0:00:02 > 0:00:04You never know where filming's going to take you.
0:00:04 > 0:00:07This is probably the last place that I ever thought I'd see myself on a
0:00:07 > 0:00:08Sunday morning when I was a kid.
0:00:08 > 0:00:11You know, in Surrey, with trees and green, but here I am.
0:00:11 > 0:00:12Everything good there, mate?
0:00:12 > 0:00:14All good?
0:00:14 > 0:00:16Your crew become your family, you know?
0:00:16 > 0:00:20And that's part of the thing. I've not grown up with a family,
0:00:20 > 0:00:23so I guess I'm always kind of looking for that, in a weird way.
0:00:24 > 0:00:29Award-winning actor Noel Clarke has worked in film and television
0:00:29 > 0:00:31for over 20 years.
0:00:31 > 0:00:36I'm doing the job that I wanted to do when I was five or six years old.
0:00:36 > 0:00:38I'm proud of that.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40He's also a force behind the camera,
0:00:40 > 0:00:42taking on roles as a writer,
0:00:42 > 0:00:45director and producer.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48I'm from a single-parent family,
0:00:48 > 0:00:50you know, a council estate in West London.
0:00:50 > 0:00:52I'm not supposed to be sitting here.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56I grew up just alone with my mother.
0:00:56 > 0:00:59There wasn't a brother or a sister, or a dad.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01So it's just always been myself and her.
0:01:03 > 0:01:06I know my dad, but he wasn't really a part of my childhood.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09There wasn't really much of a connection to the Caribbean at all.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12I don't have a lot of connections and roots,
0:01:12 > 0:01:14so I definitely feel like there's something missing.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18I want to know about my family, you know?
0:01:18 > 0:01:20I want my kids to know about their bloodline.
0:01:20 > 0:01:21I want them to know.
0:01:23 > 0:01:24Good work, guys.
0:01:24 > 0:01:26So it would be good for me to find out.
0:02:00 > 0:02:01I grew up in West London.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04I never lived out of a sort of three-mile radius.
0:02:04 > 0:02:08And when I grew up, it was a pretty rough area.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11But when you're growing up there, you're just part of it.
0:02:11 > 0:02:12I just felt safe.
0:02:14 > 0:02:18Noel is starting his search by visiting his mother Gemma...
0:02:18 > 0:02:21- Hi, son.- Yeah, Mum!- Come up here!
0:02:21 > 0:02:24..to see what she can share with him about their family history.
0:02:24 > 0:02:26My mum is really important to me.
0:02:26 > 0:02:27She had to work really hard.
0:02:27 > 0:02:28She was a nurse.
0:02:28 > 0:02:32To raise me on her own and have me turn out, I guess,
0:02:32 > 0:02:34half decent, I think I'm all right!
0:02:34 > 0:02:37- Hi, son, how are you doing? - All right.
0:02:37 > 0:02:38It was no mean feat.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41- Nice to see you.- Yeah, you too.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44Gemma still lives in the flat where Noel grew up.
0:02:44 > 0:02:45Are you ready to show me some stuff?
0:02:45 > 0:02:47Yeah, son.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50How did we end up stranded on this cold island?
0:02:50 > 0:02:57What made you want to leave your home, to leave Trinidad, and
0:02:57 > 0:03:01- come to England?- I have a friend, and she told me, "Oh, Gemma,
0:03:01 > 0:03:05"I applied to a hospital to go to England to do nursing."
0:03:07 > 0:03:10And I said to her, "Can you give me the address?"
0:03:10 > 0:03:13And she gave me the address, and I applied, and I got through,
0:03:13 > 0:03:17- and she didn't get through! - Are you still friends with her?
0:03:17 > 0:03:19- Yeah.- Well, good!
0:03:19 > 0:03:21I came here to better myself, son.
0:03:21 > 0:03:23You did a very good job.
0:03:23 > 0:03:25That's the nurses. That was our group.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28I'm liking that Afro, Mum.
0:03:28 > 0:03:30- Was that the style?- Yeah.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33I like my Afro, man, too.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35- Is that me?- Yeah.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38I remember, like, I was going to school on my own from seven years.
0:03:38 > 0:03:40And sometimes, if you had to work the late shift,
0:03:40 > 0:03:44I'd come home and you would have all of my snacks laid out.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46And, "Don't open the door for anyone, put the chain on."
0:03:46 > 0:03:48Yeah!
0:03:48 > 0:03:51And I would just sort of sit here and play with my toys
0:03:51 > 0:03:54or watch television or watch films and stuff like that
0:03:54 > 0:03:55until you came home.
0:03:55 > 0:03:56Yeah.
0:03:56 > 0:03:58But that was what you did back then.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01And every weekend we used to have our weekend.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04Yeah, you used to take me to theatre shows and cinemas
0:04:04 > 0:04:07at a very young age.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11So how does my childhood here compare to what it was like
0:04:11 > 0:04:12in Trinidad for you?
0:04:14 > 0:04:20I didn't... My childhood in Trinidad was better than yours!
0:04:20 > 0:04:22SHE LAUGHS
0:04:22 > 0:04:23We were free.
0:04:24 > 0:04:29We used to play hopscotch, play rounders, play cricket.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32We used to do lots of things.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35Girls used to do what the boys used to do also.
0:04:35 > 0:04:36Where exactly did you grow up?
0:04:36 > 0:04:42I grew up with my grandmother in Orange Field Road, Carapichaima.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45- Carapichaima? In Trinidad? - In Trinidad.
0:04:45 > 0:04:47That's me when I was six months old.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50- That's you?- As a baby, yes.
0:04:52 > 0:04:53I grew up with my grandmother.
0:04:53 > 0:04:55And I thought she was my mother.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58- What was her name? - Elizabeth Adina Clarke.
0:05:00 > 0:05:01OK. So, my great-grandmother?
0:05:01 > 0:05:05Why were you living with your grandmother?
0:05:05 > 0:05:09I don't know the reason, but I was with my grandmother,
0:05:09 > 0:05:11and I know my mother used to come and see me.
0:05:11 > 0:05:13So who did you think your mother was?
0:05:13 > 0:05:15When my mother used to come around,
0:05:15 > 0:05:16we used to say, "Hello, Auntie Edna."
0:05:18 > 0:05:21- What was her name? - Edna Naomi Clarke.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24- So...you grew up with your grandmother...- Mm-hm.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28- ..and thought your mother was your aunt?- Yes.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32And then Edna told me that she was my mother.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35Did she do it like EastEnders, "I'm your mother!"
0:05:35 > 0:05:38No, no, no, she came one summer to take me, and she never took me back.
0:05:38 > 0:05:40And I stayed with her.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43I think I was 11 years.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45This is my mother when she was young...
0:05:45 > 0:05:48- That's Grandma?- ..and cute. Yes.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51- She was Edna Naomi Clarke? - Mm-hm.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54How come I'm only hearing about all this stuff now?
0:05:54 > 0:05:55Well, you never asked.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58So I'm just telling you about it now.
0:05:58 > 0:06:00What was Great-Grandma like?
0:06:00 > 0:06:01She was easy-going.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04So where did you get the strictness from? From Granny? From Edna?
0:06:04 > 0:06:06No, I wasn't strict with you!
0:06:06 > 0:06:08You had a lot of leeway.
0:06:08 > 0:06:10Oh, man...!
0:06:10 > 0:06:13That's amazing how parents remember it, isn't it!
0:06:13 > 0:06:15So, if I want to really know about the family,
0:06:15 > 0:06:18I should probably start with Great-Grandma Elizabeth.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21Yes, that's a good place to start.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27Noel's mother Gemma grew up in Trinidad.
0:06:27 > 0:06:31Raised for the first 11 years of her life not by her mother, Edna Naomi,
0:06:31 > 0:06:35but by her grandmother, Elizabeth Adina.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38Elizabeth's husband, Noel's great-grandfather,
0:06:38 > 0:06:40was William Woods Clarke.
0:06:43 > 0:06:45To find out more about this line of the family,
0:06:45 > 0:06:49Noel has come to Trinidad. His first visit in 25 years.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00Trinidad and Tobago is the most southerly country
0:07:00 > 0:07:02in the Caribbean island chain,
0:07:02 > 0:07:05less than ten miles from the coast of South America.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09Elizabeth and William lived in Carapichaima, in central Trinidad.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14- This one's nice.- Yeah, sweet? - Yes, sweet, like sugar.
