“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Ambassador Roy Leslie Austin spent most of his life as a university scholar before becoming a U.S. diplomat at the age of 61. When Austin was nominated by President George W. Bush to be Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago he was … Read MoreRoy L. Austin (1939- )
On March 10, 2010, Beatrice Wilkinson Welters was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Ambassador to the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, having been named to that post by President Barack Obama. Prior to that, she was a philanthropist and senior employee of IBM, where she … Read MoreBeatrice W. Welters (1951- )
Ambassador Charles A. James was born in 1922 in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he attended public schools. After high school, James enrolled at Westchester State Teachers College in Pennsylvania (now Westchester University) where he studied for one year before enlisting … Read MoreCharles A. James (1922- )
Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham, Prime Minister of Guyana from 1966 to 1980 and then President of the nation from 1980 to 1985, was one of the Caribbean region’s most controversial political leaders. He gravitated between support for Marxist regimes such as Fidel Castro’s Cuba and … Read MoreForbes Burnham (1923-1985)
Elliott Percival Skinner, a leading late 20th Century anthropologist, also served as the United States ambassador to the Republic of Upper Volta (the West African country renamed itself Burkina Faso in 1984). Skinner was born on June 20, 1924 in Port of Spain, Trinidad. During … Read MoreElliott Percival Skinner (1924-2007)
Ambassador Gail Dennise Mathieu, ca. 2008 “Image Ownership: Public Domain” Gail Dennise Mathieu, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, was appointed United States Ambassador to Niger by President George W. Bush in 2002. She remained in Niamey, the capital until 2005. In 2007 … Read MoreGail Dennise Mathieu (1951?- )
Port-au-Spain is the capital and third largest city of the island nation Trinidad and Tobago in the southwestern West Indies and north of the South American nation of Venezuela. The city, which is only about 5 square miles, had a population of 37,074 people in … Read MorePort-au-Spain, Trinidad (1650- )
“Image Ownership: Nightscream” Geoffrey Lamont Holder, acclaimed choreographer and legendary figure in the dance world, was also a respected actor, Tony Award-winning director, costume designer, singer, music composer, voice-over artist, orator, painter, sculptor, and photographer. Holder was born to a middle-class family in Port of … Read MoreGeoffrey Lamont Holder (1930-2014)
The Church of St. Mark in Brooklyn, New York was originally established by a group of black Episcopalians in 1838. The next year, Dr. Samuel M. Haskins was asked to be rector (pastor), the role he would maintain for 60 years. By April 1841 the … Read MoreThe Church of St. Mark, Brooklyn, New York (1838- )
During the first two decades of the 19th Century, escaped American slaves formed a military cadre called Britain’s Royal Navy Corps of Colonial Marines. After the War of 1812 these former soldiers established Trinidad’s “Merikin” communities. These black marines in the British Navy were first organized in 1808 to … Read MoreBritish Corps of Colonial Marines (1808-1810, 1814-1816)
