-help movement was one of the earliest manifestations, where a colonial governor’s wife organised white women to teach poor women housewifery skills and initiated income generating projects based on needle work skills. The Women's Self-help association in Barbados was a charitable organisation foun...

By, Tara Inniss, Lecturer, Department of History and Philosophy, The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus Newton Slave Burial Ground, Christ Church, Barbados Some of us in Barbados and the Diaspora saw some posts and short videos on social media this past weekend showing a ceremony taking place in Ghana of Barbadian officials burying the “remains” of an “unknown” enslaved African burial/space from Barbados to Africa. Those present described it as a very emotional experience. I have no doubt that it was. Confronting the theft of our culture and the erasure of lives lived during enslavement in Barbados is an extremely visceral experience that would touch any one of us if we had the opportunities to do so.   When we take our students to the spaces that exist here in Barbados, it is also an emotional experience. If I were to describe it, I would say the emotion is more of revelation and connection than it is of reflection and communion. It is a revela...