0:07:14 > 0:07:15For over 100 years,
0:07:15 > 0:07:18the sugar from this area was the mainstay of Trinidad's economy.
0:07:19 > 0:07:21Thanks a lot, man.
0:07:24 > 0:07:25Mm... It's good.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30Local historian Judy Raymond has brought Noel to the road his
0:07:30 > 0:07:32great-grandparents lived on.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35There's still one house from the period.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38So it's the kind of house that your great-grandparents would have lived
0:07:38 > 0:07:40in. It's kind of beautiful, in its own way.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43- It is, it's amazing.- And it's a decent size, too.- Yeah.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46- Yeah.- So, when it was- pitch-black, - candlelight and...
0:07:46 > 0:07:50Yeah, they would have used candles and pitch oil lamps, kerosene lamps.
0:07:50 > 0:07:52That's right.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55And it was built on short columns to dissuade rats
0:07:55 > 0:07:59and other creatures. They would have grown a lot of their own food.
0:07:59 > 0:08:00Yeah.
0:08:00 > 0:08:01This is a breadfruit tree.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04So they would probably cook and eat the breadfruit from here.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08It sounds strange to think that they may have walked here.
0:08:08 > 0:08:09It's possible.
0:08:12 > 0:08:14What are you able to tell me about my great-grandma?
0:08:14 > 0:08:16Let me show you what I've found.
0:08:16 > 0:08:19So, this is a marriage certificate.
0:08:19 > 0:08:20Adina...
0:08:20 > 0:08:22Oh, it's the other way around.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25Adina Elizabeth John. That's my great-grandmother.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27- Yeah.- She was 19 when she got married.
0:08:29 > 0:08:30She was a seamstress.
0:08:32 > 0:08:34Oh, man, this is unbelievable.
0:08:34 > 0:08:36And William Woods Clarke.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38Married at 27.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41Date of marriage, June 24th, 1906.
0:08:42 > 0:08:46My great-grandfather was a...mason.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50So, both of them, in other words, had special skills.
0:08:50 > 0:08:52Yeah, yeah.
0:08:53 > 0:08:57Wait a second. St Vincent and the Grenadines.
0:08:57 > 0:08:59Mm-hm, not Trinidad at all.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02Not Trinidad. There's me shouting, "Trini! Trini!" for all my life,
0:09:02 > 0:09:05and actually I'm waving the wrong flag.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08Yeah, there's lots of first and second generation Trinis,
0:09:08 > 0:09:11and they are just as Trini as anybody else.
0:09:11 > 0:09:13Trini to the bone, so...
0:09:13 > 0:09:15- Yeah, good.- You don't have to worry about that.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19Were they both born in St Vincent, my great-grandparents?
0:09:19 > 0:09:22We don't know, because the records from before that date
0:09:22 > 0:09:27from St Vincent were destroyed in a volcanic explosion in 1902.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29That would do it, wouldn't it, destroy records!
0:09:29 > 0:09:31- OK.- And the next thing that happened...
0:09:35 > 0:09:38Certified copy of an entry of birth.
0:09:38 > 0:09:40Oh, wow!
0:09:40 > 0:09:4215th of June 1913.
0:09:42 > 0:09:44Child...female.
0:09:45 > 0:09:47They had a child in St Vincent.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50I can't see a first name. Am I just not seeing it?
0:09:50 > 0:09:53No, in those days they just recorded the gender.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59And then the next document for you to look at is this one.
0:09:59 > 0:10:03So, OK, Trinidad and Tobago, here we go.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06The 3rd of April 1917.
0:10:06 > 0:10:07A female.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10The fact that they had a daughter here suggests that they did
0:10:10 > 0:10:13have actually quite a strong bond and they migrated as a family,
0:10:13 > 0:10:16rather than him coming here alone in search of work.
0:10:16 > 0:10:20And then, if you see, the informant is Robert John.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23Yes.
0:10:23 > 0:10:25Adina Clarke's father.
0:10:25 > 0:10:27My great-great-grandfather.
0:10:27 > 0:10:30And you also see it, it says, the mark of Robert John, labourer.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33- In other words, he was illiterate. - Yeah.
0:10:33 > 0:10:35So the family was already moving up in the world,
0:10:35 > 0:10:38because his daughter was a seamstress, and she married a mason.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41Married a mason, so they're making moves.
0:10:44 > 0:10:48When Noel's great-grandparents migrated to Trinidad in 1917,
0:10:48 > 0:10:51its economy was booming.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54Chocolate was considered a vital morale boost for soldiers
0:10:54 > 0:10:59fighting in World War I. So cocoa and sugar were in great demand.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03Like William and Elizabeth,
0:11:03 > 0:11:06many inhabitants of smaller islands migrated to work on Trinidad's large
0:11:06 > 0:11:08and thriving estates.
0:11:10 > 0:11:12Each estate would have a mason,
0:11:12 > 0:11:15a carpenter and so on, who would carry out the skilled work
0:11:15 > 0:11:20that was needed to maintain buildings and the equipment.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23With Great-Grandfather doing his masonry,
0:11:23 > 0:11:25was Great-Grandma working as well, making clothes?
0:11:25 > 0:11:28What do you think she was doing? I mean, obviously...
0:11:28 > 0:11:30Well, I can tell you one thing she was doing.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35She loved it, didn't she, clearly!
0:11:36 > 0:11:41Great-Grandma, I know what you were up to!
0:11:41 > 0:11:47This is another daughter, she was born 25th of October, 1919.
0:11:47 > 0:11:49That's not my grandmother either.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52How many more of these is there?
0:11:53 > 0:11:55Wow, 22nd... This is my grandmother.
0:11:55 > 0:11:57I think.
0:11:57 > 0:11:5922nd of June, 1921.
0:11:59 > 0:12:00Yeah, this is my grandmother.
0:12:00 > 0:12:02- And that's it.- That's it.
0:12:02 > 0:12:06So my grandmother was the youngest of four children.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08- Yes, exactly.- I did not know that.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11OK, I have one more document.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14Passenger list, 1923.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16So these are people going to the United States.
0:12:16 > 0:12:18OK.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22- Which would have been...- After my grandmother, Naomi, was born.
0:12:22 > 0:12:27Two years after she was born, Clarke, Elizabeth, 30, female.
0:12:27 > 0:12:29Married or single?
0:12:29 > 0:12:31W, widowed.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33What?
0:12:33 > 0:12:36- So, my great-grandfather's died? - Yeah.
0:12:37 > 0:12:41Name and address of nearest relative,
0:12:41 > 0:12:43Mr R John, Pointe-a-Pierre, Trinidad.
0:12:43 > 0:12:45So that's her father.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50Final destination, New York. Why is she going to New York?
0:12:50 > 0:12:52Were they going to join a relative or friend, if so,
0:12:52 > 0:12:54what relative or friend?
0:12:55 > 0:12:58Sister, Brooklyn.
0:13:00 > 0:13:04So, my great-grandmother, in 1923, has gone to New York
0:13:04 > 0:13:07to stay with her sister. What about the kids?
0:13:08 > 0:13:12Does it say that the kids went with her?
0:13:13 > 0:13:14It doesn't say that.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17I can't imagine that she would just leave four children.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20Well, I'm sure, if she did, she must have had a very good reason.
0:13:22 > 0:13:24Yeah.
0:13:36 > 0:13:40To find out whether Elizabeth really did abandon her children,
0:13:40 > 0:13:42Noel is meeting Diane Prechad.
0:13:42 > 0:13:46- How are you?- I'm fine, how are you? - Yeah, good, you must be Diane, yeah?
0:13:46 > 0:13:48- Yes, and you must Noel? - Yeah.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51Diane is an expert on the history of Caribbean migration.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55My great-grandmother, unfortunately, was widowed,
0:13:55 > 0:13:57and then seems to have disappeared to New York,
0:13:57 > 0:13:59and I think left her kids behind.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01So I'd love to know a little bit more about that.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04This article would tell you a context
0:14:04 > 0:14:08of what were the circumstances in Trinidad at that time.
0:14:09 > 0:14:13"The exodus from Trinidad, women leading the way.
