ISBN : 9782296059726
PRIME MINISTER, MESSIAH AND "MASSA": THE CONTRIBUTION OF ERIC WILLIAMS TO THE CARIBBEAN
Jerome Teelucksingh University of West Indies Trin
Dr. Eric Williams was the 0rst Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, in
the West Indies, during 1962-1981. Prior to serving in this capacity, Williams
was the country's Chief Minister (1956-1959) and Premier (1959-1962).
Williams was an assiduous scholar whose education at the world renowned
Oxford University, in Britain did not result in a career as an armchair theorist
and a member of the intellectual aristocracy in the comfortable ivory tower.
During 1938 to 1948, an illustrious academic stint at the prestigious Howard
University in the United States suggested a promising career as a university
lecturer (Heywood, 18-22). Instead, he deliberately deviated from this course
and became a voice for the wretched of the Caribbean. Not surprisingly, his
concept of the Caribbean was inTuenced by a vast knowledge of the evils of
imperialism, slavery, racism and colonialism.