The Tribune

HOW much do we truly value our history?

The question comes to mind following the news that the human remains of Lucayans will be returned to The Bahamas.

For nearly a century, the remains have been sitting in a museum in Michigan – and now they will be received by the Antiquities, Monuments and Museums Corporation (AMMC).

Dr Grace Turner, a senior archaeologist at the AMMC, said the return was a reminder of the historical significance of the Lucayans – as she says, “The Lucayans were the first people to greet Columbus”.

The return is happening because of a law passed in the US in the 1980s that mandates the return of native American remains to their rightful descendants.

The news also follows the return of more than 10,000 historical documents from Britain last week, covering key moments in our path to independence.

So far, so good, you might say. And certainly to be applauded.

The question is whether we are making the effort elsewhere to preserve our heritage.

An obvious example of that was the collapse of the Reinhard Hotel in September.

An old, crumbling building to many. An eyesore. A danger to the areas around it.

And yet it had quite the history. It was where the PLP had its headquarters during the 1967 elections that led to Majority Rule. It was in those walls that a remarkable change was plotted and which came to pass.

It also served as home for a newspaper, The Voice. Notably, it was also a hotel where black people could stay when other hotels would not welcome them.

What of the other parts of our history that go overlooked? There are two museums that mark our Junkanoo culture – one at the cruise port and the Educulture museum in West Street, but too much of our Junkanoo history is fleeting, crumbling away as fast as the costumes left in the street after a parade.

There are landmark buildings familiar to us by sight but not by history, too often. Too many left to decay and perhaps end up the same way as the Reinhard.

Back in April this year, Graycliff Hotel and Restaurant was presented with a blue plaque award – a British scheme to recognise the remarkable and the historic.

The UK puts up blue plaques to mark the places that are associated with historic people or places.

What do we do to ensure that historic locations are remembered? We count on the memory of those who were around at the time – and time erases that in its usual sombre fashion.

So as we recognise the value of the return of the Lucayan remains, and of the British documents haul, perhaps it is an ideal moment to ask what we can do ourselves, how can we better document our own history?

Our history is all around us. Our history is the basis of who we are and how we got here. Perhaps then it is time to take our own steps to ensure it is not forgotten.