About Me
this is a tribute page dedicated to the late great THEOPHILUS ALBERT MARRYSHOW THE FOUNDER AND LEADER OF THE CARRIBEAN ISLAND CALLED GRENADA FIRST SOCIAL AND POLITICAL MOVEMENT IN THE SPICE ISLE here is a brief documentation of this great peoples champion grenadines and fellow carribean people affectionatly know him as teddy or father time and what most people know him as T.A. MARRYSHOW he was born in 1887 and by 1908 at the tender age of 21 he founded the the liteary and debating society and becames its main debator so 1ts exactly 100 YEARS OLD THIS YEAR 2008 THIS IS OUR CENTENARY YEAR THIS WAS ONE OF THE FIRST BLACK ACTIVIST PARTY ANY WHERE IN THE WORLD NEVER MIND A TINY ISLAND LIKE GRENADA FOUR YEARS BEFORE THE AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS MOVEMENT AND A LONG TIME BEFORE ANY BLACK PANTHER MOVEMENT and today this party or movement which he founded is still up and running WHICH CORE PRINCIPALS IS EXACTLY THE SAME AS IT WAS THEN TO DEBATE POLITICAL AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS AMONGST GRENADINES AND OTHER CARRIBEAN ISLANDS AND THE AFRICAN CONTINENT AND THIS IS WHAT WE FIGHTING FOR WE WOULD LIKE THIS GREAT CARRIBEAN STATESMAN T A MARRYSHOW name to be spoken in the same breath as all the great statesman of the world who contributed enormously to there natural birth country progress through history and put that country on the world map people like fidel castro, marcus garvey, nanna maroon, malcolm x, martin luther king, tousaint overture, steve biko, nelson mandela, rosa parkes, grantly adams, EMPEROR HAILE SELASSIE, THE ARAWAKS, colonel caddafie, bustamente, julien fedon, and another statesman whose name needs to be along side these great names is a grenadian born man but ruled trinidad and tobago is TUBAL URIAH BUTLER this man never gets the respect he rightfully deserves for his millitant approach to the crown colony oppresors at the time of his leadership in the 1930's but back to T.A. marryshow by 1915 was the leading intellectual figure in grenada. he was a tall strapping man never mind his looks he would always try to educate people even in the form as jokes he was never asleep too always alive, he had a good voice as a singer could entertain his crowds when people listened to him talk about politics etc, he would sing so he was very very popular. In 1915 he and a local lawyer c f p renwick founded the west indian newspaper, over the next twenty years they used this newspaper to mold middle class public opinion, calling for reform of the crown colony system and the creation of a federation of the west indies, the newspaper slogan the west indies must be west indian, symbolised marryshows colonial outlook and his deep believe in the need for west indian unity as a means of achieving self-rule, two years later he started the west indian, marryshow and some of his associates founded the R G A a governing party, to pressure the british for a local voice in the running of grenadas affairs, the R G A was not radical in its goals but it was an unprecendented challenge to the crown colony system, in 1920 the R G A petitioned the british for a more representative system of goverment in grenada and the next year marryshow went to england to argue for the R G A demands, because of marryshows stature and reputation the british were forced to meet with him and respond to his demands, the FIRST time such RESPECT HAD EVER BEEN ACCORDED TO A BLACK GRENADIAN. In those days, no colonial could enter the colonial office. But through his writing, Marryshow was met by a woman called Madame Suzanne Lawrence, on board the ship.And she took him ashore and she saw to it that he met Sir Ramsey MacDonald, then leader of the British Labour Party. And he in turn made some sort of representation to the Colonial secretary. Because of Marryshow's writing they were expecting him. And you see they were keeping in close touch with his views on the west indian situation. "Let the west indies be west indian." And they sent down Madame Suzanne Lawernce to inspect things for her self. She toured the estates, seeing the condition of the people and things of this sort. And on her return to england they sent down the wood commission. Marryshow was directly responsible for that.The proposals of the wood commision formed the basis for grenada's new constitution, enacted in 1925. This conceded minority elected representation (five elected members on a 16-member legislative council) but failed to provide any mechanism by which this minority could actually influence policy. In fact, the new constitution strengthened the powers of the Govener by authorizing him to singlehandedly veto any bill passed by the legislative council.
