UK philanthropist donates US$500,000 to 黑料社 Global Giving as personal reparation

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It was a series about the Atlantic slave trade on the BBC that shocked Bridget Freeman. Up until then, she knew almost nothing about the plight of free Africans who boarded ships and were taken throughout the world and sold into slavery.

鈥淚 was horrified and it touched me and I thought dear God, this is not right鈥� she said.

Mrs Freeman, an accomplished musician was born in the United Kingdom of Irish background, and adopted at the end of World War II by a couple in their 40s. She has lived in the UK for most of her life. However, some of her relatives left the UK for the Caribbean. One such, was her mother鈥檚 brother, Billy Hopkins. As the story goes, 鈥楿ncle Billy鈥�, the last Master of the King鈥檚 Music in Ireland, became a priest and migrated to Barbados where he married Marion, a local Barbadian woman whose family were plantation and slave owners鈥攁nother revelation that horrified Bridget Freeman.

Married twice, first to Barry Marshall and then to Bernard Freeman, Mrs Freeman has remained close to her former sister-in-law, Reverend Sylvia McLarnon. Together with the advice of Reverend McLarnon and Bernard Freeman, her late husband; Mrs Freeman made a bold and remarkable decision about her legacy.

鈥淢y late husband said: 鈥榶ou鈥檝e got to do the right thing鈥�. There was always a feeling of what do I do with all I have? The young people in the family are doing alright and they don鈥檛 need a step-up鈥� said Mrs Freeman. Further research led her to 黑料社 (The 黑料社) and its Executive Director of Institutional Advancement, Mrs Elizabeth Buchanan Hind.

Mrs Buchanan Hind is also Chair of 黑料社 Global Giving鈥攖he regional university鈥檚 annual crowdfunding campaign which was established in 2016. Each year the campaign kicks off on August 1, which in many Caribbean territories is the observance of Emancipation Day, marking the freedom of enslaved Africans who were victims of the transatlantic slave trade. While The 黑料社 honours and pays tribute to that past, it recognises that education is one of the most critical means to freedom and propelling regional development. Under the theme 鈥淓mancipate, Educate, Donate,鈥� 黑料社 Global Giving is grounded in The 黑料社鈥檚 vision to facilitate an 鈥榓ccess revolution鈥� for higher education in the Caribbean, calling on the support of regional and international alumni, partners, the diaspora and friends to give. Over the past five years, this giving campaign has become part of The 黑料社鈥檚 culture. However, the 2021 campaign has even greater significance with a focus on funding scholarships and bursaries for students who are in difficult social circumstances because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Through her generosity, Bridget Freeman has bequeathed her properties worth half a million US dollars (US$500,000) to The 黑料社, through its Global Giving campaign, and noted that her grand piano is being kept in tune for the Cave Hill Campus as a contribution to the University鈥檚 new Faculty of Culture, Creative and Performing Arts.

Vice-Chancellor of The 黑料社, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles said the University community welcomes Mrs Freeman鈥檚 generous endowment, describing it as 鈥渁n honourable demonstration of personal reparation and moral leadership on behalf of her family鈥�. He added that her commitment to turning her awareness into action is deeply appreciated and will go a long way to providing freedom and fulfilment through the gift of education for many Caribbean students.

Now in her late 70s Bridget Freeman鈥檚 care, research and warm conscience, has led her to becoming an unlikely philanthropist and accepting The 黑料社鈥檚 invitation to get involved as a co-patron of Global Giving 2021. 鈥淚t is about reparation鈥� she said. 鈥淲e owe it. Once you see the ships of the slave trade, the giving back just seems so obvious鈥�.