It was the extremely careful planning of Bussa and his confederates, including Washington Franklin, that created this element of surprise. The planning was undertaken at a number of sugar estates, including Bayley's at which Bussa was head ranger. It is now accepted by most historians that Bussa was the principal conspirator and that other revolutionaries included Nanny Grigg, a senior domestic slave on Simmons' estate, and other black officers such as tradesmen, artisans and drivers planned the uprising.

Preparation for the rebellion began soon after the House of Assembly discussed and rejected the Imperial Registry Bill in November 1815. By February 1816, the decision had been taken that the revolt should take place in April, at Easter. That much seems definite and it is further established that Bussa was given the position of leader and commander in the field.

But who, really, was Bussa? The evidence confirms that he was born in Africa. Historians further claim that he was not a young man since the Slave Trade was abolished in 1807, and in general, it took at least ten years for Africans to acquire the language and managerial skills, in addition to their masters' confidence, in order to become a member of the elite slave personnel on estates. Bussa, therefore, apparently enjoyed such confidence and respect.

He led the slaves into battle at Bayley's on Tuesday, April 16. He commanded some 400 freedom fighters against troops of the First West India Regiment and, like Jose Marti in Cuba, was killed in battle. His troops continued the fight until they were defeated by superior fire power. It is to their credit and because of Bussa's supreme example, even to the point of self-sacrifice, that the Barbadian slaves continued their resistance. It is reported than many went into battle shouting the name of Bussa.

The rebellion failed, but the name of Bussa lived on. In 1985, a full 169 years after that rebellion, when the Emancipation Statue was unveiled, many Barbadians identified it with Bussa in honour of the famous warrior who led the fight in the remarkable 1816 revolt. In the folk memory and consciousness of Barbadians, Bussa still lives

Building on the foundation laid by such stalwarts as Sir Grantley Adams and Sir Hugh Springer, Sir Frank Leslie Walcott has become an heroic trade union fixture as much in recorded history as in folk memory.

A tough, principled negotiator with a visionary approach to bargaining for improved conditions for the working population, he served the island's first trade union - the Barbados Workers' Union -for 50 years.

Beginning as an active unionist in 1941, he rose from the status of a humble clerk at Lashley's on Swan Street to become assistant to Sir Hugh Springer, the BWU's first General-Secretary. He succeeded Springer on July 25, 1948.

Born on September 16, 1916, in St. Peter, the son of a policeman who died when he was very young, Frank was raised in Bridgetown and attended Wesley Hall Boys' School where he came under the strong influence of legendary Barbadian Headmaster of revered memory, Rawle Parkinson.

Walcott gained a reputation for being a good mathematician and skilled craft worker. In the late 1920s, when he was seeking employment, liberal and progressive forces were asserting themselves in a quest for democracy, including organising workers into trade unions .

In the 1930s, he became an active member of debating groups such as the Weymouth and Riverside Clubs where his fearless views attracted the attention of some progressive leaders. Hugh Springer who, along with Grantley Adams, led the Progressive League, formed in 1938, soon invited Sir Frank to join the labour movement. He showed promise as a union worker and from January 1, 1945 became assistant to Springer who was also General-Secretary of the Progressive League After March 10, 1946, he was fully employed by the BWU and spent 45 years as an employee, initially being involved in grievance handling and later negotiations and all the administrative duties which fell under Springer's control.

Thus when Springer left the union in October 1947, to be the new Registrar of the University College of the UWI, his successor was obvious. Frank Walcott was appointed to act as General Secretary on November 5, 1947, and the following year on July 25 was elected General-Secretary at the Annual Delegates' Conference.

Sir Frank distinguished himself locally. regionally and internationally. He consolidated the union's internal administration while engaged in organising workers and negotiating on their behalf.

It is significant that he acceded to the position of General Secretary at a time when the union was fused with a political party. Over the next six years, he quietly achieved three objectives:

• Extricating the union from its junior position in the partnership with the Barbados Labour Party,

• organising an effective accounting system which could pass the closest scrutiny of independent auditors, and

• making the union more militant.

