Growing up in All Saints Village, Antigua: The 1940S – the Late 1960S

By Emily Vanessa Spencer Knight

This book is intended for persons living in Antigua in general but more particularly for those living in All Saints at present and to give some historical background of the All Saints I knew growing up there during the nineteen forties to the late sixties. The vast developments which have taken place on all sides since then have changed the features of the village altogether. It should not be regarded as a complete history of All Saints of the Forties and Sixties, but recollections only, of this Author. I trust that it will trigger some interest, arouse curiosity to the extent that it will encourage someone to do some research and pick up from where I have left off.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 21, 2009
• ISBN: 9781469102320

Emily Vanessa Spencer Knight

Mrs. Emily Knight has always been referred to by her colleagues as an outspoken, no-nonsense person; multi-talented, and too methodical in her approach to things. In a nutshell here are some words taken from the citation delivered in her honour at the University of the West Indies Annual Staff Awards Ceremony …”she at times ruffled feathers, but one sensed that underlying her actions was her desire to do what was right and essential in the achievement of efficiency and productivity”. What more can I say?

Book preview

Growing Up In

All Saints Village, Antigua:

The 1940s—The Late 1960s

Recollections

By

Emily Vanessa Spencer Knight

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POEMS

By

Winston T. Johnson aka

‘Barman’

Copyright © 2009 by Emily Vanessa Spencer Knight.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

56333

Contents

FOREWORD

PREFACE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

P O E M S

My Boyhood Days

REMEMBERING

Ode to the Kids.

In the Record Book

Pluck the Birds.

John and Lee

Into the Unknown

The Revelation of Autumn

REFERENCES

GLOSSARY

Endnotes

DEDICATED

To My Daughter, Juliette

Juliette Cecilia Knight

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Sunrise: December 29th, 1972 Sunset: January 11th, 2009

Tribute to my Daughter Juliette Cecilia Knight

Juliette Cecilia Knight was born in Antigua, West Indies, on December 29th, 1972 to the union of the Reverend Samuel T. Knight and Emily Knight nee Spencer, both of All Saints, Antigua.

The family moved to Barbados in 1975 when Julie, as she was familiarly called by us, was a mere two and half years of age. Three days after her third birthday, she entered the then Charles F. Broome Primary School situated at Government Hill, St. Michael. Her entry into that institution was made possible through the Headmistress, Mrs. Joyce Morris who was a member of the Church of the Resurrection, one of the churches of which Julie’s Dad was Priest-in-Charge; the other church being St. Matthew in Hothersal Turning. For my daughter, it was like the proverbial love at first sight, for she fell in love with the school from the first day and never looked back. The weekends and the holidays at home were too long for her to be away from the friends she had made and whom she loved and cherished dearly. During those periods she would enquire of her Dad and me whether she could invite any of her school friends to come and spend a day at the Rectory with her. As long as the respective parents/guardians accepted our invitation, Julie’s requests would be granted.

She loved to share whatever she had with others, and many were the afternoons on her return home I would be told of the exciting things she did at school that day and with how many of her friends she had shared her lunch. Sometimes in the mornings too, as I prepared her lunch kit, I would be asked: Mommy, can you slice my apple into nine pieces so that each of my friends can have a slice? Some of those friends were one to two years older than she was; she successfully competed against them and frequently finished among the top three in her class.

She looked forward yearly with excitement, to her birthday. It was one of those days when many of her invited friends were brought to the Rectory by their parents from as early as eight thirty in the morning and spent the entire day with her until they were collected by their parents in the afternoon at the end of their work day. Sometimes, the very parents themselves when they came, would spend a few moments to say Happy Birthday to Julie.

At an early age, Julie developed a love for music and singing. She sang solos on occasions in church accompanied by her Dad on the organ. She took delight in praying extemporarily, and would always mention by name, those members of her family she knew, friends and classmates. She sat and passed, at age seven, her first music Theory Exam offered by the Royal Schools of Music and the Grade I Piano Exam before attaining her eighth birthday. At that age also she had interest in many things: cooking, crochet, knitting and sewing. She was an avid reader and read just about anything her eyes fell upon, and was not afraid to ask for assistance with the pronunciation of words and their meaning.

At the age of ten she relocated to the United States of America and spent the rest of her formative years in Detroit, Michigan. There, she attended Renaissance High School where she maintained a high academic standard, often times being awarded the ‘Certificate of Honor for Outstanding Achievement’.

In 1990 she entered the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor bent on pursuing studies in Literature and Mathematics. In 1992 she changed her field of study and opted instead to enter the field of Clinical Psychology. Thus she entered Eastern Michigan University from which institution she obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in 1996. She obtained her Master’s Degree from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, and a Doctorate of Psychology (PsyD.) from Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio in 2003. In 2004, she was selected with her Lebanese friend and fellow Adjunct Professor, Jouhaina Razzouk, to present a Paper at the Oxford Round Table, St. Antony’s College in the University of Oxford, entitled: ‘Men will be Men… Women will be Women? : A Psychological Perspective on Women in Leadership Positions’. In 2006 she was elected to Membership of the New Jersey Psychology Association.

Julie’s professional development as a psychologist included work as a crisis hotline worker, mental health worker, prison psychologist and therapist. Most recently, she was a full-time Psychology Lecturer Rutgers-New Brunswick, and a Therapist at the Rutgers-Newark Counselling Center in New Jersey. As a consequence of those roles she had a personal and positive impact on the lives of many. Through her education, work and personal experience, Julie developed a passion for several topics: black women’s studies, racism, sexism, human rights and public education which made her an ideal person to resurrect and teach a course on ‘Prejudice and Conflict’ in the Department of Psychology at Rutgers. She maintained current knowledge in those areas, sought to understand the root causes of related problems and barriers in those areas and would readily engage anyone in well-thought out debate about the needs and possible solutions.

