Studies of political change on Grenada have invariably centred on the activities of T. Albert Marryshow in the period immediately after World War I. Drawing on the rich data available from contemporary newspapers, this paper argues that Donovan's efforts in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries provided the impetus and framework for Marryshow's later struggles. In fact, Marryshow himself admits Donovan's contributions to his political growth. The "first of the Federalists", Donovan preached federation long before the concept was fashionable. Embracing a broad approach to the island's situation, both activists linked local demands for change to the plight of Africans worldwide. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT];
"Alexander Bedward, minister of the revivalist Jamaica Native Baptist Free Church during the period 1889-1921, emerged as one of the island's earliest black nationalists. Under the guise of religion Bedward called on the black majority to rise up and take action against the prevailing system of racial discrimination, socio-economic deprivation, injustice, the tyranny of minority colonial rule, and to establish a government representative of the people. While he was revered by the masses, attracting thousands of followers at home and abroad, he was feared by the upper classes and colonial authorities, who saw him as a threat to political stability. An antagonistic relationship developed between the government and Bedward. Eventually, he was arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced to the lunatic asylum, where he later died." (publication abstract);