Amy Beckford Bailey, [date unknown]

PEOPLE

Amy Bailey (1895 – 1990)

 

Amy Beckford Bailey, [date unknown]

 

Image from the National Library of Jamaica Photograph Collection. Permission to reproduce this image must be obtained from the National Library of Jamaica

 

Further information - Biography

 

AMY BAILEY (1895 – 1990)

 

“Service is the rental one pays for one’s existence.”

 

Amy Bailey as born in Walderston, Manchester on November 27, 1895. She attended the Mount Olivet Elementary School and then the Shortwood Teacher’s College in 1915, graduating in 1917. She began her teaching career at the Kingston Technical High School in 1919 and continued there until her retirement until 1958.

 

Like many if her peers, Miss bailey wholeheartedly embraced politics and deeply involved herself in socio-economic issues and debates of the time. She was a forceful organizer and public speaker and found herself at the centre of many public meetings. As well, she gave voluntary service to numerous underprivileged girls through the founding of the Housecraft Training centre in January of 1946. She used this Centre to train young women in self-respect and self-reliance. She was also the co-founder and the first Chairman of the Woman’s Liberal Club whose mandate included the determination to establish and defend the rights of women both outside and inside of the home. While in Englan, raising funds for the Save the Children Fund, she was advised that one of the major problems facing Jamaican young women was the high birth rate. As a result, herself, Dr. Hyacinth Lightbourne, Mae Farquharson, and other founded the first birth control league. A strong believer in the Garvey philosophy, Miss Bailey believed firmly in the innate dignity of the individual and fought against racial discrimination and the marginalization of women. Always an active woman, she served in several organizations:

1936 – 1937-President of the Shortwood Old Girls Association

1937-President of the Women’s Liberal Club

1940 – 1941-President – Kingston Technical School Group

1942-Vice President, Kingston Technical School Group

1944-Secretary, Kingston Technical Group

1944-1945-Vice Chairman Shortwood Old Student Association

Member of the Board of:

The Bureau of Standards, The Social Welfare Board, The Prices Commission

 

AWARDS

1960-Member of the British Empire

1988-Marcus Garvey Award for Excellence

1990-Order of Jamaica for Outstanding Services to the Women’s Movement

 

Sources

 

Gregg, Veronica Marcia "how with this rage shall beauty hold a plea ...?": the writings of Miss Amy Beckford Bailey as Moral education in the Era of Jamaican Nation Building" in Small Axe, no. 23 (vol. ii, no. 2), June 2007. p. 6-33

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