Although Marryshow often stressed themes of imperial loyalty and Racial harmony" in his negotiations with the British, intellectually he took a far more militant stand on issues of racism and colonialism. His writing and speeches in this vein echoed the philosophy of the rising black nationalist leader Marcus Garvey. Garvey was a jamaican who in the beginning about 1910 traveled throughout the Caribbean basin, talking to west indian workers in mines and plantations. Everywhere he went, Garvey electrified the black population with his strident challenge of racism and colonialism, embodied in the slogan "African for the Africans, those at home and those abroad"
Marryshow's most famous work on the race question, a series of artcles entitled cycles of civilisation, is strikingly Garveyite in tone and content. Written in 1917, cycles of civilisation Marryshow's rebuttal to a RACIST SPEECH MADE IN LONDON BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN LEADER GENERAL SMUTS. ALTHOUGH MARCUS GARVEY DID NOT VISIT GRENADA UNTIL ALMOST 20 YEARS LATER , HIS POWERFUL INFLUENCE IS ALREADY EVIDENT IN MARRYSHOW'S ELOQUENT CALLS FOR AN AFRICAN RESURGENCE. Here is the speech:
AFRICA! IT IS AFRICA'S DIRECT TURN. SONS OF NEW ETHIOPIA SCATTERED ALL OVER THE WORLD, WOULD DETERMINE THAT THERE SHALL BE NEW SYSTEMS OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF OPPORTUNITIES, PRIVILEGES AND RIGHTS, SO THAT AFRICA SHALL RID HERSELF OF MANY OF THE MURDEROUS HIGHWAYMEN OF EUROPE WHO PLUNDERED HER, RAPED HER AND LEFT HER HINGRY AND NAKED IN BROAD DAY LIGHT OF THE BOASTED EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION [AFRICA WOULD THEN BE] FREE AGAIN TO RAISE HER HEAD AMONG OTHER RACES OF THE EARTH AND ENRICH HUMANITY AS SHE HAS DONE BEFORE.
now it is these kind or millitancy from marryshow a carribean leader, acknowledging abbysinnia which it was called just after this speech, thats why he said new ethiopia, why we believe his name should be mentioned along side the true black activist leaders around the globe as this was 1917. Marryshow was calling for an uprising against the wicked oppresors who he saw wanted to wipe out the black race, in this great part of africa he saw the evil Mussolini coming long time, before any one else thats why he made that speech he was a man way ahead of his time, and THIS IS THE REASON I BELIEVE ALL RASTAS THROUGH OUT GRENADA AND THE CARRIBEAN HAVE TO ACKNOWLEDE THIS MAN WAS A PROPHET FROM THE MOST I or as people round the world call god, he was THE FIRST IYABINGY CARRIBEAN LEADER WITHOUT DREAD LOCKS, IN THE VERY EARLY 19 CENTUARY THIS WAS VERY RARE FOR A CARRIBEAN LEADER TO BE POINTING TO THE PROMISE LAND, WHICH BLACK PEOPLE ACKNOWLEDGE AS OUR RIGHT FULL HOME LAND ON EARTH AS ABBYSINIA AND THE CITY IN PARTICULAR OF SHASHAMANIE.
