Rosemary Hanna – Page 5 – Rosemary C. Hanna

Ona Bailey’s Garden – Soldier Road

I fell in love with plants at an early age. During the summer, my brother Stephen and I spent time in Aunt Clara’s garden watching and helping her with her plants. As a child, her garden became my favorite place.

Eventually, I grew my own garden with Bachelor Buttons and Marigolds at first. My garden was full of flowers, each one with its own peculiarity and personality.

Then I met Sarah Bardelmeier, Founder of the Horticultural Society of The Bahamas; my garden began to bloom and, as the saying goes: “the rest was history”. I enjoy attending the monthly meetings at members’ gardens, where we exchange tips and also get expert advice from various speakers. Gardening is a joy to me and bromeliads are now my favourite plants.

Ona Bailey

Michaella Strachan’s Garden – Skyline Lakes, Cable Beach

My love of gardening stems from the biblical verse in John’s Gospel Chapter 15: “The Vine and the Branches.” This analogy tells of the gift that was passed to me genetically by my beloved mother the late Mrs. Sybil Coakley-Strachan who shared a similar gift.

Gardening has been my passion all of my life. I prefer plants rather than gifts of gold and rubies. I choose rich soil to cultivate plants that I share with love among my family and friends. As this is the commandment of the Lord: to love each other as he has loved us is so clear in my daily life.

It’s with these thoughts that I continue my passion for gardening as I remain cognizant of my rich roots and heritage.

Michaella Strachan

New Yorkers who came to buy the Book

Recently I received a telephone call from Marva Moxey, daughter of the late former Parliamentarian, musician and Bahamian cultural icon, Edmund Moxey, who was searching for my book “Pictorial “History and Memories of Nassau’s Over-The-Hill” for her uncle, Dr.Emil Moxey and his friends (Messrs. Hugh Knight and Andre Springer) who were visiting from New York and were returning the following morning.

I was happy to accommodate them at home which turned out to be a memorable occasion, not only because they bought several copies of the book, but because I learnt that Dr. Moxey had been a close friend of my deceased brother Perce. Furthermore, because of our meeting I was able to put Dr. Moxey in touch with his and Perce’ s mutual friend, Christopher Francis. Pictured l-r in the bottom photo are: Andre Springer, Hugh Knight, Emil Moxey and Marva Moxey.

Tribute to Edmund Moxey by Anthony A. Newbold

Basil Lawrence Ivan Johnson, CBE, BFM – WW II Hero

Basil Lawrence Ivan Johnson, CBE, DFM, was a lifelong faithful member of St. Agnes from his christening day shortly after his birth on 1^st February 1920, to his final going home on 21^st April 2005.

He attended St. Agnes Day School where his mother, Mrs. Florence Johnson of Hay Street, was a day school teacher and throughout his life he served St Agnes. He was a member of the St. Agnes Anglican Church Men and in January 2000 received an award for long and dedicated service to St. Agnes.

In June 1993 he was named in the Queen’s Birthday Honours as Commander of the British Empire for his service during World War II, his leadership skills and his active involvement in civic and religious services to his country.

In February 1999 he was named as one of the 100 Most Outstanding Bahamians of the 20^th Century by Jones communications for his war service and his work with The Bahamas Branch of the Royal British Legion.

A World War II Veteran, he served with distinction in the British Royal Air Force Voluntary Reserves between 1941-1946 where he rose to the rank of Warrant Officer in the Pathfinder Force and was awarded the Distinguished Flying medal in recognition of his high sense of devotion to duty. He was the President of The Bahamas Branch of the British Legion for forty years, and championed the Legion’s Poppy Day activities for forty-three years.

An engineer by profession, Mr. Johnson was employed at the Bahamas Electricity Corporation from 1936 to 1980. He was married to the late Eunice Johnson and they had four children.

Reflections on “Over-The-Hill”

By Orville A. Turnquest (A Grant’s Town Boy from Over-Da-Hill”)

The story of “Over the Hill” is the story of the history of a proud and aspiring people. It is the story of freed slaves from West Africa who settled in a new land across the Atlantic Ocean. It is a story of the preservation of many aspects of an ancient culture, and the acquisition of modern skills, and quality education, in order to achieve success in a new land. It is a story of an entire area in the centre of this Island which was a distinct Settlement known as Grant’s Town, and which was once the mecca of future leaders, builders, educators, politicians, business and professional people, as well as ordinary artisans and workers, all of whom lived there and developed a fine record of black families and developing neighbourhoods.

But that reputation has changed in recent decades, as “Over the Hill” is, sadly, fast becoming a symbol of the deterioration of those same neighbourhoods “Over the Hill”. And so it is important that we do not forget from whence we came. It is also important that as we recall where we have come from we should reflect from time to time on who we are.

The Nassau Guardian, one of our two daily Newspapers, was founded in 1844; and 5 years ago, in the year 2004 when that Newspaper celebrated its 160^th Anniversary, I was invited to comment on the organizational history of that Newspaper, which had operated in the down-town City area since 1844, but moved to its present location “Over the Hill” some 45 years ago. I stated at that time that when the Newspaper was founded by Edwin Moseley in 1844, only about one-quarter of the Island’s total population could read and write – and the very large majority of them were from the white community, comprising the more privileged and economically elite white residents, who lived and worked and socialized in the Town of Nassau. Indeed, it was only a decade earlier that these white residents of Nassau had been legally deprived of their right to own slaves, with the coming into effect of the Emancipation Act of 1834. These white folk never came “Over the Hill” – or, at most, hardly ever; and they were, for the most part, the employers of the “ova-da-hill” crowd, who therefore remained generally docile and subservient to the folks uptown.

And so it was in those early days that if you lived or hailed from an area like Grant’s Town “ova-da-hill”, you were not only a black or coloured person but also underprivileged, and attached with an automatic badge of social inferiority and subservience. Hence, one frequently was dismissed with the assessed and rhetorical condemnation, adapted from the age-old biblical question, “Can any good thing come out of Grant’s Town?”

