“Until the lions learn how to tell their own story, the story of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.”
Friends,
Today we meet in the spirit of that proverb, with the heart of a people ready to tell our own story, in our own voice, on our own terms.
It is a powerful thing – almost a revolutionary thing to finally say: “This is who we are. This is where we come from. This is where we are going.”
For too long, our story has been told in fragments, filtered through someone else’s lens, shaped by other people’s values, written with someone else’s pen.
But today, with the launch of this new national history textbook, we reclaim our own narrative. We shape it with our own hands. We tell it from the depths of our own experience.
This is more than a book. It is the voice of The Bahamas past, present, and future speaking for itself.
And I could not be more proud to stand here with you for this historic moment.
The roots of this book stretch back farther than today.
They stretch back to December 2021, when Minister Glenys Hanna-Martin with the heart of a true Bahamian and the vision of a nation-builder, asked the question:
“How can we expect to raise a generation proud of themselves, if they are only taught the history of others?”
It was a simple but profound truth.
Our history curriculum had not been meaningfully updated since 1982.
Whole generations had come and gone, taught more about European explorers than Bahamian trailblazers.
More about colonial administrators than our own heroes.
More about foreign exploits than Bahamian triumphs.
Minister Hanna-Martin knew that had to change.
And so, the idea was born: a new history textbook, made for Bahamians, by Bahamians.
In July 2022, a full proposal was submitted to Cabinet. And I want you to know when we sat around that table, we did not hesitate.
We knew this was more than just an educational project.
It was an act of liberation.
It was an act of love for our country.
You know, when I think about this book, I think about the barefoot boy I once was running along the dusty roads of Cat Island, looking up at the sky, dreaming of a future I could barely imagine.
Back then, we learned our history from books that barely mentioned people like us.
We were told of kings and queens of faraway lands, but little about the kings and queens in our own communities those who, with courage and sacrifice, built a nation out of dreams.
Today, with this book, that barefoot boy and thousands more like him across our islands will read about our own kings and queens.
Our own freedom fighters.
Our own teachers, sailors, straw vendors, political giants, and quiet heroes who made The Bahamas what it is.
This is personal for me.
It’s about telling the story of my people, your people, all of us fully, proudly, unapologetically.
A project like this does not happen by accident. It takes vision, discipline, scholarship, and heart.
A steering committee led by two brilliant Bahamian minds, Dr. Christopher Curry and Assistant Director of Education Pearlene Baker, took the charge.
They created the framework.
They found the writers.
They made sure every chapter aligned with the new, modernized history curriculum.
They supervised the long, painstaking journey from first draft to published document.
And what an incredible team they assembled.
Twelve authors, all Bahamian.
Scholars, writers, researchers, each bringing their own unique voice and perspective.
Nationally known figures like Dr. Ian Strachan, Dr. Grace Turner, Dr. Michael Pateman, Dr. Keith Tinker.
Creative lights like Patricia Glinton-Meicholas, who sadly passed away before seeing her final masterpiece published, her moving chapter on Family Island history is a treasure we will forever cherish.
And rising stars – young, fresh Bahamian thinkers like Chris Davis, Nameiko Miller, Cleveland Eneas III – ensuring that the next generation’s perspective was included too.
This team through their hard work and love for country has produced something truly remarkable.
Let me tell you what makes this book different.
First, it’s organized not by rote chronology, but by seven major themes allowing students to see the sweep of our history in living colour, not just dates and battles.
Second, it’s designed to engage graphics, photos, maps, and diagrams on almost every page.
Questions to provoke critical thinking.
Activities to sharpen minds for national exams.
Primary and secondary sources embedded throughout, training our students not just to memorize history, but to investigate it, to question it, to understand it.
Third, it’s full of our own stories.
Stories of resilience.
Stories of struggle.
Stories of creativity, joy, faith, and triumph.
Finally, it’s written in our own voice.
You can hear it in the pages – the lilt of our accents, the flavor of our communities, the spirit of our islands.
This is Bahamian history the Bahamian way.
Friends,
This moment today brings to life a dream planted long ago.
It is deeply fitting that it was Minister Hanna-Martin, who led this effort, is the daughter of the late great A.D. Hanna, one of the champions of Bahamianisation in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.
A.D. Hanna fought for a Bahamas where Bahamians were in charge of our own education, our own economy, our own future.
Today, through this textbook, his daughter has helped complete that vision.
There is something profoundly beautiful about that.
It reminds us that history is not just about the past – it is alive.
It flows through generations.
It calls us to honour those who came before, even as we prepare the way for those yet to come.
I must pause here to offer heartfelt thanks.
To Dr. Curry and ADE Baker – your leadership has been exemplary.
To all the authors, you have given us a priceless gift.
To the editorial board – Derence Rolle Davis, Serethea Clarke, Sharon Poitier – your insistence on excellence shines through every page.
To the consultants Dr. Nicolette Bethel, Dr. Rosanne Adderley, Dr. Michael Pateman, Dr. Adrian Bethel – your rigorous scholarship strengthened every chapter.
To the graphic artists and designers – you made history come alive in images, as well as in words.
This book is a triumph because so many of you poured your talent, your labour, your spirit into it.
On behalf of a grateful nation, thank you.
But friends, let us be clear:
This is not just about a textbook.
This is about decolonizing our minds.
It is about daring to see ourselves as full authors of our own destiny.
It is about teaching our children that they come from greatness, and they are heirs to a rich and proud story.
It is about ensuring that no Bahamian child ever again grows up thinking that history happened elsewhere, to someone else.
History happened here.
We made history here.
We continue to make history every day.
And so, I say to every student who will crack open these pages:
Learn it. Own it. Love it.
See yourself in it.
Be proud of it.
Add your own chapter to it.
And to every teacher:
Thank you for being the guides and mentors who will help bring these stories to life in our classrooms.
You are midwives of the national soul.
And to every Bahamian:
Today is a reminder that we are never finished.
History is not static.
It is not something you read once and put down.
It is something you live, something you build, something you pass on, stronger and richer, to the next generation.
As I stand here today, I think again of that barefoot boy on Cat Island.
I think of how proud he would be to know that one day, our children would have a book like this – a book that tells the story of their people, fully and truthfully.
I think of all the battles fought, the barriers broken, the dreams dreamed by those who came before.
And I think of the bright, shining future that lies ahead – if we teach our children well, if we remind them always of who they are, and where they come from.
History is the foundation of identity.
Identity is the foundation of strength.
Today, we lay a new cornerstone for the future of The Bahamas.
May this book inspire generations yet unborn.
May it awaken pride, courage, wisdom, and unity.
May it remind every Bahamian child:
“Your story matters. Your voice matters. You matter.”
And may we, the living, always be faithful stewards of the story we have been blessed to inherit.
Thank you.