Majority Rules
“Majority Rule Day”
What is Majority Rule? Only a few Bahamians can answer that. But to know what is Majority rules you have to go back to the system that was in place before. This system didn’t allow women to vote, only black men who owned land could vote, the house of assembly only had the men of the English colony. The Bahamas had been run by only the people of Great Britain. This system held the Bahamian people down and out inside the country that they were born in and it held them like slaves.
What lead up to the Bahamian people to have a voice? They took action starting with the Burma Road Riot in 1942 it was the social awakening and increased awareness for the Bahamian people. Foreigners were working in the Bahamas and were paid more money to carry out the same work as the Bahamian people, until they stood up for their rights and demanded to be paid equally.
In 1949 a man by the name of Rufus Ingraham lost the general elections (Crooked Island, Acklins) told his wife that if women could vote he would have won. He felt also that most males who were eligible to vote only wanted materialistic things ( alcohol or cash) to secure their vote. This spoken word to his wife lead her to start a movement which was called the Suffrage Movement.
As the idea of the Suffrage Movement started to circulate among women that Mary Ingraha told about it, women such as a teacher Mrs. Mable Walker who was the first she told about the movement and a long time and close friend of the family. They then formed a committee that included Mrs. Walker, Mrs. Georgina Symonette (born April 4 1902 in Wemyss Bight, Eleuthera. She came to Nassau to pursue nursing as she lived in the Easter District, had four children and ran a dry goods business.), Mrs. Eugenia Lockhard ( born June 17, 1908 in Duncan Town, Ragged Island. She was the secretary of the women’s branch of the Progressive Liberal Party.)
Miss Althea Mortimer (born 20 November 1908 in
What is Majority Rule? Only a few Bahamians can answer that. But to know what is Majority rules you have to go back to the system that was in place before. This system didn’t allow women to vote, only black men who owned land could vote, the house of assembly only had the men of the English colony. The Bahamas had been run by only the people of Great Britain. This system held the Bahamian people down and out inside the country that they were born in and it held them like slaves.
What lead up to the Bahamian people to have a voice? They took action starting with the Burma Road Riot in 1942 it was the social awakening and increased awareness for the Bahamian people. Foreigners were working in the Bahamas and were paid more money to carry out the same work as the Bahamian people, until they stood up for their rights and demanded to be paid equally.
In 1949 a man by the name of Rufus Ingraham lost the general elections (Crooked Island, Acklins) told his wife that if women could vote he would have won. He felt also that most males who were eligible to vote only wanted materialistic things ( alcohol or cash) to secure their vote. This spoken word to his wife lead her to start a movement which was called the Suffrage Movement.
As the idea of the Suffrage Movement started to circulate among women that Mary Ingraha told about it, women such as a teacher Mrs. Mable Walker who was the first she told about the movement and a long time and close friend of the family. They then formed a committee that included Mrs. Walker, Mrs. Georgina Symonette (born April 4 1902 in Wemyss Bight, Eleuthera. She came to Nassau to pursue nursing as she lived in the Easter District, had four children and ran a dry goods business.), Mrs. Eugenia Lockhard ( born June 17, 1908 in Duncan Town, Ragged Island. She was the secretary of the women’s branch of the Progressive Liberal Party.)
Miss Althea Mortimer (born 20 November 1908 in