Geographically, in 1844 when The Guardian was first published, specific areas of New Providence were identified by their districts and separate settlements, each with its own boundaries, its special indigenous features, its particular segment of the population, and its historical origins. The Guardian, like all other business establishments of the day, was then located to the North of the hill range that formed a ridge parallel to the Harbour of Nassau, providing a natural southern and protective boundary to the area of land which then comprised the Town. Indeed, a section of this hill range was the site of Government House, the official residence of the Governor, bearing the rather pretentious title of Mount Fitzwilliam.

All official buildings – starting with Government House, as well as the City’s only bank at the time, all the government offices, the commercial shops, professional offices, the electrical power plant and public works department – all were located north of the hill. Any enterprising resident of “ova-da-hill”, with a flair for trading or artisanship, who decided to go into business for himself, and established his work-place in his neighbourhood, had to contend with being designated by his peers and potential customers as having merely a “petty shop”.

As a proud product of Grant’s Town, where I was born and lived until marriage, my earliest recollections go back to the mid-1930s, and many of the residents “ova-da-hill” were by then generally literate – even if not well-read. There were still only three or four primary schools in the entire area, and all but one of these were then operated by Churches. Woodcock School (which later became Western Preparatory #2) in Hospital Lane south, and St. Agnes “Copper-bread” School at Market and Lewis Streets, were both operated by the Anglicans; and Our Lady’s School further south on Young Street was operated by the Roman Catholic Church, which also catered to children from “ova-da-hill” at its other day school on the grounds of St. Francis on West and Delancy Streets. The only public school “ova-da-hill” operated by the Government was the Quarry Mission School – Western Preparatory – on Nassau Street. The two other Government Schools which accommodated children from “ova-da-hill”, were “Smith’s School (or Western Junior) and “Central School” (or Western Senior, as a successor to the “Boys Central School”).

Apart from being the business and civic hub of the Island, the Town of Nassau was also the residential area of the white and mulatto population, as well as a middle-class minority comprising the racially mixed and most of the then affluent coloured population. As the population grew, these city dwellers correspondingly extended their residences eastwards and westwards from the City limits, along or near the northern waterfront of the Island, but never southwards over the hill ridge…. no, never “ova-da-hill”.

The several distinct and clearly defined neighbourhoods of the mass of the black population also expanded, as their numbers increased, into areas outside the original “ova-da-hill” neighbourhoods into what became known as the new subdivisions. In my boyhood days the different townships of the Island were Grant’s Town, Bain Town, Englerston, Contabuta, Delancey Town, Chippingham, Mason’s Addition, Fort Fincastle, Freetown, the Pond, the White Ground, Poitier’s, Okra Hill, Kemp Road, See-me-no-more, Congo Town, Fox Hill, Sandilands Village, Headquarters (or Carmichael), Gambier, Delaporte and Adelaide Village.

All the well-known, newer, subdivisions of today were later developments of the 1940s and ‘50s …..such as Coconut Grove, Shirley Heights, Culmersville, Sears Addition, Centreville, Westward Villas, Greater Chippingham, Sea Breeze Estates, Pinedale, Nassau Village and Pinewood Gardens. Of the many villages, settlements and towns, those concentrated in the central section of the Island, south of the ridge on which Mount Fitzwilliam was located, collectively comprised the geographical area known and always referred to as “ova-da-hill”. So that “ova-da-hill” was a geographic description — but it was also a culture, a concept, an identity, a heritage, and a way of life.

“Ova-da-hill” was the area to which the majority of the population returned at the end of their work day, to their homes and their recreation. It was the location of their Churches, their bars and rum shops (or “bar-rooms” as they were called), their petty shops, their lodge halls and, most significantly, their cotton trees. Huge silk cotton trees lined the side of the main roads leading from the northern hill range southwards to the Coconut Groves and to Big Pond; so that in Grant’s Town as one proceeded southwards from the Southern Recreation Grounds at the foot of the hill, there were not less than seven or eight such giant landmarks, standing as silent sentinels at regular intervals down the eastern side of the road. The only silk cotton tree remaining along Baillou Hill Road today stands at the corner of Cockburn Street, just outside St. Agnes Church. There used to be a popular one, a regular rendezvous, just in front of the “Biltmore Shop”, a general store at the corner of Cameron Street, owned by Mrs. Minna (Frances) Thompson, one of the more affluent women of substance of Grant’s Town. Indeed, “Minna” Thompson, Mrs. Letitia Curry of Hay Street, and Mrs. Lee Laing of Market Street, were the only three ladies “ova-da-hill” who owned motor cars in that era, and they were chauffeur-driven.

In a sense it is a great pity that these majestic cotton trees, towering over Market Street, Baillou Hill Road, Hospital Lane and West Street, had to be taken down for road widening in later years; for these imposing giants served several purposes in addition to the stately aura which they provided to the area. They were regular assembly points for men of the district, particularly after Church, where discussions on every topic took place, and solutions were given for every current political issue or local problem. Shoe shine boys set up their stands on Blue Hill Road, under the cotton tree outside the Biltmore Shop, to earn their livelihood. The grandeur of the cotton trees gave authority and credence to “cotton tree justice” which was dispensed from these venues, for the traditional tribal practice was still prevalent in that period whereby the respected elders of the district dealt with reported neighbourhood wrongdoing. They received the complaint, heard the evidence of the various witnesses and persons concerned, and handed down their summary judgment which was always accepted, otherwise neighbourhood ostracism was the penalty. The trees pictured below are on Cockburn Street on the southern border of the William E. Thompson Baseball Field.

There is not much heard about “cotton tree justice” these days, but it was quite a feature of “ova-da-hill” life in times past. Young boys, in particular, who where caught, or reported, for cursing, pilfering, ill-manners to their elders, or other such bad behaviour, they were summarily dealt with under the cotton tree, receiving the appropriate number of strokes with a belt or switch. And frequently they begged their chastisers not to report the infraction to their parents, lest they afterwards receive a double dose of punishment at home. Quite a contrast from the culture en vogue today, where even teachers are hesitant to apply any form of punishment to children in their classrooms, lest they themselves be charged with abuse, or risk worse at the hands of angry, permissive parents.

