By Mel Cooke, Freelance WriterWESTERN BUREAU:
BLACK HISTORY Month has taken an informative twist at Weekenz Bistro and Bar during the regular Tuesday poetry jams.
Since the start of February not only poetry and sometimes live music, but also a sheet of information about an important black figure, have been served up to those who venture to the Constant Spring Road, St. Andrew, nightspot.
With two ladies in Connie Bell and Sharen being the driving forces behind the poetry night, the persons featured for Black History Month have been all females.
The two explained that their decision to serve up personalities with poetry was based on a general lack of knowledge among the public, as well as the fact that the persons who are repeatedly highlighted during Black History Month celebrations tend to be overwhelmingly male.
The first week saw Martha Brae being made more than just the name of a river, the following week the focus was on Una Marson and two days ago Amy Jacques Garvey took the spotlight.
Nanny may just be the person to close off the series.
Martha Brae, according to the handouts, was a Taino woman who Spanish treasure hunters captured and demanded she lead them to gold. Instead she led them into a cave and disappeared before their eyes. Frightened, they ran out of the cave and drowned in the river, which is now called the Martha Brae, in Trelawny.
Una Marson was a journalist, an activist and a literary trailblazer. The first black female programme maker at the BBC, this from
1939-1946, she was secretary to the first black-led political organisation in England, the League of Coloured People. A voice against discrimination against blacks in nursing, she was also a member of the Women's International League for Peace.
Una Marson set up the 'Save the Children Fund' for Jamaicans, advocated the rights of Rastafarian children and worked assiduously in the anti-colonial struggle.
Amy Jacques Garvey moved from the Anglican Deaconess school for boys and girls to Wolmer's to eventually become the unofficial leader of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and the African (Imperial) Committees League at one point. Married to Marcus Garvey, she wrote 'Garvey and Garveyism' and kept her husband's work alive after his death in 1940. This included getting the 'Philosophies and Opinions of Marcus Garvey' published.
Sharen said that February ending does not mean that there will be no more information along with the verse at Weekenz, as more facts will be shared with audiences in months to come.
