Black Power Demonstration Research Paper

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Thursday 26th February, 1970 – The Demonstrations Begin History will record the first Black Power demonstration as having taken place on Thursday 26 February, 1970. At around 9 am on February 26, 1970, “National Joint Action Committee (NJAC) which is led by Makandal Daaga and other discontented groups involving University of the West Indies (UWI) students, staged a massive demonstration in the city of Port – of – Spain as a sign of solidarity with the protesting students of Sir George in Canada. Approximately two hundred (200) demonstrators entered the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Independence Square yesterday and staged a sit-in which lasted just under an hour. Chanting “Power, Power” and other revolutionary slogans. The marchers swarmed into the Independence Square Cathedral, occupied the pews, the pulpit and other chairs near and around the altar. The demonstrators then marched to the Canadian High Commission on South Quay where there was minor confrontations between marchers and police at the Canadian High Commission on South Quay, and police presence at the Royal Bank of Canada on Independence Square, who refused entry to the protesters. Prominent among the students standing at the entrance to the bank yesterday morning was UWI student Khafra Kambon, who played a key role in the Black Power upheaval. …show more content…

These were token signs of unity, which is obvious, as fewer than 100 East Indians were present in an estimated crowd of 5,000–10,000. The first leg of the route was from Port-of-Spain to the Eastern Main Road and one of the youthful marchers was Keith Shepherd, an Afro-Trinidadian who was a journalist for the Trinidad Guardian. They passed in front of the home of Bhadase Sagan Maharaj, an Indo-Trinidadian in Champs Fleurs. Bhadase is the president of the All Trinidad Sugar Workers

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