During the past two months, three people have passed whom I believe deserve to be recorded in Bermuda's history as true heroes. These persons were my cousin, the Honourable Gloria McPhee, Mr. Albert (Peter) Smith and Dr. Pauulu Kamarakafego. I had the good fortune to have had exciting personal experiences with each of these individuals and intend to take the opportunity of this article to record the more vivid of these memories.

I suppose my reference to The Honourable Gloria McPhee as cousin may leave many Bermudians wondering "How did she get to be his cousin?" Actually, Gloria's mother and my father were sister and brother. Gloria never concealed this relationship which often resulted in embarrassment to Gloria's UBP colleagues.

It usually happened during a conversation during which a casual acquaintance would make a reference to "that awful civil servant, Calvin Smith, who makes no attempt to hide his support for the PLP".

Such a comment would likely conclude with the question, "Gloria do you know that terrible man?" Gloria, who possessed a "biting wit" told me she enjoyed replying, "Actually, I know him very well. He is my first cousin."

However, apart from a penchant for delivering the deadly barb, Gloria was a very able Minister. Not only was she the first female cabinet minister, at various times she held three of the most important ministries of government. These were Planning, Health and Social Services and Education.

Her proudest achievement occurred during her tenure as Minister of Education when she created the Bermuda College and located it in Paget. Although creating the college had the general approval of her political colleagues, locating it in Paget met with great resistance.

However, Gloria was unmoved and eventually, with the unstinting support of then UBP leader, Sir Henry Tucker, she established our beloved college and much needed centre of higher education in a pristine location in Paget. There can be no doubt that the Honourable Gloria McPhee was a true Bermudian Hero.

Mr. Albert (Peter) Smith is generally acknowledged as one of the founders of the Progressive Labour Party. Along with Hugh (Rio) Richardson, Wilfred (Mose) Allen and Mr. Edward DeJean, he helped to formulate the concepts that led to the formation of the Progressive Labour Party at Rio's Garage in the corner of the former Sports Arena.

For me and many others who knew Mr. Smith, we were amazed at his raw courage. The man feared no one and had a very quick temper. Actually these were very dangerous characteristics to possess at a time in our history when laws were still on the books that declared it was an offence for a black man 'to look insolently at a white man'. Peter was very likely to go beyond mere 'looking insolently' to the utterance of very harsh words.

It was with good reason that Dame Lois Browne Evans in her tribute to Mr. Smith at his funeral service, recalled how "Peter" escorted her around Devonshire when she decided to contest a seat against one of the most powerful men in Bermuda. Dame Lois has always been lavish in her acknowledgement of the importance of Peter's assistance in helping her to canvass and ultimately win that hostile constituency.

My fondest memory of Peter took place during the political campaign of 1998. During that period, many middle class black Bermudians wanted to know what they could do to make certain that the PLP would win the forthcoming election. Peter and his wife Edwina decided to organise meetings at their Devonshire home for several very prominent black Bermudians to discuss the issues of the day and to determine what they could do assure a PLP victory. I was invited to address the group, primarily because I was co-chairmen of the 1998 campaign but also because many of the people who attended were about my age and former Berkelyites.

The meetings were delightful and achieved their ambitious goals largely because of Mr. Smith's willingness to ask the penetrating questions and to do all that he could to stimulate that conservative group to actively support the PLP. Clearly, Mr. Albert "Peter" Smith was a Bermudian hero.

In his autobiography, "ME ONE", the former Roosevelt Brown gives his name Pauulu Roosevelt Osiris Nelson Browne Kamarakafego. Mr. Brown was a product of Skinner's School which later became Howard Academy. This was a school whose principals, Mr. Skinner who was later succeeded by Mr. Edward DeJean were determined to teach Leadership skills to young black men.

As a result of the combined efforts of these two very courageous men, the school turned out several successful black leaders in the persons of Dr. Pauulu Kamarakafego; Mr. Ottiwell Simmons MP; Sir John Swan; Mr. Kenneth Richardson; Mr. Eldon Raynor; Mr. Donald Dane; and many, many more.

After acquiring his Doctorate, Mr. Brown was employed as a consultant by the United Nations and took his considerable skills in engineering to the countries of the third world. His success in third world development is aptly demonstrated by the fact that when Bermudians meet citizens of the third world at conferences, the first question they ask is: "Do you know Dr. Pauulu Kamarakafego?"

My fond memories of Dr. Kamarakafego are his two very significant contributions to the social and political development of Bermuda. The first was the organisation and leadership he gave to the CUAS in its movement to extend the franchise. The second was the organisation of the Black Power Conference in the late sixties.

The CUAS Franchise Movement took place in the early sixties. When it began, the right to vote was based on land holdings, an age requirement of twenty-five and the possession of British citizenship. In addition, those with land holdings had an additional vote called "the plus vote". When the movement was successfully concluded, the land qualification was removed, the age restriction was reduced to 21 years of age, and the vote was restricted to Bermudians.

Curiously, the black power conference was held in the late sixties in Bermuda because the independent and almost totally black countries of the Caribbean refused to support the conference. Dr. Pauulu also experienced some difficulty in getting a locale for the conference in Bermuda. Eventually, he was able to get support for the Conference by the most conservative club in Bermuda — The Pembroke Hamilton Club.

I remember the meeting fondly at which my uncle, PHC vice president, Fred Pearman, informed the PHC Management Committee that "I support the request of Mr. Roosevelt Brown to hold the Black Power Conference at the PHC Stadium because I believe that such a conference might assist in getting black Bermudians to drop their stupid feelings of inferiority with respect to white people". The rest of the members of Bermuda's most conservative management agreed.

When if was learned that PHC had agreed to host the Conference, Several of the other clubs also agreed to make their premises available for the Conference and Roosevelt's objectives were fully realised.

That Conference changed the mind-set of Black Bermudians in ways that even today is neither appreciated or fully understood. On my own behalf, I remember meeting Mr. C. L. R. James, the Trinidadian political activist who authored The Black Jacobins. This book was a treatise describing how blacks had impacted the Caribbean and would continue to impact positively on its future development.

Hearing ideas of blacks determining the political development of any country in the Western Hemisphere was news to most black Bermudians, including myself, and certainly helped change the passive political attitudes of virtual all who heard this and other similar presentations.

I trust this very brief presentation will explain why I consider the three people described to be true Bermudian Heroes. Clearly each one of them has displayed an individual heroism that has contributed mightily to the implementation of democratic government in Bermuda and to the creation of black pride.

calvin@northrock.bm