“We are not trying to revive history, it is alive,” stated Head of the Department of History Dr Gelien Matthews at The UWI St Augustine’s Alma Jordan Library. The occasion was the Professor Brinsley Samaroo Legacy Lecture on March 8. 2024.
The lecture kicked off History Fest 2024 and featured a host of commemorative speeches, historical memorabilia, and cultural practices to celebrate the life of Professor Samaroo, a renowned historian and public intellectual, who passed last year.
Over the past decade, The UWI and various scholars have used History Fest to pay homage to the intellectual exploration and excellence of others as they contributed to the study of history and its impact on our past, present and future. The memorial lecture not only showcased Prof Samaroo’s contributions to the academic historical world, but also highlighted the initiatives the History Department has taken to ensure the continued interest in the subject.
The Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Professor Elizabeth Walcott-Hackshaw, spoke in her greetings on the legacy of Prof Samaroo and how people can “honour, reflect, and learn” from it. She also spoke on the value of history, not only for the department but also in literature.
“I do believe that history and literature tell a narrative that is so important to us,” she said.
The curriculum officer of the Social Sciences Unit at the Ministry of Education, Dr Carla Kronberg, echoed these sentiments stating, “We recognise the invaluable role that the Department of History plays in our collective heritage.”
Doctor Kronberg, who is also a lecturer at The UWI St Augustine School of Education, acknowledged the significance of Prof Samaroo's work to the world of history.
The legacy lecture also spotlighted other figures in history. These included author and historian Michael Anthony, publisher Gerard Besson, and Professor of History David Richardson.
However, the highlight of the History Fest was the feature address in honour of Prof Samaroo by Emerita Professor of History Bridget Brereton. Prof Brereton was a close friend of the late historian with whom she co-authored the Dictionary of Caribbean Biography in 1998 and Understanding T&T: Environment, History and Culture of a Nation in 2019.
“[Professor Samaroo] was always deeply interested in the religions of his ancestral land, both Hinduism and Islam,” stated Professor Brereton in her opening address.
She gave details on his early life, including his pursuit of a scholarship from the government of India to attend Delhi University in the late 1950s and achieve his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in History.
“This early exposure to the ancestral homeland deeply influenced his subsequent work on the Indian Diaspora in the region,” said Prof Brereton.
Her address also focused on the late professor’s two main areas of research interest: the labour and political struggles in 20th Century Trinidad and Tobago, and Indo-Trinidadian and Indo-Caribbean history.
She noted that during his time of study in the University of London (where he completed his PhD thesis Constitutional and Political Development of Trinidad, 1898-1925) many historians “shamelessly ‘borrowed’ from it over the decades”, including herself, as the work was “pioneering archival research and analysis”.
Prof Brereton also spoke on his fascination with the political struggles of the 1930s and 1940s. These led him to produce the book The Price of Conscience. Prof Samaroo, she said, also admired Adrian Cola Rienzi, who was a key leader behind the Oil Workers Trade Union (OWTU) following the 1937 Butler Riots. This interest was also key to his involvement in the Black Power Movement in Trinidad and Tobago later in his life, as well as his scholarship in compiling Dr Eric Williams’s manuscripts that would later published as The Blackest Thing in Slavery was not the Black Man in 2022.
Brinsley Samaroo, she said, remained a key public intellectual figure and activist for many different political, social, and cultural causes over six decades.
“His work as historian fed into and informed his public and activist roles – history was alive in his life and practice!”
