Welcome to BDN’s Post-Emancipation Issue: “Not Black Socrates, But Shadow (Winston Bailey) Learning Under An Oak Tree”

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Commemorating Emancipation should also provide apt opportunities for us to recognize the spiritual and intellectual forces that have kept us going during slavery and our struggle for self-determination. Kaiso music originated in our struggle for emancipation. One of the foremost of our Kaiso legends, Winston “Shadow” Bailey, transitioned to the ancestors on October 23, 2018.

In recognition of Shadow’s contribution to the enlightenment and social well-being of our people, he was the recipient of awards throughout the Caribbean and was posthumously awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of the West Indies.   

Shadow has not always been given his fair credit in scholarship when compared to the established icons of social and political sciences and the arts. In this series, Winthrop Holder examines Shadow’s philosophy through the artist’s body of work, imagination, and where Shadow belongs in our intellectual tradition.   

 Big Drum Nation