The Garvey movement spoke powerfully to poor and working class Grenadians. They were experiencing economic pressures so severe as to make the token consituational reforms won by the middle class appear irrelevant. The peasants remained dependent on the one major crop, cocoa. When the world war 1 war time economic boom ended and the price of cocoa fell precipitously in the 1920's, the clony entered a depression, accompanied by sharp increases in the cost of living. Into this crisis situation came the grenadian soldiers, returning from the war. While the grenada handbook claims that they were "well looked after by the returned soldiers committee" the record in 1920 also reports that: early in the year the colony passed through a series of disturbances, from which this orderly and peace loving community had been hitherto singularley free, the main causes were dissatisfaction among a few of the men of the returned contingents, the circulation from abroad of inflammatory literature intended to foment racial and class hatred among the people, this was strikingly garveyite again, and the general unrest created by the excessive rise in the cost of living. In january several fires broke out culminating on the night of january 13, in a determined effort to destroy the town of st georges by fire, the goverment moved quickly to stop the garvey movement from going any further in grenada, this fit in with a regional strategy originating in the united states, where anti garvey interests had emerged to control the garvey movement, in the west indies by urging each island governor to take action against it. Garveys popularity was escalating rapidly in the carribean as well as in the united states, where his universal negro improvement association was based in the harlem section of new york city, by 1925 he had some two million dues paying followers in grenada, the governor and his officials responded to this potential populist threat by passing a seditious publications bill, which was targeted at the garvey movement, this bill was opposed by everyone in grenada including MARRYSHOW and the elected officials FREEDOM OF SPEECH BEING A MATTER CLOSE TO MARRYSHOWS HEART, on account of the semi seditious nature of his newspaper called the west indian, but it was pushed throgh by the governor who condescendingly refered to his responsibility to keep the minds of grenadines from being poisoned.What happens when a small Caribbean island is hit by a massive hurricane? How does a country cope when 90% of its homes are destroyed or damaged? What happens when your agricultural sector is wrecked and your major export crop will take years to recover? What are the hopes of the people for the future under such conditions? These are some of the questions that GRENADA: THE MAROON SPIRIT hopes to answer for people. This new production by the Pumpkinhead Production Company was filmed on the island of Grenada in the Eastern Caribbean in November of 2004, two months after Hurricane Ivan devastated the island nation on September 7.Traveling throughout Grenada and its sister island of Carriacou, GRENADA: THE MAROON SPIRIT interviews people from all walks of life, hearing about their experiences with the deadly hurricane and their efforts to rebuild their lives. They tell of the deadly winds, the flying debris and the resulting destruction. Their stories of working together with their neighbours, as a community to quickly get back on their feet are inspiring and educational. They credit Hurricane Ivan with rekindling the “Maroon Spirit†amongst the population. The actual live footage of Hurricane Ivan shows the deadly force that these brave people had to face.The film places Hurricane Ivan within a historical context by interviewing two of Grenada’s foremost historians, author and historian George Brizan and Beverly Steele, author and Head Tutor at T.A. Marryshow House, Grenada campus of the University of the West Indies about Grenada’s past. This is a past that includes mass suicides, civil wars, dictatorships, revolutions, and invasions. Brenda Hood, Minister of Tourism, tells of the hurricane’s affect on the government and its efforts to rebuild their country.
back to t a marryshows bio which you were reading before this essential part of grenadas history elections were held to the legislative council under the new constitution in 1925 the franchaise was every bit as elitist as that of the preceding century with just 3. 25 percent of the population eligible to vote marryshow was elected and he used the floor of the legislature to deliver caustic oratory denouncing the governor and the imperial regime marryshow blamed the colonial goverments fiscal policies for the starved and emancipated condition of the grenadian workers he understood that the financial burden of the crown colony administration fell disproportionately on the poor through taxation while the benefits of public spending accrued to the urban class after 1929 these clashes over economic policy intensified as the world depression lowered prices for grenadas export crops and worsened the plight of the peasants and workers in a debate over the 1929 budget the elected legislators demanded that the goverment help the impoverished peasantry by granting credit and increasing the minimum wage and by funding social programs the goverments rejection of these appeals escalated the conflict between the goverment and the elected members to new and bitter heights one of the first thing marryshow did he is the one responsible for the first social movement in grenada he got the goverment to build houses in town and rent them out to the people at three dollars a month and he got estates here to sell out two hundred acres in plaisance to working class people he got the goverment to purchase those lands and sort it out to people and so most of the people got to own there own lands during a visit to britain in 1930 marryshow came under the influence of the socialist british labour party and he took to heart there prescription for mass organisation as a necesary prerequiste to social change upon returning to grenada marryshow started the grenada working men and women association a loosely formed body which fulfiled some of the functions of a trade union without actually being one in the association they used to pay a penney a week party dues and six cents a week for sick benefits society because they were no rights to bargain for laborers so a penney a week finally they used that to open the penny bank a cooperative bank and workers used to go to that bank and borrow severn shillings to buy a young pig or five shillings to buy a young cattle in october 1931 the organisation led a massive demonstration through the streets of st georges to protest a bill for increased taxation which the governor had pushed through the legislature the west indian newspaper reported total participation in the march at over 10,000 people including peasants workers clerks merchants and planters an astounding display of popular discontent unprecented anywhere in crown colony grenada (see pictures for this historical demonstration)The people even made a song dedicated to this march and here is the songThey had people all the way from sauteurs and Grenville. They hadn't conveyance, i remember people had to walk all night to make sure they did reach the town. A few buses could do nothing about handling the volume of the turnout.