Generally speaking, a reference to “ova-da-hill”, as a means of identity, was a method of describing the background and social strata of those who lived south of the hill, between Nassau Street on the west, and Collins Wall on the east. Within those boundaries were contained the huddled bulk of the black community of the Island. The area was densely crowded, both with its residents as well as their petty shops, barber shops, cafes, bar rooms, tailors and dressmakers, hairdressers and road-side fruit stands. All the houses were small wooden dwellings, seldom more than two bedrooms, plus a dining room and a “front room” or “parlour”, but there was always also a porch on the front, which was the family’s communal area every evening after work or school.

The elders of the homes socialized on the front porch with their neighbours from next door or from “through the corner”, while the youngsters did their home-work assignments from school, or played games of hop-scotch, marbles, rolling hoops, flying kites, spinning tops, telling ole’ stories, and ring-play, until time for bed. The houses were erected on small lots for the most part, sometimes two houses to a lot; each site was never more than 30’ or 40’ wide by 50’ deep, with its own small out-door toilet in the backyard. On the side of each house were a clothes line, and a sunken well, that provided all the family’s water needs for drinking, cleaning and washing. In whatever yard space that was left, a small garden always existed with the usual patch of vegetables, some flowers, and two or three fruit trees. The entire area was remarkable for its fertile soil, and one could always find a supply of locally grown guineps, ju-ju (jujubes), dillies (sapodillas), tamarinds, guavas, mammies, hog plums and scarlet plums, star apples, mangoes, citrus, almonds, coconuts, gooseberries, sea grapes, sugar apples, sour-sops, and banana.

“Ova-da-hill” was also a wonderful source of typical Bahamian food. Many of the regular dishes indigenous to the “ova-da-hill” district were really native dishes perpetuated by home-makers from their African forebears. Many of those dishes are hardly seen today, but as a boy I regularly feasted on Foo-Foo, okra soup, accara, coconut jimmy, crab and dough, guava duff, pig’s feet or sheep-belly souse, yellow corn meal, aggidi, stew fish, and scorch’ conch. Not many of our residents could afford to eat in the few native restaurants that then existed, but for the “more affluent” waiters, truck drivers, mechanics, artisans and government workers who earned steady salaries, the small but legendary restaurant, such as that operated only on weekends by Mrs. Effie Cambridge, at the corner of Baillou Hill Road and Cambridge Lane, was renowned for its outstanding delicacies in native dishes.

“Ova-da-hill” was not an economically vibrant neighbourhood during my youth, but those residents who were not permanently employed “out town”, or were not tradesmen or mechanics, were usually innovative in making a living as street-side or itinerant vendors. Fish vendors purchased their supplies from the main fish market on Bay Street, or from nearby sloops moored west of the Prince George dock. They packed them in wheel barrows which they carted “ova-da-hill” from street to street, heralding their arrival by shouting “Fish man! Fish man!” as they walked along pushing their supply of fresh fish and conch for sale. In the same way, some enterprising women would walk through the district carrying large trays of vegetables on their heads, making daily sales to house-owners who had not gone out to the market. Others carried on their heads huge bundles of dried grass, tied in a bed sheet, as they moved through the neighbourhood shouting “Bed grass! Bed grass!”, which was regularly purchased by persons who could not afford regular mattresses and utilized this native material to make home-made mattresses for their beds.

The entrepreneurial spirit was even prevalent amongst the youth. Newspaper deliveries to subscribers, as well as street sites were handled by teenage boys who went through the streets of the area every evening delivering newspapers to their customers, or making sales. Young boys also earned a livelihood by selling hot peanuts from box-carts, which they made from small wooden crates mounted on wheels, with a burning coal stove in the bottom compartment to keep the peanuts warm.

Of course, the regular means of transport were horse drawn carriages (now only a tourist attraction), horse-drawn drays and donkey-carts for transporting wholesale freight and large supplies being delivered to retail establishments “ova-da-hill”. Individuals either rode bicycles or walked wherever they had to go. There were comparatively very few motor cars; but of course in those days the usual destinations were all within walking distance.

In those early years Religion was a dominant feature of life. The majority of the early settlers were Anglicans, Methodists, Roman Catholics, Baptists and Church of God. Prior to the 1940s, there were only one or two Churches of each such denomination. St. Agnes and later St. Barnabas were the Anglican Churches which served Grant’s Town and Bain Town. Grant’s Town Wesley was the only Methodist Church “ova-da-hill”, while Our Lady’s and St. Joseph were the Church homes for those Roman Catholics who did not wish to make the trek up the hill to St. Francis on Delancey Town.

The Baptist Churches were “Metropolitan” on Hay Street, “Transfiguration” at Market and Vesey Streets, and “St. Paul” through Bias Street, although many Baptists went up on Delancy Town to Bethel, and to St. John’s on Meeting Street. The first Church of God was established by the late Bishop W.V. Eneas, father of the late Dr. Cleveland W. Eneas. This congregation first worshipped on a site in Hospital Lane south, then moved to Eneas Jumper Corner, until they relocated the present Cathedral at the junction of East Street and Lily of the Valley (Red Lion Bar) Corner.

Apart from the Churches, which have certainly multiplied in abundance over the last 50 years, the social life of the “ova-da-hill” community was fully supplied by the lodges, friendly societies, nightclubs and sporting organizations. The more entertaining form of after-work activity was provided by the nightclubs which were legendary. Strangely, none of them now exist. There was Weary Willie’s at the corner of Baillou Hill Road and Bias Street, which was a three-storey structure with a restaurant and shops on the ground floor, hotel rooms on the second floor, and a nightclub on the top floor. The Silver Slipper on East Street, the Zanzibar on Baillou Hill Road, and the Cat’n Fiddle on Nassau Street South, operated almost on a nightly basis, both as dance halls and nightclubs, and also as fund-raising venues for charities and social organizations which did not have access, as they do today, to the hotels and white establishments to which black and coloured patrons were at that time racially barred.

