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One
of Liberty Hall’s goals is to foster intellectual growth and
development.
The institution as do all other Liberty Halls that
existed during Garvey’s time,
has a long history of providing an
arena for the development and discussion
of ideas. As such throughout 2004 various lectures and presentations
were
conducted and it is the aim of Liberty Hall to continue this
trend in 2005.
INTELLECTUAL
PROGRAMMES IN 2004
The first major
event for 2004 was the Black History Month Programme. This programme was launched by an Evening of Poetry with renowned
Jamaican poet,
Ms. Lorna Goodison on February 1. A February
Lecture Series followed. The
following lectures were delivered:
Garvey’s
Jamaican Agenda
by Professor Rupert Lewis, prominent Garvey
Scholar, Professor in the Department of Government, UWI, Mona. Professor
Lewis’ lecture was underscored by the launch of the CD:
Marcus Garvey’s
Jamaica: 1932-1934. This multimedia CD compiled by
Prof. Lewis et. al.
contains a selection of Garvey’s writings from
The Blackman and The New
Jamaican newspapers and is currently on
sale at Liberty Hall for 500 dollars.
Who Was St.
William Grant?
by Mr. Frank Gordon, Historian, President of the
Marcus Garvey
Memorial Division of the Universal Negro Improvement
Association
/African Communities League, Jamaica.
Women in the
Garvey Movement
by Ms. Beverly Hamilton, Former Journalist, Researcher at the Bureau
of Women’s Affairs, Garvey Researcher.
Unorthodox
Prose: The Poetry of Marcus Garvey
by Professor Carolyn Cooper, Professor in the Department of
Literatures in English, UWI, Mona.
The Artistic
Side of the Garvey Movement in Jamaica
by Ms. Nicosia Shakes,
Staff Researcher at Liberty Hall.
Now Both Sides
of the Hand Have a Chance: Black Consciousness in
Haiti 1930-1950s
by Dr. Matthew Smith, Lecturer in the Department of
History and
Archaeology, UWI, Mona. Dr. Matthew Smith’s lecture was
presented
in collaboration with the African Caribbean Institute of
Jamaica
/Jamaica Memory Bank.
On March 30, Ms.
Vilma Gregory, CEO of Vilcomm Services International Limited,
which
produced the CD: Marcus Garvey’s Jamaica: 1932-1934 gave a
lecture-demonstration entitled: “Techno-Garvey Concept in Action”. Techno-Garvey
refers to the use of Marcus Garvey’s philosophy and
opinions to teach computer
skills to the children in Liberty Hall’s
outreach programme. Ms. Gregory’s lecture-presentation was
accompanied by the launch of Liberty Hall’s updated website.
On April 15,
2004 Liberty Hall was the venue of a Student Symposium entitled:
Garvey’s Legacy in Context: Liberty Hall Living Again. The
Symposium was organized in conjunction with the Department of
Government, UWI and featured presentations from students studying
the Government course: Garveyism in the Americas/Africa,
which is lectured by Professor Rupert Lewis. Over a hundred and
fifty persons attended. The students used various formats to make
presentations
on topics ranging from Liberty Hall’s contemporary
relevance, to skin bleaching,
to the African Union (AU). At the
Symposium, Ryan Williams, President of the
Marcus Garvey Movement
(MGM), UWI presented a sum of fourteen thousand
dollars ($14, 000) to
Liberty Hall, which the MGM raised through a tag drive in
collaboration with students at the University.
On August 8,
Liberty Hall hosted its final lecture for the year: Redeemer,
Prophet Deity: Reggae-Dancehall Proclaims Marcus Garvey was
conducted by Mr. Cecil Gutzmore, Lecturer at the Institute of
Caribbean Studies, UWI.
On
October 31, The Social History Project, Department of History and
Archaeology,
UWI launched its exhibition: The Jamaican Black
Middle Class in the Late
Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries. The exhibition, which entailed a DVD slideshow as well as a display,
was featured in the Garvey Multimedia Museum for
over a month and
subsequently traveled to another venue. The Social History Project
plans to take the exhibition to various venues throughout Jamaica.
INTELLECTUAL
PROGRAMMES IN 2005
On Friday,
February 25, 2005, Liberty Hall in collaboration with the African
Caribbean Institute of Jamaica/Jamaica Memory Bank hosted:
SANKOFA:
Slavery and Its Impact on Contemporary Jamaica.
This all-day
Symposium was dedicated to the critical analysis of the extent to
which Slavery continues to affect Jamaican society. Marcus Garvey
recognized
the inadequacy of viewing emancipation purely on physical
terms; he spoke of
the need for mental emancipation as a requirement
for full freedom. We asked
the question: “To what extent do we
continue to display characteristics of
enslavement in our mentality,
economics and societal structure?” From another standpoint we
examined the prevalence of African culture, which came to
Jamaica in
the Slavery and post-Slavery periods. The denigration of this
African
cultural legacy is a psychological remnant of slavery.
The following
presentations were made:
-
Narratives
of Resistance – Professor Verene Shepherd, Professor in the
Department of History and Archaeology, UWI.
-
African
Retentions During and After Slavery
– Professor Maureen Warner-Lewis, Professor Emeritus in the
Department of Literatures in English, UWI.
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The Impact of
Slavery on the Political Economy of Jamaica
– Dr. Veront Satchell, Lecturer in the Department of History and
Archaeology.
-
Racist Ideology and its
Justification of Slavery – Dr. Clinton Hutton,
Lecturer in the
Department of Government, UWI
-
The
Psychological Impact of Slavery on Contemporary Jamaica
– Dr. Frederick Hickling, Head of the Section of Psychiatry, UWI,
Psychiatrist.
The
presentations were accompanied by readings of six Slave Narratives
from the African Diaspora. Approximately 320 persons, including
students from Secondary
and Tertiary Institutions attended.
On Sunday,
February 27, Liberty Hall was the venue of the UNIA Renaissance
Show organized by The Marcus Garvey Memorial Division of the
Universal
Negro Improvement Association/ African Communities League
(UNIA-ACL). The
Renaissance show while exhibiting the UNIA’s
contemporary image paid homage
to the historical Sunday Meetings of
the Garvey era, which combined cultural presentations with
intellectual discussions.
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