When they reached the town, they demonstrated from market square to Government House. And when Vans Best , the Governor, saw the crowd, and Marryshow handed him their demands, the paper dropped from Vans Best's hands. Because Marryshow had a slogan in the west indian (newspaper): When Vans Best goes, and Bob De Vaue, And Blood and Turner too, We of Grenada will still be here, Danmed determined too.The demonstration was the first organized mass protest against imperial policy in Grenada. It was successful, forcing a repeal of taxation ordinance. Yet this auspicious beginning soon faded into a lost opportunity, as the workingmen and Women association failed to consolidate its gains. Although Marryshow renamed the organization the Grenada Labour Party and tried to build it as a political party, it lacked a solid base, and by 1937 had faded from the political scene.
Marryshow's inability to organize the Grenadian workers and peasants into a strong political force-at a time when working class militancy was mounting all over the caribbean-reflected inconsistencies in the middle class approach to change. The basic problem was that he never tried to form the workingmen's Association into a true trade union, despite the legalization of trade unions in Grenada in 1933. Trade unionism was emerging as the route to popular power in almost all the other West Indies, yet Marryshow held to the belief that co-operation-not conflict-between labour and employers was the key to betterment for the working class. Furthermore, the middle-class politicians stopped short of advocating universal franchise which would have enabled even the poorest Grenadians to go to the polls. They wanted a liberalized, expanded franchise to enlarge their constituencies, but continued to think of "representative government" as a system in which the middle class would represent the poor. Thus Marryshow and the other middle class politicians failed, in the end, to rally the working class behind them.While this process of middle-class compromise was going on in Grenada, political forces elsewhere in the region were building up toward a different outcome. Trade union organizers, many of whom had been radicalized by experiences abroad during the turbulent depression years, rose to become powerful popular leaders. Bustamante in Jamaica, Bradshaw in St. Kitts, Grantly Adams in Barbados, and the Grenadian-born Butler in Trinidad all channeled the explosive political emergies of the masses into trade unions, which then became political parties. This provided conditions under which the people could finally vent their rage at an unjust system, and numerous colonies erupted in strikes and riots during the late 1930's.
Tubal Uriah "buzz" Butler was Grenada's contribution to this process of mass politicization in the thirties. Like many Grenadians, Butler migrated to Trinidad as a young man to work in the oil fields. There he rose to become one of the first leaders of the oilfields Workers Trade Union, opposing colonial racism and oppression through the medium of trade union organization. In 1937, Butler led a massive uprising of oil field workers in Fyzabad, Trinidad, demanding higher wages, safer working conditions, decent housing and health services, an end to racism, and self-government. Within hours, workers all over Trinidad joined the oilfield workers in the massive strike, catapulting Trinidadian politics from the Crown colony epoch into the era of mass politics.When Butler came to Grenada after the war, he had some ups and downs with the government here and he wanted to start some sort of forceful political movement. Marryshow said at the time Grenada was not ready for it.
So Butler went off to Trinidad. There he worked with the B.P. (British Petroleum) Palo Seco oil company, and his leg got damaged. After that, he started his political party. And in 1935 he had his first hunger march, from Fyzabad to St. Pierre. It was successful. He went on then to lead a hunger march to port-of-spain. The government tried to turn him back, and eventually he turned back. But he went on to call his first strike ever at the La Brea company and oil fields. It was a successful strike, it closed down the oil fields.
And from '35 to '37 he was ready then to fight the big fight. He got a little money from the Palo Seco company and he boght a small house. The people at the time were so much afraid to get themselves organzied that they wouldn't even buy a card for a penny. So he had an organization strong enough then to launch his big fight. Midnight-and by daylight the oil fields were closed down.
Well you know communications were slow at the time, but the news did reach Grenada. Because as you know T.A. Marryshow was always in touch with things. He had his labour party here then, so he got the news and spread it out.