Music was a predominant feature of the day-to-day life “ova-da-hill”. Practically every child went to “music lessons” in addition to the regular day school attendance, to study music and to learn to play the piano, violin, saxophone or some other instrument. The teachers were usually a Church organist, member of a band or orchestra, or some other accomplished musician in the district. And there were many. Names that immediately come to mind are Charles Weir, Bert Cambridge, W.A.G. Bain, Blanche Horton Stuart (later Wright), Charles Carey, Nat Bosfield, “Bulla” Roberts (who was also the father of Persis Rodgers), Rudy Williams (pictured at right with his band), Freddie Munnings, Sr. (clarinet player at left in picture), Eric Cash, Maurice Harvey, Eric Russell and “Sir Buck” Marshall. There were also many musical performers in the entertainment field, such as Sidney Wood, Eloise Lewis, Joe Lord, Maureen Duvalier, Charlie Adamson and “Joe Billy” Rolle, who was renowned for his Saturday night “jumpin’ dance” sessions in the Cat Island Association Hall through King Street.

Another form of entertainment was provided by the neighbourhood movie houses. The Palace Theatre was in existence from my earliest recollection. It was situated in Grant’s Town at the foot of the hill opposite the Southern Recreation Grounds and was owned by Mr. Louis Duvalier who lived on Market Street. Years later, in the 1940s, the Cinema Theatre was established at the corner of East and Lewis Streets; and in the 1950s Mr. Percy Pinder built and operated the Hill Side Theatre at the corner of East Street and Mason’s Addition. This was followed by the Capital Theatre which was built on Market Street opposite the Southern Recreation Grounds. None of these movie houses exist today.

Sport was a pervading outlet for the energies and interests of the young people of the community. Cricket was the national sport, with soccer and rugby the popular winter interests. Everyone either played cricket or was a knowledgeable enthusiast. Each district in the Island was represented by a senior team, all competing for an annual championship trophy. There was St. George’s for the Eastern District, St. Alban’s for the West, The Wanderers for the Police and St. Michael’s (later St. Agnes) for “Ova-da-hill”. In later years, there were additional teams like St. Bernard’s for the Catholic community, the Vikings, and the Westerns. Of course, today, the youngsters from “ova-da-hill” excel in all forms of current popular sport, including track and field, baseball, softball and basketball. They stand, symbolically and proudly, on the shoulders of many former “ova-da-hill” champions in all disciplines of Bahamian sport.

Importantly, however, were the many leaders in commerce, industry, education, government and the professions who came from humble beginnings “ova-da-hill” and, despite many obstacles of opportunity and financial means, went on to become the Bahamian legends of the present and past generations who were the prominent “ova-da-hill” merchants of yesteryear.

Many of today’s lawyers, doctors, dentists and other professionals have their roots “ova-da-hill”, but they were rare specimens 50 years ago. Dr. C. R. Walker was probably the first, followed by Dr. Cleveland W. Eneas from Bain Town. I was acclaimed as the first lawyer from “ova-da-hill” when I was called to the Bar 56 years ago. In fact, the late Justice Maxwell J. Thompson, although born in Inagua, grew up in Mason’s Addition and could certainly claim to have been an “ova-da-hill” boy when he was called to the Bar seven years earlier in 1946. Serving the entire area was a single Police Station, and fire engine, which provided the police and emergency needs of the “ova-da-hill” community in the early days. The first Southern Police Station was in fact destroyed during the infamous Burma Road Riot of 1942. It was then located on the western side of Baillou Hill Road, at its junction with Bias Street, opposite which was the two-storey building at Vesey Street which housed the Post Office on the ground floor and the Grant’s Town Public Library on the upper floor. Here, many of us, as students, went to do our home-work under the helpful eye of Miss Lily Weir, the Librarian. It is interesting to note that her niece, Mrs. Lillian Weir Coakley, was later appointed a librarian after the library had been later relocated to its present site, nine years later in 1951, when the present Southern Public Library was erected on the Southern Recreation Grounds after much parliamentary and governmental difficulty sustained by its promoters, Dr. C. R. Walker and Mr. Bert A. Cambridge, the MPs for the District.

In those early days the community leaders were the few professionals and the more successful merchants, teachers and artisans who stood out and were relied upon for guidance in all the public and civic occasions. They were also the officers in the Churches, in lodges, burial societies and the fledging credit unions, some of which were not more than Asues. The late Dr. C. R. Walker was the only medical doctor who set up his office over-the-hill. He had first established a consulting office on the hill-top, on Meeting Street opposite Bethel Baptist Church; but he later built the Reinhardt Hotel at the corner of Baillou Hill Road and the Tin Shop Corner, and moved his office and a small pharmacy on the ground floor of this building, which he himself designed and constructed. He also published a weekly newspaper, “The Voice”, from this building. Immediately to the South of the Reinhardt Hotel was the Grant’s Town Market, which was an adjunct to the main fish and vegetable market on Bay Street. The Bay Street Market was a venerable old Spanish-type building on the North side of Bay Street, opposite the Northern end of Market Street, bounded on its western side by the Government Ice House which daily manufactured ice for the entire Island in those days, prior to the advent of refrigerators in homes. On the Southern side of the Grant’s Town Market there was a small area to which ice was delivered daily from the factory “ice house” on Bay Street, and “ova-da-hill” residents could purchase their daily ice requirements from their own ice depot each morning. A corn mill was also located in this Grant’s Town Market, where residents took the corn grown in their own fields “over Blue Hill”, or in their own backyards, to be ground into grits or meal for their personal home use.

And so life went on. Over the past generation, most of the old families from “ova-da-hill” have expanded in numbers, in affluence, and in importance in the Country. They have become some of the Country’s main “movers and shakers”. Grant’s Town and Bain Town which produced the achievers of yesteryear still provide homes for the under-class, mostly the present-day less privileged who have moved into the area from outlying Family Islands, and immigrants from Haiti and other Caribbean Islands. Meanwhile, as “ova-da-hill” expands, large commercial and industrial establishments continue to base themselves in this popular and historic sector.