Describing himself as "frank by name and frank by nature", Walcott adopted a forceful but reasonable approach to trade unionism. By 1954, as they were captivated by his dynamism, workers in the utilities, in government as well as clerical and white collar employees became substantially unionised.

As General-Secretary in those days, when Barbados moved from being a British Caribbean colony to being a proud independent nation by 1966, Walcott embarked on a process of self-education, study tours, seminars and longer courses, including one at the University of Miami's Centre for Advanced International Studies, in reparation for his arduous task in the field of industrial relations.

Walcott had only an elementary education when he entered the BWU as a paid functionary. It is therefore remarkable testimony to his outstanding abilities, energies and character that he rose steadily within the organisation and expanded the role which he inherited from Springer.

In continuing the difficult task of organising sugar workers on plantations throughout the island, it was clear to Walcott that only organised labour and strong, capable leadership could reduce the power of an entrenched oligarchy which was accustomed to having its way in every confrontation with workers. Walcott proved himself more than a match for the plantermerchant oligarchy.

As Dr. Francis Mark points out in his book "The History of the Barbados Workers' Union", Sir Frank came to the post of General Secretary "with none of the social or educational advantages or mystique of the Founding Fathers (Adams and Springer) and with none of the 'externals' which was linked in the Barbadian consciousness with traditional leadership, yet after five years in the post he was clearly the union's most forceful personality."

Walcott established the administrative authority of the General Secretary and gained full confidence of the Union's Governing Council. By 1953 he was elected to the Executive Board of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, a capacity in which he served until his retirement in 1991.

Recognition of his stature as a regional and international trade unionist followed quickly. He served as President of the Caribbean Congress of Labour for three terms 1960-1963, 1966-1969, 1977-1980.

Few other Caribbean trade unionists gained such honours as listed here, either before or after this period: Member of the Governing Body, International Labour Organisation; Vice-President Executive Board, ICFTU; Member of AIFLD (American Institute for Free Labour Development), Board of Trustees and Chairman, World Employment Conference.

He also made his presence felt at important regional and international conferences, among them the Inter-American Ministers of Labour and Trade Union Hemisphere Conferences, Commonwealth Sugar Conferences, Lom Convention meetings and a Special Session of the United Nations in South West Africa.

In a 1958 study entitled 'An Analysis of the Political Situation in Barbados" eminent author and political scientist, C.L.R. James, noted: "Walcott impressed me as one of the ablest and most modern-minded labour and political organisers I have met in the West Indies ... In reply to my question as to what he wanted, say for the next five years, he replied unequivocally that he saw himself as devoting his energies to the trade union movement."

Indeed, Frank Walcott never wavered in his quest to expand the union's role and consolidate its gains. Between 1958 and 1991 he made the BWU as strong as any in the region, concentrating not only on collective bargaining but on worker education and housing, as well as on evolution of the professional trade unionist and improvement of the quality of life in Barbados as a whole.

The Labour College at Mangrove in St. Philip, established in 1975, owes its existence to Walcott's progressive thinking, and he organised scholarships there for members of the BWU and their dependents His guiding principle was: "Unity is strength Where there is no vision, the people perish".

Arguably the single most important factor in the development of Barbados' unionism as a bulwark against a return to the entrenched exploitation of workers, he won the union's right to be represented on all important national developmental projects He himself served on many Boards and Committees, including the National Insurance Board, National Economic Council and the Immigration Advisory Committee. He was a Director of the Export Promotion Committee and the Barbados National Bank, besides being a member of the University of the West Indies' Finance Committee. Walcott was also a Privy Councillor from 1970 to 1976.

He became a Member of Parliament from 1945 to 1966 and again in 1971 to 1976, and played a role in the famous Bushe Experiment as a member of the Executive Committee, the precursor to the modern Cabinet from 1948 to 1954. During 1966 to 1971 he served as a Senator and was President of that Chamber from 1986 to 1991. When Barbados gained Independence in 1966 he was appointed the island's first Ambassador to the United Nations. It is not often that a Barbadian has stood out as extraordinary while working in the company of great patriots in their struggle for social justice. Yet, Sir Frank did just that alongside Sir Grantley Adams, Sir Hugh Springer and Mr. Errol W Barrow. With them, and in his own right, Sir Frank Walcott made a truly remarkable contribution to modern Barbados.

