The history of Grenada in the Caribbean,part of the Lesser Antilles group of islands,covers a period from the earliest human settlements to the establishment of the contemporary nationstate of Grenada. First settled by indigenous peoples,Grenada by the time of European contact was inhabited by the Caribs. British colonists killed most of the Caribs on the island and established plantations on the island,eventually importing African slaves to work on the sugar plantations.
The United States and a coalition of six Caribbean countries invaded the small island nation of Grenada,100 miles (160 km) north of Venezuela,at dawn on 25 October 1983. Codenamed Operation Urgent Fury by the U.S. military,it resulted in military occupation within a few days. It was triggered by strife within the People's Revolutionary Government,which led to the house arrest and execution of the previous leader and second Prime Minister of Grenada,Maurice Bishop,and to the establishment of the Revolutionary Military Council,with Hudson Austin as chairman. Following the invasion there was an interim government appointed,and then general elections held in December 1984.
Maurice Rupert Bishop was a Grenadian revolutionary and the leader of the New Jewel Movement (NJM) –a Marxist–Leninist party that sought to prioritise socio-economic development,education and black liberation. The NJM came to power during the 13 March 1979 revolution which removed Prime Minister Eric Gairy from office. Bishop headed the People's Revolutionary Government of Grenada (PRG) from 1979 to 1983. In October 1983 he was deposed as Prime Minister and executed during a coup engineered by Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard. This quickly led to the demise of the PRG.
The New Joint Endeavor for Welfare,Education,and Liberation,or New JEWEL Movement (NJM),was a Marxist–Leninist vanguard party in the Caribbean island nation of Grenada that was led by Maurice Bishop.
Sir Paul Godwin Scoon was a Grenadian politician who served as Governor-General of Grenada from 1978 to 1992. His tenure is notable for the hectic events related to the rise and fall of the People's Revolutionary Government,as well as his personal involvement in and support of the invasion of Grenada.
Don Rojas is a journalist and political commentator from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. He was Editor in Chief of Grenada's national newspaper,The Free West Indian. He was also a close associate of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and served as his press secretary from 1981 to 1983 in the People's Revolutionary Government (PRG) of Grenada.
The People's Revolutionary Government (PRG) was proclaimed on 13 March 1979 after the Marxist–Leninist New Jewel Movement overthrew the government of Grenada in a revolution,making Grenada the only socialist state within the Commonwealth. In Grenada,the revolution is referred to as the March 13th Revolution of 1979 or simply as “The Revolution”. The government suspended the constitution and ruled by decree until a factional conflict broke out,culminating in an invasion by the United States on 25 October 1983.
Hudson Austin was a general in the People's Revolutionary Army of Grenada. After the killing of Maurice Bishop,he formed a military government with himself as chairman to rule Grenada.
The Grenada 17 were the seventeen political,military and civilian figures convicted of murders associated with the October 1983 palace coup against Prime Minister Maurice Bishop's government of Grenada.
The monarchy of Grenada is a system of government in which a hereditary monarch is the sovereign and head of state of Grenada. The current Grenadian monarch and head of state,since 8 September 2022,is King Charles III. As sovereign,he is the personal embodiment of the Grenadian Crown. Although the person of the sovereign is equally shared with 14 other independent countries within the Commonwealth of Nations,each country's monarchy is separate and legally distinct. As a result,the current monarch is officially titled King of Grenada and,in this capacity,he and other members of the royal family undertake public and private functions domestically and abroad as representatives of Grenada. However,the King is the only member of the royal family with any constitutional role.
Grenada is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea. The southernmost of the Windward Islands,Grenada is directly south of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and about 100 miles (160 km) north of Trinidad and the South American mainland.
The People’s Revolutionary Army (PRA) was the military of Grenada between 1979 and 1983. The People's Revolutionary Militia served as its reserve force. The two,alongside the Grenada Police and the Coast Guard,were collectively termed as the People's Revolutionary Armed Forces (PRAF) from 1981.
Chrysler Thomas was a Grenadian politician. Thomas served as a member of the Parliament of Grenada representing the Saint Patrick East constituency from December 1976 until the overthrow of the government by the New Jewel Movement on March 13,1979. He also served as the Ministry of Agriculture while a member of the House of Representatives of Grenada.
Chris Searle is a British educator,poet,anti-racist activist,and socialist. He has written widely on cricket,language,jazz,race,and social justice,and has taught in Canada,England,Tobago,Mozambique,and Grenada. He has been associated with the Institute of Race Relations since the 1970s,and is on the editorial board of Race &Class. He writes a weekly column on jazz for the left-wing newspaper Morning Star.
A supplementary school is a community-based initiative to provide additional educational support for children also attending mainstream schools. They are often geared to provide specific language,cultural and religious teaching for children from ethnic minorities.
Franklyn Harvey was a Grenadian academic,activist and professional,a founder of the New Jewel Movement (NJM) and principal author of their manifesto. He had a significant influence on the development of the Caribbean new left throughout the 1960s and 1970s and later,in the animation of hundreds of municipal and community projects all around the world. When the NJM took over the government of Grenada on 13 March 1979,Harvey's contributions to their manifesto began to take concrete form across the island.
Jacqueline Creft was a Grenadian politician,one of the leaders of the revolutionary New Jewel Movement and Minister of Education in the People's Revolutionary Government from 1980 to 1983. She was executed in October 1983,along with Maurice Bishop,prime minister of the country and father of her son Vladimir (1977–1994).
How the West Indian Child Is Made Educationally Sub-normal in the British School System:The Scandal of the Black Child in Schools in Britain is a non-fiction book by Grenadian author Bernard Coard published in May 1971 by New Beacon Books in the United Kingdom. In the book,Coard examines educational inequality and institutional racism in the British educational system through the lens of the country's "educationally subnormal" (ESN) schools—previously called "schools for the mentally subnormal"—which disproportionately and wrongly enrolled Black children,especially those from the British Caribbean community. These students rarely advanced out of ESN schools and suffered educationally and economically. Coard also intentionally made a "critical decision" to write specifically for an audience of Black parents.
Richmond Hill Prison is a prison in Saint George's,the capital of Grenada. Known officially as His Majesty's Prison,it is run by the Ministry of National Security. The prison governor is Mr. Rupert Neckles,the Commissioner of Prisons in Grenada.
Waveney Bushell is a Guyanese-born teacher,activist and "arguably the first Black educational psychologist in the UK". She is most notable for her role in exposing racism and inequality in the British educational system.
