WHO liberated Bermuda? Who deserves credit for transforming the island from a segregated oligarchy to an inclusive, pluralistic democracy? Ask this question and you will inevitably get a wide variety of answers.

The Progressive Labour Party Government will doubtless claim it was instrumental in transforming Bermuda into a civic society based on its record as Opposition, claiming that its MPs pushed a reluctant United Bermuda Party Government to make the necessary reforms and policy changes that enhanced the terms of Bermuda's social contract.

The PLP would doubtless claim the pressure it applied acted as a catalyst to bring about changes such as more investment in Bermuda's education system; direct Government intervention to provide housing for Bermudians and social assistance programmes which amount to a welfare system for Bermuda.

These are just a few of the changes we have seen over recent decades, changes that fundamentally altered the nature of Bermuda.

On the other hand the UBP, which governed Bermuda between 1968 and 1998, will claim that it took the lead in the liberation of Bermuda because most of the major structural reforms occurred on their watch.

But then there are also some who would argue that Bermuda is not yet fully liberated and they will point to the need for the PLP Government to fill in the many missing details of its "Social Agenda" ? details that should address the problems associated with housing, increasing health care costs and the plight of our senior citizens, who are finding it increasingly difficult to live in a very expensive Bermuda.

Given the many overlapping socio-economic challenges confronting the PLP, it's difficult to remember the time when the issues of the day were much more clearly defined in the public's mind ? and there was no such thing as a crisis of expectations when it came to the Government of the day failing to come to grips with these topics.

While it's fair to say the UBP oversaw the beginning of Bermuda's transition into a fully democratic society in the 1960s, it should never be forgotten that there were many other Bermudians spurring this process on, leading what amounted to the island's own civil rights movement.

Most of us today take for granted that we have the right to vote and to change the Government if we see fit. But there was a time when that right had to be fought for. But Bermuda seems to have developed a case of collective amnesia in terms of how all of this came about and the struggle that had to be embarked on to ensure Bermuda began the process of developing into a democratic society.

When I think of the development of democracy in Bermuda my mind focuses on one man, a Bermudian who took up the cause of ensuring every Bermudian had the right to vote. While we are celebrating Black History Month in Bermuda, I think it is essential that we Bermudianise this commemoration and honour those among us who fought for justice and democracy.

that regard, I would like to highlight the efforts of Bermudian Pauulu Kamarakafego or, as we knew him then, Roosevelt Brown He played the leading role in the struggle to bring about Universal Adult Suffrage in Bermuda. As is so often the case in Bermuda, we do not give enough credit and recognition to those Bermudians who have made significant contributions to the island that exists today.

I came to form an association with Roosevelt Brown in the early 1970s when I became politically aware and the PLP headquarters became a second home in my ongoing quest to educate myself on why it was so vitally important to be a part of the political process this country.

I was too young to take part in the campaign to bring about Universal Adult Suffrage in Bermuda but over the years I have familiarised myself with the history of this movement. You can too by reading Roosevelt Brown's enthralling autobiography, .

If you can flash back in your mind's eye to the late 1950s or early 1960s, you will find a very different political reality in Bermuda. During those times, the majority of the island's population ? both black and white ? did not have the right to vote; the franchise was tied to whether or not you owned land in Bermuda.

We speak of political corruption supposedly existing in Bermuda today but back then there also existed political corruption given the fact Bermuda had in place a governmental system that did not have a popular mandate based on a universal, free vote.

Brown and his campaign for Universal Adult Suffrage challenged this undemocratic political system based on the ownership of land and white male privilege. Ironically, as pro-referendum supporters are discovering in the current Independence debate, the question of a free vote being a natural right for the citizens of a country was something that Bermudians had to be educated about. Discussions on the question of an extended, universal franchise were held throughout the country over a period of months.

Beginning at the Richard Allen Church in St. George's and at various meetings sponsored by the ex-scholars of Howard Academy, a school that was denied funding by the Government of the day and that was finally forced to close, the campaign began to educate Bermudians about their inalienable right to vote.

It should perhaps come as no surprise that former Howard Academy students would be the leading lights in sponsoring a voter education programme. Among those ex-students was Roosevelt Brown, who had already taken a leadership role in franchise movement. He became the chairman of the Committee for Universal Adult Suffrage (CUAS) and, of course, the meetings attracted a great deal of interest.

The Committee invited people from every stratum of Bermudian society, including Members of Colonial Parliament (as they were known then), to address their meetings. Some of the more reactionary MCPs were extremely strident in their opposition to the extension of the voter franchise.

Some of the disparaging comments they made included: "Universal Adult Suffrage will never come in my lifetime"; Will we allow people born out of wedlock the right to vote?"; "Will people of mixed race be allowed to vote?"

As I mentioned earlier, it really was a very different Bermuda back then. Social change, for the most part, has come about peacefully in Bermuda but the franchise movement provoked a lot of concern. Governor Sir Julian Gascoigne was concerned about the content of Roosevelt Brown's still unpublished manifesto ? "Seven Steps to Obtain The Right to Vote" ? and asked to meet him.

A reluctant Brown finally agreed to go to Government House but refused to reveal the nature of the seven steps that the CUAS was going to pursue in its efforts to to bring about Universal Adult Suffrage.

However, it soon became clear that six of these steps were related to the creation of a political party ? steps that ultimately led to the formation of the Progressive Labour Party.

Interestingly at the last public meeting on the question of extending the voter franchise, a petition was produced which had been signed by Bermudians at the many previous meetings held throughout the country to discuss the issue.

The petition was presented to Government House where it was rejected. Roosevelt Brown himself then began the first of his many trips overseas to pursue his agenda for bringing about a more democratic Bermuda.

He even put together a document pleading his case to the United Nations Committee of Twenty-Four (or the UN Decolonisation committee, as it is generally known) dealing with the prospect of bringing about an Independent Bermuda.

was revealed in Roosevelt's book how much he was made to pay economically for organising the CUAS public meetings. It was only because of generous support from the community that he was able to survive, for he could not find employment in Bermuda. Bermuda finally allowed a free vote without restriction in 1968, almost a decade after the CUAS began its campaign for Universal Adult Suffrage.

At the outset of this , I posed the question: "Who liberated Bermuda?" I think the story of Bermudian Roosevelt Brown and his struggle to bring about the right to vote in Bermuda provides one part of the answer to that question.