The theme of Black History Month is to focus on celebrating being Black or Brown, and to inspire and share the pride people have in their heritage and culture. Black History Month happens in the USA in February and is also known as African-American History Month. In the UK Black History Month happens in October.
In addition in the United Kingdom, Windrush Day was introduced in June 2018 on the 70th anniversary of the disembarkation of passengers of HMT Empire Windrush on 22nd June 1948 at Tilbury Docks who were migrating to the United Kingdom. 2023 is the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush at at Tilbury Docks.
Though Windrush Day is not a bank holiday in the UK, the 22nd June is an observed day. According to the United Kingdom Government the purpose of Windrush Day is to encourage “communities across the country to celebrate the contribution of the Windrush Generation and their descendants”.
Thanks to a select group of pioneering black Bajan footballers, no country in the world has had a greater impact on the history of English football than Barbados. That statement might come as a shock to some. After all, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica have reached the World Cup Finals whereas Barbados has never come …
Black Bajan footballers who were English Football League Club pioneers Read More »
Bajan Alan Emtage in 1989, aged 25, invented the first internet (ftp) search engine – Archie (Archive without the v). At the time he was a post graduate student at McGill University working as a volunteer systems administrator for the School of Computer Science where he conceived and implemented: Archie, a pre-web internet search engine …
In 1915 Britain’s War Office, which had initially opposed recruitment of West Indian troops, agreed to accept volunteers from the West Indies. A new regiment was formed, the British West Indies Regiment (BWIR), which served in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “They called us darkies. But when the battle starts, it didn’t make a …
George Blackman BWIR – There were no parades for us Read More »
The story of Banja and its development and its influence on calypso though the West Indies told by our guest contributor Roger Gibbs – who is Toronto based. Here we re-publish Roger Gibbs’ video presentation: Early Calypso in Barbados. In addition to the video Roger has also provided us with a transcript for those that …
Banja in Barbados and its influence on calypso throughout the West Indies Read More »
This is a follow-on to the well-known Barbadian folk song Millie Gone to Brazil and is how two classics songs L’Année Passée and Rum & Coca-Cola trace their heritage back to the Bajan folk song: King Ja Ja. It is told by our guest contributor Roger Gibbs. King Ja Ja of Opobo King Ja Ja …
This is the story of Bajan Lt. Joseph Nathaniel Griffith who was the Trinidad All Steel Percussion Orchestra (TASPO) musical director which debuted at the Festival of Britain at the South Bank Exhibition in London on 26th July 1951. At the time TASPO was probably the most technically advanced steelband in the world. Bajan: Lt. Griffith …
Lt. Joseph Nathaniel Griffith – the Bajan that taught a band to play Read More »
