In Memoriam: Hilary Frederick, past Chief of the Dominica Caribs

Hilary Frederick, former Chief of the Dominica Carib Territory, passed away on Wednesday, 03 November, 2004,in the Roseau Hospital from pneumonia and complications arising from tuberculosis.

An obituary was prepared by Arthur Einhorn, an American anthropologist who had sponsored Hilary Frederick during his schooling in the United States. The obituary reads as follows:

"Hilary Belgrave Frederick, 45, Born ca 1961 - d November 3, 2004 in Roseau General Hospital, Dominica, W.I. of TB infection and complications from pneumonia. A former Elected Chief of Dominica's Carib people during three separate terms, and both a Senator and Representative in Dominica's House of Assembly at various times; he also was over the years a delegate to several international conferences on indigenous peoples held in Europe, Asia, Central and South America and the United States.

"Born and raised in the Carib Territory on Dominica's windward east coast, he came to the United States at the request of his parents, as a student in 1973, via the efforts of Arthur Einhorn and Judge George R. Davis (Ret.), of Lowville, Lewis County, New York. Enrolled in Lowville Academy, he lived with the family of Richard Watkins, and later with the Einhorn family, graduating in 1977. During his tenure in the United States he participated in sports, worked on a farm and on vacations went camping and also visited various Iroquois Reserves in New York State. His favorite TV program was 'Colombo', whom he always mimicked as a joke. While here he also envisioned the cultural revitalization of his people.

"On his return home, following graduation from Lowville Academy, he was elected Chief in the first upcoming election. It was a trying time for him to hold office. In 1979 Hurricane David devastated the island, forcing him to travel to the United States to seek emergency aid (Lowville contributed one ton of donated supplies), from the OAS in Washington, DCand other funding agencies. This disaster was followed by a revolution during 1980, which ousted then Prime Minister Patrick R. John, and succeeded by an interim government in which Chief Frederick participated. Later elections brought in Mary Eugenia Charles as PM; the 'Iron Lady' of the West Indies who encouraged President Reagan to invade Grenada.

"A film was produced in 1981 by Philip T. Teuscher of Westport, CT, which featured Chief Frederick's efforts to lead his people and revive their culture. It was the first ethnographic film ever attempted about the life of the Carib Indians in Dominica; a people who met Columbus on his second voyage in 1493. The film was aired on PBS at one time.


"Influenced greatly by Indian affairs in the United States and Canada, Chief Frederick promoted a political philosophy of active confrontation for change in government policies while raising his people's awareness of their cultural heritage; a posturing that spread to other islands with indigenous peoples and which some scholars labeled as Caribism. Since leaving public office Chief Frederick took up traditional Carib farming.

"Hilary's father, the late Andrew Frederick who died in 1999, had been an activist earlier on, communicating with the Indian Defense League of America in Sanborn, New York, headed by the late Tuscarora leader, Clinton Rickard.

"Three children, his mother, and several brothers and sisters survive Chief Frederick. A State Funeral is planned in Dominica."--Arthur Einhorn

Hilary Frederick was honoured with a full state funeral, attended by the Prime Minister, the President, Cabinet Members, and their respective families.

I was privileged to meet and interview then Chief Frederick in September of 1998 on a research trip to Dominica. Along with friends and family, I wish him eternal repose.

Taino and Native American DNA Testing

Over the past few weeks a number of agencies have contacted one or more editors of the Caribbean Amerindian Centrelink (http://www.centrelink.org/) with news and details concerning DNA testing services for those interested in verifying or documenting their Taino or other Amerindian biological parentage.

CAVEAT: As the author of this post, I have been reticent about forwarding this information, for fear of seeming to endorse these services or of inadvertently encouraging readers to hire the services of these agencies, at considerable cost. I am doing neither, nor am I condemning these agencies. What I would caution against is the notion that biological parentage and cultural heritage are in any way one and the same--the existence of one does not prove the existence of the other, even if the linkages between the two can be highly suggestive in some cases. Otherwise, put simply, cultural meanings and practices do not neatly map onto genetic patterns.
Having said that, two of the agencies which have contacted us were:

1. FamilyTree DNA at http://www.familytreedna.com/
and,
2. GeneTree DNA Testing Center: Native American DNA Verification Testing at
http://www.genetree.com/product/native-american-test.asp.

In the case of the first agency, Dra. Ana Oquendo Pabón, MD, FAAFP, wrote to us explaining: "In our DNA Project, we have 81 members and are steadily growing at a pace not seen in other groups at FTDNA (FamilyTree DNA). Of these members, 40+ have tested the mitochondrial HVR1 region and many have also tested the HVR2 region. Several more are pending. As would be expected, fully 61-65% % of our testeees are Haplogroup A (majority), Haplogroup C, with one Haplogroup D further attesting to our Taíno Heritage. The fascinating aspect of this study is not only that they are of indigenous roots but that so many have exact haplotype sequences. In other words, people who have joined our group who did not know one another have the EXACT haplotype sequence and therefore share the same ancient maternal Taíno mother. It is our plan to develop special pages re the mitochondrial results of our Project. No names of members will be used, only an ID number. Quite a few of our members have also had a test called a DNAPrint (an ancestral DNA test). The Native American % ranges from as low as 5% to as high as 45%."

Doctor Pabón is also involved in the "Puerto Rican DNA Geographic Project" which you can read more about at http://proyectosadnhispanos.bravehost.com/ProyectoADNPRen.html. This is part of a broader series of projects titled "The Hispanic DNA Surname and Geographic
Projects", which can be found at http://proyectosadnhispanos.bravehost.com/indexeng.html, and might be of course to those of Cuban and Puerto Rican backgrounds, as well as those from New Mexico. For further information, see http://www.familytreedna.com/hispanicprojects.html.

In the case of the second agency, Terry Carmichael, Vice President for Marketing and Sales at Sorenson Genomics, explained in an e-mail that the company, "is providing DNA genotyping services to African Americans and Native American Indians which allows them to trace their roots back to a region in Africa or assess a Native American tribal affiliation." Sorenson's business units include GeneTree, mentioned above, at http://www.genetree.com/, as well as Relative Genetics at http://www.relativegenetics.com/.

Again, this information is simply being relayed, and no endorsement or recommendation is to be inferred from this posting.

Bobby Gonzalez: Presentation on Taino History

"Bobby Gonzales challenges students to seek true history. That’s not surprising because Gonzalez dislikes labels. A man whose poems, interests, and opinions have no boundaries, Gonzalez is a free thinker in an era..."[read more at: http://www.und.edu/dept/nativemedia/rednation.html .]

Disney and its Cannibals

I recommend that readers click below to read a concise, critical examination of the Disney affair in Dominica and now St. Vincent, written by Karl Eklund. Karl is a retired nuclear physicist with a fascination for Carib history and archaeology and he resides part of each year in St. Vincent.

See:
http://karleksblog.blogspot.com/2005/02/disney-and-caribs.html