This year, as we celebrate 36 years as an Independent Nation, those of us who hail from “ova-da-hill” must look back with pride to our roots and to this area from which we came.

Old street scene photos courtesy of Bob Davies http://www.oldbahamas.com/

Rudy Williams orchestra courtesy of his daughter Carolyn Bartlett

Dr. C. R. Walker courtesy of his daughter Juliette Barnwell

February 2009

Dr. Andree G. Hanna, MB BS, FRCP(C) – A Trailblazer in Her Field

Dr.Andree G. Hanna is the first Bahamian Pathologist and the first female Head of Department of the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH).

Like most Bahamian children of her era, she was born “Over-The-Hill” in Nassau. The last of seven children, she was blessed with supportive siblings, a mother who taught her to strive for excellence in all that she did, and a father who taught her that there was no limit to what she could achieve.

Andree attended public schools in Nassau, completing her secondary education at the Government High School (GHS), before entering the University of the West Indies (UWI) where she studied Medicine. She graduated from Medical School with the MB BS degree, two months before her twenty-fourth birthday. Upon graduation, Dr. Hanna did her Internship at PMH and then worked at the Public Health Department before going off to specialize in Pathology on an In-Service award. After Pathology residency training at the University of Western Ontario, Canada, she returned to The Bahamas with Specialist Certification in Pathology from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and admission as a Fellow of the Royal College. While serving as consultant and later Consultant head of the Pathology and laboratory Department of PMH, she enrolled in the University of Miami’s Nassau programme and graduated “Magna cum Laude” with a Masters of Business Administration degree.

Andree’s professional affiliations include: Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, member of the Canadian Association of Pathologists, Member of the American Society for Clinical Pathology, member of the Clinical Laboratory management Association, and Member of the International Association of Cytology.

She served initially and for many years as Pathologist in charge of Hematopathology and performed all of the bone marrow aspirates in the hospital. Additionally, staffing constraints soon made it necessary for her to also serve in Surgical Pathology, Cytopathology, Autopsy Services and, at various times, all areas of Clinical pathology.

During her tenure at the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Dr. Hanna is credited with modernizing and reorganizing the Department. She spearheaded the continuous provision of state-of-the-art equipment, a Satellite laboratory in the Out-Patients Department, implementation of a modern Stat Laboratory in the Accident and Emergency area, a shift system in the Blood Bank, renovation and modernization of the Rand Laboratory autopsy suite, the Surgical Pathology and Cytopathology Sections, the temporary relocation of several Sections of the Department to Collins Avenue when the existing infrastructure could not accommodate the required new equipment, and an automated laboratory Information System.

An important facet of her contribution was staff development. Continuing education programmes and staff rotations were implemented. Many staff members were given In-Service awards and returned with degrees and certification in Medical Technology. Two other Pathologists were trained through In-Service awards.

Andree’s contributions also included service to much hospital, Ministry of Health, national and regional committees. She was the first Chairperson of the hospital’s Environmental Safety Committee which focused on safety monitoring, safety protocols and procedures, and safety training for all levels of staff. She was an active member of the hospital’s Medical management committee, committees devising protocols for the establishment of the Public Hospitals Authority (PHA), and the Terms and conditions of Service for Physicians at the PHA.

She has been honoured for professional achievements by Academy of Medical Sciences and by women in Sciences and Technology.

A long term objective of Dr. Hanna’s was certification of the laboratory to international standards, so she was delighted to be seconded in April 2004, to the Ministry of Health, to head the National medical laboratory Strengthening Project, with ultimate goal of attaining certification for public and private laboratories in The Bahamas.

Andree balances her professional life with church, family, friends and hobbies. She is a member of St. Agnes Anglican Church where she sings in the choir. She was a charter member of the Zonta club of Nassau; she is a member and past president of the Carver Garden Club and is a member of the Horticultural Society of The Bahamas. Her hobbies include floral design, gardening, traveling, swimming, racquet games and reading. She also enjoys regular gatherings of her extended family with the group of known as “The Lime”. She is now happily retired.

Andree is divorced and has two daughters, Tracy and Gina Stubbs and a granddaughter, Grace Eneas.

Wake Up Bahamas!

This letter was published in the press 29th October 2013

The Editor

Dear Sir:

Wake Up Bahamas!

Recently, I was appalled to hear that a young person claimed that in the 60s all Bahamians lived in the “ghetto”! What absolute nonsense! That ignorant young lady and whoever fed her that nonsense need to be enlightened. This is the sad legacy of not making Bahamian history mandatory in all schools, both public and private. Wherever you go in other parts of the world, that country’s history is taught in its schools. When I was growing up I was taught all about the Boer War, India and other places that meant absolutely nothing to me. In many ways we are still working in that same antiquated mode and the school curriculum needs to be revised. I spoke to a COB history class recently and when asked if they had been were taught Bahamian history in high school those who had said that it was not in depth. We also need to stop trying to plug square pegs into round holes by forcing children who are not academically inclined to take BGCSE examinations, which is yet another big disaster that ought to be done away with. Those students who are not academically gifted must be taught other subjects that will help them to earn a living and function in the real world when they leave school. We are backward in so many ways. I often shudder when driving around after school hours to see and hear the manner in which so many of our children conduct themselves, including foul language from both boys and girls.

While on this topic I extend congratulations to Mr. T. Edward Clarke for what he is doing to rescue some of our at risk boys through his L.E.A.D. Institute and also to Mr. Ricardo Deveaux for the tremendous work he is doing through The Bahamas Primary School organization which recognizes excellence in primary school students. This is the level at which our children need to be taught about the rich historical heritage of The Bahamas.