0:14:13 > 0:14:17"An alarming situation. May 12th, 1923.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21"A revision of the passenger list for the last six months
0:14:21 > 0:14:25"discloses the alarming fact that, fully, 90%
0:14:25 > 0:14:28"of the emigrants leaving Trinidad are women.
0:14:30 > 0:14:32"It is noticeable that, when the women go away,
0:14:32 > 0:14:34"they earn the money and send back for the men.
0:14:34 > 0:14:38"Thus we find the order of things have radically changed."
0:14:38 > 0:14:39Wow. OK.
0:14:39 > 0:14:43"It is that the women have been forced to realise
0:14:43 > 0:14:47"that there is no living to be made by them locally and so,
0:14:47 > 0:14:49"rather than leading questionable lives...
0:14:50 > 0:14:54"..they elect to venture forth and eke out an existence."
0:14:54 > 0:14:56So, essentially,
0:14:56 > 0:15:00the only option was for them to either become prostitutes or...
0:15:02 > 0:15:03- ..or leave.- Yeah.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05And she decided she was going to leave.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08Then, post-World War I,
0:15:08 > 0:15:14there were crop failures so drastic that it affected
0:15:14 > 0:15:17the most vulnerable in society.
0:15:17 > 0:15:22So if men were already finding themselves unemployed,
0:15:22 > 0:15:25we could only imagine how it affected women
0:15:25 > 0:15:28with little or no opportunity at all.
0:15:30 > 0:15:32HE EXHALES HEAVILY
0:15:32 > 0:15:34I still couldn't do it, though.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37I don't think... I don't think, I don't know.
0:15:37 > 0:15:40I mean, it's one of those ones where I completely see why she did it and
0:15:40 > 0:15:42why she had to do it,
0:15:42 > 0:15:45because had she not been sending money back for them then, you know,
0:15:45 > 0:15:47maybe they would have been in a situation where
0:15:47 > 0:15:51they might have had to have "questionable lifestyles".
0:15:51 > 0:15:52She had four daughters.
0:15:52 > 0:15:54Upon that, she had no husband.
0:15:54 > 0:15:56Yeah.
0:15:56 > 0:16:00So she probably would have only thought about her daughters
0:16:00 > 0:16:01- and not herself.- Yeah.
0:16:01 > 0:16:06To go work hard and send money back so they would just have
0:16:06 > 0:16:08- an opportunity.- Mm-hm.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11And that their opportunity would have been better than hers.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14Now, we have this...
0:16:14 > 0:16:15Oh, my gosh. Declaring her intention
0:16:15 > 0:16:18to become a citizen of the United States.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21My great-grandmother became a naturalised US citizen.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24Ah! "I now reside in Brooklyn."
0:16:24 > 0:16:26With her sister and her brother-in-law.
0:16:26 > 0:16:27Yeah.
0:16:29 > 0:16:32And then... "I have four children.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35Louise, was born in Saint Vincent.
0:16:37 > 0:16:39There's names! Louise! St Vincent, yeah.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43Miriam, 1917.
0:16:43 > 0:16:45Wilhelmina.
0:16:45 > 0:16:47Naomi, that's my grandmother.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51And all reside in the West Indies.
0:16:52 > 0:16:54So, this is now 1926.
0:16:54 > 0:16:57So why would she still be there, like?
0:16:57 > 0:17:00I mean, she's left her kids. It's, like, three years on.
0:17:00 > 0:17:02Who has she left them with is what I'm wondering.
0:17:02 > 0:17:06Well, we don't know for sure who she left them with.
0:17:06 > 0:17:07On the, er...
0:17:08 > 0:17:11..passenger list of the original ship...
0:17:13 > 0:17:16..it says...Mr R John.
0:17:16 > 0:17:20That was her father. So maybe she left them with her father.
0:17:20 > 0:17:25And that's not an uncommon thing in the British West Indies.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29- Yeah.- A mother wouldn't leave her children and abandoned them.
0:17:29 > 0:17:35- She would have left them in the care of somebody trustworthy.- Yeah.
0:17:35 > 0:17:40Well, this would bring a context to her life in Brooklyn at that time.
0:17:40 > 0:17:42So, this would have been Brooklyn at the time?
0:17:42 > 0:17:46Yeah, that would have been Osborne Street, where she lived.
0:17:47 > 0:17:49Wow.
0:17:49 > 0:17:53And it was predominantly a West Indian and Jewish area.
0:17:54 > 0:17:58And this was the 1930 census.
0:18:00 > 0:18:011930 census.
0:18:01 > 0:18:02Wow!
0:18:04 > 0:18:07Six years without your mother is a long time.
0:18:07 > 0:18:10- Yeah.- So it says here that she is a house worker.
0:18:10 > 0:18:11What exactly is a house worker?
0:18:11 > 0:18:15Because the last time I saw any description of her job,
0:18:15 > 0:18:17she was a seamstress.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21A house worker would be someone who is like a domestic worker.
0:18:21 > 0:18:25Essentially, she would have had to work a 14-hour day.
0:18:25 > 0:18:29- Yeah.- She would have to do cooking, cleaning,
0:18:29 > 0:18:32taking care of the children.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35Her weekly pay would have been three to five US dollars.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39Wow...
0:18:39 > 0:18:41Weekly pay.
0:18:41 > 0:18:44So, she could have just been looking after other people's kids
0:18:44 > 0:18:48and missing her own and having to send back whatever cents,
0:18:48 > 0:18:52peanut money, she'd got back to Trinidad.
0:18:52 > 0:18:57The only thing that she probably would have had to communicate
0:18:57 > 0:19:01through was letter writing and probably,
0:19:01 > 0:19:04if she was very lucky, have a photo.
0:19:04 > 0:19:07Yeah? So maybe some of the pictures I saw of my grandmother
0:19:07 > 0:19:09were sent to her when she was young.
0:19:11 > 0:19:18Wow. For her just to have something tangible like a photo to see
0:19:18 > 0:19:22her progress, this would have been really, really big.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25Do we know how long she actually stayed in New York?
0:19:25 > 0:19:30So, the last record we have of her in New York is 1937.
0:19:31 > 0:19:33Wow. I mean, those...
0:19:36 > 0:19:41Those daughters would have grown up a lot in that time, obviously.
0:19:42 > 0:19:47Yeah. Essentially, she would have missed a big chunk
0:19:47 > 0:19:49of their childhood.
0:19:49 > 0:19:54By 1937, her oldest would have been 24
0:19:54 > 0:19:56and her youngest would have been 15.
0:19:56 > 0:19:58Mm...
0:19:58 > 0:19:59I mean...
0:20:01 > 0:20:04..could I miss 15 years of my kids' lives?
0:20:10 > 0:20:13My great-grandmother's experience is just...
0:20:15 > 0:20:16I mean, it's unimaginable, really.
0:20:21 > 0:20:23On the surface, it seems like she left them, but actually,
0:20:23 > 0:20:26she had so much love for them that she had to leave.
0:20:26 > 0:20:27Being a woman in those times
0:20:27 > 0:20:30and not wanting to live a questionable lifestyle,
0:20:30 > 0:20:33if you didn't leave, there was no jobs, there was no work.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36Your children would starve in front of you.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41My initial response of, like, "Well, I couldn't leave my kids..."
0:20:41 > 0:20:43I couldn't.
0:20:43 > 0:20:49But she actually was braver, in a way, to sacrifice being with them.
0:20:51 > 0:20:53She didn't get to bring up her own kids,
0:20:53 > 0:20:57so she came back and brought up my mother, which is why my mother ended
0:20:57 > 0:21:00up growing up with Adina for a period of time.
0:21:02 > 0:21:03Heartbreaking.
0:21:17 > 0:21:20It wasn't just Noel's mother who came to Britain from Trinidad.
0:21:20 > 0:21:22His father Alpheus did too.
0:21:26 > 0:21:28But as Noel wasn't brought up by his dad,
0:21:28 > 0:21:31he has even less information about this side of his family tree.
0:21:35 > 0:21:39I know absolutely nothing about my dad's family.
0:21:39 > 0:21:41I must have seen my dad's mother, like, twice in my whole life.
0:21:41 > 0:21:43Maybe three times, max.
0:21:43 > 0:21:45And so, you know,
0:21:45 > 0:21:49I don't feel as connected to them, but that's 50% of my family.