Frank Leslie Walcott evolved from the 'Boy from obscurity' as he often referred to himself, to the single most important personality in trade unionism in Barbados. For fifty years, starting in I 941, Frank- now Sir Frank- distinguished himself at the local, regional and international levels, organising workers, negotiating on their behalf and, most of all, inculcating a militant but measured, non-violent and reasonable approach to trade unionism, certainly an amazing feat.

A tough, dynamic negotiator, Sir Frank attracted all types to the mission of the Barbados Workers' Union -sugar, public utilities and even white collar workers all joined the union. He brought a level of maturity to the bargaining table at a time when emotion and disturbance could easily have ruled; his vision and quest to establish the BWU as strong as any anywhere in the world was enhanced by his commitment to the improvement of the quality of life in Barbados as a whole.

Our record of civil stability and peaceful protest is linked inextricably to the level-headedness and shrewdness of Sir Frank. Under his forceful leadership, the union also concentrated on worker education and training, affordable housing, scholarships and representation of the union on all significant national developmental projects- an ideology which remains to this day.

Also a politician of note, he was a member of Parliament, Cabinet member, our first Ambassador to the United Nations and Senator, serving as President of the Senate from 1986 until he retired from public life. An international powerhouse, he alone can be credited with creating in Barbados a rich and enduring heritage of social partnership, unheard of in many parts of the world; a labour of love …. seeds sown, tended and brought to fruition by this giant of a man. He is a lasting testimony to what great possibilities can be realised from humble beginnings He inspires us all to aspire.

Frank Leslie Walcott - frank by name and frank by nature.

According to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, a hero is "a man noted or admired for nobility, courage, outstanding achievements ... a man of superhuman qualities, favoured by the gods".

One need only a glimpse of his career to note how aptly these terms apply to sports super-star Sir Garfield Sobers who, for 20 years, bestrode the cricketing world like a colossus, leaving millions gaping in amazement and admiration.

Destiny seemed to have chosen him from very early for great things, endowing him with the capacity to play with dexterity almost any sport involving a ball, particularly cricket, football and basketball.

He was the fifth of six children born to Shamont and Thelma Sobers of Walcott Avenue, Bay Land, St. Michael.

Gordon Bell, author of "Sir Garfield Sobers", records that Sir Garfield and his similarly talented brother Gerald helped their Bay Street Boys' School team to win the primary school Inter-School Cricket championship for three consecutive years

By age 13, Sir Garfield had caught the attention of Garnet Ashby, captain of the Barbados Cricket League (BCL), St. Philip team, Kent, and Denis Atkinson who played for the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) team, Wanderers, (then located at Bay Land) and for the West Indies.

Ashby, who recruited him to play for Kent in the BCL competition, gave him his first opportunity to play cricket with "the big boys".

The opportunity to further hone his skills came by providing Wanderers cricketers, including Atkinson, with practice in the nets off of his seemingly effortless left arm spin bowling. It was there that captain of the Police team, Inspector Wilfred Farmer (a former Wanderers player and later Police Commissioner), saw him in action and shortly afterwards offered him a chance to play for Police.

By age 16, the prodigy was in the Police First Division team. That same year he was called to the Barbados trials for the I 952-53 tour by India to the West Indies. He made the team as 12^th man, an honour for a lad in his first season of first class cricket, then getting his chance to play for Barbados when Frank King, West Indies fast bowler for the Test series, was forced to rest for the colony game.

At I7 years old, he made his international debut for the West Indies in the fifth and final Test against the touring English side in Jamaica in March I954.

From such an auspicious beginning Sir Garfield Sobers' 20-year cricketing career, took him to unforeseen heights, inspiring almost poetic praise from writers, broadcasters and his peers.

