Posted
on April 28, 2015
In
1998 this holiday was created by Parliamentary Act to celebrate ten
national heroes.
One
of them was a slave!
Bussa was born free in Africa and was captured
and taken to the Caribbean island of Barbados, which was a British
colony. He may have been a “ranger” on a plantation; he planned
and led the first large-scale slave rebellion in the British West
Indies.
Although
Bussa's Rebellion was put down by better-armed British forces, and
Bussa himself was killed, the influence of this rebellion was great.
Slavery was ended in Barbados – actually, all of the British West
Indies – in 1834, just 18 years after the rebellion.
Another
of the ten Barbadian heroes was Sarah Ann Gill, whose mother was
black and whose father was white. During Gills' life during the first
half of the 19th Century, Barbadian society was very
racist, and so Gill's mixed-race ancestry was seen as a taint her. She married
another mixed-race Barbadian.
Gill
embraced the Methodist faith, and when the plantation owners in Barbados ousted
the Methodist missionaries, Gill offered her home as a church. She
faced physical abuse and death threats and thus won her status of
being a national hero.
Samuel
Prescod, too, was the child of a black mother and white father. He
grew up to become the first person of African descent to be elected
to Barbados's Parliament (in 1843).
Another
hero, Charles O'Neal, was a medical doctor who had a high position in
Barbadian society. He went against the racism of that society,
however, and dedicated his life to helping people in poverty. He
worked for improved working conditions and women's rights, for
example, and he fought for free education ad dental care for kids.
 |
| Barbados is a beautiful island nation. |
I
have already written about Errol Barrow, who led Barbados to
independence and also worked to make progressive reforms.
Clement Payne and Huge Springer were pioneers in unionization of
workers in the Caribbean, and Frank Walcott also worked in the labor
movement and served as an ambassador to the United Nations. Walcott
was also famous for being an excellent cricket umpire...
Which brings
us to our ninth national hero, Sir Garfield Sobers, who is considered
by many to be cricket's greatest all-rounder.
 |
| Barbados is a small island located near the eastern (righthand) area of the map. |
Our
tenth hero is Grantley Adams. He was a politician. He was the
president of the Barbados Workers' Union before he started his
political career; he worked for a more democratic government and for
more rights for the average Barbadian and especially for the poor.
Today
is Adams's birthday. I'm not sure how his birthday was selected as a
the date to celebrate all ten heroes...
Cricket
By
the way, Adams also played cricket. He played just one match of
first-class cricket for Barbados, in the 1925-1926 season, as a
wicket-keeper.
Cricket
is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players each.
It
is played by 120 millions players around the world, making it the
world's second most popular sport. Because it was first played in
England (in the 1500s, or possibly even earlier), cricket is
especially popular in the United Kingdom and in countries that were
once part of the British Empire, such as India, Southern Africa, the
West Indies (like Barbados!), and Australia.
By
the way, if you are wondering, football (in the U.S., it's called
soccer) is the most popular sport in the world.
Also
on this date:
Anniversary
of Maryland's statehood
Astronomer
Jan Hendrik Oort's birthday
Plan
ahead:
Check
out my Pinterest boards for:
And
here are my Pinterest boards for:
Gabriela Silang took over the Ilocano rebel movement after her husband was assassinated. She led the movement for independence for four months but was then captured and executed by Spaniard forces.
Melchora Aquino is called the Grand Woman of the Revolution because she operated a store that was a refuge for exhausted freedom fighters and a sort of hospital for wounded revolutionaries. Her home was the place for secret meetings. Aquino provided food, medical care, and advice - and when she was caught by the Spaniards, and interrogated, she never gave away any names or secrets. At that point she was deported and placed under house arrest, but when the Philippines won their independence, she was able to go home again!
Emilio Aguinaldo was the first president of the Philippines - and of any constitutional republic in Asia!
