Back Then…

I was in St. Croix a few years ago when I was invited to sit-in on the monthly Ancestry Discovery meeting. That day Winthrop Hector and Cyril Barnes, born in 1915 and 1910 respectively were the guest speakers. Unbeknownst to me Richard Schrader, Sr., a very prolific oral tradition writer, was present and included the presentations by these men in his most recent book, Otto Tranberg of Mt. Washington and Nicolas and Other Stories.

We are fortunate to have Mr. Schrader and others like him to document the oral history of the Virgin Islands: Ms. Ruth Moolenaar, Mr Dimitri Copeman and Mr. Olasee Davis continue to interview and record the culture bearers and practitioners before it’s too late. They write social histories, c&h articles, and oral histories of some of the most fascinating Virgin Islanders you will ever meet. They weave a tapestry rich in detailed folklore and adventure that reveals the life of all, many years ago.

Mrs. Ruth Moolenaar - a retired education administrator - directed the publishing of Project Introspection, which was cultural education materials for public schools in the territory. In her golden years she wrote We From UpStreet, a social history of the UpStreet area, which is of great significance to the Virgin Islands. Dimitri Copeman is an artist and musical culture bearer considered to be the authority on Cariso and the history of Quelbe (our official music) in the Virgin Islands. Olasee Davis is an Ecologist and writes (almost) weekly articles on some aspect of our environment that links to our V.I. culture.

I am proud to know the Virgin Islanders mentioned here and I only hope that after all is said and done with this UPitt MLIS program, I can contribute half of what they have to the community of the Virgin Islands. Culturemom…