CONTRIBUTIONS

MADE BY OUR
NATIONAL
ICONS/HEROES
 POLITICAL ICONS/HEROES
1.Eric Williams: -
 Educated at Queens’s Royal College.
 The First Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago after we gained
independence from Great Britain in 1962.
 He was a scholar, professor and historian who published many books
on the history of the Caribbean.
 He was referred to as the Father of the Nation.
 He was an advocate for West Indian unity.
 He was responsible for the formation of the West Indian Federation.
 He fought against colonialism. (the control over a nation by another)
 He was awarded the nation’s highest honour at that time called the
‘Trinity Cross.’
 The Eric Williams Financial Complex was named after him.
 POLITICAL ICON/HEROES
2. A. N. R. Robinson: -(Arthur Napolean Raymond Robinson)
 He served as both Prime Minister(1986-91) and President of Trinidad &
Tobago (1997-2003).
 He was the first chairman of The Tobago House of Assembly.

 He was one of the founders of the International Criminal Court (2002)

 After his completed education he had the desire to change the social
and economic conditions of the people.

 He was the founding member of the People’s National Movement (PNM)

the Democractic Action Congress and the National Alliance for
Reconstruction.

 ANR Robinson International Airport was named after him.

 POLITICAL ICONS/HEROES
3. Dr. Rudranath Capildeo: -
 Trinidadian Scholar who made contributions in the fields of applied
Mathematics and Physics.

 He was born in Chaguanas.

 He was a politician and a leader of the Democratic Labour Party

(1960-1969).

 He was the leader of the Opposition from 1961-1963.

 ARTS & CULTURE
1. Winston ‘Spree’
ICONS/HEROESSimon: -
 He was born in Laventille.
 He was a musician who was credited for the invention of the Ping Pong
steelpan.
 He worked closely with Anthony Williams who later invented the fourth
and fifth soprano pan.

2. Francisco Slinger (a.k.a Mighty Sparrow): -

 He was born in Grand Roy Bay, Grenada and moved to Trinidad.
 A calypso singer, songwriter and guitarist.
 Known as the Calypso King of the World.
 He won the Trinidad’s Carnival Road March Competition 8 times and
won the Calypso King of Kings title.
 In 2014, Prime Minister Kamala Persad- Bissessar announced that
Sparrow would receive the highest National Award.
 ARTS & CULTURE
3. Beryl McBurnie:ICONS/HEROES
 A dancer from Trinidad.
-
 She established the little Carib Theatre.
 She promoted the culture of Trinidad and Tobago all her life.
 She has influenced and inspired dancers in her native country Trinidad and
Tobago.
 First person to put a steel-band on stage.

4. Michel- Jean Cazabon:-

 The first great Trinidadian painter of scenery and everyday life.

 Known for his naturalistic landscapes, portraits and glimpses of

everyday life in his home country during the 19th century.
TRACK AND FIELD SPORTING
ICONS/HEROES
1. HASLEY CRAWFORD: -
 In the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal he won the 100m.
 He was the first Olympic 100m champion from the Caribbean.
 The Hasely Crawford Staduim and Hasely Crawford Stadium
Training Field was named after him.

2. Kershon ‘Keshie’ Walcott:-

 Famous recent track & field star Caribbean athlete to win a gold medal at a
throwing event, at the Olympic Games.
 At 2012 Olympics T&T men’s 4x100m relay team won a sliver medal.
 The Light-house in Toco was named after him. It is called Kershorn Walcott
Toco Light-house.
 He is known as the youngest javelin champion in history.
 SPORTING
1. Gene Samuel:-
ICONS/HEROES
 Represented Trinidad and Tobago at four consecutive Olympic Games from
1984.

