Activity: Retrospective / tribute
Host: Moray House Trust
Date: Tuesday 12 November 2013
The life of Jessica Huntley, pioneer publisher and political activist, was celebrated with a beautifully rendered version of Miriam Makeba’s Khawuleza song, poems from Ras Michael Jeune and Eusi Kwayana, tributes from far-flung friends and colleagues and a few scholarly musings from Dr Alissa Trotz and Tom Dalgety.
The scope and depth of Jessica’s work, as Dr Trotz, pointed out, defies definition: she cannot be reduced to any one of her achievements or undertakings. She was a founding member of the Women’s Political and Economic Organisation in 1946 along with Janet Jagan, Winifred Gaskin and others. After emigrating to the UK, the Huntleys founded Bogle L’Ouverture Press. Its first publication in 1969 was Walter Rodney’s Groundings with my Brothers and there would be many more by authors such as Andrew Salkey, Linton Kwesi Johnson. Valerie Bloom, Donald Hinds, Phyllis and Bernard Coard, Odette Thomas, Faustin Charles, Beryl Gilroy and Imruh Bakari. The Huntleys also ran a bookshop (named after Walter Rodney, following his death) and, in 1982, they helped to establish the International Book Fair of Radical Black and Third World Books. They were also active in campaigning for and supplementing the rights and education of young West Indians in the UK with a lively schedule of school visits, readings and other activities at their bookshop.
Ras Michael Jeune, Guyanese poet and one of the participants in the appreciation of Jessica’s life, dedicated a poem to her:
Video Clips
1: A song for Jessica Huntley
You Tube Clip: http://youtu.be/YLQ9HfF8p10
Ms Whaul sang Miriam Makeba’s ‘Khawuleza’ in a lyrical tribute to Jessica Huntley.
2: Setting the stage
You Tube Clip: http://youtu.be/4D4T9uR-aAc
Colin Cholmondeley read extracts from obituaries of Jessica Huntley to give a sense of her early and formative years.
3: ‘A free community of valid persons’
You Tube Clip: http://youtu.be/6q5Y6oZVSPQ
Dr. Alissa Trotz discussed Martin Carter’s ideal, ‘a free community of valid persons’, in her assessment of Jessica Huntley’s work and concluded thus: “Her world defied parochialism. Her world transcended narrow boundaries. Her world transcended national borders. It was a compassionate rebuke to narrow, racial and cultural divides.”
4: A combative martyr
You Tube Clip: http://youtu.be/WDb3bRvP9IM
“Jessica Huntley was an encourager of many who wanted to say something but had no audience.” Tom Dalgety used Dr. Ali Mazrui’s concept of different types of identity and martyrdom to explore the significance of Jessica Huntley’s work.
5: A poem for Jessica
You Tube Clip: http://youtu.be/HMZGirrBX2I
Ras Michael Jeune composed a poem for Jessica Huntley (see below).
6: Tributes to Jessica
You Tube Clip: http://youtu.be/G4eXDm8F_Uk
Jocelyne Josiah read tributes to Jessica Huntley from Dr Carolyn Cooper and Norman Girvan.
7: Backyard gatherings
You Tube Clip: http://youtu.be/bxT4hTjctwo
Deo Persaud shared memories of his friendship with Jessica Huntley.
8: An Older Brother’s Lament
You Tube Clip: http://youtu.be/XedYSXwWTVQ
Karen De Souza read Eusi Kwayana’s poetic tribute to Jessica Huntley.