New Book From Otti Simmons: Dr Barbara Ball
Former union leader Ottiwell Simmons has authored a new book chronicling the life of eminent female union activist, Dr. Barbara Ball. Dr. Ball and Mr. Simmons, former president of the Bermuda Industrial Union, worked closely together for more than thirty years, beginning in the late 1950s, when he was a young black militant and idealist, and she a young, white, medical school graduate and idealist. “Our Lady of Labour” provides a poignant, sometimes humorous look at the very serious times Bermuda faced, both socially and politically, and the very great sacrifices made to achieve worker’s rights.
According to Mr. Simmons, the global winds of change that were sweeping across South Africa with the Soweto riots and the civil rights movement in the United States, also blew across the Bermuda, creating unlikely new alliances and fertile ground for revolutionary reform for social justice and equality from the grassroots level.
Recounted in the first person, Mr. Simmons’ vivid recollection of events is assisted by the daily journals carefully preserved with his neat handwriting. He also draws upon the living memories and archived records of those who also lived the struggle – often on opposite sides. For example, he includes the full unabridged police report of the now infamous BELCO riots, that saw Dr. Ball and others face criminal prosecution in the courts. He honestly describes the initial cautious approach of Dr. Ball to the labour movement, and to Black people in general and the equal suspicions she aroused in those she would eventually sacrifice so much to help.
Her sharp wit and humour are captured in the book, as is her extraordinary fashion sense and compassionate generosity based on her Christian faith.
Mr. Simmons said he wrote the book primarily to pay tribute to the tremendous sacrifice that Dr. Ball and other labour unionists of the time made to secure the rights that workers now enjoy. “I hope that the book will also serve as encouragement to Bermuda’s young people – particularly young trade unionists – to never give up the struggle,” he said. “I’m looking forward to the book being read everyone: former and current union members, former and current government members of both sides, and also those in management that were engaged in the conflicts that Dr. Ball and others struggled so hard to achieve.”
Mr. Simmons and the ailing Dr. Ball are scheduled to be at Union Square in the Dr. E. F. Gordon building on Labour Day just prior to the Labour Day march to celebrate the completion of the book and greet well wishers. “Our Lady of Labour” will be available for sale in September and will retail at $30.
For more information, please contact Mr. Ottiwell Simmons at 236-2661, or e-mail ottie “at” ibl.bm.
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- Dr. Barbara Ball – Bermuda’s Lady of Labour « "Catch a fire" | March 14, 2011
excellent!
Elder Barbara Ball is a LIVING reminder that, in the (sometimes bloody) struggle to achieve justice and equality for all, the colour of one’s skin is always subordinate to the courage in one’s heart.