In Michael Manley's “A History of West Indies Cricket", the author describes Sir Garfield as "the first complete Caribbean folk hero after George Headley". Australian fast bowler Keith Miller describes him as "a batting wizard" and "the complete cricketer", while renowned cricket writer E.W Swanton in his book "Sort of a Cricket Person" writes: "There is a tradition of good sportsmanship in West Indies cricket, long established , which has never weakened. Sir Gary Sobers is its perfect expression."

England's Trevor Bailey, who became a lasting friend of Sir Garfield and who wrote a biography entitled "Sir Gary", said: "He could mishit and still score a six." Finally, renowned Caribbean writer C.L.R. James called him "this superb product of the modern age".

Sir Garfield's records, some of which still stand, include scoring in 1958 at the age of 2I, an incredible 365 runs (not out) which stood for 36 years as the highest individual Test score ever made.

It was erased in Antigua in I 994 by current West Indies captain Brian Lara who scored 375.

Another record is his sixth wicket stand at Lord's, in I966, against devasting England bowling. He and David Holford responded to the attack by establishing a record partnership (posting 163 and 105 not out respectively). He was also the first batsman to score six sixes in a six-ball over in a first class match.

Sobers captained the West Indies cricket team for 39 matches between 1965 and 1972, the Barbados team in 1966 and 1967, Nottinghamshire from 1968-1971 and the Rest of the World for two tours- one of England and the other of Australia.

Altogether, he played cricket for Barbados for 21 seasons, English League cricket eight seasons, for Nottinghamshire seven seasons and for South Australia three seasons in their Sheffield Shield Competition.

Sir Garfield was among the first personalities trying to integrate apartheid countries through sport by coaching black youths and playing in racist Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 1969.

He was seriously criticised, mainly in the West Indies, for his actions. But his subsequent apology is all the more significant now that many players, including West Indians, have made a living doing the same thing in South Africa even before the end of apartheid.

Retiring in 1974 after his knee cartilage finally gave out, Sir Garfield featured in another precedent when, in 1975, Queen Elizabeth II overturned tradition by dubbing him a Knight in an open-air ceremony at the Garrison Savannah instead of at Buckingham Palace.

In "100 Years of Organised Cricket in Barbados" historians Keith Sandiford and Ronnie Hughes accurately sum up this magnificent career.

They write: "When the cricket world discusses the greatest batsmen of all time the name Sir Garfield Sobers features prominently in the debate. He is in that short-list which includes Bradman, George Headley and Jack Hobbs. When the greatest all-rounders are being discussed the debate is really about who should rank second behind Gary Sobers ."

They rightly observe that Sir Garfield Sobers is "the star personality in the history of West Indies cricket" and that "he helped to make Barbados the strongest cricketing country in the Caribbean during its early period of Independence"

"He has inspired a host of youngsters to play the game and his influence can clearly be seen in the approach and mannerisms of his many imitators. As an international star lifting himself to the top by the magnificence of his cricket, Sobers has served as a role model to thousands of lower income Barbadian boys."

The authors continue: "He has been the role model also for millions of youngsters beyond the shores of Barbados . He is the single most popular of all Barbadians and he has taken our name to all parts of the world and covered it with glory."

This then is the significance of Sir Garfield's contribution to his country, a contribution that moves him from the realm of cricketing/sporting hero to that of national hero.

In the words of Sandiford and Hughes "He is the embodiment of cricket excellence, and, as such, is one of our truly great national symbols. As a representative of the BCL, Police, Barbados, Radcliffe in the Central Lancashire League, South Australia, the West Indies and the Rest of the World, Sobers made enormous contributions to the growth and popularity of cricket. He richly deserved the engraving of his picture on a Barbados Independence Postage Stamp in 1966, the knighthood which Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II saw fit to bestow upon him in 1975 and the placing of his name on the Players' Pavilion at Kensington Oval.

"The name of Sir Garfield St. Auburn Sobers will live forever in the fond memory of Barbadians and cricketers everywhere."

Truer words were never spoken- or written.

