Tucker’s Town Historical Society Meeting
A public meeting will be held this week to consider the next steps regarding the historic Tucker’s Town graveard issue.
Organised by the Tucker’s Town Historical Society, the meeting will take place at Harrington Workmen’s Club on Harrington Sound Road, Smith’s Parish next to Devil’s Hole on Tuesday [Apr. 9] from 7 pm to 9 pm.
“In particular an invitation is extended to the descendents of those Bermudians who were removed from their land in Tuckers Town in 1920; and who are asked to bring their stories and memories in to the room,” said a spokesperson.
“It is hoped this meeting will provide the community an opportunity to discuss the best way to protect this site of sacredness to the Black community, which is also of historical and national importance to all Bermudians; and in particular how best to honour and celebrate a unique and courageous group of Free Blacks who, despite slavery and segregation, managed to create a safe, proud, idyllic and hardworking community.”
Protestors are objecting to tombstones at the Tucker’s Town graveyard being removed ahead of plans to build a new cemetery memorial on the site.
Activist group CURB is seeking to ensure the Tucker’s Town cemetery is added to the Historic Buildings List to ensure this site is restored and protected for future generations of Bermudians.
Were the people ‘removed’ from their land? I understood that the land was purchased from them.
You cannot be serious with that statement. Can you?
In 1920 an Act was passed to expropriate the land from those who did not wish to sell. The land was purchased by Furness Withy to create a “Palm Beach of Bermuda” to have a top line resort and private homes for wealthy Americans. The land was by and large owned by Black Bermudians, many of whom did not want to sell. They had been living there since the late 1790s for over six generations and had created an idyllic community, building their own church, school, grocer shops and homes. In those days of segregation they managed to provide a safe place to bring up their children away from the prejudice and discrimination that was then rife in the wider community. They were whalers, pilots, artisans, farmers, fishermen and sailors, and it is likely it is one of the earliest Free Black communities in the western hemisphere as Bermuda emancipated in 1934, thirty years before the U.S. so is of extreme historical importance both in Bermuda and internationally. Yes, they were paid but many believe they did not receive fair value. In those days if you became a troublemaker for the powers that be, you could easily lose your job and not find another one because you were ‘black listed’. One elderly lady Dinna Smith was forcibly removed from her home, with her belongings piled on a cart and carried out. She never signed away her land, and later died of a broken heart.
Thank you for that information.
When this history is largely unknown, or unexamined, or told only through the viewpoint of those who benefited from it, is it any surprise that the treatment of this graveyard would be such an emotional flashpoint? Really how could it not be? While business plans, tourism industry angst, and planning regulations turn our focus to architectural details, finalizing agreements, resolving and moving on, I say we need to resist or stand back and question and they demand more. If we go along with the idea that this is just about finalizing some architectural and landscaping plans then we are once again shutting down these stories and this history and the opportunity to heal.
Those who’s ancestors and family stories are connected to this land have for so long been denied the chance to openly acknowledge what happened and with widespread support, explain how it felt, and how it feels. Their process is only beginning now. Their story has been suppressed for so long, often even within their own families as a way to cope with the pain and injustice. What this means is that they are not an organized official group that can be brought to the negotiating table on a timetable. They are probably very scattered and in various degrees of awareness about what happened and how they feel about it. It is making way for their process, their stories, their truth that will allow true healing and this is not something that happens quickly or according to any official procedural timetable.
So where does that leave things? What would be a better way to proceed? I think this should be seen as two different processes. Firstly there is a practical need to decide what happens to the graveyard. Secondly there is underlying emotional need that the Tucker’s Town land eviction created.
For the first process there are some existing groups that are available to contribute to this conversation. The Marsden Methodist Church have been very involved in the graveyard plans but they have not been a collecting place for the views and concerns of all the affected people. As I understand it, their stance is along the lines of being easy to work with and not causing trouble. Of course the Tucker’s Town Historical Society represents some of the more determined and self-determined members of the affected group but they know they are only a few voices and researchers and that that there is a much larger group, the Tucker’s Town diaspora if you like, that they are small part of. (This is part of why they are calling this meeting). They are insisting their inclusion in the graveyard plans conversation and so they should.
The second process is the larger, overarching one that reaches back generations and involves people that haven’t even entered the conversation yet. In this process events that some may claim are ancient history are far from resolved and decided. In this process, the question of how the Tucker’s Point Club physically protects and memorialized the graves may not be as important as the question of whether there should be a driving range there. In terms of making space for this process, tomorrow’s meeting may be an important but it should be seen in context. So much more is needed, and let us all be advocates for this to happen, for these people’s healing to be facilitated in whatever way is necessary. It needs to happen, with support, but in the way the descendants need it to happen. Can we facilitate it without taking over or limiting it or asserting our needs? As a country we have never investigated and committed to what is needed to heal a piece of our racial past and here we have the chance.
As a final point, if attendance at the meeting is low, resist the temptation to conclude that no one really wants or needs this. Far more likely is the explanation that they are unused to being asked for their stories, unused to having any hope for validation, and probably distrusting that any official entity would not disbelieve, qualify or dismiss their truth.
Please post this also: http://youtu.be/XWnEyRalUz4