Belated happy birthday to the late Elma Francois who was born in Overland, St. Vincent on 14 Oct 1897. Francois was a worker-organizer and anti-colonial activist who organized sugar workers, socialist and anti-war groups and was tried for sedition by the British. https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e75-76-trinidad-general-strike/
Re: Caribbean History
Posted by Maestro on 10/15/2025, 7:42 pm, in reply to "Caribbean History"
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Belated happy birthday to the late Elma Francois who was born in Overland, St. Vincent on 14 Oct 1897. Francois was a worker-organizer and anti-colonial activist who organized sugar workers, socialist and anti-war groups and was tried for sedition by the British. https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e75-76-trinidad-general-strike/
My suspicion is that most Caribhean folks(about 95%) - especially those of us from the British islands at the time - don't know of her and her history. I'll wager a bet on this!
Reading about her is more informing than this video. It's not a good one and Elma Francois deserves a much better one. And he generalizes too much about the white upperclass (the master class of their time), even though most were loyal to the crown. We can't forget or overlook how a few eventually helped bring down & end the colonial system, particularly the rigid class structure.
I'm missing something here..I need to get back to this..I think Belafonte's movie is relevant here.
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