Charles Roach Ratteray won respect and renown, working as a west-end ship’s carpenter, boat builder and trader during the post-Emancipation era. He built skiffs and schooners, which he loaded up with onions and potatoes and sailed to the Caribbean and the US east coast, becoming a wealthy property owner in the process. The Ratteray name originated with him and his legacy looms large in present-day Bermuda through the contributions of his descendants. Early Years Born in Nassau, Bahamas, he…
Heritage
Heritage
A Forgotton Chapter: Blacks in the Building of Dockyard
The construction of the Dockyard generated the largest military defence utilisation of money, manpower and materials in nineteenth century Bermuda. With bases already established at Antiqua (1743) and Halifax (1749), the building of the Yard provided a critical third prong…
June 7, 2020
Heritage
The Black Seafarer: Mariner, Merchant, Slave
The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were tumultuous times, as European nations vied with each other to conquer the world. In the iconic 1592 portrait of Queen Elizabeth I by Marcus Gheerhaerts, she is standing atop a globe with her feet…
June 7, 2020
Heritage
A Storm in a Teacup by Dr. Eva N. Hodgson
In June 1959, Posters and placards were plastered on walls and utility poles throughout the Island. Letters were mailed out. Signed by A Progressive Group, they called for a boycott of all movie theatres beginning June 15. On June 16,…
June 6, 2020
Heritage
The Seduction of Black America
It began during a time when Thursday afternoons were a half-day holiday, leaving a deserted Hamilton dozing in mid-afternoon shadows; when an hour or two before sunset, black fisherman tied up along Front Street to sell their catchers; when, during…
June 5, 2020
Heritage
The Story of Sally Bassett by Cyril Packwood
The Bermudian expression ‘A Regular Sally Bassett Day’ means a sweltering, really hot day! Sally Bassett was a real person and this is her story. Sarah Sally Bassett was a slave owned by a blacksmith in Southampton. In the year…
June 5, 2020
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