National Archives to Commemorate the 200th Anniversary of the Merikins

TRINIDAD:  April 27, 2016: The National Archives of Trinidad and Tobago (NATT), a Division of the Ministry of Public Administration and Communications, will launch its commemoration of the International Decade for Persons of African Descent, by celebrating the 200th Anniversary of the Arrival of the Merikins, and the re-publication of the seminal work by Dr. Maureen Warner Lewis’ “Guinea’s Other Suns,” at an event at NATT’s Office, Cor. New and St. Vincent Street, Port of Spain on Thursday 28th April, 2016 at 6:00pm.
The Honourable Maxie Cuffie, M.P., Minister of Public Administration and Communications, will deliver the Feature Address, with the Keynote Address on the African Legacy and the Merikins to be delivered by Dr. Heather Cateau, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Education, at The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus.
The event, which is a collaboration with the Merikins Heritage Foundation and the Emancipation Support Committee, forms part of the ongoing efforts to build an inclusive history and archives for Trinidad and Tobago, and is in keeping with NATT’s commemoration of the International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2124).
The re-publication of Dr. Warner-Lewis’ book and her presentation at the event, will bring focus to the contributions of the Merikins as free Africans, as well as other Africans who came to Trinidad and Tobago and their legacy.
The Merikins settled in the Company Villages in South Trinidad and are descendants of former African-American slaves from the Southern USA who fought on the side of the British in the Corps of Colonial Marines, during the British-American War of 1812-1814 in exchange for their freedom. Not much is known of this group by the general public, including their contribution to the cultural and socio-economic development of our nation.
As such the Merikins Heritage Foundation has planned a series of events for the year including the launch of an exhibition at the event at the National Archives under the theme, “Celebrating the Merikins: our heritage, our faith, our future.” The event will also launch the National Archives’ initiative to acquire archival records of the Merikins from the U.S., British and other archives in an effort to build a Merikins Collection.
A reception and book signing will follow the close of the event.
About the book
“Guinea’s Other Suns” is a classic collection of essays on the forced and voluntary migration to Trinidad of West and West-Central Africans during the 1800s, extending through both the slavery and post-emancipation eras. Maureen Warner Lewis examines African cultural practices and artefacts as recalled by the biological descendants of these migrants during interviews with the author in the 1960s and 1970s.