0:21:49 > 0:21:51Noel is heading to the south of the island,
0:21:51 > 0:21:54the heart of Trinidad's oil industry,
0:21:54 > 0:21:56where his paternal grandmother lived.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59I remember my grandmother, Minelvia.
0:21:59 > 0:22:01She was really funny and strong, like, really strong.
0:22:02 > 0:22:05Like, you could picture her carrying boulders and stuff like that,
0:22:05 > 0:22:08like a strong, strong, tough woman.
0:22:09 > 0:22:18I have got a picture of the last time I saw her, Minelvia.
0:22:18 > 0:22:20I've heard people call her Minerva,
0:22:20 > 0:22:23but I wasn't around and I don't really know how it was pronounced,
0:22:23 > 0:22:24so let's just go with Minelvia.
0:22:24 > 0:22:27- We'll go with that.- CREW MEMBER: - What did you call her?
0:22:27 > 0:22:29- What did I call her?- Yeah?- Granny!
0:22:32 > 0:22:36I called her Granny. You don't call your elders anything other than what
0:22:36 > 0:22:37they are to you. Granny.
0:22:37 > 0:22:39Otherwise you got a backhand.
0:22:43 > 0:22:46Fyzabad has been at the centre of this oil-producing region since the
0:22:46 > 0:22:51early 20th century and makes claim to be the original home
0:22:51 > 0:22:53of steel pans.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07Now a feature of West Indian carnivals from Trinidad
0:23:07 > 0:23:10to Notting Hill, the oil drums turned instruments
0:23:10 > 0:23:12were first made by the early oil workers.
0:23:25 > 0:23:26In British colonial times,
0:23:26 > 0:23:30this area was reserved solely for the oil industry management.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33Now, it's a public park created by Arthur Sanderson,
0:23:33 > 0:23:34a local politician.
0:23:39 > 0:23:41Did you know my grandmother?
0:23:41 > 0:23:46- Minerva?- Yeah.- Everybody in Fyzabad knew your grandmother.
0:23:46 > 0:23:50She was not only vocal, she was brave.
0:23:50 > 0:23:54Your grandmother was a woman amongst women.
0:23:54 > 0:23:58I knew, as a young boy going to school, being looked after,
0:23:58 > 0:24:01because in those days the village grew the child...
0:24:01 > 0:24:02Yeah.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05- You know?- If you don't go to school, somebody else will say,
0:24:05 > 0:24:07- "Get to school!"- Yes! And she will take the whip.
0:24:07 > 0:24:09HE LAUGHS
0:24:09 > 0:24:11- Did you ever get licks from her? - No, I never.
0:24:11 > 0:24:13I was a good boy.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16Your grandmother was one of the early settlers.
0:24:16 > 0:24:17She was not from Trinidad.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20Your grandmother was from Grenada.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26Bearing in mind I'm always shouting about I'm Trinian,
0:24:26 > 0:24:29now it seems like I'm from here, there and everywhere.
0:24:29 > 0:24:31I don't know what's going on any more. Why did she come here?
0:24:31 > 0:24:34Your grandmother would have been attracted to come to Trinidad,
0:24:34 > 0:24:39like many other women and men in Grenada, to find work.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47Two world wars and the expanding car industry meant an ever-increasing
0:24:47 > 0:24:50demand for Trinidad's rich supply of oil.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55British and American companies rushed to exploit the new commodity.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01And thousands of Caribbean men migrated to find work
0:25:01 > 0:25:02in the oilfields.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08I remember your grandmother made a statement to me.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12- Yeah.- "While Trinidad was exporting oil, Grenada was exporting people."
0:25:12 > 0:25:15Yeah, right, yeah.
0:25:15 > 0:25:19The time when your grandmother would have migrated to Trinidad,
0:25:19 > 0:25:24they enjoyed what you will call segregation.
0:25:24 > 0:25:30This area was where the white management lived.
0:25:30 > 0:25:33- Yeah.- There were about 26 houses inside here,
0:25:33 > 0:25:35the pharmacist lived here,
0:25:35 > 0:25:38the manager of operations lived here, the accountant lived here.
0:25:38 > 0:25:41- If you are black, you couldn't live here.- No. No, no.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44- Early settlers, you couldn't live here.- Wow.- It was a gated community.
0:25:44 > 0:25:49- Right.- So your grandmother couldn't come in here, as a maid.
0:25:49 > 0:25:52So we're sitting in a place now that actually the black people and the
0:25:52 > 0:25:57- workers were not allowed to go. - No. No, no, no.- They weren't.- No.
0:25:57 > 0:26:00There was not an equitable distribution of the wealth
0:26:00 > 0:26:02within the community.
0:26:02 > 0:26:03The money's not filtering down.
0:26:03 > 0:26:05No, no. It does not.
0:26:05 > 0:26:12So your grandmother coming to Trinidad fell into that system.
0:26:13 > 0:26:16When Menelvia came to Trinidad in the early 1940s,
0:26:16 > 0:26:21it was still under British colonial rule and white British expats
0:26:21 > 0:26:23ran both the government and the industries.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28And profits flowed back into British coffers.
0:26:29 > 0:26:33Fyzabad became the centre of an increasing political awareness
0:26:33 > 0:26:35and activism against this inequality.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41Calls for independence from Britain grew.
0:26:42 > 0:26:46Your grandmother, she was one of the early fighters that built this
0:26:46 > 0:26:50country. Simple people who were honest and loyal
0:26:50 > 0:26:56towards a new Trinidad and Tobago. A new life, a new nation.
0:26:56 > 0:26:58And your grandmother was one of those.
0:26:58 > 0:27:03- Yes.- Wow.- She was a very strong Baptist.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07- Yes.- And she associated her spirituality in a church
0:27:07 > 0:27:13that is not too far from here. So you should visit these areas.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17- Yeah.- And get a feel of the soul of the community.
0:27:26 > 0:27:28SINGING AND CLAPPING
0:27:28 > 0:27:31Menelvia worshipped at Egan Baptist Church
0:27:31 > 0:27:33as part of the spiritual Baptist tradition,
0:27:33 > 0:27:37which has strong connections to African spirituality.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41SINGING AND CHANTING
0:27:45 > 0:27:48The racial tensions of Trinidad in the early 20th century
0:27:48 > 0:27:52led the British colonial authorities to ban this religion,
0:27:52 > 0:27:55making its practice illegal until 1951.
0:28:00 > 0:28:04The pastor and the ladies of the church still remember Menelvia well.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07She was known to them as Mother Bernard.
0:28:07 > 0:28:09Sounds like she was a very, very strong woman.
0:28:09 > 0:28:11- Very strong.- Yeah, she was very strong.
0:28:11 > 0:28:13Very, very strong person.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17Youngers having any problem would go to her.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20So the people in the district also had that respect for her.
0:28:20 > 0:28:22So you guys must miss her a lot.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26- A lot.- I'd like to present you with this.
0:28:26 > 0:28:28- This is Mother Bernard here.- Wow.
0:28:29 > 0:28:31- She was very young.- Yeah.
0:28:31 > 0:28:32Do you know when this was?
0:28:32 > 0:28:34- That is a PNM.- Yeah.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37What is the PNM?
0:28:37 > 0:28:39It is one of the political parties in Trinidad,
0:28:39 > 0:28:41it means the People's National Movement.
0:28:41 > 0:28:45- I see.- It was the first party established in 1956.
0:28:45 > 0:28:46And she was a part of the party?
0:28:46 > 0:28:49Yeah, she was the lady vice-chair.
0:28:49 > 0:28:54- Wow.- Wherever she go in the country, she was highly respected.
0:28:59 > 0:29:01Menelvia was one of many women
0:29:01 > 0:29:04who were part of the People's National Movement,
0:29:04 > 0:29:08led by the charismatic Oxford-educated Eric Williams.
0:29:08 > 0:29:11It was one of the first parties to give black Trinidadians
0:29:11 > 0:29:12a political voice.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18A lifelong supporter of the party,
0:29:18 > 0:29:22in 1956 Menelvia saw the PNM win the general election.
0:29:23 > 0:29:27Six years later, on the 31st of August 1962...
0:29:27 > 0:29:29As Prime Minister of the newly-independent state
0:29:29 > 0:29:31of Trinidad...
0:29:31 > 0:29:34..Trinidad gained full independence from Britain.