After the successful strike, Butler was put in prison in Trinidad for "hampering the war effort" and subsequently imprisoned again for the death of a policeman during the strike.It was not until Marryshow and Grantley Adams were touring the West Indies to form the Caribbean Labour Congress that they spoke at the Princess Building Trinidad. Grantley Adams showed the legal points where Butler should not be in jail. And then Marryshow spoke. He told them in Trinidad that they were not asking for Butler loud enough, that's why he's still in jail. And he told them then that he and his Grenadian people would shout so the colonial office could hear, and Washington could hear. And Butler was released a few days after.
He always had a good response from Grenada. The Grenadians in Trinidad were front and forwards at his heels. Understand, they stuck to him.The difference between Marryshow's and Butler's styles of leadership could be seen as a question of political "generations." All over the west indies, the old school of crown Colony politcians, headed by Marryshow in Grenada and Captain Andrew Arthur Cipriani in Trinidad, was being succeeded by a new generation of leaders who used trade unionism as a vehicle for change. Marryshow was progressive for his time. He was a Crown Colony rebel, who challenged colonialism in Grenada more efficiently than anyone had ever done before. As "Father of West Indian Unity," Marryshow initiated the tradition of a strong Grenadian voice in West indian affairs, and his leadership placed Grenada-for a time-in the vanguard of progressive change in the region. This is Marryshow's legacy to revolutionary Grenada and this is why he's viewed as the most famous Grenadian of them all. And the party has changed name to secrets revealed 1 movement (SEE WWW.SECRETSREVEALEDONEMOVEMENT.PICZO.COM)FOR A FULL DOCUMENTATION OF THE MOVEMENT IN ITS PRESENT FORM.here is a brief account on the history of my beloved island long time before my grand uncle had such an impact on moulding grenada in what she is today, with the people who was my grand uncles two main inspiration leaders of pre war grenada, these two men are his two heroes and grenada wouldent be here today if it wasent for these two men. Toussaint l'overture and Julien felon, again what a travesty of justice, we want these two mens name mentioned along side the great leaders you read about in history, but more important black leaders and grenadian, as you read on this page grenada has a maroon spirit that the people of our land inherited from our ancestors here is there contribution to grenada through out the 1700 s the English and the French fought between themselves over control of the caribbean's wealth. From 1756 through 1763 the two imperial powers fought the seven yaers' war, during which Grenada was captured by the British. The wars ended with the treaty of Paris in 1763, under which Grenada was formally ceded to the British Crown.
The English do not look after their slaves well, and feed them very badly. As a rule, the slaves were allowed Saturday on which to work for themselves and provide for their families. But on the five days of the working week the overseers get every ounce of work out of them, beat them without mercy for the least fault, and appear to care far less for the life of a negro than for a horse.... The least disobedience is punished severely, and still more so are the slave risings. Despite these punishment, however, these occur frequently....
It appers that the British tried similar methods in Grenada, because in 1767 the island witnessed widespread slave rebellions. Many slaves escaped and fled to the hills, while others struck out against the plantocracy. The resistance was so serious that:
It became necessary in the course of the year to dispatch the troops against the runaway slaves, large numbers of whom collected and amde raids on the plantations and settlers; and in consequence of providing for the numerous prisoners taken, attention was directed to the inadequacy of the old French prison, and the erection of the building now known as the Old Common Gaol in St. George's was commenced upon site of that prison.
Determined to wring profits from Grenada, the British imported more slaves to Grenada every year. By 1774 Grenada was exporting twice as much sugar as it had in 1763 when the British took over. Tiny Grenada became one of Great Britain's most valuable possessions, and was even reffered to as the "second of the English islands," that is, the most valuable sugar producer after Jamaica. Britain's imports from Grenada in 1773 were worth almost twice as much as her imports from the New England colonies, New York, and Pennsylvania combined!
Grenada was held by the French from 1779 through 1783.The British recovered Grenada in 1783 under the Treaty of Versailles. The island immediately came under the domination of a small British elite, while the French colonists became second-class citizens. Below the white French planter class was the class of free black and "colored" Grenadians, most of the latter group having blood ties to the French planters. The botton tier of the society was, of course, the slaves.
As colonial overlords, the French planters had maintained as many divisions as possible between the slaves and the free, the black and the colored, the house slaves and the field slaves. But this divide-and-rule policy broke down when the British came back in power in 1783.Inside the then British colony, things were becoming very hard for oppressed people, which meant everyone except the British ruling class. The french settlers, even plantation owners, were subject to much discrimination, just because they were French.
