BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – ONE of the activities scheduled as part of this year’s History and Heritage Week will focus on an individual who was instrumental in the anti-slavery movement in St. Kitts.
That individual is Barrister-at-Law James Stephen.
From time to time, locals and visitors to the island embark on hikes through the rugged terrain of the island’s mountains, and one of those areas of visit include the popular Lawyer Stephen’s Cave.
SKNVibes understands that the cave, which is located at Olivees Mountain, would be visited on Saturday, February 18, 2012 as part of the History and Heritage Week. And organiser of the event, Greg Pereira, has issued a call to persons to participate in the complimentary exercise which will open one’s understanding of Lawyer Stephen’s contribution to the shaping of Kittitian society.
In providing a brief synopsis of Stephen’s life and contribution to the anti-slavery movement in St. Kitts, Pereira explained that “Stephen was a brilliant British lawyer who started life off in a debtors’ prison because his father was in debt, in financial troubles. Eventually, due to his own means, he was able to become a brilliant lawyer as well as a journalist and he had to flee England in 1783 because he impregnated his best friend’s fiancé, and so it was a bit of a scandal.
“When he went to Barbados, within a few days of being there, he witnessed a trial where slaves were put on trial for murder and apparently they were convicted on the flimsiest of evidence and that changed his whole life.
“He then came to St. Kitts and spent 11 years here and he became a friend of the enslaved people. He was able to give advice on what to do in the court, etc. He was held with such disregard by the plantocracy, by the whites of St. Kitts that he chose to live as a hermit in a cave at Olivees Mountain. He lived there for quite a few years.”
Pereira noted that Stephen was determined to continue to appear unbiased in the eyes of the slaves and, in order to do so, he made his home hermit in a cave which sat on crown land, rather than on land which belonged to any member of the plantocracy.
“This cave apparently was on crown land, this is why he chose to live there so that – according to what our tradition says – as a lawyer, no one could point a finger at him to say he is a lackey of this or that plantation owner because he lives on his land.
“Our tradition has it that, so as to appear to be an unbiased individual, he chose to live in the mountains on crown land in a cave and that way he could continue to be perceived by the blacks and coloureds of St. Kitts as someone who was their friend.”
Pereira said Lawyer Stephen’s story is “yet untold” and the History and Heritage Committee’s intention is to “highlight the part he played in the abolition of slavery which was a very important part”.
Participants in the half-day-long exercise are asked to assemble at the National Museum before 7:30 a.m. at which time they will leave together in a convoy to the starting point of the hike.
Pereira – who explained that he would be leading the hike – said, “The idea is to encourage the participants who are coming, complimentary of course, to bring along snacks, to bring along things we can share amongst ourselves so as to encourage a sense of camaraderie when we get to the cave and we start to talk about the man’s history.”
