Historical reflections on the site known as Independence Park
by Linda Rutherford
TO the uninformed, it is just an open piece of land that has long been associated with sports, particularly basketball. To the custodians of the past, however, historians like Dr James Rose, the place citizens know as Independence Park, (formerly Parade Ground) is not as innocuous as it seems. Dr Rose had cause to remind Guyanese about the history of the spot during his reflections on the abolition of slavery. The occasion was a ceremony held there early last Tuesday morning to mark the 162nd anniversary of Emancipation Day. "We are today gathered on historic soil," Dr Rose said to the small gathering. Parade Ground, he said, represents an interesting historical process; from military outpost to picturesque promenade and sporting facility. He recalled also that a plaque once stood on the very site, and that this formally linked the ground with the achievement of political Independence in 1966, hence the name change to Independence Park. "But let us confess, not everything associated with its past is as glorious," he said. Delving deep into history to justify his argument, Dr Rose recalled the beginnings of the slave rebellion of 1823 when the enslaved Africans protested their prolonged servitude. "Conditions were terrible; the master brutal; and the regime inhumane," the historian stated. Additionally, he pointed out, the slaves had totally misconstrued the aims of the Amelioration Act, determining that it proposed their freedom and that the planters were determined to subvert the essence of the Act. What they had in mind, he said, was to simply restrain the master-class so that the colonial governor might proclaim the abolition of slavery, thereby rendering them free. One outstanding feature of the 1823 revolt, Dr Rose noted, was the peaceful manner in which it was conducted. The master's family was not hurt, he said, but simply herded into the stocks to await the proclamation of freedom. "It is to the everlasting discredit of the colonial regime that in retaliation, the supposedly civilised European community perpetrated one of the most ghastly acts of barbarism in the history of this country," he noted. Military response was savage. In one single encounter at Plantation Bachelor's Adventure, on the East Coast Demerara, on the morning of August 23, no less than 200 Africans were slaughtered on the spot. One can only recall the roll call of the wounded, he said. But worse was yet to come. After the revolt was put down, both participants and non-participants were indiscriminately but systematically butchered on the East Coast Estates. Then the Courts, in a cynical display of plantation justice, sentenced 47 Africans to be hanged publicly. An additional 25, who were originally sentenced, were reprieved at the very last moment. Most of those sentenced to death, Dr Rose recalled, were hanged on what was later called, Parade Ground. Some were decapitated and their heads mounted and displayed as a deterrent to others. City Mayor Mr Hamilton Green in his reflections recalled that while some African ancestors cried and begged for mercy, the majority faced their final moments stoically and with dignity. As Dr Rose said, "The freedom we celebrate today demanded a very high price of the Africans; and they paid several times over." Noting the Government's intention to honour the memory of those fallen Africans, Dr Rose said that this was a fitting gesture, and one that was long overdue. "A nation must, whenever it can, pay homage to its fallen heroes," he said. "The Africans who fell in 1823, like so many others before and after, richly deserve no less."
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