To divide the oppressed people, blacks were put into strata. They were either coloured, mulatto, negro or black. Under the British, oppression was so bad that it united all those they once split with artificial divisions.
The British lost no time in repaying the French for the harassment they had suffered during the period of French occupation. The British-dominated Grenada legislature passed laws presecuting the French on grounds of their religion: Catholic churches, church lands and even the private incomes of Catholic priests were seized and given to the protestant Church or to the British Crown. The church of England was reinstated as the "Established Church" of Grenada, and laws were passed requiring marriages, baptisms and funerals to be performed by Anglican ministers. Catholic icons was the Election act of 1792, which effectively barred French Catholics from the political life of the colony.
As a result, many French colonists left Grenada, emigrating for the most part of Trinidad, which was opened to Catholic immigrants by decree of the Spanish government in 1783.
While the white French colonists suffered social exclusion under the British, their grievances were minor compared to the discrimination endured by free black and colored Grenadians. By 1790, this "middle-class" made up the largest part of the island's free population: in 1771 there were some 451 free colored, while by 1787 there were 1,115. Many of the colored Grenadians owned land and could be considered part of the French plantocracy. Yet under the British, they suffered steady erosion of their civil and political rights.
The election Act of April 23, 1792 was not only an attack on the French subjects, but was a discriminatory and racist piece of legislation against the free blacks and coloureds.... According to the Act, the qualifications for being a candidate [for the assenbly] were white skin, being over twenty-one, male, possession of 50 acres, 25 of which must be under cultivation, or property rented in town at 400 per annum, a national born subject, and a protestant.Finally, there were the grievances of the slaves. Traditionally analyses of Fedon's Rebellion generally ignore the fact that there were some 24,000 slaves on Grenada in 1790, roughly 12 times the white and colored populations combined. No uprising on the scale of Fedon's Rebellion would have been possible without the active participation of the slaves. The slaves were not considered with the political rights of free men, nor (as some writers seem to believe) with the advantages of French culture over British. The fundamental injustices of the slave system itself were the underlying cause of the armed struggle which began in 1795.
The french revolution of 1789 sent shock waves across the slave sozieties of the caribbean. while the american war of independence had aroused some interest in the west indies, it was the french revolution with its motto of "liberty, equality and fraternity" which profoundly symbolized the possibility of over throwing the old social order. These shock waves provoked their first explosion in Haiti, then known as saint domingue, St Dominigue in 1789 was a highly stratified society dominated by a small white french plantocracy, with a sizeable white and colored middle class and an oppressed mass of colored middle class and an oppressed mass of black slaves. "The french revolution struck this society like a thunderclap" although the haitian revolution began in 1971 as an attempt by the free colored to gain political rights, it soon escalated into a massive uprising by the slaves under the leadership of the slave coachman Toussaint l'Ouverture. The rebels wanted to prevent St. Domingue from falling to the british, since the british stood for a return to the status quo, while the french revolutionary regime promised emancipation and equality. By 1793 the slaves had taken complete control of St. Domingue, and they proceeded to beat back repeated attacks by british forces sent out from jamaica to retake the island. The success of the Haitian armed struggle sounded a not of awakening to black and colored peoples all over the west indies. The french revolution was seen as a liberation movement, even more so after the french government decreed political equality for the colored population of its wet indian colonies in 1792, and emancipation for their slaves (later repealed by napoleon) in 1794. In that year france and britain again declared war, and in several of the colonies captures by the the british there were popular uprisisngs aimed at repulsing the british and returning to french revolutionary control. grenada at this time was festering under the undiplomatic rule of the scottish governor ninian home, who actively sided with the british population against who french catholics, and who used the war between france and britain as a pretext to declare martial law among the french and colored, and toward the end of 1794 they began to orgainze, holding secret nocturnal meetings. The british were uneasy but took no precautions against an uprising on account of their fear "that such as a measure would betray their own weakness and apprehensions. as the organizations depended, a leader emerged in the person of julien fedon, a member of the grenadian propertied colored class. born of a slave mother and a french father,Fedon had inherited his father's estate at belvidere in St. Johns parish. Fedons indigenous leadership of the revolutionary movement was formalized in february 1795, when two grenadians, from a meeting in Guadeloupe with the agent in chief of the french revolution in the west indies, victor hughes. Nouges and la vallette brought back to grenada arms and ammunition, revolutionary symbols, "Liberty, equality or death" They also brought an authorization naming fedon leader of the french revolution in grenada.On March 2, 1975, within days of the return of Nogues and la Vallette, the revolt broke out in Grenada. From their stronghold at Fedon's Belvidere estate, the rebels mounted Simultaneous attacks on the east and west coasts of the island, taking the towns of Grenville and Gouyave on the first night of the rebellion. Governor Home was away from the capital, hunting with “a party of gentlemen†at his country estate at Paraclete. When the news reached them, the Governor’s party, instead of returning directly to St. George’s over the hills, decided to go north so Satuteurs and try to return to the Capital by boat. But their plan was reported to Fedon’s forces by a slave in sympathy with the revolutionaries, and the Governor was captured off the coast of Gouyave and imprisoned at Belvidere.
