Free St. Martin Emancipation calendar at Black History Month lecture on Saturday

Illust. caption1:Illustration of Maroon heroine Lohkay from the history primer National Symbols of St. Martin. (© by HNP)

The calendar honoring the 165th anniversary of St. Martin’s Emancipation will be launched on Saturday, February 23, at Philipsburg Jubilee Library, said Shujah Reiph, president of Conscious Lyrics Foundation (CLF).

The 2013 desk calendar will be given as a gift to all who attend the 22nd annual Black History Celebration Lecture program, which starts at 8 PM.

 

Illust. caption2A classic image of the Great Salt Pond, illustrated by Stephanie Tihanyi.

Produced by CLF in collaboration with Artsen Service Center, the calendar features illustrations of Maroon heroine One-Tété Lohkay, the frontier monument, the Great Salt Pond, and saltpickers in the Grand Case Salt Pond; and highlights history dates from St. Martin and other parts the world.

Dr. Maria Cijntje-van Enckevort will deliver the keynote address at the lecture, which has as its theme this year, "Labor, the cradle of our civilization." A historian and educator, Cijntje-van Enckevort is an expert on Surinamese trade unionist Otto Huiswoud.

Dr. Cijntje-van Enckevort will also critically address key aspects of St. Martin and Caribbean labor history from the books of Joseph H. Lake Jr., George Lamming, and Aimé Césaire.

Guest artists at the history celebration program will include Shakiya Arrindell, singing a "Negro spiritual," and Stephen Rodney, reading his poetry.