0:29:41 > 0:29:44Learning that my grandmother was such a respected member
0:29:44 > 0:29:46of her community was amazing.
0:29:48 > 0:29:51I'm glad I did come here. I want to bring the kids here one day so they
0:29:51 > 0:29:53can know where they're from.
0:30:02 > 0:30:05Noel has found out he has roots on more than one Caribbean island.
0:30:06 > 0:30:11To find out more about the family history, I need to go to Grenada.
0:30:11 > 0:30:13There's more digging to do.
0:30:18 > 0:30:21He's going to meet someone who he hopes will be able to tell him more.
0:30:22 > 0:30:27Menelvia's son, Telford, a 77-year-old uncle he has never met.
0:30:28 > 0:30:31I've heard he's sort of like some sort of Crocodile Dundee type,
0:30:31 > 0:30:35Indiana Jones type strange man who roams around the island
0:30:35 > 0:30:39and swims everywhere and lives on his own like a hermit.
0:30:44 > 0:30:49- Hello, Uncle Telford.- I'm good! Well, well.- Are you all right?
0:30:49 > 0:30:51Yeah, man, I'm good, I'm good.
0:30:51 > 0:30:53It's good to meet you after all these years.
0:30:53 > 0:30:56Well, really and truly, I am very delighted to meet you.
0:30:56 > 0:30:59You too, man. What was it like growing up here
0:30:59 > 0:31:00when you were small?
0:31:00 > 0:31:04Well, you see, I had to grow up with my grandmother
0:31:04 > 0:31:08and I had a good life because, being the only child in the house,
0:31:08 > 0:31:10I was free to do almost anything.
0:31:10 > 0:31:13But my thing was the sea.
0:31:13 > 0:31:16- Yeah.- So at night, when my grandmother was sleeping,
0:31:16 > 0:31:21I could come out of the house and I would go down into the sea and...
0:31:21 > 0:31:22Just go on a little journey.
0:31:22 > 0:31:25Yeah. When she woke up, I am there.
0:31:25 > 0:31:27She doesn't even know that you left.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33My mother was from Carriacou.
0:31:33 > 0:31:35So my grandmother...
0:31:35 > 0:31:37- Yeah.- ..is from Carriacou?
0:31:37 > 0:31:38She's from Carriacou.
0:31:39 > 0:31:42I'm not surprised by that. I thought I was a pure Trini,
0:31:42 > 0:31:45but it turned out I'm from every other island except Trinidad really.
0:31:46 > 0:31:48Where is Carriacou? Is it part of Granada?
0:31:48 > 0:31:50It is about 70 miles away.
0:31:50 > 0:31:52- It's over there.- It is beyond them, yes.
0:31:52 > 0:31:54You will see where that haze is.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57If the weather was clear, you would see Carriacou.
0:32:01 > 0:32:05What do you know about the family that you can tell me?
0:32:05 > 0:32:08My mother was a Bedeau.
0:32:08 > 0:32:11We pronounce it Bee-doo, b-e-d-e-a-u.
0:32:11 > 0:32:16I don't know if you will be going to Carriacou, but that's the
0:32:16 > 0:32:19headquarters of the Bedeau family.
0:32:19 > 0:32:23Menelvia's father, I was told, was called Maxman.
0:32:23 > 0:32:25- So he was your...- Great-grandfather. - Great-grandfather.- Yeah.
0:32:25 > 0:32:28Maxman Bedeau. Sounds like a superhero.
0:32:28 > 0:32:32Yeah. And his father, I understand, was a sea captain.
0:32:32 > 0:32:34- His father.- He's Cadeau.
0:32:34 > 0:32:38So my great-great-grandfather, Cadeau Bedeau.
0:32:38 > 0:32:39- Yes.- Cadeau.
0:32:39 > 0:32:45He was the sea captain that got lost in a hurricane in 1921.
0:32:45 > 0:32:47They took cargo in Trinidad for somewhere up the islands,
0:32:47 > 0:32:50they stopped in Grenada to do something.
0:32:50 > 0:32:54- Yeah.- And they left in the evening and the same night there was this
0:32:54 > 0:32:57hurricane, nobody's seen them since 1921.
0:32:57 > 0:32:58- Wow. 1921.- Yeah.
0:32:58 > 0:33:02Most of the Carriacou men used to be shipwrights and sailors.
0:33:02 > 0:33:03- Yeah.- Hardly anything else.
0:33:03 > 0:33:05Maybe that's where you got it from.
0:33:05 > 0:33:07Yeah, yeah, yeah, had it in my blood.
0:33:07 > 0:33:08So let me work this out.
0:33:08 > 0:33:12- Menelvia's father was Maxman. - Mm-hm.
0:33:12 > 0:33:14- And Maxman's father was Cadeau. - Cadeau.
0:33:14 > 0:33:18And do you know anything about Cadeau's mother or father?
0:33:18 > 0:33:20Does it go further? Do you know further?
0:33:20 > 0:33:22Well, I hear about Benjamin.
0:33:22 > 0:33:25- Benjamin.- If he was Cadeau's father, or what, he was...
0:33:25 > 0:33:27So he was a Bedeau, as well.
0:33:27 > 0:33:29- Benjamin Bedeau.- He was a senior to them, yeah.
0:33:29 > 0:33:34So you think if I want to know more about the family history,
0:33:34 > 0:33:37you think I should probably go to Carriacou.
0:33:37 > 0:33:40Yeah, you will get some more information
0:33:40 > 0:33:42from the other people in Carriacou.
0:33:42 > 0:33:45- Shall we swim there?- No problem.
0:33:45 > 0:33:47Younger one has to go first!
0:33:51 > 0:33:55Noel is descended from the Bedeau family from the island of Carriacou.
0:33:55 > 0:33:59His grandmother, Menelvia's father, was Maxman Bedeau.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02His father was the ship's captain Cadeau.
0:34:02 > 0:34:04And Noel's great-great-great grandfather
0:34:04 > 0:34:05was Benjamin Bedeau.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14Noel's leaving the main island of Grenada and travelling north
0:34:14 > 0:34:17across the waters that so many generations of the Bedeau family
0:34:17 > 0:34:19would have sailed.
0:34:25 > 0:34:27He's heading for Carriacou,
0:34:27 > 0:34:30a tiny island with a long history of boat building.
0:34:34 > 0:34:37It has a population today of just 7,000.
0:34:43 > 0:34:46He is meeting a historian from the University of the West Indies,
0:34:46 > 0:34:48Nicole Philip Dowell.
0:34:48 > 0:34:51So my uncle's told me about Carriacou.
0:34:52 > 0:34:54I'll be honest, I never heard of it before.
0:34:54 > 0:34:58- Right.- And my family comes from here,
0:34:58 > 0:35:01so I would love to know a little bit more about the place and what you
0:35:01 > 0:35:03- know about my family.- OK.
0:35:03 > 0:35:07I've managed to find this document, so you can have a look at it.
0:35:07 > 0:35:09Yeah. Baptisms.
0:35:09 > 0:35:11- Baptisms.- Wait a second, let me just...
0:35:14 > 0:35:17Oh, my goodness. Benjamin Bedeau.
0:35:19 > 0:35:21So this is from here, he's born in Carriacou?
0:35:21 > 0:35:23Yes, he's born in Carriacou.
0:35:23 > 0:35:25Parents, Mary and Glasgow.
0:35:25 > 0:35:27Glasgow, wow.
0:35:29 > 0:35:311848.
0:35:31 > 0:35:32That's unbelievable.
0:35:34 > 0:35:36Have a look at this document.
0:35:36 > 0:35:38- Oh, my goodness. - Yes, it's an old one.
0:35:38 > 0:35:42The annual return of the increase and decrease of slaves
0:35:42 > 0:35:46in Harvey Vale estate in the island of Carriacou in the year 1821.
0:35:48 > 0:35:50OK.
0:35:50 > 0:35:51OK...
0:35:53 > 0:35:55Oh, I see, yeah, here. Glasgow.
0:35:55 > 0:35:57Glasgow, uh-huh.
0:35:57 > 0:36:00Age, one month. OK, so...
0:36:03 > 0:36:05So what is this? This is...?
0:36:07 > 0:36:12Four times, this is great-great-great-great-grandfather
0:36:12 > 0:36:13Glasgow.
0:36:15 > 0:36:17Was born into slavery.
