On Friday, June 13, 2025, the Division of Culture in the Prime Minister’s Office commemorated the 350th anniversary of the 1675 Cuffee Rebellion with the submersion of a commemorative bust of the freedom fighter off the Speightstown jetty.
The event formed part of the 2025 Season of Emancipation and underscored growing national calls to elevate Cuffee’s legacy. Community leader Frank Gilkes, speaking on behalf of Minister of Labour and Social Partnership Relations Colin Jordan, emphasized that the time had come to formally recognize June 12 as a Day of National Significance and to advance efforts for Cuffee to be named a National Hero, asserting that Barbados must honour all those who dared to resist erasure and enslavement.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office with Responsibility for Culture, Senator Dr. Shantal Munro-Knight, described the ceremonial act as one of national healing and remembrance. “It is not just about having events,” she stated. “It’s about ensuring that by the end of the Season of Emancipation, people can say they’ve learned something, heard something, or felt something that connects them more deeply with who they are.”
Guests, including community members, students and cultural practitioners, made their way to the dive site to witness the sculpture being carefully lowered into the ocean by the experienced team from Aquarius Barbados, in collaboration with Radical Water Sports.
The bust, designed by Duke University sculptor Stephen Hayes in collaboration with academic Dr. Javier Wallace, was developed through a process of community engagement and cultural symbolism. It bears the likeness of Austin Husbands, a respected son of St. Peter and long-time cultural practitioner. The sculpture is adorned with the molded hands of three primary school students, an artistic gesture linking past struggles to the hope of future generations. A second bust, bearing the likeness of Frank Gilkes, another longstanding cultural advocate from St. Peter, was also created as part of the project. It is intended that the second bust will travel internationally as part of a larger project, symbolising the shared legacies of African-descended communities across the Atlantic World.
Hayes explained that the ocean’s interaction with the bust was intentionally symbolic, adding that memory, history and natural transformation are central to the installation.
Rodney Grant, Programme Advisor in the Division of Culture, emphasized the importance of reclaiming these stories through meaningful partnerships. He thanked all contributors to the project, including the St. Peter community, local artisans, educators, and the Coastal Zone Management Unit. “What began as a modest idea has grown into something truly significant, connecting Barbados to wider conversations across the African Diaspora,” he noted.
The bust will be retrieved in June 2026 and installed permanently in Speightstown, bearing the physical markings of its year submerged.
(PR)