Women’s History Month (Part II of II): Reflecting on our Past and Embracing our Future

As Women’s History Month comes to a close, I would like to take the time to reflect on history taking into account occasions such as this day: Transfer Day in the U.S. Virgin Islands and in doing so thinking about the future of the women of the Virgin Islands. Today, March 31, 2009 (Transfer Day),  marks the 92nd Anniversary of what the pioneer of the VI Reparations Movement has termed as the sale of a people and a day that has been filled with concerts and other festivities: Concert, speeches to mark Transfer Day.  

Now, do not misinterpret my sentiments, as there are aspects of our history that we should be proud of and that we should celebrate, however, the notion that we can simply speak, dance or sing about our history without a true sense of what that history entailed means that a level of consciousness needs to be raised to engender some sensitivity about both the good and bad aspects of our past. For a moment, in the spirit of remembering our foremothers let us come to terms with the fact women, many of whom were with child or had small children,  were forced to brave the brutal and merciless transatlantic slave voyage to live in captivity, subjected to torture and rape, that following Emancipation women in the former Danish West Indies were forced to work on many of the same slave plantations they worked on as slaves enduring slave-like conditions our 3 Queens fought against, women who 92 years ago today, became part of a nation that denied women the right to vote (the 19th Amendment was not passed until 1920).

The time is now,  let us now work together as women and men to dialogue on the state of women in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Are women in the Virgin Islands properly represented? What is the state of the family (See 11/20/07 VI Daily News article: Voices  for V.I. Children for Nov. 20 Demographics of V.I. families? What is state of the girl child?These are just  a few of the many questions plaguing our society as there are other issues that also  need to be discussed so the next time we can all sing, dance, and talk, this time about how the plan we put together resulted in women’s issues being place at the forefront of legislative actions, families coming together,  more young girls with high self-esteem. 

I applaud all of the individuals and groups who are sensitive to the ills of our society and have taken a stance to embrace CHANGE.  In order to genuinely embrace the change we as a people so desperately need, steps must be taken to build sensitivity rather than tolerance for a past that some want to forget. The time is now to establish a plan to deal with the outlined issues and other issues women and girls of the Virgin Islands face: a Virgin Islands Women’s Agenda. Join the dialogue, unite for a cause, become part of the answer!

Women’s History Month (Part I of II): Recognizing our Virgin Islands Foremothers

We take this month: Women’s History Month,  to celebrate the lives of women who have made an indelible mark in the Women’s Movement by promoting and advocating for the rights of women. I am not necessarily referring the women’s movement in the context of women’s suffrage in the U.S. vis-à-vis the advocacy efforts for the passage of the 19th Amendment, equal pay (See  NY Times Story on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act) and other points of equality advocated by American women (See Women’s Rights Movement in the U.S.)  but the efforts of our Territory’s illustrious foremothers who blazed amazing paths.  On October 1, 1878, also known as Contract Day (See St. Croix Source Article on discussion of Bill No. 27-0170) our 3 Queens: Queen Agnes, Queen Mathilda and Queen Mary long before women leaders from around the world gathered in Mexico City to convene the First World Conference on Women (1975) to discuss and develop among other things a Plan of Action to address gender equality and gender discrimination, literally carried the torch not just for rights of women but rights of all those affected by the conditions of the post-slavery Danish West Indies era. Queen Mary, Queen Agnes, and Queen Mathilda understanding that they were essentially sharecroppers: victims of economic imperialism; living in a post-slavery society reminiscent of slave-like conditions, wherein the chattel-slavery shackles were removed but they were still bound to toil the land, laboring often times for free, burned 43 sugar cane plantations - 879 acres - from the Prosperity Estate to the Peter's Rest Estate (See VI Daily News article: Chanting crowd bearing torches observes Fireburn's 129th birthday). Our Queens in carrying  out this huge act of bravery, paved the path of the Virgin Islands Labor Movement!

I believe that their actions set the tone for future community activism by Virgin Islands women and should be and should have been an inspiration for our past and current women leaders in taking hold of a torch to illuminate the rights of all.  Let us take this time to embrace the work and lives of our Virgin Islands women: women business pioneers, political party founders and politicians, educators, lawyers, doctors, all of the Virgin Islands women of our past who have taken their place in history by grabbing hold of a torch and blazing an admired pathway: a pathway leading to the recognition and advancement of human rights for all.