Fifty years ago today, the late Sir, Etienne Dupuch moved a parliamentary resolution that was to change life in the Bahamas forever – and lay the groundwork for majority rule.
The Tribune’s publisher and editor proposed the anti-discrimination resolution that was to outlaw the colour bar in the Bahamas and throw open public places to people of all races.
The date, January 23, 1956, has gone down as one of the truly significant landmarks in Bahamian history, and the occasion when racial equality first gained parliamentary recognition.
Until then, blacks were barred from Nassau’s downtown hotels and restaurants and forbidden to see shows at the Savoy movie theatre in Bay Street.
Sir Etienne’s resolution in the House of Assembly called for a commission of inquiry to investigate the discrimination issue arid “make recommendations for removing this evil by legislation or otherwise.”
He deliberately tried to prevent its referral to a house “graveyard” committee because he thought the members would never meet and never report.
Sir Etienne was outraged when a motion to set up such a committee was carried by two votes and rose to protest.
When Speaker Asa Pritchard ordered him to sit down and threatened to call the police to arrest him, Sir Etienne said: “You can call the whole police force, you can call the whole British Army, I will go to jail tonight, but I refuse to sit down.”
From the public gallery, the voice of musician Freddie Munnings was heard to say “Don’t touch him” as a chorus of protest forced the House to adjourn in uproar.
The Speaker never carried out his threat to have Sir Etienne arrested and next day full-page advertisements appeared in the
newspapers saying racial discrimination was at an end.
Afterwards, Sir Etienne was to declare that a “large body” of white opinion and the entire black population was behind his move. And he urged fellow Bahamians to show restraint and, in their hour of victory, “show that they can measure up to the responsibilities of first-class citizenship.”
In an article in The Tribune’s centenary edition in 2003, journalist Sir Arthur Foulkes wrote: “So it was that Sir Etienna’s greatest achievement came about after a tireless campaign in The Tribune and one night of high drama in the political arena.”
Eleven years later, the Bahamas moved to majority rule in the general election of 1967.
But many observers believe, that memorable night in 1956 was the real beginning of “the quiet revolution”.
Source: οΎ The Tribune
Nassau, Bahamas