2. Stephen Ames: -
 A two time European golf tour winner.

3. Akeem Stewart: -
 Born in Tobago.
 He is a paralympic athlete.
 He holds the world records for javelin, discus and shot put
 With him being a paralympic athlete he has a leg length difference.
 SPORT ICONS/HEROES
4. Dylan Carter: -
 One of Trinidad and Tobago’s finest swimmers.
 He competed in the 2011 Commonwealth Games, 2015 Senior World
Championships and 2016 Rio Olympics.

5. Brian Lara: -
 Recognised as the world’s greatest batsman, scoring the highest individual
score in one day (390)
 The Brian Lara Cricket Academy and the Brian Lara Stadium was named
after him.

6. The Trinidad and Tobago football team: -

 Reached the first round of the 2006 World Cup.
 Trinidad and Tobago at that time was the smallest country ever to have
qualified for the World Cup.
 LABOUR ICONS/HEROES
1.Tubal Uriah ‘Buzz’ Butler: -
 Born in Georgetown, Grenada.

 He moved to Trinidad because he was attracted by the flourishing oil industry.

 In the 1920’s the labour movement began to emerge and was led by Butler
together with his friend Adrian ‘Cola’ Rienzi.

 This movement main aim was to unite the working class and agricultural
labourers in order to have a better standard of living.

 Butler joined Arthur Cipriani’s Trinidad Labour Party.

 In March, he led a hunger march from the Apex oilbelt to Port- of- Spain for
higher wages and improved working conditions.
LABOUR ICONS/HEROES
2. Arthur A. A. Cipriani: -
 Was a politician and leader.

 He was a mayor of Port-of-Spain where he helped pass a law in 1927, which

put an end to employment of children under the age of twelve(12).

 He persuaded the government to pass a law which made it compulsory for

parents to send their children to school.

 Cipriani College of Labour and Co-Operative Studies of Law and

Cipriani Street was named after him.
 ENVIRONMENTAL
ICONS/HEROES
1.Gary Aboud Fisherman and Friends Of The Sea: -
 Their aim was to make the government aware of environmental issues that
affected the North coast of Trinidad and Tobago and how it affected the local
fishermen.
SCIENCE ICONS/HEROES
1. Dr. Joseph Lennox Pawan: -
 He worked at Port- of-Spain General Hospital as a District Medical officer in
various parts of Trinidad.
 He was also the first person to isolate the rabies virus and showed that it was
transmitted by fruits and bats.
ICONS IN SOCIAL WORK
1. Audrey Jeffers: -
 She was a social worker.
 Did a lot of work in Trinidad to help the underprivileged and homeless.
 She started a junior school in her home in 1921.
 She formed the Coterie of Social Workers which provided free lunches for poor
school children in Port-of-Spain. It was know as the ‘breakfast shed’
 Soon breakfast sheds also started up in San Fernando, Arima and Siparia.
 The CSW (Coterie of Social Workers) went on to establish homes for the
elderly, the blind, hostels for young women and day nurseries.
 In 1936 Audrey Jeffers became the first woman to be elected to the P.O.S City
Council. ?(At this time women were banned from sitting on the city council).
 She also made it her duty to let the government know that social welfare was
their responsibility.
 The Audrey Jeffers Highway was named after her.
 LITERARY ICONS
1. Samuel Selvon: -
 Trinidadian author who was known for his use of creolised English in his
books.

2. Michael Anthony: -
 A well regarded Trinidadian historian and author, who in his career had over 30
books published.
 These books genres were fiction, travel titles and history books.
 MAN-MADE AND
NATURAL HERITAGE
 Heritage is the tangible artifacts or intangible attributes of a society that is
inherited from the past.
 These can be man-made and natural.
 Natural heritage includes flora and fauna
 Man-made is artifacts constructed by humans (buildings, books, culture, etc)
 Trinidad offers a wealth of natural (forests, savannahs, reefs, and wetlands)
and built heritage (colonial mansions, estate homes, churches, cathedrals,
mosques, mandirs, forts and museums).
 Trinidad and Tobago has always focus on preserving both natural and man-
made heritage.