Vauxhall Primary School to bear Shirley Chisholm’s name

After almost five decades as Vauxhall Primary School, the education institution located at Vauxhall, Christ Church, is about to bear a new name.

The school, which officially opened on July 8, 1976, will be renamed the Shirley Chisholm Primary School during a ceremony on Tuesday, April 4, that will be attended by Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley; Minister of Education, Technological and Vocational Training, Kay McConney and Parliamentary Representative, Adrian Forde.

Other dignitaries expected to be in attendance include United States Ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Linda Taglialatela and the Senior Advisor to the Director-General of the International Labour Organisation, Chad Blackman.

Relatives of Shirley Chisholm, the American politician who, in 1968, became the first black woman to be elected to the United States Congress, will also be in attendance.

The event gets under way at 10:30 a.m. with remarks by officials, entertainment by students and later, the unveiling of a mural, a bust and signage, among other activities.

Shirley Chisholm was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Barbadian parents. When she was three years old, Shirley was sent to live with her grandmother on a farm in Barbados, and received much of her primary education in the Barbadian school system. (BGIS)