The Montserrat National Trust and the Nincum Riley Project hosted an Exhibition and Awards ceremony on Monday in celebration of Emancipation Day.
The well-attended ceremony was held at the National Museum in Little Bay under the theme “Celebrating Our Heritage. Inspiring Our Youth.”
Now in its third year, the ceremony recognizes the work of students who participated in the poem and short story competitions, inspired by the Bramble Family.
Addressing the audience Deputy Premier the Honourable Veronica Dorsette Hector congratulated the winners and urged the young people to learn and embrace their history.
She told the young people “if you do not know your history, you will not recognize the vestiges of history, of slavery. And so Marcus’s admonition is still relevant for today.”
Hon. Dorsette-Hector said that “young people, as we focus on you today, you were asked to imagine the conversation of these two great men (Olauda Equiano & Nincum Riley) . This initiative has been encouraged because you can now question history. You can give it your own voice.
She also than thanked the Montserrat National Trust for partnering with the Bramble Family “through their commitment to their mandate of preserving the past and protecting the present, enriching the future, not only for Montserrat, but all who will learn and be inspired by the work they undertake.”
The Deputy Premier also suggested more awareness as “many still do not know of the evil practices, even after slavery was abolished, where children under the age of six were taken from their parents, kept to work on the plantations until they reached the age of 21. Their parents had no say in the matter. It was a brutal system. Child slavery and human trafficking continue up to today. And even as we celebrate here, we must remember those persons and seek to bring an end to that.