MASHRAMANI, often referred to as “Mash”, is the equivalent of Guyana’s Carnival and is an annual festival that celebrates Guyana becoming a sovereign Republic on 23 February 1970. The first Mashramani festival was celebrated on Feb 23rd, 1970 in the mining town of Linden and has since become a major national annual event . There are spectacular costume competitions, float parades, masquerade bands, and dancing in the streets to the accompaniment of steel band music…
Meet Our Sheroes
Ms. Valerie Rodway (1919-1970) was a teacher and Guyanese composer. She is best known for her national songs, which include, “O Beautiful Guyana,” “Kanaïma,” “Hymn for Guyana’s Children,” “Arise, Guyana,” and “Guyana the Free. She also put to music the famed Guyanese independence poem by Martin Carter, “Let Freedom Awaken.” Ms. Rodway was a member of one of those families whose contributions to Guyana are still evident. Her father, Newton Berthier Fraser was born in…
Born on November, 26 1930 in New Amsterdam, Berbice, Viola Victorine Burnham was the youngest of eight children of schoolmaster James Nathaniel Harper and his wife Mary (née Chin). Viola attended the All Saints Scots School from which she won a Government County Scholarship to the Berbice High School. After her father’s death the family decided to move to Georgetown where she entered Smith’s Church Congregational School. There she won a Government County Scholarship to …
Born in Guyana in January 1923, Patricia Gomes has purposefully dedicated more than half of her life to theatre and along the way has been quite accomplished in other areas. She has, as they say, “done it all” – from stage plays to storytelling to dancing her life away, much to the enjoyment of the audiences she thrilled. In 2010, Ms. Gomes was named by “Special Person” by Kaieteur News, and in an interview…
One year after Whitney Houston’s death (2/11/12), Madame Tussauds Museum unveiled Four New Wax Figures in her honor. While all four were made in the London studio, they will be spread throughout the United States. Washington D.C. will display the National Anthem statue; Vegas will own the “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” and Los Angeles will showcase “The Bodyguard.” Last Thursday, New York City received one of Whitney’s last looks—a gold gown from a 2009…
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…
If your friend was cheating on their spouse, do you think you should tell their partner? .
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,…
Shirley Chisholm is the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Congress and the first to campaign for the Presidency. She was an outspoken advocate for women and minorities during the seven terms she served in the House. Her legacy of political and social activism laid the foundation for the rise of women and Blacks in American politics. Born Shirley Anita St. Hill on November 30, 1924, she was the oldest of four girls of…
By Vibert C. Cambridge, Ph.D. December 7, 2003 Mrs Dorothy Taitt (nee Pendelton – 1896 to 1956) is remembered as a strong, competitive woman who exerted considerable influence on music in Georgetown during her lifetime. She was a critically acclaimed contralto who was in demand for concerts. She taught singing at Bishop’s High School, served as mentor to many singers such as Rupert Hunte, who became a tenor of note in the United Kingdom. She…