Chair of the Publications and Public Programming Committee of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society, Dr. Henderson Carter, poses with his copy of ‘Ann Gill: The Making of a Barbadian Hero’ just after its launch.
Hero’s story updated
After having her story updated recently, the island’s lone female national hero Sarah Ann Gill is having her tale recommended as required reading for all Barbadians. These are the sentiments of Chair of the Publications and Public Programming Committee of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society Dr. Henderson Carter.
He was speaking recently during the launch of the Ann Gill: The Making of a Barbadian Hero pamphlet. Authored by Professor Alan Cobley, the fourth installment in the Re(w)riting History series retells Gill’s story with new information and Dr. Carter noted that the work underscores the value and importance of in-depth history and the research of such.
“For some years now we have had these heroes and people acknowledge that Ann Gill is the heroine of Methodism. But what Professor Cobley has done here, he’s gone a bit further. This entire pamphlet series, starting from the pieces of Edward Cox, Sir Hilary Beckles and Karl Watson, have gone further. They have taken these ideas, they have taken these personalities and have drilled down to find out more about them,” he said.
Going on to say that the new revelations extend the parameters of discussion surrounding Gill and her exploits, Carter said that the information provides us with a better understanding of the person and the period. Adding that a knowledge of accurate history helps us to avoid the pitfalls of the present and prevents us from repeating the mistakes of the past because we have not learnt from it, Dr. Carter stated that there was value for the entire society in studying history.
“There are a lot of people in Barbados today who don’t appreciate the past and they think that the past has no relevance to our times. But they miss a salient point in that human endeavours and human relations hardly change and that we can draw out important nuggets from history. People are inspired by important historical personalities – I am inspired by Gill and the way she faced that mob in 1823. And I hope by reading this text as it gets into our schools and it gets into our institutions that people will be inspired as well,” he said. (MP)