Nassau, Bahamas - The next talk at the Bahamas Historical Society will be with
Chris Curry who will speak on
“‘In Whose
possession they belong:’ Black Loyalists and their Quest for Freedom in
the Bahamas" on
Thursday
27th January at 6pm.
Within the last two decades a
number of scholars have sought to recover the social history of black
loyalists—those enslaved blacks and free persons of colour who supported the
British cause during the American Revolution. Though considerable scholarship
has documented the experiences of black loyalists and their struggles for
freedom in Nova Scotia and England, less is known about their counterparts in
the Bahamas and Jamaica. This study has as its subject the small, but
significant, group of black loyalists who sought freedom in the Bahamas. In
seeking freedom in the Bahamas,
black loyalists appropriated a political consciousness that was based on their
colonial experience in British North America.
Arguably, this political activism was shaped largely by the epoch of
enslavement; but also drew inspiration from the enlightenment ideals of liberty
and freedom and the egalitarianism of the Great Awakening revival meetings.
Upon settlement in the
Bahamas, black loyalists expanded on these Revolutionary
ideas by petitioning the courts and defending their right to liberty even while
slave-owning whites deemed their claims to be unconstitutional.
Chris Curry received Bachelor of Arts with
First- Class Honours in History at Brock University, St. Catherines, Ontario,
Canada. A Masters of Arts in History at University of Waterloo, Waterloo
Ontario, Canada; A Diploma in Education at College of The Bahamas and is
currently completing his PhD at University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut
in Latin American/Caribbean History. He has taught at St Anne’s High
School and is a Lecturer in History at COB.
His publications include:
2004 with Patricia Glinton-Meicholas, Bahamians-Immigrants
All. Nassau: Guanahani Press, 2004.
2004 “A Critique of Bahamian
Society After Emancipation,” At Random, (Fall 2004): 26-28.
2005 “Christianity
and Slavery in The Bahamas: A Catalyst for Revolutionary change or a Quest for
Respectability,” in The Bahamas Historical Journal (October 2005):
4-8.
2006 with
Neil Sealey, Social Studies for Bahamian Secondary Schools. 3 vols. London:
Macmillan Caribbean, 2006.
2007 with Denny Curry, A History of
the Churches of Christ in The Bahamas. Victoria, B.C.: Trafford, 2007.
2007 “The contributions of Baptists to Education
in The Bahamas,” American Baptist Quarterly 26:4 (2007): 374-387.
2008 “Black Loyalists and their quest for
Freedom in the Bahamas,” The College of the Bahamas Alumni Magazine
The Bahamas Historical Society (BHS)
is
a non-profit organization dedicated to stimulating interest in Bahamian
History and to the collection and preservation of material relating
thereto. Its Headquarters, the former IODE Hall, was a gift from the
Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire (IODE). BHS is on Shirley
Street and Elizabeth Avenue in Nassau.
www.bahamashistoricalsociety.
com
All
talks at our museum corner of Shirley Street and Elizabeth Avenue Parking at
the ex Psilinakis carpark north of the museum on Elizabeth Ave. Entrance
via First Caribbean Bank on Shirley Street. – Thanks to Manager Byron
Miller (Thanks to Philippa Moss COB English Dept for Map below)