The 1733 St. John Slave Revolution Commemoration Committee will conduct the 24th annual educational tour. It will begin at 9:45 a.m., on Friday, Nov. 23, at Cruz Bay, in honor of the 274 anniversary of the historic event. There will be libations and salutations and then it will move on to Adrian, the restored mill at Catherineberg, and lastly to Coral Bay, where a brief program will take place prior to climbing Fortsberg Hill. At Fortsberg a brief ceremony will take place before the tour resumes and travels back to Annaberg and Cruz Bay via the North Shore Road.
Tour guides will be humanities professor Gene Emanuel, linguist Dr. Gilbert Sprauve, historian Sele Adeyemi and artist/educator Leba Ola-Niyi. Committee members are encouraging the public, particularly educators and students, to participate in this significant commemoration.
"This event is a signal event in the birth of liberty in the Diaspora and the Western Hemisphere. They united against oppression, fought and died victoriously for freedom and a state of their own. We, the beneficiaries of their actions, should rise to honor these freedom fighters for liberty and the preservation of the African identity," said Prof. Emanuel.