The Berbice Uprising 1763, a 135-page book was launched February 20, 2013.
The Caribbean Press published the text authored by Anna Benjamin, editor of the Sunday Stabroek, under her maiden name A J McR Cameron. The text chronicles the 1763 Berbice slave uprising. In brief remarks the author said she had submitted it around 25 years ago to the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) as a school text for students studying the Resistance and Revolt theme in the CXC History Examination syllabus. Unfortunately, owing to a lack of funding, it could not be published by the Council.
According to the Government Information Agency (GINA), Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Dr Frank Anthony said he welcomed the book and noted that the intended audience would find it very useful. “It is very easy to read and that’s something that has been missing in a lot of text books.”
Professor Emeritus Dr Alvin Thompson from the History and Philosophy Department of the University of the West Indies, gave a brief review of the book, and is quoted as saying that though many other books were written on the subject of the Caribbean’s first slave revolt, none were designed specifically as classroom texts. He described the publication as, “a workable book for the layman who wanted to know what happened in Berbice and the implications for slavery further afield.”
The professor praised the book as, “an outstanding and significant work as it is based on careful research from published and unpublished sources, a work that deserves a place on bookshelves and in schools.”
The preface of the book explained that tailored as the material is for classroom purposes, full citations of sources have not been included except in the case of the documentary extracts, as well as in those instances where modern secondary sources have been relied upon – namely, Ineke Velzing and Monica Schuler.
GINA said that Minister Anthony has added the text to the list of the Guyana Classics published by the Caribbean Press. He said that a decision has been made to have the book available at the National Library, the University of Guyana and in schools. A few copies for sale will be placed in Austin’s Bookstore in Georgetown.
The author thanked Ian McDonald and Professor David Dabydeen for being instrumental in getting the work published, as well as the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport.
She concluded by uttering a note of caution, saying that sooner or later the work would be overtaken by further, more in-depth research on the subject undertaken by other historians, but that historiography was like that.
New generations of historians worked to get a more detailed picture of events, correct mistakes in earlier works, and offer different perspectives.