Around the time that The Hon. Paul Adderley died, ZNS TV played a number of his speeches and I was particularly struck by one in which Mr. Adderley stated that when he was in charge of The Ministry of Education and tried to introduce certain aspects of Bahamian culture into the curriculum he encountered obstructionist senior civil servants within the Ministry and among some school Principals. Fr. James Moultrie, who served as Junior Minister under Mr. Adderley at the time, confirms that there were many who resisted the teaching of authentic Bahamian history and that he shared Mr. Adderley’s frustration and disappointment. While there were a few cosmetic changes, a comprehensive curriculum on Bahamian history and culture never materialized. I also recall attending Marion Bethel’s showing of her documentary Womanish Ways and the following panel discussion. Among the panelists were the direct descendents of the women who were at the vanguard of the women’s suffrage movement in The Bahamas namely, Alice Ingraham Rolle (daughter of Mary Ingraham who was the founder of the movement in The Bahamas), Wallis Lockhart Carey (daughter of Eugenie Lockhart), Andrew “Dud” Maynard (son of Georgina Symonette) and Shirley Sands Johnson (sister of Dame Dr. Doris Johnson). During that discussion Mr. Maynard cried when he related how when they tried to get the information concerning the movement introduced into the school curriculum, they were told by a senior Ministry of Education official, although not called by name (a Reverend Gentleman who is still alive today) that they were trying to indoctrinate the children. What a shame!

My book Pictorial history and Memories of Nassau’s Over-The Hill came about precisely because of my disgust at the rot and decay in that and many other areas all over the Island of New Providence. It’s important for the uninformed to know that many of the nation builders and others upon whose shoulders we all stand came from Over-The-Hill. Grant’s Town, Bain Town, Mason’s Addition, Anderson Street, Lewis Street, McCullough Corner, Market Street, Vesey Street, Hay Street, McPherson Street, East Street, Fort Fincastle, Nassau Street, Chippingham Meadow Street, King Street, Ross Corner and other areas and that they were not the “ghetto”. These were the areas where our nation builders were born and lived. We never knew the word “ghetto”, which has been imported from elsewhere in more recent times, and everyone took pride and kept their surroundings clean.

Sir Lynden Pindling (pictured left) was born in Mason’s Addition and grew up on East Street;

Civil Servants such as Marina Greaves, Ivor Donald Archer, former Financial Secretary Ruth Millar and her brother the Hon. Alfred Maycock came from Mason’s Addition. So did Rose Hall-King and her son, former Chief Justice Sir Burton Hall, outstanding educators Dame Dr. Doris Johnson, Rev’d Carlton Francis, Donald W. Davis (pictured at right) and a number of Poitiers, as well as the current Director of Archives Elaine Toote and her siblings Dr. Vanria Rolle and Lewis Colebrooke. Mason’s Addition also produced Rev’d Earle Francis and medical and academic doctors Baldwin Carey, Eugene Newry, Manny Francis, Pandora Johnson, Junkanoo leader Percy “Vola” Francis, international movie star Calvin Lockhart and Ambassador Basil O’Brien, as well as successful business persons like the Wallaces, Thompsons and others.

Ross corner produced Franklyn Wilson and his siblings, Dr. Kenneth Alleyne, Kayla Alleyne Burrows and Kalfani (Lisle Alleyne, Jr.). I’m happy to see that Dr. Alleyne is now refurbishing the family homestead. Hopefully others will follow his example and that of Dr. Roger Weir who has done a beautiful job with the Weir homestead on West Street. The Coakley house on Lewis Street has also been beautifully restored by its new owner Mr. Gibson (formerly of Vesey and Market Streets).

Gaol Alley and Anderson Street produced Monsignor Preston Moss, Mildred Johnson Bowe, Verna Elcock, Leslie Johnson, educators Luther and Margaret McDonald (later Ambassador) and their children Donna smith and Luther, Jr. the Sweetings, Gibsons, Bostwicks, Bowes, Adderleys, Allan, Ivan, Perce, Paul and Dr. Andree G. Hanna, Velma Archer Allen, Annette Knowles, Durward Archer, the Pinders, Seymours, Mitchells, Beryl Barnett, renowned artist Kendal Hanna and his brother Leslie and siblings, and Michael “Sarge” Hanna. On Lewis Street there were the McCartneys, Coakleys including Sylvia Matthew Hyacinth Saunders, Alma Cartwright, Marina Thompson Sands, John, Wyatt Johnson, Stephen and Ellen Serville, the Tinkers, Johnsons, Darvilles, C.A.P. Smith and William Cartwright.

Sir Randol Fawkes was born at Fort Fincastle and later lived on McPherson Street, Justice Jeanne Thompson’s family and the family of Timothy Gibson, the McCartneys and Coopers also lived there. Archdeacon William Thompson and his brothers Bishop Gilbert Thompson and Dr. Philip Thompson lived at the corner of Hay and Market Streets. Sir Orville Turnquest’s family lived on Hay Street, Dr. & Mrs. Jackson Burnside’s family lived at Fort Fincastle where Mrs. Burnside still resides, The Coakleys, Smiths, Johnsons and McCartneys lived on Lewis Street; Dr. & Mrs. C.R. Walker lived and worked in Bain Town and their daughter Juliette Barnwell still lives there. Many of our schools are named after outstanding persons who came from Over-The-Hill: Cleveland W. Eneas, C. R. Walker Mabel Walker, S.C. McPherson, Carlton Francis. Doris Johnson, Donald Davis, Sadie Curtis, Thelma Gibson and the list goes on.

I get annoyed every time I hear Craig Flowers on TV talking about being born in the “ghetto” and he should know better because when he lived there Quakoo Street was clean and he and his brothers, like everyone in the area, were always well groomed and were taught manners. Over-the-Hill and other areas of this Island did not look the way it does now with all of the filth. Mr. Flowers is seen on TV picking up a piece of paper from the immaculate lawn on his property on West Bay Street. I would urge him to use his influence to encourage some of the Quakoo Street residents with whom he is seen shaking hands and patting on the shoulders to clean up the nasty environment that they have created instead of sitting around under the trees in the midst of the filth. This is to the detriment of other people like the Storrs and a few others who keep their properties in clean and pristine condition, as was the case when Mr. Flowers grew up there. Everyone in the neighbourhood from the humblest to the more successful, like Mr. Flowers’ father, kept their surroundings clean, and it was definitely not a “ghetto”. We all lived by the adage that “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”. Perhaps a part of the reason for the current state of affairs is that so many of our people are Godless while others just pretend to be Godly and are more concerned with all of the material trappings of being self appointed Pastors, Apostles, Reverend Doctors and Bishops.