Fedon’s forces built a fortified camp on a strategically located mountain overlooking the Belvidere estate. From this headquarters, they waged a bloody battle against the British for the next 15 months. Fedon’s army was steadily reinforced by slaves who abandoned the plantations and joined the rebels. The British, unused to the tropics, were decimated by illness (a ship from Africa had brought the “Bulam Fever†to Grenada in 1793) and were rapidly overwhelmed by Fedon’s fighters. The situation became so serious for the British that the acting governor had to send calls for help to Trinidad, St. Vincent and Martinique to secure reinforcements. All of these attacks were repulsed by Fedon’s forces. On April 8, an attack by 700 British troops on the rebels’ camp resulted in the death of Fedon’s brother and provoked Fedon into ordering the execution of Ninian Home and 50 other British prisoners held at the camp.
For the next six months, the British steadily lost ground, and the English population took refuge in the capital. In addition to their mountain strongholds, the rebels established fornications at post Royal, on Grenada’s east coast, through which they controlled Marquis Bay. This became their receiving point for islands by way of Trinidad, which was by then controlled by French revolutionaries. By November, Fedon’s forces controlled all of Grenada except St. George’s.
In Britain, the authorities were becoming concerned. They were going to lose Grenada from the inside. A second Haiti was in the making,The British were so alarmed by the West Indian uprising that they dispatched a huge fleet of reinforcements from England under the command of General Ralph Abercromby. The fleet encountered storms along the way, so that only 2000 troops arrived uprisings in St. Lucia and St. Vincent, Abercromby proceeded to Grenada, where he outlined a plan to surround Fedon’s stronghold’s in the hills.
After the long winter of fighting, Fedon’s forces were exhausted and short of weapons and ammunition. The British had successfully attacked Post Royal in March, and the rebels, losing 300 men in the battle, had been forced to retreat to their strongholds in the hills. By the time Abercromby arrived in June 1796, the remaining rebels were concentrated in four camps in the interior of the island, and the British were able to surround them.
After a year and a half of struggle, Fedon’s freedom fighters were crushed. Nearly all of the leaders were captured and 38 were executed by the British; others, including many of the slaves who had participated in the revolution, were deported to Honduras. Fedon, however, was never captured, and he is believed to have drowned while trying to escape Trinidad.
Grenada was left in ruins. Many estates had been burned, destroying sugar and rum works, livestock, and crops worth over 2 million pounds. One quarter of the island’s slave population perished. The defeat of Fedon’s forces meant the final obliteration of French power on the island, with most of the French and colored population either killed or banished from the island. Those who remained were deprived of their civil and political rights, and their properties were seized and given to the Crown. This resulted in another wave of emigration to Trinidad, and the elimination of the French plantocracy as a Grenadian social class.
Fedon is honoured by modern Grenadians as their first revolutionary, and his bearded sillouette appears on walls and buildings deep in Grenada countryside. His final military defeat is less important than his success in mobilizing a powerless population to demand their freedom from an oppressive ruling class.