0:36:17 > 0:36:19Yes, born into slavery in Carriacou.
0:36:19 > 0:36:24The planters had to give a record, or a statement,
0:36:24 > 0:36:28of the slaves that they owned each year.
0:36:28 > 0:36:33- Yeah.- So they had to state how many slaves increased,
0:36:33 > 0:36:36whether by birth or whether they bought any slaves.
0:36:36 > 0:36:40- Yeah.- So that's why it's written like this in the records.
0:36:40 > 0:36:43- And this is 1821. - 1821.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48I mean, you know, the thing is, kind of being...
0:36:50 > 0:36:52Well, not kind of. Being black,
0:36:52 > 0:36:55I thought that this might end up here at some point.
0:36:55 > 0:36:58But it's still crazy to think that it...
0:37:00 > 0:37:04- It's still crazy to see it, you know...- Yeah.- ..in real time.
0:37:04 > 0:37:05Yeah.
0:37:09 > 0:37:14Carriacou became part of the British Empire in 1763
0:37:14 > 0:37:17and immediately the British established plantations
0:37:17 > 0:37:21and transported Africans by ship to the island
0:37:21 > 0:37:23to work the land as slaves.
0:37:26 > 0:37:29Within just 60 years of British control,
0:37:29 > 0:37:33Carriacou's slave population numbered almost 4,000.
0:37:39 > 0:37:41And then, what was that? Mother's...
0:37:41 > 0:37:42Mother's name.
0:37:44 > 0:37:45Second Jenevieve.
0:37:45 > 0:37:49- What?- That means there was more than one Jenevieve on the plantation,
0:37:49 > 0:37:50so she's the second one.
0:37:50 > 0:37:51Wow. So...
0:37:51 > 0:37:54- Yes.- There was another slave called Jenevieve,
0:37:54 > 0:37:56so she was just a second slave called Jenevieve.
0:37:56 > 0:37:57So they just called her Jenevieve Two.
0:37:57 > 0:38:01- Yes.- Wow. Why do you think he was called Glasgow?
0:38:01 > 0:38:04The slave is property.
0:38:04 > 0:38:06- Yeah.- They have absolutely no rights
0:38:06 > 0:38:09and because they are seen as property,
0:38:09 > 0:38:13the planter could decide, for example, what to name a child.
0:38:13 > 0:38:19The agent for this plantation, John Dallas, was actually Scottish.
0:38:19 > 0:38:23So a name like Glasgow could have been because of the...
0:38:23 > 0:38:25..that Scottish connection.
0:38:26 > 0:38:29- Do we know anything about his father?- No.
0:38:29 > 0:38:32The slave records don't show fathers' names.
0:38:32 > 0:38:36The only thing that goes on the records is the mother's name.
0:38:38 > 0:38:43Would you like to see a map of Carriacou in 1832?
0:38:43 > 0:38:44- Sure.- Can you find...?
0:38:44 > 0:38:46Ah, you've found Harvey Vale.
0:38:46 > 0:38:49The entire island would have been carved up, as you notice,
0:38:49 > 0:38:51with different plantations.
0:38:51 > 0:38:53Harvey Vale is a cotton estate.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56Would you like to know a little bit about
0:38:56 > 0:38:58what life would have been like?
0:38:58 > 0:39:00I have a pretty good idea, but, yeah, please tell me
0:39:00 > 0:39:02what he would have had to endure.
0:39:02 > 0:39:04Who was the master? Was it Harvey Vale?
0:39:04 > 0:39:05Ah, great question.
0:39:05 > 0:39:09The master, or planter, of Harvey Vale estate...
0:39:09 > 0:39:12Thomas Davidson would have been the master of Harvey Vale estate.
0:39:12 > 0:39:13Thomas Davidson.
0:39:13 > 0:39:17They were absentee planters, which basically meant that he lived...
0:39:17 > 0:39:20- Controlled it from afar.- Right, he lived in England.
0:39:20 > 0:39:23- Right.- And they lived in Brunswick Square in London.
0:39:25 > 0:39:26Brunswick Square in London.
0:39:26 > 0:39:29- Mm-hm.- Just north of Soho.
0:39:30 > 0:39:31Right.
0:39:34 > 0:39:35Wow.
0:39:37 > 0:39:39I'm around that area all the time.
0:39:40 > 0:39:43- Hm.- I might go look for them.
0:39:43 > 0:39:45Absentee planters.
0:39:45 > 0:39:47So they were cowards, basically.
0:39:47 > 0:39:50Well, they got their wealth out of the Caribbean,
0:39:50 > 0:39:51but didn't necessarily live...
0:39:51 > 0:39:55- Didn't want to see the dirty work. - Didn't necessarily live here, no.
0:39:55 > 0:39:57He would have an agent who's working,
0:39:57 > 0:39:58doing the day-to-day running.
0:39:58 > 0:40:00Who was the agent? John Dallas.
0:40:00 > 0:40:04Yeah. We have some very unfortunate stories about John Dallas.
0:40:04 > 0:40:05- Oh, really?- Yes.
0:40:05 > 0:40:07He was one of the bad ones, was he?
0:40:07 > 0:40:08- Unfortunately.- Yeah.
0:40:08 > 0:40:15This was done by a sociologist and it's oral testimony
0:40:15 > 0:40:17of the treatment that slaves received.
0:40:17 > 0:40:19Yeah.
0:40:19 > 0:40:23"Stories circulate about one particularly cruel master,
0:40:23 > 0:40:25"John Dallas.
0:40:25 > 0:40:28"In those days, a white man in the Harvey Vale was beating them
0:40:28 > 0:40:32"so much, they used to put a woman that have big belly, dig a hole,
0:40:32 > 0:40:33"and put the woman leg down,
0:40:33 > 0:40:37"belly inside the hole and then beat them until they make the child."
0:40:39 > 0:40:41- They would be beaten so bad they would give birth?- Exactly.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46- That's crazy.- Yes.
0:40:48 > 0:40:51So you had one of the cruellest masters on the island.
0:40:51 > 0:40:55And my...my relatives were on that estate.
0:40:55 > 0:40:56Yes.
0:40:58 > 0:41:03Do you know anything about Jenevieve, Glasgow's mother?
0:41:03 > 0:41:08The last record that I've been able to find of Jenevieve,
0:41:08 > 0:41:11this is it, here.
0:41:11 > 0:41:13Jenevieve.
0:41:14 > 0:41:1731 here.
0:41:17 > 0:41:19- Is that deceased?- Decreased.
0:41:19 > 0:41:21Decreased? What does decreased mean?
0:41:21 > 0:41:26Decreased by death or whether they sold, they sold any slaves.
0:41:26 > 0:41:28- So she died.- Yeah.
0:41:28 > 0:41:33Inflammation of the stomach and bowels at age 31.
0:41:35 > 0:41:39And she probably would have been malnourished because of course she's
0:41:39 > 0:41:42trying to breast-feed Glasgow,
0:41:42 > 0:41:45but the nutrition that she's getting is not sufficient.
0:41:45 > 0:41:51Now, we must note that Jenevieve died, so little Glasgow
0:41:51 > 0:41:53probably would have had to be...
0:41:53 > 0:41:56..he would have been taken in by the other women.
0:41:56 > 0:41:57Yeah.
0:41:57 > 0:41:59What year is this? 1824.
0:41:59 > 0:42:011824.
0:42:02 > 0:42:03So...
0:42:04 > 0:42:06So he was two.
0:42:06 > 0:42:07Yeah.
0:42:07 > 0:42:09She died when Glasgow was two.
0:42:23 > 0:42:30I almost can see them now, Jenevieve, the kid Glasgow.
0:42:31 > 0:42:37I don't think being ridiculously angry about it gets me anywhere.
0:42:38 > 0:42:41You know, jeez, America had a black president.
0:42:42 > 0:42:46I think that says something about where the world is.
0:42:46 > 0:42:48And it's still not perfect, you know?
0:42:50 > 0:42:55But to know that five generations back, my immediate,
0:42:55 > 0:42:59direct-line family were slaves...
0:43:01 > 0:43:03..it's a lot to take in, really.
0:43:03 > 0:43:05A lot to process.
0:43:35 > 0:43:38I know that without Jenevieve and Glasgow, I wouldn't be here.
0:43:39 > 0:43:44But to be on the island where they actually suffered
0:43:44 > 0:43:47and were slaves is hard.
