West Indian Independence Day Parade, 1996
Date1996 August
Mediumpositive color film slides
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections
DescriptionPhotographs of the West Indian Independence Parade in August 1996. Photographs of the floats from the West Indian Social Club, drummers, dancers from the Cultural Dance Troupe of the West Indies, and people in costume. Documented by CCHAP.
Object number2015.196.626.1-.8
CopyrightIn Copyright
NotesSubject Note: A significant wave of West Indian immigration to the United States began in the 1940s. Many settled in the Hartford area because the labor shortage of World War II meant there were available jobs in the tobacco fields along the Connecticut River Valley. Men worked in the fields while women often found work as housekeepers, teachers, nurses, and aides. Local organizations helped transition new immigrants to Connecticut culture and offered friendship, housing, economic opportunities, and community connections. Today, Connecticut’s West Indian community includes immigrants from all the islands in the Caribbean. They have established significant sports, cultural, and social clubs, dance and music groups, and produce an annual week-long festival that attracts audiences from all over the Northeast. With Greater Hartford now being home to the third largest West Indian community in the nation, beloved traditions like Carnival have been transplanted and sustained here.In 1962, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago claimed their Independence from Great Britain. Since that year, the West Indian Parade and Independence Celebration has been a highlight of Hartford’s summer activities. The week of activities includes many events taking place at the different island clubs around Hartford and features headlining musicians who perform at the West Indian Social Club. The celebration concludes with a parade and festival in Hartford featuring floats, steel band performances, and masqueraders displaying brilliant costumes.
During Carnival parades, groups of masqueraders form bands and dance to calypso or soca music. The bands have sections each led by a “frontliner” wearing a costume with a “backpack” frame that supports a headpiece. “Individual” character costumes are bigger still, with wings created from fabric stretched over a wire frame. The most elaborate costumes, the King and Queen, require bent steel frames on wheels so the person carrying the heavy costume can lead the band through the parade.
The Hartford celebration is based on Carnival, a pre-Lenten celebration of spring and renewal in the islands, especially Trinidad. Masquerading, or playing Mas is an essential part of Carnival. Mas represents a theatrical adoption and presentation of roles and characters that originally expressed mockery of upper classes. Colorful, often spectacular costumes designed by traditional Mas artists depict fanciful themes or current issues. Gossamer fabrics, plumes and feathers, sequins and gems used in previous years are recycled to express the new year’s themes. During Carnival parades, groups of masqueraders form bands and dance to calypso or soca music. As West Indians have spread out from the islands, Carnival has been transplanted to cities around the world during different times of the year. Mas and Carnival serve as central expressions of Caribbean cultural identity and heritage.
Biographical Note: The Cultural Dance Troupe of the West Indies Inc. (CDTWI) is a longstanding arts and heritage education program for students from 5-18. Based in Hartford, the CDTWI was developed and directed by Valencia (Val) Coleman since 1982. “Our mission it to promote the appreciation of cultural differences by empowering individuals and communities through the vehicle of dance, performance, and music. We share the rich cultural heritage of the West Indies with Greater Hartford through the common language of artist expression.” CDTWI has provided classes in Caribbean and other dance genres, culture-based instruction, and academic enrichment to generations of students who have showcased their learning in the annual Cultural Spectacular, at Hartford-area festivals and arts events, and they perform annually in the West Indian Independence Day Parade and Festival. Val Coleman and her experienced instructors including Melissa Craig, Grace Wright, and Stephen Hankey have given classes and performances in Hartford Public Schools and many other educational venues around Connecticut.
Additional audio, video, and/or photographic materials exist in the archive relating to this community and these events.
Cataloging Note: This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-245929-OMS-20.
On View
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2002 July 27
