Prime Minister of St. Lucia, Honourable Dr. Kenny Davis Anthony slated to headline the annual event
MIAMI – Prime Minister of St. Lucia, Dr. Kenny Davis Anthony has been selected to give the 16th Annual Eric Williams Memorial Lecture “Slave Trade Reparations: The Political Implications of Caricom’s Stance” on October 17, 2014. The lecture will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Wertheim Performing Arts Center on Florida International University’s Modesto Maidique Campus as part of its African & African Diaspora Studies Program Distinguished Africana Scholars Lecture Series. Admission is free and open to the public.
Born in Saint Lucia’s southern community of Saltibus, Prime Minister Anthony has represented in the House of Assembly the electoral district of Vieux Fort South since 1997. He has a PhD in Law from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom. He has three children and is married to Professor Rose Marie Belle Antoine, Dean of the Faculty of Law, UWI, St. Augustine.
Established in 1999, FIU’s annual Eric Williams Lecture honors the renowned Caribbean statesman Eric E. Williams, first Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago and Head of government for a quarter of a century until his death in 1981. He led the country to Independence from Britain in 1962 and onto Republicanism in 1976. A celebrated Caribbean historian and author of several books, Dr. Williams is best known for his groundbreaking work, Capitalism and Slavery, which has been translated into seven languages, including Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Turkish and Korean. Popularly referred to as ‘The Williams Thesis’, this landmark text is considered “years ahead of its time” and the “foundation for studies of imperialism and economic development” by many.
Prior Eric Williams Memorial Lecture speakers have been: Rawle Gibbons, founding Director of the Centre for Creative and Festival Arts at the University of the West Indies (UWI); Willard C. Harris a.k.a “Relator”, a seasoned Trinidad and Tobago calypsonian noted his ability to sing extemporaneously; the late John Hope Franklin, one of America’s premier historians of the African-American experience; Kenneth Kaunda, former President of the Republic of Zambia; Cynthia Pratt, Deputy Prime Minister of the Bahamas; Mia Mottley, Attorney General of Barbados; Beverly Anderson-Manley, former First Lady of Jamaica; Portia Simpson Miller, now Prime Minister of Jamaica; the celebrated civil rights activist Angela Davis; and prize-winning Haitian author Edwige Danticat.
With the help of Cheryl Andrews Marketing Communications, a boutique public relations firm that specializes in travel, tourism and real estate, the institute is able to spread the word on the work being done to motivate and guide the talented youth of the Caribbean. For more information, visit www.ericwilliamsmemorialcollection.com or www.cam-pr.com.