0:43:57 > 0:44:01To find out more about Glasgow's life on Carriacou,
0:44:01 > 0:44:04Noel has arranged to meet local researcher Curtis Jacobs.
0:44:05 > 0:44:11So, I'm understanding that my four times great-grandfather
0:44:11 > 0:44:13was a slave around here in this area,
0:44:13 > 0:44:15his mother was Jenevieve and she died when he was two,
0:44:15 > 0:44:17his name was Glasgow.
0:44:17 > 0:44:20- Can you tell me a little bit more about him?- Yes. Yes, well, first
0:44:20 > 0:44:22I would like to show you this document.
0:44:22 > 0:44:26"Between Adam Read, planter, and his lawful wife Eliza Read,
0:44:26 > 0:44:31"of one part of Glasgow Bedeau and John Ovid of the other part
0:44:31 > 0:44:34"for the absolute sale thereof at, or for,
0:44:34 > 0:44:37"the price or sum of £13 and four shillings."
0:44:37 > 0:44:41This is like gibberish, there's no punctuation.
0:44:41 > 0:44:42It's legalese.
0:44:42 > 0:44:44Legalese? Nonsense-ese!
0:44:44 > 0:44:47"A certain lot, piece, or parcel of land situated,
0:44:47 > 0:44:52"lying and being a part or position of the cotton plantation
0:44:52 > 0:44:54"or estate called Endeavour."
0:44:54 > 0:44:58It sounds like Glasgow, my four-time great-grandfather was...
0:45:00 > 0:45:07..was either being sold to the Endeavour estate,
0:45:07 > 0:45:10or actually he was purchasing a piece of land
0:45:10 > 0:45:12on the Endeavour estate.
0:45:12 > 0:45:15Well, by 1844, the date of which that deed
0:45:15 > 0:45:17is executed, slavery was abolished,
0:45:17 > 0:45:21so there was no such thing about buying and selling of human beings.
0:45:21 > 0:45:23- So they were buying land? - Yes. They were buying land.
0:45:26 > 0:45:27Wow.
0:45:27 > 0:45:29That is something.
0:45:30 > 0:45:32Where was the Endeavour estate?
0:45:34 > 0:45:42OK. So he lived and worked here at Harvey Vale until the 1840s,
0:45:42 > 0:45:44when he purchased a property.
0:45:44 > 0:45:47- OK, wow.- And Endeavour is up here, this way.
0:45:47 > 0:45:50- Oh, yeah, wow. Yeah.- You'll see it has a border.
0:45:50 > 0:45:52- A border.- A border with Harvey Vale.
0:45:52 > 0:45:53And so...
0:45:55 > 0:45:58- ..where is the land they bought? - We are on it now.
0:45:58 > 0:45:59- This is it?- Yes.- Shut up!
0:46:01 > 0:46:02We are on it.
0:46:06 > 0:46:08GOAT BLEATS
0:46:10 > 0:46:12Wow.
0:46:12 > 0:46:13That is something.
0:46:15 > 0:46:18Were these trees here? Did he sit under these trees for shade, like?
0:46:20 > 0:46:22You know, suddenly it becomes very...
0:46:24 > 0:46:28- ..very real, you know? - Exactly, that's the word, real.
0:46:28 > 0:46:33It's a remarkable achievement, £13 and some shillings.
0:46:33 > 0:46:36It looks like not much money today.
0:46:36 > 0:46:40- Sure.- But in... But 200 years ago, that was a sizeable...
0:46:40 > 0:46:42A lot of money for him to raise.
0:46:42 > 0:46:45Yes. Many, many of the formerly-owned slaves
0:46:45 > 0:46:47did not manage to purchase land.
0:46:48 > 0:46:51- Many did not.- So he was a hard worker then, must have been.
0:46:51 > 0:46:53Yes. Yes.
0:46:53 > 0:46:57The average day wage for an agricultural labourer
0:46:57 > 0:46:59was one shilling per day.
0:46:59 > 0:47:04And he was not an adult as yet, so he was probably getting paid
0:47:04 > 0:47:08- as a minor.- So that's probably why he had to buy it with John Ovid.
0:47:08 > 0:47:13Yes. We are not sure who John Ovid was, but this offers a clue.
0:47:15 > 0:47:18This is an extract from a marriage register.
0:47:19 > 0:47:24Glasgow Bedeau marrying Mary Ovid.
0:47:24 > 0:47:28So John Ovid would either be her dad or her brother.
0:47:28 > 0:47:30Yes, I would think so.
0:47:30 > 0:47:33And so her father or her brother bought the land
0:47:33 > 0:47:34with my four times great-grandfather.
0:47:34 > 0:47:37- Yes.- And maybe even Mary saved some of her money, too.
0:47:37 > 0:47:39That is quite possible.
0:47:39 > 0:47:43That would have taken years of unstinting effort to do.
0:47:45 > 0:47:47And his grave is not far from here.
0:47:47 > 0:47:48- Where?- That's it there.
0:47:55 > 0:47:57It's a pretty fancy grave.
0:48:03 > 0:48:04In memory of...
0:48:11 > 0:48:13Rest in peace.
0:48:15 > 0:48:1676 is a good age to live to,
0:48:16 > 0:48:18considering what he would have gone through
0:48:18 > 0:48:20at the beginning of his life.
0:48:22 > 0:48:23His grave is so impressive.
0:48:29 > 0:48:30It goes all the way back, doesn't it?
0:48:32 > 0:48:38Maxman and Cadeau and Benjamin and getting to Glasgow...
0:48:41 > 0:48:42..who clearly worked hard.
0:48:43 > 0:48:45And his mother, Jenevieve...
0:48:48 > 0:48:51..you know, without that, then...
0:48:53 > 0:48:56..there is no us standing here, really.
0:48:57 > 0:49:00And the countless lines before that that we can't trace
0:49:00 > 0:49:02because they were treated like cattle.
0:49:06 > 0:49:09You know, it's always interesting when I see this show and they trace
0:49:09 > 0:49:12people back to 1066 or whatever like that.
0:49:12 > 0:49:17Well, yeah, of course, you know, that makes sense because, probably,
0:49:17 > 0:49:21at no point you were bunched in a ship
0:49:21 > 0:49:23and no-one cared if you died or not.
0:49:24 > 0:49:26You know, and that's the difference.
0:49:26 > 0:49:29So even getting this far back, I think is pretty impressive.
0:49:35 > 0:49:38- Hello, good afternoon. - Hi, good afternoon, how are you?
0:49:38 > 0:49:41Noel is not the only Bedeau descendant on the island.
0:49:41 > 0:49:46I'm just looking at my four times great-grandfather's grave.
0:49:46 > 0:49:48I also come from Glasgow Bedeau's line.
0:49:48 > 0:49:49- No, you don't!- Yes, I am.
0:49:49 > 0:49:51- Yeah?- Yeah.
0:49:51 > 0:49:53- What's your name? - My name is Elizabeth Bedeau.
0:49:53 > 0:49:55- Elizabeth, wow.- Right.
0:49:55 > 0:49:57- So we're related?- We are.
0:49:57 > 0:50:02Glasgow Bedeau is my great-great-great-grandfather.
0:50:02 > 0:50:03- Three times.- Three times.
0:50:03 > 0:50:05Glasgow had four boys.
0:50:05 > 0:50:08- Yeah.- John Bedeau, Maxman Bedeau.
0:50:08 > 0:50:10Wow.
0:50:11 > 0:50:14Ange Bedeau, Benjamin Bedeau.
0:50:14 > 0:50:15Wow, I'm from Benjamin's line.
0:50:15 > 0:50:17I'm also from Benjamin's line.
0:50:18 > 0:50:19- Really?- Yes, I am.
0:50:19 > 0:50:22- It's a pleasure to meet you.- It's a pleasure to meet you.
0:50:22 > 0:50:24Oh, my gosh! Sorry,
0:50:24 > 0:50:27I'm looking you up and down because I'm just like, "How tall are you?"
0:50:27 > 0:50:29- Like, "We're related."- OK, yeah.
0:50:29 > 0:50:31Wow. So how come he's got a grave like this?
0:50:31 > 0:50:34How come his grave's kind of fancy?
0:50:34 > 0:50:38Well, it seems to me that Glasgow was a wealthy man.
