PENNY BANK, CALYPSO, STEELPAN, AND THE CULTURAL SIGNIFIGANCE OF DUKE STREET & SURROUNDING AREA IN PORT OF SPAIN (PART 2)

By: Valerie Taylor & Judith Marchan

Figure 1: Masquerade by Jackie Hinkson

Background information on Friendly Societies in the Caribbean

The story is not ‘known’, shared or taught broadly of those self-governing and self-organizing bodies with a dedication to self-help and mutual help (the Friendly Societies) that arose everywhere among the Black masses. In the racist and demeaning social environment of the times, any attempts by the formerly enslaved to assert competencies or claim promised rights were readily seen as presumptuous at least or even a threat to the social stability. The extreme privacy that was therefore necessary for the Black friendly societies to operate was confused with ‘secrecy’. ‘Friendly societies’ have been confused with the Free Masons (a ‘secret society movement’ that advanced a White male elitist worldview). Masons did not have the very open public presence which was common among the friendly societies.

Figure 2: The Penny Bank on Duke Street, Port of Spain

The Friendly Society philosophy — self-help and mutual-help to secure desirable objectives — existed in African societies independently of the ‘recognized friendly society history’ in Britain. As Britain transitioned from the agricultural world of serfs and rural life to the new era of changing interactions and urban population centers that was driven by the Industrial Revolution, there was abrupt and extreme social fragmentation and disorganization. Villagers who formerly enjoyed the security of communal life were now powerless in residences far from their birthplace and support systems. As a response they developed their own new self-help and mutual-help organizations which they called Friendly Societies.

Friendly societies were gregarious. Masons have always been very secretive with clandestine meetings of powerful men, and they have long been feared. Friendly societies throughout the region arose as early as the pre-Emancipation 1830’s wherever sufficiently large concentrations of ‘free’ Blacks were found, with rapid growth in both the number of Orders and of the size of lodges. The lodge is the basic unit of the friendly society and refers to a support group of persons who met regularly in a specific location and agreed to follow certain procedures. The Order describes an aggregation of lodges which have shared beliefs and procedures which are, however, distinct from those identifying beliefs and procedures of another Order.

Figure 3: St. Cecilia, Duke Street POS

Figure 4: The Good Samaritan Friendly Society, Duke Street POS

Friendly societies trumpeted fraternity — the philosophy of the primacy of brotherhood/sisterhood as a basic tenet. Thus, friendly societies improve the lives of the members and promote harmonious interaction between all sectors of humanity by codified and managed ‘individual and mass behaviour’.

There are 4 principles which were common to Friendly Society Orders and which were based on the grounding tenets of the British founding bodies. These principles embodied a duty:

• To nurse and sit with the sick and dying members.
• To assist and financially support infirm and others who could not work.
• To look after the widows and orphans of members.
• To attend meetings and support the officers and the general body.

Lodge members supported each other in meeting the discipline and behaviours that were required of them. Family members and associates indirectly secured some of the membership benefits. The lodge hall was a beehive of community activity. The public attended social functions of the lodge or of others who simply used lodge facilities. Lodge assistance was available to members and extended to others to encourage them to join. The underlying principle was that the good which the lodge did benefitted the whole community. A rising tide lifts all boats that were in the water. Lodges set out to improve the life and behaviours of the member and for these enhancements to lead to an improved community life.

The achievements of Black communities have often been built on the foundation/bulwark provided as a consequence of the unseen and unacknowledged contribution from the friendly societies.

Figure 4: The Mechanic Temple, Duke Street POS

Figure 5: Court Rose of Sharon, Duke Street POS