By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., August 6, 2023 — I had the honour and privilege of covering the Independence of Jamaica for the Nassau Daily Tribune on August 6, 1962, along with Pierre Dupuch, son of The Tribune’s then Publisher and Editor Sir Etienne Dupuch.
I had been working at The Tribune for slightly more than two years, having started as a trainee reporter in May of 1960, but my development as a journalist was remarkable, thanks to special interest invested in my training by Arthur A. Foulkes, who at the time was The Tribune’s City Editor, and Sir Etienne, God bless his foresight in providing a pathway for the training of young Bahamian journalists at a time when most of the working journalists in the country were primarily white and from England.
Sir Etienne’s interest in my development was so pervasive that he arranged for me to take English lessons at St. Augustine’s College two mornings a week with Father Frederick Frey, then Prior at St. Augustine’s College, which he was instrumental in establishing in 1945, initially as an all-boys school at St. Augustine’s Monastery in Fox Hill.
To facilitate my early morning trek from Paul Meeres Corner Over-the Hill to Fox Hill, Sir Etienne purchased a scooter ostensibly for reporters to use to go on assignments, but I was allowed to take it home on those days when I had to go to St. Augustine’s the following morning.
I started at The Tribune as a sports reporter, but occasionally I would cover afternoon sessions of the House of Assembly while Nicki Kelly, who arguably was one of The Bahamas’ best journalists, wrote her stories after covering the morning session of the House. More often than not, Nicki was able to write her story on the morning session over the luncheon period and be back at the House at 3 p.m. for the start of the afternoon session, but on those days when a major story developed in the House, I would cover the afternoon session.
Back in those days, reporters did not have the luxury of using tape recorders in the House to assist them in reporting what transpired because they were not allowed to use them in Parliament, but instead, we had to take accurate notes – either by being proficient in Gregg or Pitman Shorthand or a self-developed method of speedwriting.
I took some lessons in Gregg Shorthand while learning to type at Althea Mortimer’s Secretarial School on Meeting Street, but because the typing course was only for three months and to be proficient in Gregg Shorthand takes much longer, I developed my own style of speedwriting that included some aspects of Gregg Shorthand.
What’s more, unlike some of today’s young journalists, who are allowed by “lazy copy editors” to quote speeches verbatim as stories, my training at The Tribune included how to properly paraphrase some aspects of what was said in the House and intersperse transitional introductory phrases at the beginning of some sentences. In addition to the strict editing of my copy by News Editor Arthur Foulkes, I also learned how to properly construct stories from Nicki Kelly, who always offered sound journalistic advice during my interaction with her when we were both at The Tribune.
So, when the decision was made to send someone to cover Jamaica’s Independence, Sir Etienne — no doubt with input from Sir Arthur — decided to invest what must have been a considerable amount of money at the time to send me to Jamaica, along with Sir Etienne’s son, Pierre, who had graduated from St. John’s University a year or so earlier with a degree in some aspects of journalism and newspaper production and had supervised the installation of The Tribune’s new printing press.
It is an experience I shall never forget and one that clearly helped me to irrevocably establish journalism as my career goal. Her Royal Highness Princess Margaret officially represented her sister, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, at the various independence functions as the United Kingdom granted independence to its Colony of Jamaica.
According to information gleaned from the Internet, “The Spaniards were the first colonial power over Jamaica, establishing rule in 1509, fifteen years after Columbus first discovered and reported it to his European sponsors. England invaded and ousted the Spaniards in a surprisingly easy battle campaign in 1655. Great Britain ruled for nearly 300 years.”
I well remember speaking briefly with Her Royal Highness Princess Margaret and recall how gracious she was as she greeted guests at the official reception held at Government House. Every function I attended during the raft of events held to celebrate this historic landmark in Jamaica’s history was absolutely memorable for a 20-year-old young man, who only 12 years earlier was an adventurous young boy fishing from “Pa Ben’s Landing,” a cove on the West Ridge of Stanyard Creek, Andros, where I grew up with my grandparents, Ben and Mabel Elliott.