0:50:38 > 0:50:40- So he did all right. - Right.
0:50:40 > 0:50:44This piece of land, all the way up, that's the Bedeau.
0:50:44 > 0:50:47So this here was the Bedeau land.
0:50:47 > 0:50:49Yeah, Maxman.
0:50:49 > 0:50:51And so that here and all this here...
0:50:52 > 0:50:55So who's putting candles there, do you know?
0:50:55 > 0:50:59My bigger brother and some of the other Bedeau who believe in putting
0:50:59 > 0:51:01- candles.- The Bedeaus.
0:51:01 > 0:51:02- Yeah, the Bedeaus. - They're still here.
0:51:02 > 0:51:04Yeah. Big family, united.
0:51:04 > 0:51:07- Wow. That's amazing.- Yeah.
0:51:10 > 0:51:14Elizabeth is just one of Noel's relations on Carriacou.
0:51:14 > 0:51:17Many people living on the island still trace their family lines
0:51:17 > 0:51:20back to Glasgow and his four sons.
0:51:22 > 0:51:23Well, that's a Bedeau here passing.
0:51:23 > 0:51:26- Who?- That's your first...
0:51:26 > 0:51:30- That's a cousin from your side. - What? Related to me?- Yeah.- Hey!
0:51:30 > 0:51:32Hello! Hello! I think I'm your cousin!
0:51:32 > 0:51:34Are you serious?
0:51:34 > 0:51:37Yes, she is. She's from Benjamin and Cadeau's line.
0:51:41 > 0:51:44- So your father's a Bedeau? - Yeah, my father's a Bedeau.
0:51:44 > 0:51:46- And he's from Cadeau's line? - Yeah.- Same as me.
0:51:46 > 0:51:48That's random, that we're meeting.
0:51:48 > 0:51:50- I'm your cousin, basically.- OK.
0:51:50 > 0:51:53- Amazing. What a pleasure to meet you.- Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
0:51:53 > 0:51:54Lincoln, cousin.
0:51:54 > 0:51:56Lincoln, the one with the bus.
0:51:59 > 0:52:02- So he's related to me as well?- Yes, and everybody else around here, no!
0:52:02 > 0:52:04He's been driving me around!
0:52:04 > 0:52:06Lincoln, I've got a bone to pick with you, man.
0:52:06 > 0:52:08- Hey?- I got a bone to pick with you. - Pick a nice bone.
0:52:09 > 0:52:11Do you know you're my cousin?
0:52:11 > 0:52:14- Which line are you? - I'm Maxman Bedeau.
0:52:14 > 0:52:15So you're from Maxman's line?
0:52:15 > 0:52:17- Maxman, yeah.- Wow.
0:52:17 > 0:52:20- And you still have the name, you still have the name?- Bedeau? Yes.
0:52:20 > 0:52:23Yeah, that's amazing. Well, good to meet you.
0:52:23 > 0:52:26- Good to meet you again.- Properly. Instead of just saying morning.
0:52:26 > 0:52:28- Morning.- "Morning. Yeah, morning, Lincoln, how you doing, man?
0:52:28 > 0:52:30"Getting in the van now."
0:52:30 > 0:52:32- My cousin. - Morning, cuz!- Yeah.
0:52:32 > 0:52:33Wow, that's amazing.
0:52:33 > 0:52:35So that's how it goes, yeah.
0:52:35 > 0:52:38- So it seems like there's a lot, yeah?- A lot of them, yeah.- Yeah.
0:52:38 > 0:52:40- A lot of the Bedeaus around. - Wow.
0:52:48 > 0:52:49For hundreds of years,
0:52:49 > 0:52:53Carriacou has been home to a music tradition called the big drum.
0:52:54 > 0:52:59SINGING AND DRUMMING
0:53:02 > 0:53:05It always takes place at a crossroads, and tonight
0:53:05 > 0:53:09it's happening on Noel's four times great-grandfather Glasgow's land.
0:53:09 > 0:53:14This is the traditional dance and music of Carriacou.
0:53:14 > 0:53:19It is normally used during festival as respect to the ancestors and also
0:53:19 > 0:53:23- we are doing this to welcome you... - No!
0:53:23 > 0:53:25..to the Bedeau family and to Carriacou.
0:53:25 > 0:53:27Oh, wow, thank you very much.
0:53:27 > 0:53:29Wow. I'm...
0:53:30 > 0:53:32I'm honoured by that, that's really nice.
0:53:32 > 0:53:35But, yeah, strange, that.
0:53:35 > 0:53:38To have family that you don't know you have.
0:53:38 > 0:53:41The complete opposite of everything I've ever known.
0:53:41 > 0:53:44- Thank you very much.- You're welcome. - Thank you very much indeed.
0:53:45 > 0:53:50Noel has been invited to take part in the ritual that opens the dance.
0:53:50 > 0:53:53Rum is used to wet the ground as an invitation to ancestors
0:53:53 > 0:53:55to join the festivities.
0:53:56 > 0:54:00Because Carriacou's population has remained so small and unchanged,
0:54:00 > 0:54:04many of its traditions have survived since Africans were first brought to
0:54:04 > 0:54:08the island. Historian Nicole Philip Dowell is on hand to explain how,
0:54:08 > 0:54:12through the music, Noel can trace his roots back
0:54:12 > 0:54:15beyond even Glasgow and Jenevieve.
0:54:15 > 0:54:18Through music and dance and song,
0:54:18 > 0:54:22the slaves were able to keep that part of their heritage alive.
0:54:22 > 0:54:25The planters could not take away that from them.
0:54:25 > 0:54:29And that is what has passed from one generation to the other.
0:54:29 > 0:54:34- Wow.- And what they basically did was to keep it in, what we call,
0:54:34 > 0:54:35- like, nations.- Yeah.
0:54:35 > 0:54:40So that a nation is like an ethnic group that comes out of Africa.
0:54:40 > 0:54:46- Yeah.- So each nation will have their dance and their way of linking back
0:54:46 > 0:54:48- to the past.- Wow. So is this...?
0:54:48 > 0:54:50Is this...? Was this the Bedeau dance?
0:54:50 > 0:54:51Yes. So your nation...
0:54:51 > 0:54:56- Yes, tell me!- ..would have come from the Coromantee or Akan people,
0:54:56 > 0:54:59out of Ghana on the west coast of Africa.
0:54:59 > 0:55:01- Wow.- Yes.- Wow.
0:55:01 > 0:55:03That's your... That's your lineage.
0:55:03 > 0:55:05Wow.
0:55:07 > 0:55:08- That's amazing.- Yes, it is.
0:55:08 > 0:55:11SINGING
0:55:14 > 0:55:17DRUMMING JOINS THE SINGING
0:55:22 > 0:55:26- I'm Ghanaian! Wow!- So you probably need to learn it
0:55:26 > 0:55:27and pass it onto your boys.
0:55:27 > 0:55:29To my children.
0:55:29 > 0:55:31Yeah. Amazing.
0:55:31 > 0:55:33- Amazing.- Absolutely.
0:55:54 > 0:55:58Once my family, you know, gets into slavery,
0:55:58 > 0:56:00there's only so far you can go before they're nothing,
0:56:00 > 0:56:03they're considered nothing, they were no-one.
0:56:03 > 0:56:06Jenevieve, you can't even find her last name.
0:56:09 > 0:56:13But this song, it goes all the way back through all the hardship
0:56:13 > 0:56:15and the persecution and the disgusting treatment.
0:56:17 > 0:56:23This song, through a family line, goes all the way back to Ghana,
0:56:23 > 0:56:26before they were enslaved.
0:56:29 > 0:56:31Glasgow...
0:56:35 > 0:56:41Glasgow Bedeau, Jenevieve, would have sung that song...
0:56:43 > 0:56:47..in the one hour a day, maybe, they had off.
0:56:50 > 0:56:53They would have sung that song and then...
0:56:59 > 0:57:02..and then, 200 years later, these guys are singing it for me.
0:57:02 > 0:57:03That's...
0:57:07 > 0:57:09It's like the universe has kind of gone...
0:57:11 > 0:57:13"Oh, you didn't have anything or anyone from that family.
0:57:13 > 0:57:14"Here you go."
0:57:16 > 0:57:19You know, "There's everything you missed for all your life."
0:57:28 > 0:57:30Just amazing, really.