Last year, in July 2020, Beverly Benjamin-George hosted a seminal four-part Summer Reading Project series on the acclaimed Voice of the People radio talk show produced by Antigua and Barbuda’s Observer Radio. Sir Keithlyn’s book To Shoot Hard Labour 1, was the first book selected for discussion for the Summer Reading Project, which aired every Friday in July from 12:00 PM to 2:30 PM. To Shoot Hard Labour 1 and 2 are the first two historical books written by Sir Keithlyn Smith, and they occupy a special place in the hearts and minds of people who are interested in the type of history told from the perspective of descendants of slaves.
The Summer Reading project proved to have been a fortuitous event featured in the life and times of Sir Keithlyn Smith. When the family was contacted about featuring To Shoot Hard Labour 1 on the Summer Reading Project, we were honored and full of joy because such a recognition is not to be taken lightly or for granted. Sir Keithlyn simply smiled and nodded his head. He looked forward to the show and did not miss a Friday. He listened on a friend’s radio that he borrowed just for that occasion because it was battery operated. The electricity can at times be unreliable and he wanted to ensure that he did not miss hearing the show due to a power outage.
The first Summer Reading Project concluded on July 31, 2020. July 31 and August 1st are by far the most auspicious dates in Antigua’s history for slaves, former slaves and their descendants. Picture if you will, the night of July 31, 1834 from the perspective of slaves, who before then knew nothing but slavery and all the deprivations, fear, oppression, and hopelessness that came with bondage. Then the slaves, men, women, children, young, old, infirm, are jettisoned into a new age of no longer living in bondage. Therefore, July 31 must have been a day to end all days. A day on the precipice into the unknown but welcomed state of being a free person. This is a day stamped into the consciousness of Antiguans and Barbudans, who celebrate the events surrounding emancipation as Carnival and its festivities.
Picture if you will, the Summer Reading Project concluding its first project, To Shoot Hard Labour 1 on July 31, 2020. What a powerful way to honor to the past, a poignant and beautiful deviation from the usual and the expected in order to venerate our ancestors and provided value and meaning to their existence. For without them, there would be no “us”. Their endurance ensured our survival. Sir Keithlyn knew this truth and lived to serve it. He has always known that the past is our umbilical cord that anchors us into the present. He took time out of his considerably busy life to write these books as his grandfather, Pappa Sammy commissioned him to. Pappa Sammy saw that there would come a time when Antiguans and Barbudans needed to record and preserve their own history for the generations to come. The To Shoot Hard Labour books create a bridge and a guidepost to the rest of the world, beyond Antigua and Barbuda. The Summer Reading Project vivified the books, emphasizing their relevance and power.
The Summer Reading Project chose Sir Keithlyn’s second book in the To Shoot Hard Labour duology as its reading project for July 2021. Once again, the use of these books provides an intellectually stimulating and thought-provoking atmosphere for the exchange of knowledge, ideas and opinions.
Sir Keithlyn took tremendous joy in listening to the show in July 2020 and the accolades being said about him and his work. He listened keenly to the hosts, guests and callers. The discussions surrounding To Shoot Hard Labour 1 during last year’s Summer Reading Project, embraced many aspects of life, politics, culture, justice and so forth. The Summer Reading Project is a wonderful showcase for Antigua’s and Barbuda’s tremendous history and helps to highlight that our history is very rich.
On the anniversary of Watch Night, July 31, 2020, Sir Keithlyn transitioned and went to join the ancestors whom he so devotedly wrote about. No other proof is needed that his work in service to his ancestors, also serves a higher purpose beyond understanding. If we were to write this story ourselves, we would not have said that the Summer Reading Project would have come into our lives in July 2020. That its last day of radio time would be July 31, 2020, and Sir Keithlyn would also transition on that day. We would have written a vastly different story and would have been fact checked by the events that unfolded.
The Summer Reading Project and Sir Keithlyn’s work are intrinsically intertwined and words cannot express the awe at how events have fallen into place over the last year. Thanks to Beverly Benjamin-George, Observer Radio, The Voice of the People, hosts Franz DeFreitas, Paul Quinn and all and guests who have participated in the Summer Reading Project. The wife and children of Sir Keithlyn Smith are profoundly grateful for your service and for answering the call to put together such a wonderful program.
Jeannette Smith-Henderson, Esq.