They spoke of him with a degree of awe that was never before or since accorded a leader of this country; and that regard found expression in names such as "Moses" and "Messiah". To have lived in his day was to be able to appreciate why this Barbadian legend, skillfully and bravely taking on the entrenched conservative power structure, drew political comparisons with the Biblical rescuers of old.

And yet, Grantley Herbert Adams, sought neither that adulation nor such exalted personifications. His vision was fixed on nothing but the task of bringing the oppressed masses out of social and economic bondage. By this means, he judged, the entire society would be free to develop in harmony.

This, then, is what led Sir Grantley to become the first Premier of Barbados and the only Prime Minister of the now defunct West Indies Federation. He was a social reformer bent on achieving human rights for Barbadians, despite resistance by the exploitative plantocracy and merchant ruling classes.

There can be no doubt that this was his self-appointed programme for leading and lighting the way to a better life for the underprivileged masses and establishing social justice across all ethnic and economic classes; nor can there be the slightest doubt that it required the utmost tact and careful timing if his efforts were to bring success.

As his vehicle for persuading the elitist power structure to accept the poor as humans, Adams, a highly respected lawyer, used his election to the House of Assembly as Member for St. Joseph in 1934 at the age of 36. His mastery of debate on the floor of the House gave him the ideal launching pad for his fight with the wealthy and privileged class, and earned him the respect and admiration of Barbadians in all strata. He was returned to office in 1935 and 1936 General Elections.

After the 1937 riots, triggered by the arrest, trial and deportation of Clement Payne, a popular unionist born in Trinidad of Barbadian parents , Sir Grantley Adams became Payne's attorney-at law, and tried to restore order in Barbados.

Because of his professional and political standing, he was sent to England to inform the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and was first in giving evidence to the Dean Commission of Enquiry into the riots.

Adams was in his element. Putting forward a strong case for reform on behalf of the masses, he pointedly declared that had there been social change instead of continuing abject poverty, there would never have been any riots.

The flames of protest were rekindled into an idea for workers' unity on March 31, 1938, when the Barbados Labour Party was launched. Such was the high regard in which he was held, Adams was elected , in his absence from the island on legal business, as the party's first deputy leader. The following year, he took over the leadership.

In 1940, under his leadership, the party (then known as the Barbados Progressive League) won five seats in the House of Assembly. In 1 941, the Barbados Workers ' Union was formed and Adams was President until 1954.

In 1942, he was appointed a member of the Executive Committee.

In the mid '40s Adams, together with Hugh Worrell Springer (later Sir Hugh), wielded considerable power through their membership on the Governor-in-Executive Committee. He either initiated or was otherwise associated with the passage of various important pieces of legislation which set the stage for widespread and fundamental changes throughout Barbados; for example:

• The Barbados Workmen's Compensation Act,

• amendment to the Barbados Education Act, modernising the system and improving facilities;

• establishment of a Wages Board and Labour Department;

• reduction (in 1943) from 50 to 20 pounds sterling in the franchise qualifying a Barbadian to vote in general elections, and

• the ability of women to vote on equal terms with men,

• Erdiston Teachers' College was started in 1948,

• old age pensions were increased,

• improved working conditions came for shop assistants,

• increases in the public service,

• building the Deep Water Harbour, and

• The Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

In 1946, Adams was Leader of the House and the Workmen's Compensation Act, passed in the early '40s, was proclaimed. Adams, who dethroned the plantocracy in Barbados, consistently took the case of the masses against the ruling class. He has been reported by Theodore Sealy in his "Caribbean Leaders" "as a figure challenging the past to build a new future ... "

In political life in Barbados, Sir Grantley combined the talents of a great lawyer with those of a shrewd, visionary politician, in helping to change Barbados into a new, more progressive country. And he did this at great risk to himself physically and professionally.

Bullet holes in his home at Tyrol Cot bear testimony to the violence directed against this great Barbadian.

He and his lieutenants, first Hugh Springer, and then Frank Walcott, built a unique trade union movement, says FA Hoyos in his "Builders of Barbados".

