Jamaica Pays Tribute to Miss Lou Today

The Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) is planning several activities to honour the life and work of the late cultural icon, Hon. Louise Bennett-Coverley, affectionately called Miss Lou.

The events will take place today (September 7) to mark the 98th anniversary of her birth, and are free and open to the public.

JCDC Parish Manager, Kingston and St. Andrew Parish Office, Paulette Sutherland, told JIS News that the activities will get under way at 8:00 a.m. with a special one-hour floral tribute at National Heroes Park.

An exhibition and bandana fashion show will take place at the Kingston and St. Andrew Parish Library, beginning at 10:00 a.m; and a lunch-hour tribute concert will be held at the Arrivals forecourt of the Norman Manley International Airport at 1:00 p.m.

Miss Sutherland said the concert will feature reflections and renditions of Miss Lou’s work by outstanding performers from the JCDC National Festival of the Performing Arts Competition.

The celebration culminates with a concert at the Louise Bennett Garden Theatre, Hope Road, St. Andrew, at 6:00 pm.

The JCDC Parish Manager said Miss Lou has contributed significantly to Jamaica’s rich cultural heritage. She is urging persons to come out and participate in the activities, in appreciation of the cultural icon’s work.

“We are inviting everyone to come out and just celebrate with us, because Miss Lou played an instrumental role in the acceptance and appreciation of our dialect, which she wasn’t afraid to use wherever she went, locally and internationally,” she noted.

A linguist and poet, Miss Lou has been described as a pioneer of Jamaican patois. She wrote and performed Jamaican Creole since the 1950s, giving the dialect international recognition.