A section of the audience in attendance at Tuesday’s lecture held in the Queen’s Park Steel Shed. INSET: Professor Sir Woodville K Marshall speaking on the topic, ‘Errol Barrow’s Drive for Political Independence’.

A section of the audience in attendance at Tuesday’s lecture held in the Queen’s Park Steel Shed. INSET: Professor Sir Woodville K Marshall speaking on the topic, ‘Errol Barrow’s Drive for Political Independence’.

Youth in minority at lecture

 

 
 
Director of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society, Alissandra Cummins says that agency is pleased with the public’s response to the 2016 lecture series “Becoming Bajan: the Evolution of Barbadian Identity”.
 
However, she has expressed disappointment that more young people were not in attendance. 
 
“We have been very pleased with the audiences in general. I think that people have really come out to hear what becoming Bajan entails historically… The only unfortunate thing is that we are not seeing enough young people to hear these discussions. I know that a number of people look at the lectures when they come on the television, but to participate in debate you have to be here.”
 
She continued, “So that is unfortunate, but as I explained also, we are in competition with the university and its classes at this time and we have not been able to make a clear dichotomy between attending these and attending those [at the university] unless the lecturers there decide the students should come. I think that is our only slight disappointment but other than that there have been very good audiences. We are very pleased.”
 
Cummins spoke to The Barbados Advocate on the side-lines of Tuesday’s lecture at the Queen’s Park Steel Shed. This was delivered by Professor Sir Woodville K Marshall who spoke on the topic, “Errol Barrow’s Drive for Political Independence”. Through his lecture, he made the point that The Right Excellent Errol Barrow was committed to seeing Barbados be independent.
Speaking about the significance of the night’s lecture, Cummins said it gave greater insight into Barrow’s contribution to seeing Barbados become an independent island.
 
“I think all the other lectures were leading to this point… We have come to the point where the person who led the movement of independence, not to take away what others have delivered… his role needs to be examined and needs to be better explicated to an audience. Particularly young persons and particularly in school because… that generation is the generation effectively that has grown up without Barrow alive and able to speak for himself. They know his name, they know the fact that he is a hero. They even know that his statue is in Independence Square or that his icon is in the Museum of Parliament. They may know those things, but those are only the outer trimmings of the person. I think that tonight was important for people to have a good understanding, a good sense of who Barrow was, what was his motivation, who were his supporters, what was he thinking, how did he arrive at the notion that it is better for Barbados to proceed towards independence instead of waiting for a federal arrangement which eventually should have delivered independence.”
 
The sixth and final presentation in the 2016 lecture series is slated for April 26, at the Queen’s Park Steel Shed. The topic for the panel discussion is ‘The Embrace of National Independence’.

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