A salute is due to the staff at the Berkeley Institute for instituting National Authors Week with a focus of publication by local writers. Not surprisingly Bermuda's most prolific author and publisher, former Minister Dale Butler was invited to kick off the week on Monday.

A keenly interested group of youngsters combing a part of their lunch-hour break to see and hear the highly profiled politician.

The next day it was this writer's turn in the library spotlight, with retired MP and labour leader Ottiwell Simmons scheduled for the following day. I was specifically asked to give a short reading from "Freedom Fighters, Monk to Mazumbo" and to be ready for a question and answer period.

One of the most pertinent questions was from a student who wanted to know why did Dr. E.F. Gordon, the founder of the organised labour movement in Bermuda, change his name to 'Mazumbo.'

It was just then that the Head Librarian Ms.Takara M.N. Dill, who chaired the session, signaled time was up and the students dutifully proceeded to their regular classes.

Before they left I promised them the question deserved more than the mere "nutshell" answer I was able to give, and that more would be forthcoming through another medium.

Chapter seven in Monk to Mazumbo relates how Dr. Gordon seized every opportunity to challenge tactics calculated to reduce black leadership and assert white superiority in Bermuda.

He deplored the policy of the daily press of highlighting the crimes of blacks and ignoring their positive achievements. Black men and women alike were reported by their first or last names and rarely given the prefix Mr or Mrs.

He also resented the tendency of some of his fellow Members of Parliament during debate to allude to him by anything but his correct parliamentary title.

On one occasion, the House Chairman addressed him as Mister Gordon, and then with a grin quickly apologised, saying it was a slip of the tongue.

Disbelieving him, the doctor reacted so abusively throughout the remainder of the sitting that it was almost impossible to carry on business.

At the end of the day, Henry Tucker (later Sir Henry Tucker) moved that Dr. Gordon be suspended from the House for unparliamentary behavior. His motion was overwhelmingly carried.

At the next sitting, Dr. E.A. Cann moving a motion to have the suspension rescinded, saying there were at least two other Assemblymen who should have been suspended along with Dr. Gordon. His motion was voted down.

It was (and still is) a longstanding British tradition to address members of Parliament as the Honourable Member, or in the case of a lawyer, the Hon. and Learned Member.

Angrily Dr. Gordon told his white colleagues they should consider themselves a privilege to call him the Honourable and Learned Member, because with his educational background he regarded him as "learned", if not more so than that any lawyer in the House.

That outburst led the evening Mid-Ocean News to become more provocative than ever.

It ceased to refer to him as "Doctor" and used only his last name in its report on the debate. Dr. Gordon considered such reporting of House debates an affront not only to himself, but to the Assembly and his constituents.

At the next sitting (during those days the House met three times a week, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays), Dr. Gordon moved that the Mid-Ocean News reporter be suspended from the privileges of the House for four months. His opponents were taken completely by surprise.

They accused Dr. Gordon of "being touchy" and interfering with the freedom of the press. The motion was carried by the slimmest majority, and only because Dr. Gordon invoked rules of the House to block several members from voting because of a conflict of interest.

He cited them as being either shareholders or directors of the paper.

Much to the chagrin of Mr. S.S. Toddings, who was owner and publisher of the Mid-Ocean and an arch-enemy of Dr. Gordon, he had to stand idly aside as the voting took place.

Defiantly, Mr. Toddings, with his face flushed red, declared that no matter how the count went, he had instructed his editors to refer to the doctor only as Gordon.

Indeed, the next day the Mid-Ocean reporting in bold headlines that its journalist had been put outside the House, went out of its way to allude to Dr. Gordon. Each time it was without the title or prefix "doctor".

That caused Dr. Gordon to decide to fix his detractors forever.

Time and space will not enable us to cite here just how he "fixed" them. That will have to be 'carried over,' to use a familiar parliamentary term, to the next issue of Island Notebook.

Therefor that Berkeley student, having this background to the question he asked at the end of my National Authors Week presentation at his school, will get the full answer, as to why did Dr. Gordon changed his given names of Edgar Fitzgerald Gorton to Mazumbo.