Self-pride is sadly lacking in so many of us. On the one hand we complain about the foreigners and want to blame them for everything that is wrong in the country while on the other we are quick to copy the most negative aspects of some of those other cultures. I don’t want to see your dirty underwear! At the same time some of our so-called “entertainers” pick up a fake Jamaican accent as soon as they put a mic to their mouths. Wherever they go in the world Jamaicans, Americans, British and other nationalities never lose their identity or accent, but we Bahamians, the ultimate copy cats, pick up accents after only being away from The Bahamas for brief periods. We are such “pretenders”! We also need to get away from the notion that Junkanoo is the only thing that defines our culture. We are much more than that.

I think that one of the worst things to happen in this country was the deliberate dismantling of Jumbey Village which was the brainchild of Mr. Edmund Moxey. The Village was located at the site where the National Insurance building now stands, and featured every aspect of our culture including Junkanoo, art, straw work, music, live entertainment. When Mr. Moxey fell out of grace he was ridiculed and Jumbey Village was dismantled. James Rolle can attest to the fact that he was sent abroad to train as a curator for the art gallery and that when he returned home the Village was no more. I also highly recommend Mr. Moxey’s documentary: “The Price of Being a Man” which documents the history of Jumbey Village.

Every Bahamian should be required to read Sir Randol Fawkes’s book The Faith that Moved the Mountain and learn factual historical information about The Bahamas.

Wake up Bahamas! We need to educate and enlighten the uniformed and yes “indoctrinate” them with what is Bahamian. I make no apologies for that.

Yours sincerely,

Rosemary C. Hanna

Adopted and Blessed by Liam Edwards

Twelve year old Liam Edwards is the author of the wonderful book “Adopted and Blessed”. He wrote an essay for school and was encouraged by his sixth grade teacher Mrs. Colajean Butler of the Colajean Institute to turn it into a book. Liam is now a 7th grade student at St. Augustine’s College (SAC). On 25th April 2015 he had a book signing at Chapter One Bookstore at The College of The Bahamas and the book is available at Amazon.com.

Liam and his family worship regularly at St. Agnes Anglican Church in Grant’s Town, New Providence, The Bahamas.

Quotes from the book:

A family does not have to be biologically connected. A family is made up of persons who choose to love and care for one another. My mother and I are an adoptive family. An adoptive family is any family that has an adopted child or children. My parent is my mother, but my aunts help her to take care of me.

When I was six years old, my mother took me to the beach and told me that I was adopted. She thought it was important for me to know that even though she did not give birth to me, I was her child. Finding out that I was adopted was a big surprise. But I felt safe because I knew that my mother loved me and she was the only mother that I needed.”

I had some questions about my biological parents and my mother answered them. She also told me that whenever I wanted to talk about it we could do so. She told me that I could talk to her about any feelings that I may have.

She told me that I could also write about my feelings. Even though I don’t know where my biological parents are, I have written letters to ehem. I keep these letters in a box. If I ever meet my biological parents I can give them the letters.

I have a baby brother. His name is Layth. He is my mother’s biological son. He grew in her body. My mother says if anyone says that he is her natural son, that makes me ‘supernatural’! He is her second son! She loves us both. She has been blessed twice. I love my baby brother. I can’t wait to teach him about life. I can’t wait to show him the good things in the world. My name means protector and guardian of God’s people. I am my brother’ Layth’s protector and guardian.

Dr. Joseph Robert Love

Dr. Joseph Robert Love was the grandfather of the late Vera Love and great grandfather of the late Cynthia Love, who were both lifelong active members of St. Agnes Church. Another of Dr. Love’s great granddaughters, Gloria Archer, lives in Freeport, Grand Bahama. Dr. Love was born in Nassau in 1839. He grew up in Grant’s Town and was a member of St. Agnes Church. He moved to the United States in the 1860s and became a priest in 1877.

In 1879 Dr. Love became the first black medical graduate of the University of Buffalo. He went to Haiti in 1881 as a medical missionary. In the 1880s many black West Indians went to Haiti in search of work as they felt more comfortable living in a Black Republic, where they would not be discriminated against by Colonialists. Dr. Love was among a number of foreigners who became involved in Haitian politics. He later moved to Jamaica where he also became active in politics and published a weekly paper the Jamaica Advocate. He was elected to the Legislative Council in 1906 and served in other high offices in Jamaica. Dr. Love was a proud black man and he always encouraged black Jamaicans to become involved in politics. Marcus Garvey, the Jamaican Black Nationalist Leader, was influenced by the writings of Dr. Robert Love, who died in Kingston, Jamaica in 1914.

The bust of Dr. Love was created and photographed by Andret John.

Sir Randol F. Fawkes

In the late 1940s and before the new road Glinton Square was opened, McPherson Street (or Bethell’s Addition as it was then called), was a quiet cul-de-sac, and the families who lived there enjoyed their closely knit little enclave.

Sir Randol F. Fawkes is regarded as the Father of Labour in The Bahamas. Although small in stature he was a giant of a man who suffered many personal hardships and adversities in his fight to uplift the down trodden workers of The Bahamas. He was a very pleasant man who greeted everyone with a smile and he always walked briskly.

Randol Fawkes was called to the Bar in 1948. In June 1951, he married the former Jacqueline Bethel at St. Agnes Church and the ceremony was performed by Canon Milton E. Cooper, with William E. Thompson serving as an acolyte. Randol and his wife had four children, Francis, Rosalie, Douglas and David.

