PARTNERS
Fisherman's Pub
Barbados Library Service
St Peter's Parish Church
St Peter Parish Independence Committee
St Peter Parish Organizing Committee
Speightstown Task Force
GOB Prime Ministers Office, Culture Division
History and Philosophy Department, UWI Cave Hill
Republic Bank
A Project of the Centre for Hybrid Studies
Designated as the nation’s centre for heritage, cuisine, and the arts, and grounded in the authority of its heritage of freedom-fighting, the world is invited to Speightstown to experience the excitement and inspiration of sharing, learning, and visioning a future of wealth, prosperity and peace built on a foundation of freedom. The Speightstown Global Freedom Festival is an explosion of culture, history, and philosophy that includes everything from art exhibitions, music, poetry, and parades to discussions and academic seminars.
The Centre for Hybrid Studies (CHyS) in collaboration with the St Peter Parish Independence Committee, the St Peter Parish Organizing Committee and the Speightstown Task Force successfully staged the inaugural Speightstown freedom festival event in 2021
Speightstown is the site of the earliest black new world freedom plan that sought to crown “Cuffee” as Barbados’ first African King in 1675. The plan of the enslaved African sages, priests and warriors to establish Barbados as a West African kingdom was betrayed. The price was high for the revolutionaries. The White enslavers burnt six alive and decapitated eleven before dragging them through the streets of Speightstown and finally burning their bodies.
They executed twenty-five and beat or deported seventy. Five Africans committed suicide. In trying to identify more leaders to torture and punish, the Whites threatened Tony, one the leaders, to burn him alive. His now legendary response was, “if you roast me today, you cannot roast me tomorrow”!
Prof. Sir Hilary launched the 2022 SGFF and will deliver the inaugural Cuffee Freedom Lecture on June 12, 2022 in Speightstown
Between 1627 and 1838 the Trans-Atlantic trade to Barbados enslaved Africans under the barbaric system that was chattel slavery. Early in that period Barbados acquired the dubious honour of exporting to the Americas the system that became the hallmark of southern United States - white supremacy and endemic racism. The White colonizers of the Carolinas and the exporters of that terrible system sailed out of Speightstown. Speightstown has a duty to address that ignominious chapter and become an exporter of justice and freedom. Every year, during Barbados’ Season of Emancipation from April 14 to August 27, scholars in all fields including philosophers and scientists, as well as artists, diplomats, and politicians will journey to Speightstown to study, discuss, promote, and display the best examples of what it means to be free.
In the spirit of Tony’s resolve to be free despite the horrific sacrifices, the African struggle for freedom continued across Barbados with major a plot in 1692, a rebellion in 1816, ****
The current representative for Speightstown, M.P. Colin Jordan insists that Speightstown’s “struggle has been global.” Cognizant of the ongoing struggle for freedom and self-determination, he conceptualised the lecture "From Cuffee to Owen" which was delivered in Speightstown by Professor Sir Hilary Beckles in February 2020 who traced the town’s legacy of freedom struggles from enslavement to post-independence.
In November 2021 the UNCTAD Spirit of Speightstown Declaration announced that
"As a consequence of the combined effects of the pandemic and climate change, we confront today a crisis of the global common good. This impinges on every aspect of human life: health, education, housing, safe and nutritious food, clean water and decent work, not to mention the resilience of our institutions. It jeopardizes the right and hope of every human being to enjoy a life of dignity in security and freedom."
It challenged us to
"work across the boundaries of faith, culture and nationality to arrive at a shared moral vision for our interconnected world; a vision grounded in universal respect for human rights, and particularly the eradication of structural racism, structural discrimination against women and all elements of unconscious bias."
Representative for St Peter, Colin Jordan, M.P., leading the walk in Speightstown on Emancipation Day, August 1, 2021. An art exhibition and performances linked Speightstown in Barbados with Accra and Cape Coast in Ghana for joint commemorations. The theme highlighted the shared history of Barbados and Ghana and drew inspiration from historic African plots and rebellions that sought to forge societies free from enslavement.
Event | SGFF Launch |
Date | Thursday April 14 |
Time | 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm |
Duration | 2 hrs |
Venue | Speightstown Library |
Activities |
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Event | SGFF Philosophy & Art |
Date | Wednesday April 27 |
Time | 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm Art Exhibition opening 6:30pm – 8:30 pm Panel discussion |
Duration | 3 ½ hrs |
Venues | Speightstown Library |
Activities |
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Event | Poetry, Music & Food |
Date | Friday April 29 |
Time | 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm |
Duration | 2 ½ hrs |
Venues | Fisherman’s Pub |
Activities |
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Event | SGFF Philosophy & Art Exhibition |
Dates | Wednesday May 25 |
Time | 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm Art Exhibition opening 6:00pm – 9:30 pm Panel discussion |
Duration | 4 ½ hrs |
Venues | Speightstown Library |
Activities |
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Event | SGFF Poetry in the Pub - Poetry, live music , food & drink |
Dates | Friday May 27 |
Time | 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm |
Duration | 2 hrs |
Venues | Fisherman’s Pub |
Activities |
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Event | SGFF inaugural Cuffee Freedom Lecture |
Dates | Sunday, June 12 |
Time | 6:00 pm – 9:30 pm |
Duration | 2 ½ hrs |
Venue | Alexandra Shool |
Activities |
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Event | SGFF Philosophy & Art |
Dates | Sunday June 22 |
Time | 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm Art Exhibition opening 6:00pm – 9:30 pm Panel discussion |
Duration | 3 ½ hrs |
Venues | Speightstown Library |
Activities | Library
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Event | SGFF Poetry in the Pub, Music, En Plein Air Art & Food |
Dates | Friday June 24 |
Time | 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm En Plein Air Art 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm Poetry & Music |
Duration | 5 ½ hrs |
Venues | Fisherman’s Pub & Boardwalk or Jetty |
Activities |
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Event | SGFF Freedom Market |
Dates | Sunday July 24 – Monday August 1 |
Time | 10:00 am – 10:00 pm |
Duration | 12 hrs daily |
Venue | Church Street |
Activities |
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Event | SGFF Young Africentric Movie Makers (YAMM) |
Dates | Tuesday July 26 |
Time | 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm |
Duration | 2 ½ hrs |
Venue | Alexandra School |
Activities | Films on resistance, rebellion, activism, labour rights |
Event | SGFF Poetry, Music, Plein Air Art & Food |
Dates | Friday July 29 |
Time | 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm En Plein Air Art 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm Poetry in the Pub |
Duration | 5 hrs |
Venues | Fisherman’s Pub & Boardwalk or Jetty |
Activities |
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Event | SGFF Theatre & Music Production |
Dates | Saturday July 30 |
Time | 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm |
Duration | 2 ½ hrs |
Venue | Alexandra School |
Activities |
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Event | SGFF Emancipation Day Parade and Production |
Dates | Tuesday August 2 |
Time | 9:00 am – 12:30 pm |
Duration | 3 ½ hrs |
Venue | Esplanade & streets |
Activities |
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