Fedon’s rebellion symbolizes to Grenadians the potential of mass organization, and the precedent in their own history for seizing power from below.liberty equality or death is the words which was inscribed on that flag what those two grenadian slaves charles nogues and julien pierre la vallete brought back to julien felon and naming him the leader, these words is the grenadian peoples motto they must always use as there every day outlook from now on if you dident get taught that in your countries history, LIBERTY EQUALITY OR DEATH and its very relevant in todays society. It was recently our 36 independance year and i have seen and heard many grenadians on there websites celebrating this fact, well let this marryshow put you stupid people in the light, independant means freedom and not depending on out side resources to achieve independance like what fidel castro achieved in cuba and grenada has never been independant, thats why american millitary tanks are still on our island today, to get independance we need a new leader with a deep inside knowledge of grenadas history and a clear and simple purpose of whats needed in bringing grenada to the present economy par along side other carribean countries. you see even though julien fedon revolution was just over 100 years before marryshow he still implemented a lot of his idealogies, and his most important policies he inherited from fedon revolution was to rebel against the oppressors the crown colonial goverment at any cost, now to maurice bishop leadership the irony is this on maurice bishop myspace tribute website, i see his got my grand uncles name down as his hero only 2nd to his own father rupert bishop who in is own right was a man of stature. As what bishop did was to use ta marryshow policies as he knew it was the best way forward for grenada, but in 1980 bishop goverment, his party the p r g told the rasta people that unlike the previous goverment we will let you grow your marijuana, and not burn it down so the rastas backed him and vote for his party some even becoming members of the p r g, but as soon as bishop was in power what did he do destroy all of the ganja plantations which was the only resources the rastas had of any income to feed there families, as well as over looking the medicinal purpose of what marijuana contributes to do such as healing against polio, rumertism ,high blood presure. fever. sexual contagious dissease, diabetes, liver and kidney ogans, irritable bowel symtoms and so forth and most famous of them all rastafafi faith use it to smoke in make shift pipes, challis or bungs and the more common use in spliffs, joints, blunts as it brings them closer to there god king of kings, the trembling lion of judah emperor haile sellasie the 1st of ethopia and they use the ganja to meditate which brings them on a higher ites, also its used in there sabbath so its a religious ritual but bishop family wasent that kind of people, rupert bishop wasent in to rasta he was a straight upright christian from a middle class family who sent his son to england for his eduacation unlike t a marryshow who understood the rasta people and who already acknowledge ethiopia as the black mans land, thats why he made that uprising statement which you have read on this site. The bishop family are the reason why t a marryshow name has been kept in the back ground and when grenada is mentioned, only bishop name get mentioned after it was marryshow who moulded and shaped grenada to what she is today not bishop, on the contary because bishop died in an assination his family made him out to be a some sort of mahtar, unlike t a marryshow who died of old age in a very peaceful way. Its a conspiracy from the bishop family as they want every grenadian worldwide to believe it was maurice bishop who saved grenada and put grenada where she is today which is total propaganda, pure bull shit lies, let me enlighten you grenadians world wide, this man maurice bishop nearly got my island grenada and its habitants wiped out of the face of the earth, because of his own stubborn single minded attitude he got killed he dident listen to the people who knew best, and was giving him the best advice for the people of grenada the elder generation senior politicians, they warned him not to try and do what fidel castro did in cuba as these things take time and when castro took control of cuba was a far different era to when bishop took over grenada, as grenada never had the millitary resources to fight a war with venezula let alone the worlds biggest millitary army at the time united states of america, what was this idiotic man thinking coming to think of it, probably bishop never burn down all the ganja fields he must of saved the best for himself as a person got to be on some kind of subtance and i dont believe ganja would make some one so stupid, it was a thing called egosentrism thats what this man problem was he saw himself as malcolm x luther king che chava castro all moulded in to one man himself, what was this man thinking to put all the grenadian people in danger like he did, look what history has taught us if your country resist to the usa order and demand then those citizens of that country usually end up splatered on the floor and unfortunatly thats exactly what happened to grenada, under t a marrshow leadership not 1 person died in any revolt, and times was a lot harder in marryshows time than bishop. Through out grenada in the 1700 s the english and the french fought between themselves over control from 1756 through 1763, the two foght the severn year war during which grenada was captured by the british, the wars ended with the treaty of paris in 1763, under which grenada was formally ceded to the british crown, much of the plantocracy was bought by incoming english and scoth planters, the out going french colonial goverment took all the written records on grenada with them which is one reason why so little is known about the islands history prior to 1683.(see photo gallery on this site)
