Vera Bell

Vera Bell or Vera Alberta[1] or Albertha[2] Bell (born 1906; date of death unknown) was a Jamaican poet, short-story writer and playwright.[3][4] Her 1948 poem "Ancestor on the Auction Block" has been anthologized several times[5][6] although a 2005 review of The Oxford Book of Caribbean Verse says "some of the earlier poems survive only as amusing museum pieces, such as Vera Bell's "Ancestor on the Auction Block"".[7] The poem is described by Laurence A. Breiner in his An Introduction to West Indian Poetry (1998) as "a poem whose crux is the poet's troubled relation to the poet's ancestral subject/object", and Breiner cites George Lamming as placing the poem "squarely at a liminal moment in the process of establishing contact with a previously objectified or fetishized Other".[8]

Life

Bell was born in Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica, and educated at Wolmer's Girls' School.[9] She worked in welfare after leaving school, and then studied at Columbia University and London University.[4]

Bell's 1943 Soliday and the Wicked Bird, staged by the Little Theatre Movement of Jamaica, has been described as "the first original Jamaican pantomime".[10]

Bell had a number of short stories published in the political weekly Public Opinion and the Jamaican little magazine FOCUS, edited by Edna Manley. ‘The Bamboo Pipe’ and ‘Joshua,’ were also included in two early edited volumes of short fiction: 14 Jamaican Short Stories (1950) and Caribbean Anthology of Short Stories (1953) respectively – both part of The Gleaner’s mid-century book publishing series, The Pioneer Press, which Una Marson initially proposed and edited.

In 1971 she published Ogog (Vantage Press, New York), described as "An uncommon verse novel charting the rise of a primitive".[1][11] A writer in the Journal of West Indian Literature in 1989 said: "Vera Bell, for example, is known for a single much-discussed poem, "Ancestor on the Auction Block" (no one knows her book-length Ogog)."[12]

Bell's "Death of a comrade" was included in the 1989 West Indian Poetry: An Anthology for Schools edited by Kenneth Ramchand and Cecil Gray.[13]

In 1981-1982 a 30-minute programme about Bell was broadcast in the series First person feminine on WOI-FM Radio, Ames, Iowa, United States and recorded on audiocassette by the Iowa State University Media Resources Center.[14]

The Vera Bell Prize for Poetry, part of the Young Black Writers Awards, was won in 1985 by Maud Sulter for her work As a Blackwoman.[15]

Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller ended her 1 August 2014 Emancipation Day Message with the words "Poet Vera Bell’s words ring true:" and excerpts from "Ancestor on the Auction Block" ending with its last line "Mine be the task to build.", adding "Build we can… build we must… build we shall! This is Jamaica, our Jamaica, Land we love. I thank you."[16]

Bell was said to be living in England in 1999.[4]

Bell's daughter Patsy was married to Gerry German (1928–2012), headmaster of Manchester High School in Mandeville, Jamaica, and a political activist.[17][18]

References
  1. Catalogue record for "Ogog". Worldcat. OCLC 18583481. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  2. Who's who in Jamaica ...: A Biennial Biographical Record Containing Careers of Principal Public Men and Women of Jamaica. 1954. p. 46. "BELL, Vera Albertha, Journalist & Author: Chief Clerk, Engineering Dept. ... Publications: Several short stories, poems & plays, including the Pantomime "Soliday and the Wicked Bird", 1943;" is visible in Google search results for "vera bell religious poems" but not accessible in the "snippet view" displayed in Google Books
  3. "Salute To Jamaica At Brooklyn Center This Saturday". Canarsie Courier. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  4. Ferracane, Kathleen Kelley (1999). "Biographies". Caribbean Panorama: An Anthology from and about the English-speaking Caribbean with Introduction, Study Questions, Biographies, and Suggestions for Further Reading. La Editorial, UPR. p. 241. ISBN 9780847703210. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  5. Ferracane, Kathleen Kelley (1999). "Ancestor on the Auction Block by Vera Bell". Caribbean Panorama: An Anthology from and about the English-speaking Caribbean with Introduction, Study Questions, Biographies, and Suggestions for Further Reading. La Editorial, UPR. pp. 87–89. ISBN 9780847703210. Retrieved 3 December 2016. Note: Includes full text of poem
  6. Donnell, Alison; Welsh, Sarah Lawson (1996). The Routledge Reader in Caribbean Literature. Psychology Press. pp. 155–156. ISBN 9780415120487. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  7. Evaristo, Bernardine (3 December 2005). "Hurricanes' Roar". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  8. Breiner, Laurence A. (1998). An Introduction to West Indian Poetry. Cambridge UP. p. 163. ISBN 9780521587129.
  9. Hughes, Michael (1979). A Companion to West Indian Literature. Information seen in Google search results display for "ogog vera bell" but not visible in the "snippet view" available in Google Books.
  10. Chambers, Colin (2006). Continuum Companion to Twentieth Century Theatre. A&C Black. p. 135. ISBN 9781847140012. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  11. "Ogog". Antiqbook. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  12. "Unknown". Journal of West Indian Literature. 3–4: 11. 1989. Information seen in Google search results display for "ogog vera bell" but not visible in the "snippet view" available in Google Books.
  13. Ramchand, Ken; Gray, Cecil (1989). "Contents". West Indian Poetry: An Anthology for Schools. Longman Caribbean. ISBN 9780582766372.
  14. Catalogue record for "First person feminine: Second series". Worldcat. OCLC 80689735. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  15. "Maud Sulter (1960 - 2008)". Scottish Poetry Library. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  16. OPM Communications Unit. "Emancipation Day Message 2014 by Prime Minister the Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller". Jamaican Information Service. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  17. Girvan, Norman. "Tribute to Gerry German". George Padmore Institute. Archived from the original on 16 July 2019. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  18. John, Gus, "Gerry German, 1928–2012", Institute of Race Relations, 3 May 2012.
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