In the successful effort to bring about social change, the Barbados Labour Party worked side-by-side with the Barbados Workers' Union. That unified effort was essential in those days to confront powerful forces arrayed against workers and hostile to the emergence of Blacks on the political scene.

In his campaign against the old regime and in pursuit of true democracy, Sir Grantley secured the introduction of Universal Adult Suffrage in 1951. Under the Bushe Experiment, in 1946, he was invited to submit four names for membership of the Executive Committee, and the island got a measure of responsible government with a semi-ministerial system of government.

In 1950 Adult Suffrage became a reality, and in 1954 full ministerial government was introduced, with Adams as first Premier. He had brought the popular movement to the summit of political power, according to Hoyos, with the attainment of the Cabinet system and full internal self-government in 1958.

In advancing the island's Constitution, Sir Grantley led the new movement in achieving social and industrial reform. Some of these measures were:

• improved health facilities,

• housing schemes,

• minimum wage legislation ,

• benefits for plantation and industrial workers,

• and social welfare.

While Sir Grantley fully understood and used his parliamentary office to promote social and political improvements, he also persisted with his commitment to workers' causes.

He was elected President of the Caribbean Labour Congress in 1947 in Jamaica. This was the peak of his work for the formation of this united labour front, which brought together the political Caribbean.

For more than ten years afterwards, he worked on building the foundation of the Federation of the West Indies; and were it not for extreme insularity, selfishness and envy elsewhere in the region, these Caribbean states might today be among the world 's mini power blocs.

A firm believer in the high est principles of democratic socialism, Sir Grantley led the movement to sever Caribbean trade unions from the World Federation of Trade Unions, according to Hoyos, and was instrumental in the founding of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. He was elected one of its three vice-chairmen.

In 1954, Frank Walcott broke with Grantley Adams and the next year, some BLP members, led by Errol Barrow, left that organisation and formed the Democratic Labour Party. On his departure to lead the West Indies Federation, Sir Grantley chose Dr. Hugh Gordon Cummins to head the party and be Premier of Barbados in 1958.

By then, he had already achieved such astonishing social and political changes in the island that Barbados was being hailed far and wide as a model country lacking only the formality of political Independence from Britain.

After formal dissolution of the regional enterprise on May 31, 1962, Sir Grantley returned home.

He was re-elected to the House of Assembly in 1966 and assumed the role of Leader of the Opposition. Helped by new blood in the party, he brought the BLP to the position of a powerful Opposition in the House of Assembly. In 1970, with his health declining, he resigned from public life and, while remaining Life President of the BLP, handed over the responsibilities of leadership to younger men such as H.B. St. John, and JM.G M. 'Tom" Adams, his son, who became Prime Minister of Barbados in September, 1976.

Sir Grantley Adams' likeness is engraved on the island's largest currency denomination- the $100 note, which many feel, though it has never been officially conceded, is a memento of his immense stature on Barbados' social and political landscape.

He died at the age of 73 on November 28, 1971, and was buried at St. Michael's Cathedral.

Robyn Rihanna Fenty is a Barbadian singer, actress, fashion designer, and businesswoman. Rihanna was discovered by American record producer Evan Rogers, who invited her to record demo tapes in the United States. She was born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown, Barbados.

She attended the Combermere School and commanded the imagination of the world through the pursuit of excellence, with her creativity, her discipline, and above all else, her extraordinary commitment to the land of her birth.

She was an ambassador for Barbados. She has given service to Barbados, which has been exemplified by visionary and pioneering leadership, extraordinary achievement, and the attainment of the highest excellence that is redounded to the honour of Barbados.

To date, she is the youngest person to receive the honour and has joined Sir Garfield Sobers as the island’s second living National Hero.

Since her introduction to the international scene in 2005 with her debut single ‘Pon De Replay’, Rihanna has gone on to win nine Grammy Awards.

Aside from making her mark as a singer, Rihanna has developed into an iconic businesswoman in the beauty and fashion industries. She has also been recognised internationally for her humanitarian efforts, through the Clara Lionel Foundation.