Little Anguilla is enjoying the exposure and recognition of being one of the countries and territories of the world with a National Memory Register in UNESCO’S Memory of the World Programme.
The Register is intended to list all items of national significance related to Anguilla’s documentary heritage. The first two inscriptions on the National Register are The Holy Piby, a Rastafari book, otherwise known as the Blackman’s Bible, written by Anguillian Robert Athlyi Rogers (who died in 1931), and the historic Sombrero Island.
The Anguilla National Memory Register was launched on January 23 2015 at St Gerard’s Conference Room. The relevant documents were signed by Minister of Home Affairs, Mr Jerome Roberts, and Mr David Carty, Chairman of the National Memory of the World Committee. The International Register of the Memory of the World Programme, with which Anguilla has now become associated, has over 300 inscriptions for more than 150 countries.
A press release stated that the Anguilla National Committee had been working diligently for over a year-and-a-half to identify Anguillian heritage having the potential to be inscribed on the Memory of the World Register.
“The Committee has completed the dossier for The Holy Piby which will be submitted to UNESCO in Paris for possible inscription on the international register,” the release continued. “Work had already started on the form for the Sombrero Island submission. Anguilla sees this as an important initiative in documenting its heritage so that future generations will be appraised of their past.
“The initiative will support the work of the Ministry of Tourism in developing a heritage tourism product for Anguilla.”
The programme for the launch of the National Memory Register was chaired by Mr Foster Rogers, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism. He saw the event as “an important occasion when the heritage and history of Anguilla can be recognised by UNESCO as being significant enough to contribute to the memory of the human effort.” He thought it was something the island and its people should be proud about.
Mr Roberts, the Minister of Home Affairs, described the launch of the Register as “an important event in our island’s cultural, historical and social life”. He added: “As Minister, I am particularly pleased that this initiative is being undertaken as we approach the 50th Anniversary of the [Anguilla] Revolution.”
He was grateful to Mrs Elizabeth Watson, a retired University of the West Indies Librarian in Barbados who is the UNESCO representative, for assisting Anguilla with finalising the two nominations for the international register.
“I was really delighted to learn about The Holy Piby and its importance to the Rastafarian faith worldwide, and the fact that Sombrero has impacted on common law across the world…,” Mrs Watson stated. “The launch of your National Register is really particularly pleasing for me because….a couple years ago Anguilla hadn’t even yet begun to work on its Memory of the World project. To think that almost two years later, I am here at the launch, is particularly pleasing – and I know that the Cluster Office in Kingston will be very pleased about the progress that Anguilla has made.”
Mr David Carty, commented in part: “In my own admiration for Rasta and what it stands for, whether we agree with everything or not, I could not believe that a profound influence on these people who had made such an impact on Jamaica, and the rest of the world, that one of the most profound influences on them was an Anguillian.
“It is indeed humbling to know that our little 2×4 [island] with 15,000 of us – in those days it might have been 5,000 – could have produced a man whose experiences, in his own life, drove him to write something that has impacted thousands of people across the planet – in the Caribbean, South Africa and the United States.
“These were all the people of colour – especially black people – who have had to struggle against the institutionalised racism that he had to face. That is profoundly moving for me, and to know that little Anguilla has one huge shot at putting in UNESCO a document that the whole world will recognise, is kind of cool.”
Mr Carty also spoke about the influence of Sombrero. “I know we are not going into the world heritage with this, but we are going into the National Heritage so we may have a shot [on the World Memory Programme],” he observed. He added that it was also something that all Anguillians should be proud about.
Certificates, related to the launch of the National Register, were presented to Mrs Audrey Rogers, a descendant of Robert Athlyi Rogers, and Mr Haydn Hughes, Parliamentary Secretary, Tourism, representing the Anguilla Government.
The Vote of Thanks was delivered by Permanent Secretary, Mrs Chanelle Petty Barrett, who, among other subjects, has responsibility for culture.
