Some of my most memorable times in Basseterre were spent with Mr. Edgar Challenger, the first leader of the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Union (1940 - 1943). We became friends when I was doing research for the book, From Commoner To King. Because of his wonderful sense of history, local, Caribbean, and international, I was often carried back into time by Mr. Challenger, with amazing stories. He told me about the rigid race and class systems in St. Kitts and how he was victimised by it.

I was carried back to the politics that emerged in the union as he, J. Matthew Sebastian, and Robert L. Bradshaw struggled to become the leading figure in the islands' politics. Bradshaw won when Sebastian died suddenly. Although Bradshaw and Challenger did come to the point that they respected each other's role in the islands' history, there was little trust lost between them. Mr. Challenger also told me about his pet project. He wanted to reinvigorate the Mutual Improvement Society (MIS). This was an organization which fostered intellectual development and curiosity among an emerging educated elite from the working class. A group of Nevisians and Kittitians, and of course,including C. A. P. Southwell from Dominica, who became a critical force in the Labour movement and the emergence of Afro-Caribbean leadership in the islands.

By the time of his death in 2000, there was little doubt that Edgar Challenger was still the best organized local source of St. Kitts-Nevis contemporary history. READ MORE ..