Early in his practice as a lawyer Fawkes became aware of the inequities with regard to representation of the poor before the legal system. He realized that the Bar Association was not effective and, with the help of Norman Manley and Basil Rowe of Jamaica, he got a copy of the Jamaican Bar Association constitution and adapted it to the Bahamian situation. He fought hard for the establishment of Court of Appeal. He also petitioned for the abolition of the all white male jury system. Following a court case in which he represented a Civil Servant, Fawkes was suspended from practicing law for two years. His Notary Public License was revoked and the Board of Education would not allow him to carry out his duties as the duly elected Chairman of the Parent-Teachers’ Association of Western Senior School.

As result of the foregoing, in 1954 he left his young family and travelled to New York where he held a number of menial jobs. Upon his return to The Bahamas and the restoration of his license to practice law, he continued undaunted in his struggle for the poor man. He described himself as David fighting against the formidable power structure of the white minority Goliaths, who were determined to keep blacks enslaved through poor wages and lack of education.

Fawkes ran on the Progressive LIberal Party (PLP) ticket in the 1956 election and he was one of the Magnificent Six PLP candidates who won seats in that historic election. Seated l-r: Cyril Stevenson, Lynden O. Pindling, Clarence Bain; Standing l-r: Samuel Isaacs, Milo B. Butler and Randol Fawkes..

Fawkes was one of the leaders of the 1958 General Strike which came about, yet again, because of the blatant discrimination of the minority white ruling class. Late in 1957, The Bahamas Government granted the white owned tour companies exclusive franchises to transport tourists to and from the newly constructed Nassau International Airport. As a result of this a group of taxi drivers led by Clifford Darling (later Sir Clifford and Governor General) and others used their taxi-cabs to block all access to and from the airport. In 1958 the members of the Taxi-Cab Union sought the assistance of The Bahamas Federation of Labour in their fight with the tour company operators. On 13^th January 1958, Randol Fawkes and Lynden Pindling and others travelled to the various hotels and gave the order for work to stop. The strike spread to all sectors and finally came to end on 29^th January 1958, after the Governor brought representatives the government, the taxi drivers and the tour companies together.

But that was not the end of Fawkes’s problems. Sometime later in 1958, he was charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct because of his having met with mill workers in Abaco to hear their grievances concerning their poor working conditions and pay. I don’t know when the accidents occurred but, my sister-in-law’s father, James Roy Williams and his brother Reginald, lost a hand and foot respectively in the Abaco mills and they had no recourse. Fawkes was given a suspended sentence by Magistrate Maxwell J. Thompson, and bound over to keep the peace for three years. However, that did not deter him and he proceeded to have a meeting at Windsor Park on 8^th August, 1958, the same evening of the day on which he was bound over to keep the peace. The following day he was arrested and charged with sedition (treason) and hauled off to jail.

He was brought to trial before a white Judge and a jury of eleven white and one black man. Fawkes was represented by Vivian O. S. Blake of Jamaica, who fought an uphill battle on behalf of his client, which ultimately resulted in the Judge ordering a not guilty verdict.

In the historic January 1967 general elections, the PLP and UBP parties both won eighteen seats. Randol Fawkes who had run on the Labour ticket also won and Alvin Braynen, a white man who had fallen out with the UBP won as an independent, so the balance of power hung in the hands of these two gentlemen. Fawkes was persuaded to join with the PLP and thus was born the PLP-Labour Coalition Government with Alvin Braynen accepting the position of Speaker of the House. Pictured are: Front l-r, Lynden O. Pindling, Premier and Sir Ralph Grey, Governor; back l-r: Cecil Wallace-Whitfield, Milo B. Butler, Arthur D. Hanna, Clarence Bain, Jeffery Thompson, Carlton Francis, Randol F. Fawkes, Warren Levarity, Curtis McMillan and Clement T. Maynard.

The Fawkes family moved from McPherson Street to their estate, “La Campanella” on JFK Drive where Lady Fawkes still resides. Their former house at McPherson was later occupied by the R. M. Bailey tailor business.

In an 18^th May 1998 interview with the magazine, Consumerism Today, published in its June/July 2001 issue under the heading: “Profile of a Great Bahamian” Sir Randol is quoted as follows:

“Today, both political parties are trying to ride the bandwagons of the TUC and others. As a result they (the Labour movement) are not as effective as they can be, for the poor people. I hope there will be another Bahamas Federation of Labour, but is takes a long time to build a man.”

And further:

“The only advice I can give them is that they have to study Business Administration. How they can bring the administration together without losing any power or sovereignty of separate unions. In fact, you said they are not united, and asked me for advice for them; well they should unite and stay clear of these political parties. Because, no matter what they do the political parties want to get on the bandwagon. And in getting on the bandwagon, they adulterate the aspirations of the labour movement, and eventually they will destroy it.”

Sir Randol fought for and was the author of the Bill that established Labour Day as a public holiday. The first official Labour Day was celebrated in 1962. Yet, forty-nine years later in June 2010, P. Anthony White wrote concerning Randol Fawkes:

“Six years were to elapse before a stubborn, shortsighted Bay Street would reluctantly cause the first Friday in June each year to be observed as Labour Day and a public holiday. But it was Randol Fawkes’s dream and desire for the workers of The Bahamas, and it came about largely because he, even more stubborn than Bay Street, harboured a faith that would, indeed, one day move the mountain. “Yes, Sir Randol Fawkes was the determined man who made it all happen. The nation has not yet completed its task of according him his deserving reward and recognition.”

Other great Bahamians and, in my estimation some not so great, have had public buildings, schools, highways and monuments named in their honour. Yet successive Governments of The Bahamas have failed to bestow any such honour in memory of The Father of Labour.

ADDENDUM

In April 2013, forty (40) years after his pivotal role in the attainment of Majority Rule, the Government of The Bahamas passed a Bill to rename Labour Day as Sir Randol Fawkes Labour Day, which was celebrated on Friday, 7th June 2013.