LOUISE SIMONE BENNETT COVERLY SEPTEMBER 7-1919

“Louise Bennett by the authenticity of her dialect verse, has given sensitive and penetrating artistic expression to our National Character. Her sympathetic, humorous and humanitarian observation of Jamaicans and our way of life, has been given literary expression in a medium which is ‘popular’ in the original and authentic meaning of that much abused word. Her work has constituted an invaluable contribution to the discovery and development of an indigenous culture and her verses are valid social documents reflecting the way we think and feel and live.”

Excerpt from the foreword of the 1961 published “Laugh with Louise: Pot-pourri of Jamaican Folklore, Stories, Songs Verses” written by Robert Godwin Beresford Verity former deputy director, Institute of Jamaica.

Louise Simone Bennett was born on September 7, 1919 on North Street in Kingston, Jamaica. The only child of Augustus Cornelius Bennett who transitioned in 1926 when she was only 7 years old and Kerene Robinson. At 14 years old she wrote her first poem in the Jamaican Patois which she would later elevate to a beloved National language. On Christmas day 1936 she made her first public appearance, at a concert, reciting a poem in Jamaican Patois. The then 17 year old Louise Simone Bennett received a prize of two guineas from the MC Eric Winston Coverley, who would later (in 1954) become her husband. That 1936 Christmas performance at the annual Coke Methodist Church concert was the beginning of a brilliant career. Louise Simone Bennett-Coverly would eventually become the internationally famous “Miss Lou.” Before “Miss Lou” the Jamaican Patois was regarded by many Jamaicans as an embarrassment. Speaking the language of the Jamaican people was felt to be socially unacceptable and the Jamaican middle and upper classes aspired to speaking British English. This was regarded as the epitome of cultured speech. It was felt that only the poor and illiterate spoke patois. Miss Lou would later write poetry to excoriate this mindset including “Noh Lickle Twang” and “Dry Foot Bwoy” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sW9GeQF-1bU Miss Lou would later explain how the Jamaican language owes much to the African language Twi (from Ghana.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W58MtDzanqA

In 1943 Louise Simone Bennett enrolled at Friends College in Highgate, St Mary where she studied Jamaican folklore. Her poetry written in Jamaican patois was first published in the Sunday Gleaner in 1945. In 1945 Bennett also became the first African Jamaican student to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art after being awarded a scholarship from the British Council. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Bennett worked with repertory companies in Coventry, Huddersfield and Amersham, UK. During her time in Britain she hosted two radio programs for the BBC – Caribbean Carnival (1945–1946) and West Indian Night (1950). Returning to Jamaica, Bennett worked for the Jamaica Social Welfare Commission from 1955 to 1959 and taught folklore and drama at the University of the West Indies. From 1965 to 1982 she produced “Miss Lou's Views” a series of radio monologues and in 1970 began hosting the children's television program “Ring Ding.”

Bennett wrote several books and poetry in Jamaican Patois, helping to have it recognized as a "nation language." Her work influenced many Caribbean writers including Trinidadian writer/storyteller Paul Keens-Douglas, Jamaican dub poets Mutabaruka and Linton Kwesi Johnson. She also released numerous recordings of traditional Jamaican folk music and recordings from her radio and television shows. African American singer Harry Belafonte was influenced by Miss Lou in the singing of his wildly popular “Banana Boat Song.” Belafonte who released “Banana Boat Song” in 1956 had found Miss Lou “a wealth of information, a wonderful performer, very, very clever and keen.” He said that “she brought a life to so many people and she had a large influence on many things I had come to learn and to understand about the culture of the Caribbean.” On August 3, 2006 during an interview with BBC Caribbean Belafonte said: “Louise Bennett was very, very central to my deep interest in not only the folklore and history of Jamaica but the literary and academic players in her own verse and the way she spoke with scholars and did analysis on Jamaican life and history. Even without those limitations she had an overall view of the Caribbean, because she sang many songs which came from Trinidad, not just those which came from Jamaican lore although Jamaican folklore was central to her interest.”

Miss Lou lived the last decade of her life in Scarborough, Ontario. She transitioned to join the ancestors on July 27, 2006. A memorial service was held in Toronto on August 3, 2006 at Revivaltime Tabernacle, in North York, Ontario after which her body was flown to Jamaica to lie in state at the National Arena on August 7 and 8. A funeral was held in Kingston at the Coke Methodist Church on August 9, 2006 followed by her interment in the cultural icons section of the National Heroes Park.

Bennett-Coverley received many honours in recognition of her invaluable work. Miss Lou’s Room at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre opened in July 2007. Her contribution to African Caribbean culture is immeasurable! The Honourable Dr. Louise Simone Bennett-Coverley OM, OJ, MBE would have celebrated her 98th birthday on September 7, 2017.