Black History Month

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”.

Errol Barrow, Statesman, PM Barbados, RAF Navigator - crew graduation No. 31 OTU RAF Debert, Nova Socia Canada - 7 April 1944

F/O Errol Barrow RAF Navigator World War II & Prime Minister of Barbados

/ 82 minutes of reading / Bajan History, Bajan People, Barbados during World War I and World War II, Barbados Post World War II, Black History Month, Remembrance Sunday / 4 Comments

Errol Walton Barrow (21st January 1920 – 1st June 1987): distinguished Barbadian statesman, visionary leader and a champion of Caribbean unity led Barbados to Independence on 30th November 1966 and then served as Barbados’ first and fourth Prime Minister. Prior to that from: 1961 to 1966 as leader of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Errol Barrow …

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Mignon Inniss Ford

Mignon Lorraine Inniss: 1905 to 1995

/ 4 minutes of reading / Bajan People, Black History Month / 5 Comments

Mignon Lorraine Inniss was born on 19th November 1905 in Barbados.  In the early twenties, she immigrated to New York City where she studied Business Administration at the Braithwaite School of Business.  Here she met a group of Ethiopian dignitaries who were recruiting skilled African-Americans to help in Ethiopia’s development. Mignon immigrated to Ethiopia with …

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Olaudah Equiano

Olaudah Equiano 1745 to 1797 (Slavery Abolitionists)

/ 4 minutes of reading / Bajan History, Black History Month / 2 Comments

Olaudah Equiano was a slavery abolitionists. He was born in 1745 in Effaka to the north of Benin which is the capital of the land now called Guinea. The village was ruled by the King in Benin but there was little contact between the two towns. Olaudah Equiano’s father was an elder, or chief, of …

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Slave Burial Ground Newton Plantation

Old Doll. The Matriarch of Newton Plantation

/ 6 minutes of reading / Bajan History, Bajan People, Black History Month / Leave a Comment

The book “A Kind of Right to be Idle: Old Doll, Matriarch of Newton Plantation” by Dr. Karl Watson is published by The Barbados Museum & Historical Society. It is on sale at the Museum shop and other good bookstores. This small book makes interesting reading. It gives the history of a family of slaves …

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Adam Straw Waterman memorial St. Georges Church - Barbados

Adam Straughn (Straw) Waterman (1803 – 1887)

/ 5 minutes of reading / Bajan History, Bajan People, Barbados Plantations, Black History Month / 12 Comments

Adam Straughn (Straw) Waterman was born a slave in 1803 in either St. John or St George. Probably on one of the estates owned by the Drax Family. He got his freedom before emancipation. Adam married Nancy Hannah at St. John’s Parish Church on 2nd November 1835. Some sources say she was an outside daughter of …

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Black violinist George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower (1780-1860)

John Frederick Bridgetower

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John Frederick Bridgetower was born a slave in Barbados but was not content to end his life as one. There is no record of how he escaped from Barbados and made his way to Poland. There he worked in the family home of Austro-Hungarian Prince Esterhazy (Joseph Haydn’s patron) and learnt to speak  English, French, German, …

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2nd Lt Walter Tull – first black infantry officer in British Army (1888 – 1918)

/ 7 minutes of reading / Bajan History, Bajan People, Barbados during World War I and World War II, Black History Month, Remembrance Sunday / Leave a Comment

Walter Daniel John Tull was born in Folkestone, Kent, on 28 April 1888 to Barbadian carpenter Daniel Tull and Kent-born Alice Elizabeth Palmer.  In 1895, when Walter was seven, his mother died of cancer. A year later his father married Alice’s cousin, Clara Palmer. She gave birth to a daughter Miriam, on 11 September 1897. …

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Sidney Graham 2005 A forgotten Bajan WWII hero

Sid Graham. A forgotten Bajan WWII hero (1920 – 2017)

/ 6 minutes of reading / Bajan History, Bajan People, Barbados during World War I and World War II, Black History Month, Remembrance Sunday / 5 Comments

Sid Graham was born in Tidal Basin, Custom House in the London’s East End in 1920, the son of Sidney “Siddy” Graham a seaman from Barbados and his English wife Emma an East Ender.  Sid made it to his 97th birthday on 28th January 2017  and sadly passed away on 30th April 2017.  Until then …

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