Pierre and I developed a very close friendship during that trip that still exists today. Pierre returned to Nassau after the official independence celebrations, but it had been previously arranged for me to remain in Jamaica for an additional three weeks to cover the Central American and Caribbean Games, which were held in Kingston from August 15 to August 28, 1962, as part of the independence celebrations.
The Bahamas sent a large contingent of athletes to the Games, including a big track and field team that included the late legendary international track star Tommy Robinson and a sensational triple-jumper who would later become Prime Minister of The Bahamas, Perry Christie.
More importantly for me, however, was the fact that The Bahamas’ representation at the 1962 Central American and Caribbean Games included a basketball team on which my very close friend, the late Charles “Chuck” Virgill, who was one of the best basketball players in the country, was a member. Also included on the team was another good friend, the late Lawrence “Skinny” Harrison, who was Chuck’s roommate in the accommodations arranged by Jamaica for the athletes.
If Pierre happens to read this, he will be finding out for the first time that shortly after he left me in Jamaica with sufficient money to pay for my hotel accommodations for more than two weeks, I moved out of the hotel and moved in with Chuck and Lawrence.
Pierre also left me with a rental car, and with money not being a problem, we had a wonderful two-plus weeks in Jamaica. Chuck and I were both members of THE FRATERNITY, a progressive young men’s group in The Bahamas, and one of our fellow members was Jimmy Edwards, an accountant from Jamaica, whose parents lived in a village near Annotto Bay in St. Mary’s Parish, a considerable distance from Kingston. One weekend we drove for several hours to meet Jimmy’s parents and had a wonderful, wonderful time.
I consider myself to be well-travelled, but to this day, I still regard that visit to Jamaica to cover its Independence as one of the best trips I have had so far in my lifetime, probably second only to my visit to Rome in 2004 when I was among a group of devout Roman Catholics who accompanied His Grace Archbishop Patrick Pinder for his installation as Archbishop of Nassau by the Holy Father Pope John Paul II.
In 1962, Jamaica’s entertainment industry was on the cusp of receiving world-wide acclaim with some talented individual artists and popular bands headed by musicians like Byron Lee and Carlos Malcom, so a night-on-the-town in Kingston was absolute fantastic. What’s more, Jamaica’s motto is, “Out of Many, One People,” and over the years the “blending” of the various ethnic backgrounds have produced some stunningly beautiful ladies. On any given day back then, if you stood on the corner of King Street in downtown Kingston around mid-day, you were treated to a fashion show by a coterie of beautiful young ladies as they left their workplaces en route to lunch.
I fell in love with Jamaica and visited the island at least once a year until I went to London in 1968 for a year’s advanced training in journalism at the staff of the London Evening Standard. I was News Editor of the Washington Informer and living in Washington, D.C. when I next visited Jamaica in 1991 to attend the annual National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention held in Kingston that year. Kingston was not the same as I remembered it used to be, as escalating crime over the years had changed the landscape drastically, resulting in law-enforcement officials openly carrying high-powered firearms.
Another major change since then is the drastic decline in the value of Jamaica’s monetary currency. When Jamaica shifted from the British pound sterling after it became an independent nation, its dollar – which was the equivalent of 10 shillings and sixpence – was one-and-a-half times stronger than the American dollar. At today’s exchange rate, US$ 1 is equivalent to JA$153.73.\
However, this excerpt from Prime Minister Andrew Holness’ 61st Anniversary Message strongly suggests the Jamaica is headed in the right direction:
EXCERPT FROM PRIME MINITER ANDREW HOLNESS 2023 61ST ANNIVERSARY MESSAGE
“Your government has created and implemented policies to put our country on a path of resilience which will allow us to manage any external shocks that will come.
We are a vulnerable small island state with an open economy. Shocks will come and we must be strategic and prepare for them, unlike in the past.
To do this we must engage the principles of saving now for a brighter tomorrow and we must show courage in the face of calls to perpetuate a cycle of yo-yo success which is periods of plenty, followed by long and torturous periods of austerity and suffering. Courage calls us to stand tall in the face of opposition when we know that what we are doing will yield the best and most sustainable outcomes for our people.”
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY TO JAMAICAN NATIONALS—AT HOME AND IN THE WORLD-WIDE DIASPORA
