A PhD student is hoping to record a more human history of emancipation in Bermuda and uncover the often forgotten role played by friendly societies.

Sarah Hannon, a PhD student at the University of Toronto, will travel to the island this month to conduct a series of interviews to create an oral history of the island not documented in government records.

Ms Hannon said that while friendly societies played a significant role in the landscape of Bermuda post-emancipation and in shaping the island of today, public records about their work were scant.

“It’s how people organised together to build schools, to fund education,” she said. “The notion of life insurance, especially for Black people and people of colour in Bermuda, comes out of friendly societies.

“It’s really wild because if you look at governmental documentation, anything that you find in the Bermuda Archives or the National Archives in the UK, where the majority of formal governmental documents of Bermuda’s history exists, there is almost no discussion whatsoever of friendly societies. There is virtually none.

“Yet, when you look at the archives of The Royal Gazette, you will see advertisements in every single paper throughout the 19th century of meetings of friendly societies.

“You also see annual reports of friendly societies published in the paper.”

Ms Hannon said that through a combination of the newspaper reports and oral histories — stories passed down within families and the community — she hopes to create a more human record of the island.

She said the project is primarily focused around emancipation in Bermuda and how the community adapted to life in the aftermath of enslavement.

The work will also look at the landing of the Enterprise in 1835 and the involvement of the Young Men’s Friendly Institution.

The Enterprise was a US merchant vessel that arrived in Bermuda with 78 enslaved people on board which sparked an international dispute that resulted in 72 choosing to stay in Bermuda and gain their freedom.

“Basically what I am doing right now is gathering oral histories from Bermudians,” Ms Hannon said. “I’m chatting with people about their family histories or personal memories of these events and processes.

“My plan is to integrate that oral knowledge that real Bermudians have into the historical literature on these topics.

“It is not a project seeking formal expertise or any kind of credential.

“The purpose of the project is to talk to people about what they know, what is important to them and what all of these concepts and ideas have meant to them and have maybe meant in their family or community.”

Ms Hannon said that she is looking forward to speaking to people who have familial connections to the Enterprise and the island’s friendly societies, among others.

“It’s kind of a comparison on one level about how people in Bermuda today feel about their past compared to how that past has been presented in formal history and public history to now,” she said.

Ms Hannon noted that there was often a disparity between historical narratives and community sentiments, particularly when it comes to topics such as enslavement and segregation.

“Often formal documents of these histories, more so than other kinds, do not reflect the experience of those who went through it,” she explained.

“What happens then is the descendants of those systems feel disconnected from it.

“That’s a shame because the people who are the descendants of that history are those who are the most affected by it and should care about it the most.”

Ms Hannon will be in Bermuda to conduct oral history interviews between August 20 and 31.

Anyone interested in discussing their family’s experiences, friendly societies and the Enterprise was asked to e-mail sarah.hannon@mail.utoronto.ca or to send a text message to 1-709-770-5137.