Tag Archives: history

I am sure you would remember this truism: “Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder!” I accepted this aphorism as a means of teaching that persons could have divergent views about the same incident. Professor Richard Drayton at King’s College, London, in 2011, wrote: “History is not merely reflection; …

Alas, the mystery of Sabina Park’s name remains a matter of speculation. Three things are clear however. There was a woman named Sabina Park. There was a place called Sabina Park Pen, and Sabina Park is a Test ground in Jamaica.  The most probable explanation is that the ground was …

“[…] With a family tree consisting of thousands of relatives, this important aspect of our history—which was researched and confirmed by Dr Jeff Davidson, former leader of the Tobago House of Assembly—was told to me as a child, and narrated during our great family reunions over in Tobago.  “Knowing our …

True story: ‘In 1919—over 80 years after Emancipation—a Trinidadian petitioned the King for compensation for 31 freed persons previously owned by his grandfather, which he claimed had never been paid.’ It’s one of the astonishing tales recounted by Professor Emerita Bridget Brereton in her newly released book, History Matters: Selected …

Are we truly a banana republic? Or have we gotten too accustomed to the imperial arrogance of US ambassadors? Is the government beholden to Spain to such a degree that we have to servilely kowtow to the absurdities thrown at us by Spanish Ambassador Señor Javier Carbajosa Sanchez? As other …

The scale of natural justice weighs negatively against the Ministry of Education for allowing 2019 to end without unambiguously prohibiting discrimination against natural African hair texture and basic African hairstyles, and mandating school administrators to root out the practice whenever it rears its ugly head. Ultimately, it might necessitate amending …

“Sometimes I am so disoriented that I don’t even know what day of the week it is, to be honest. One shift is usually 12 hours. Sometimes we work 36 or 48 hours; but most times it is 24 hours. “If no relief is sent for me when I’m done …

What the hell is History good for anyway? I mean really? Well I suppose the answer depends on what you use History for. Napoleon Bonaparte called it a set of lies mutually agreed upon, which is a very important point to consider when studying how the West has used ‘history’ …

The well known, formerly enslaved, black abolitionist, Mary Prince, cogently argued in her autobiography in 1831: “How can slaves be happy when they have the halter round their neck and the whip upon their back?” Prince was directly confronting the lie of slave owners and other apologists for slavery that …

Responding to the National Trust’s declaration to elevate the Lopinot Historical Complex to a heritage site, a Trinidad Guardian article in 2013 commended the villagers for preserving vital elements of the built landscape of early nineteenth century. Presumably, the “colourful history” to which the writer alluded is the abstract on …

Happy birthday Iere; yuh tun 56… which means yuh mature, and with maturity comes reasoning and a clearer understanding of who you are and what you still need to do to reach where you want to go. But that’s when yuh mature, not when yuh eh sure of yuhself, confused as to …

“Haiti is the only member of CARICOM whose citizens require a visa to travel to any other CARICOM nation. In other words, although CARICOM leaders pay lip service to Haiti, they also know that Haitians might leave their failed state—which is the diplomatic way of calling a country a ‘shithole’—and settle …