The Obituary from Rutgers University speaks of her classes as:

interactive and engaging, as full of debate and challenging as they were with humor and support. She faced the many challenges of teaching large courses at Rutgers by constantly revising her lectures, experimenting with difficult formats for presenting course materials, and finding new educational resources for her students.

Dr. Knight had accomplished many things in her short career and was poised to provide even more services to students, to patients, and to her community. Her contagious gratitude for the gift of life and her optimism that difficult challenges can be met and overcome were infectious.

Over the years, Julie developed an even greater love for music, and music appreciation and continued with piano lessons up to the end. She loved Handel’s Messiah in particular. She enjoyed good movies, Sci-fi novels, loved good food, exotic cooking and was becoming very accomplished in the kitchen. Whenever my daughter entered a room, one had to know that she was there for she loved fun and excitement and did just anything to create attention and laughter. She would turn up at a party wearing the biggest afro wig she could find and the funniest of outfits, but no, nothing lewd nor skimpy.

Another of her loves was that of travel. Over the years she had committed herself to visiting at least one new country a year. She visited Oxford and London, England; Australia; Switzerland; Berlin, Germany; and of course, Barbados and Antigua. I was told by her friend and colleague Jouhaina that when they both were in London in 2004, Julie was in search of perfumes and insisted that they visited Harrods, the store where Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth shops, of course. My daughter would have already checked out what was in stock and available, and as one clerk went that way to get an item for her, a second was going another way just to serve this one exciting customer.

I do not know where the idea came from but she referred to herself as Sun Goddess, Mistress of the Universe and Beyond, and that was the way she always ended her emails.

On January 11th, 2009, after what was described by her friend Jouhaina with whom she had spent a vacation, as an exciting holiday in Lebanon, she was returning to the United States when she was suddenly taken away from us.

Her greatest love of all was that love she had for her brother David, who loved her just as much in return. Her passing has created a void in the lives of us all who loved her—parents, close family members, friends, her granny Hilda but most of all, David.

As in other areas of her life Julie approached her spiritual life with integrity and curiosity. She sought to achieve a higher and deeper level of spiritual understanding. Now at peace with God, her questions have been answered fully.

We, the family have designated an American Association of University Women Community (AAUW) Action Grant in memory of Juliette. Contributions may be made by contacting the Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, New Jersey.

Sleep on Juliette, my Daughter, Sun Goddess, Mistress of the Universe and Beyond. Take Your Rest, Until Then…

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2004. Johaina and Julie.

FOREWORD

In the middle of the 20th Century the Islands of the Caribbean were just growing away from the slavery of coloured people.

Social life was very poor and most people made a living by working on the sugar estates. Housing was of a very low standard. There was no electricity, or telephone service, and no road system had yet been developed. A few fortunate people traveled to New York, and a few went to work in the oil industry of Curacao and Aruba. Around 1950 there were those who wished to migrate to England, and a kind of new light began to dawn on the communities. With some people gone, jobs began to become available for the rest, in teaching, nursing, carpentry and tailoring.

The people on the islands began to feel a stir of independence and a rapid move in that direction took place. Education was seen to be an important step in that direction, and then there was a gradual effort to establish the social structure. Roads, telephone, electricity and running water became important. The field labourer gradually faded out of the picture, and a definite new form of society began to evolve. Proper housing came on stream gradually; the quest for an improved living standard showed itself in full force.

The establishment of a university in the West Indies brought the people of the islands to the fore of knowledge. This account of life for young people in the society at that time is truly a description of a pattern that was common to all the islands and is of interest to young people of this present day.

The Reverend Canon Joseph G. L. Hennis

Former Archdeacon of the Diocese of Antigua, and

Parish Priest of All Saints Church.

November 2008

PREFACE

The inspiration for this historical account came chiefly from an Antiguan Student who was attending the University of the West Indies at the Cave Hill Campus, Barbados in 1999. Having learned that I was an Antiguan working in the Main Library of the University, he approached me one day and asked if I would agree to his interviewing me on ‘My Childhood Recollections of Christmas in All Saints Village, Antigua’. I readily agreed.

Darren Josiah was a student in the Faculty of Humanities, and the interview was to be a part of his Oral History project. As I prepared myself for the scheduled interview, the memories just came flooding down. The more the memories flowed, the more I remembered, and very vividly, not just about Christmas, but of All Saints as a whole.

I had given thought many years before to writing the history of the place where I was born and bred, and from time to time after going back to Antigua and visiting All Saints, I would document my observations and experiences, for each visit presented an All Saints far different from what I knew in my younger years. The vast developments on all sides often made it impossible for me to recognize familiar areas anymore. Mack Pond Pasture, for instance, was the place, where as children we marched from the school premises to play at the end of the school term and also to practise for school sports which were held annually in St. John’s. Mack Pond Pasture was a big open Pasture with a pond at one end which, when it had water, provided water for livestock owners to water their animals. The Pasture also had clammy trees and numerous date palm trees which provided shade for us from the sun when we went there. And there was also an area specially for playing cricket. It was the place where one of Antigua’s Administrators, Ian Turbott and his eleven, played cricket on Saturday afternoons with young men from the village and surrounding districts. When the Anglican Church in All Saints launched its Stewardship Campaign in 1968, it was at Mack