Vivian Crawford – Part II
Former IOJ head discusses ‘Sites of Memory’ initiative
Published:Monday | January 2, 2023 | 12:35 AMMichael Reckord/Gleaner Writer
Ask Vivian Crawford the simplest question about Jamaica’s culture or heritage and you’ll get a whole lot more information than you would have expected. That’s one of the benefits – or hazards, if one is pressed for time – of chatting with the internationally acclaimed culture historian.
The Gleaner interviewed the former executive director of the Institute of Jamaica (IOJ), the agency responsible for overseeing and promoting the island’s cultural affairs, just two days before his official retirement and two weeks after he had given a talk at McMaster University in Canada on Jamaica’s 60th anniversary celebrations. It had earned him a standing ovation he joked he was too modest to speak of.
Crawford led the agency from 2000-2012 and again from 2016.
I asked him to name the three projects implemented during his tenure that gave him the most satisfaction. He gave me 10, though four could be regarded as ‘brawta’ – mentioned in passing while he spoke of his central initiative, ‘Sites of Memory’.
The ‘brawta’ projects comprise:
1) Four books he has ready for publication. One consists of speeches he has given over the years; a second is Unity Blessings, based on once-a-week spiritual blessings he used to broadcast on Radio Jamaica; another is based on conversations he has had with interesting people; and the fourth, Our Amazing Culture, is based on a 3-year series for a radio show hosted by Jenny Jenny. The fifth manuscript is Serious Jokes, amusing true-life anecdotes.
2) ‘Salute to the Parishes’, to let Jamaicans know more about their parishes. The annual project started in 2017 with St Elizabeth. The keynote speaker must come from the featured parish and the first was the then Political Ombudsman Donna Parchment Brown. The second parish was Westmoreland and the speaker was then Chief Justice Zaila McCalla.
3) Heritage Fest, started in 2001 and now an annual event. The 2022 topic was ‘Living with our Roots’. It was hosted by the African-Caribbean Institute of Jamaica and featured revival and the medicinal plants of Jamaica. Interestingly, research showed that cerasee is the most popular of our medicinal plants.
4) The restoration of Liberty Hall. The budget started with $12 million from the National Heritage Trust. The full cost was calculated to be $21 million. Crawford put the initial sum on fixed deposit, but, he said, “The Ministry of Finance nearly killed me.” However, by the time he withdrew the money to comply with the regulations, $4 million in interest had been earned. The rest of the money was quickly gathered and the Marcus Garvey established site was restored in 2003, with much fanfare.
The ‘Sites of Memory’ project involved the installation of plaques on important historical sites or objects around the island. Crawford bolstered each mention with a related story. The incident that triggered the project occurred one day when Crawford was in Spanish Town Square.
“When I went to Spanish Town to the place where Jamaica’s greatest legislation was proclaimed,” he said, “I saw a man selling cane and guinep there. The place was littered and there was no evidence that from the steps of Old King’s House the Act for the Abolition of Slavery had been read. I launched an appeal, not knowing I should’ve gotten permission from the Ministry of Finance.”
With his characteristic hearty laugh, he continued, “But by the time the ministry said no, I’d got the $40,000.” (In the end, however, that money was not used to install the plaque. Instead it was done with $14,000 donated by Mr Egerton Chang, a businessman of Half-Way Tree Road.
Crawford had started on his list of projects with one much closer home – in fact, literally next door. While in England in 2004, he read a newspaper article mentioning that the following year was to be celebrated as the bicentenary of the birth of Mary Seacole, Jamaica’s most famous nurse. When, back in Jamaica, Crawford heard the lament that nobody knew exactly where in Kingston Seacole was born, he set off on research lasting many months.
It was eventually discovered that Seacole’s birthplace was in a building on the very site on which the IOJ-National Library of Jamaica complex stands on East Street. The plaque that was installed there has attracted numerous foreign and local visitors, Crawford said.
A third plaque was installed in Frome, Westmoreland, the birthplace of Jamaica’s modern political movement, Crawford said, referring to the labour riots of 1938. (He reminded me that the district’s name should rhyme with “room,” not “Rome,” as the name is from the town of Frome in Southern England.)
The site of the fourth plaque is Carmel, Westmoreland, in honour of the Moravians who in 1753 invited missionaries to teach Jamaica’s enslaved Africans to read and write. They began in Alligator Pond, St Elizabeth, set up the first elementary school in Lititz in that parish, and also built the island’s first community water tank there.
Another plaque was placed on the site of the last house on Lady Musgrave Road where National Hero Marcus Garvey lived before he went to England. An Indian restaurant now occupies the spot.
A sixth monument is in Black River, St Elizabeth, on a site (now a restaurant) where captured Africans were oiled before being displayed for potential buyers. The plaque refers to the infamous Zong Massacre, the incident in which numerous captives were thrown overboard from the Zong while the ship was on its way to Jamaica.
The seventh plaque is to be installed this year (2023) at the space where the first Christian church was established in Seville, St Ann. Near the site is the Roman Catholic church, St Peter the Martyr.
After relating his many achievements, Crawford insisted that he was most proud of – and grateful for – the cooperation of the various councils and relevant government ministers he got while in his post.
“The council,” he gushed, “has been terrific, the staff wonderful – even though they didn’t always fully understand what I was doing. I am indebted to them.”
I had one more question for him. “What are you going to do with all your free time?”
He laughed. “I never have free time. I do a lot of voluntary work, including being organist for two churches – the University Chapel, Mona, and the Church of the Good Shepherd, Constant Spring Road.”