Louise Bennett
Louise Bennett was born on this date in 1919. She was a Black Jamaican poet.
Louise Bennett was born in Kingston, Jamaica, where she was affectionately known as "Miss Lou" and remains a household name, a "Living Legend," and a cultural icon. Her first dialect poem was written when she was 14 years old. She received her education from Ebenezer and Calabar Elementary Schools, St. Simon’s College, Excelsior College, and Friends College (Highgate). A British Council Scholarship took her to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where she studied in the late 1940s. Bennett had a for and won a scholarship. After graduation, she worked with repertory companies in Coventry, Huddersfield, and Amersham and in intimate revues all over England.
She has been described as Jamaica's leading comedian, the "only poet who has really hit the truth about her society through its own language," and an important contributor to her country's "valid social documents reflecting the way Jamaicans think and feel and live.” Through her poems in Jamaican patois, she raised the dialect of the Jamaican folk to an art level that is acceptable to and appreciated by all in Jamaica.
In her poems, she captured all the spontaneity of expressing Jamaicans' joys and sorrows, their ready, poignant, wicked wit, religion, and philosophy of life. Although she lived in Toronto, Canada, for years, she still received the homage of the expatriate West Indian community in the north and a large Canadian following.
On returning to Jamaica, she taught drama to youth and adult groups in social welfare agencies and for the University of the West Indies Extra Mural Department. She has lectured extensively in the United States and the United Kingdom on Jamaican folklore and music and has represented Jamaica worldwide. She married Eric Winston Coverley in 1954 and had one son and several adopted children.
Her contribution to Jamaican cultural life has been honored with the M.B.E., the Norman Manley Award for Excellence (in the field of Arts), the Order of Jamaica (1974), the Institute of Jamaica's Musgrave Silver and Gold Medals for distinguished eminence in the field of Arts and Culture, and in 1983, the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of the West Indies. In September 1988, her composition "You're Going Home Now" won a nomination from the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television for the best original song in the movie, "Milk and Honey."
In 1998, she received the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters from York University, Toronto, Canada. The Jamaican government also appointed her as a cultural ambassador at large. On Jamaica’s Independence Day 2001, Bennett-Coverly was appointed a Member of the Order of Merit for her distinguished contribution to developing the Arts and Culture.
Louise Bennett died in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on July 26, 2006.
