[col. writ. 10/25/13] © ’13 Mumia Abu-Jamal
When news arrived of the passing of Black book publisher and bookstore, owner, Jessica Huntley of London, England, I found that sadness wasn’t my primary response. Happiness was.
Why? Because by merely reading her name, the image of her brilliant smile filled my mind, and I felt the rush of her deep and abiding love for Black people, the world over.
Jessica Huntley reached the ripe age of 86, after a lifetime of struggle for West Indian, Guyanese and African Independence. When she emigrated from Guyana to join her husband, Eric, in England, in 1958, the Huntley’s opened a publishing house that became a legend in the literary world.
They opened Bogle’L’Overture Publishing, named after the Black freedom fighters, Paul Bogle of Jamaica and Toussaint L’Overture, the great Haitian general and leader of the Haitian Revolution.
Bogle-L’Overture began its stellar career with a blockbuster, Groundings with My Brothers, by the brilliant Guyanese scholar-revolutionary, Walter Rodney, who recounts his discussions with Rastafarians in Jamaica.
Jessica Huntley, called Mama Jessica by many in Black Britain, came from a life in radical and revolutionary activism in Guyana, as one of the leading members of the PPP –People’s Progressive Party.
She was also a founding member of the WPO – the Women’s Progressive Organization. In 1953 which gave voice and presence to women in the Guyanese Independence movement. Jessica was named its provisional secretary.
Sis. Mama Jessica Huntley was a lifelong radical activist, writer, publisher, wife, mother and lover of African people the world over.
I rejoice in her life, and feel blessed to have been able to have seen her smile, and to have heard her remarkable Guyanese account.
She returns to her ancestors.
–col. @13maj