The daughter of Guyanese immigrants, Justice Juanita Westmoreland-Traore is the first Black Dean appointed to a law school (University of Windsor Faculty of Law) in Canada’s history, and the first Black Judge appointed to the Bench in history of Quebec. Judge Westmoreland-Traoré, was born on March 10, 1942 in Verdun, now part of Montreal, Quebec. She studied at Marianopolis College, and subsequently obtatined a law degree from the Université de Montréal (1966) and a doctorate…
The First
Dr. Beryl Agatha Gilroy (née Answick) was a novelist and teacher, and “one of Britain’s most significant post-war Caribbean migrants”. Born on August 30th, 1924 in Guyana (then British Guiana), she moved in the 1950s to the United Kingdom, where she became the first black head teacher to be appointed in the borough of Camden in London at Beckford Primary. Beryl was born in Skeldon, Berbice, Guyana. She grew up in a large, extended family,…
The Honourable Madam Justice Désirée Bernard, a citizen of Guyana, was born on 2 March 1939. A lawyer by profession, she began her career in 1963 when she attained a Bachelor of Laws Degree from the University of London. Qualifying as a solicitor in 1964, Justice Bernard engaged in private practice in the High Court of the Supreme Court of Guyana from 1965 to 1980. During that period, she was appointed a Magistrate (1970), Commissioner of…
‘Gwen’ grew up in the Barima River area of the North West District in Guyana, the twentieth child in a family of 21 kids. She says she owes her toughness in the ring to long hours spent doing hard work on her parents’ farm at an early age. Her father, who was from St. Lucia, died when she was five. She had also had to fight her way through school, so as not to be taken advantage of…
An Aircraft Maintenance Engineer is often assumed to be male. Slowly, however, the number of women is increasing, not only in the United States and the UK, but also in the Caribbean. LIAT’s first female aircraft maintenance engineer, Tesia Alexander, is leading the way for other women who want to explore this field. In 2009 Tesia became the first female aircraft engineer appointed by Liat, in its 53 years of operation. Tesia is based Antigua and credits her success…
In a once unthinkable career for women, aviation in modern times has seen a multitude of females excelling in the field. One such example is US-based Guyanese (Captain) Beverley Drake, who knocked down the stereotype in her aviation career to prove that women can do a man’s job. Beverley, who grew up in Georgetown, in an interview with Guyana Times Sunday Magazine revealed that her father always wanted her to become a pilot, so he…
In 2004 Maritza Correia McClendon made history when she became the first Black woman to earn a place on the U.S. Olympic Swim Team. She helped to secure the silver medal in the 400-meter freestyle relay at the Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. Maritza was born on December 23, 1981 in San Juan, Puerto Rico to Guyanese parent, Vincent and Anne Correia. In 1988, when Maritza was seven years old, she was diagnosed with severe scoliosis which is…
Windee Algernon will go down in history as Guyana’s first female army Colonel and the first full-serving female member of any of the Caribbean’s armed forces to hold such a rank. Colonel Algernon was promoted in the Guyana Defense Force from Substantive Lieutenant Colonel to this male dominated rank in January 20, 2012. Reflecting on this milestone, Colonel Algernon told reporters that she has been in the army since 1980, served in a number of appointments and underwent several training…
Shawna Rochelle Kimbrell is a major in the United States Air Force, and the first female African-American fighter pilot in the Air Force history. She was born in Lafayette, Indiana on April 20, 1976, to Guyanese parents, Dr Norman Ng A Qui, and Eve Blackman Ng A Qui after they migrated to the US. Their hard work and dedication paid off in her father earning a degree from Howard University and a doctorate from Purdue University. That focus on…