Errol Barrow Day

Errol Walton Barrow (January 21, 1920 – June 1, 1987) was a Caribbean statesman and the first Prime Minister of Barbados.  He was Born into a family of political and civic activists in the Saint Lucy parish. His sister, Dame Nita Barrow, went  on and became a social activist, humanitarian leader, and later Governor General of Barbados.
     Errol Barrow served in the Royal Air Force during World War II. He enlisted on December 31, 1940, and flew some forty-five operational bombing missions over the European Theatre. By 1945, he had risen to the rank of Flying Officer, and was appointed as personal navigator to the Commander-in-Chief of the British Zone of occupied Germany, Sir William Sholto Douglas.
     After the war, he studied Law at the Inns of Court and economics at the London School of Economics, taking degrees in 1949 and 1950. During that time, he served as Chairman of the Council of Colonial Students, where his contemporaries included: Forbes Burnham, Michael Manley, Pierre Trudeau, and Lee Kwan Yew; all destined to become political leaders in their home countries.
     He returned to Barbados in 1950. A year later in 1951 he was elected to the Barbados parliament as a member of the Barbados Labor Party (BLP). Feeling the fever of anti-colonialism,  that he had inculcated during his student days in London, he quickly became displeased by the incremental approach to change supported by the party stalwarts. In 1955, he founded the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) as a progressive alternative to the BLP. In 1958, he became its leader and the party won the parliamentary elections in 1961. Barrow served as Premier of Barbados from 1961 until 1966 when, after leading the country to independence from Great Britain, he became Prime Minister. He served continuously in that role as well as in the positions of Minister of Finance, and Minister of Foreign Affairs for the next ten years.
     During his appointment, the DLP government accelerated industrial development, expanded the tourist industry to reduce the island's economic dependence on sugar, introduced National Health Insurance and Social Security, and expanded free education to all levels.
     Barrow was a dedicated advocate of regional integration, leading the foundation of the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) in 1965. Eight years later, CARIFTA evolved into the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), when Barrow, together with Forbes Burnham of Guyana, Dr. Eric Williams of Trinidad, and Michael Manley of Jamaica, enacted the treaty of Chaguaramas to bolster political and economic relations between the English-speaking Caribbean territories.
     After another big victory in 1971, the DLP returned to the electorate in 1976 for a mandate after two years of bitter controversy over constitutional amendments put forth by the government. Barrow, who had invited public comment on the amendments, verbally lashed out at those who had been critical of what he viewed as a minor procedural change in the appointment of judges. A general economic downturn, which affected most countries in the hemisphere, contributed to a shift in public sentiment, resulting in the party's election defeat.
     As an unconquerable advocate of Caribbean sovereignty, he fiercely opposed interference in Caribbean affairs. As opposition leader in 1983, he spoke out forcefully against the U.S. invasion of Grenada, and he was scathing in his criticism of other Caribbean leaders who went to Washington in the hope of getting economic handouts.
 In May 1986, after 10 years in opposition, Barrow was re-elected as Prime Minister in a huge victory in which the DLP won 24 of 27 seats in the House of Assembly. The campaign was worthy of note for an address he gave at a political rally some two weeks before the election which came to be known as the 'Mirror Image' speech. In it, Barrow rhetorically asked Barbadians what kind of a future they saw for themselves when they looked in the mirror; contrasting a life of menial labor as an émigré in the developed world, or staying and building a strong and independent Barbados to rival other small states like Singapore.
     Unfortunately, a short year after his re-election, Prime Minister Errol Barrow collapsed and died at his home on June 1, 1987. He was 67 years of age. Barrow was declared a National Hero, and Errol Barrow Day was named a national holiday for his remembrance.  Barbados remembers him as the 'Father of Independence'. His image is inscribed on the $50 Barbados bill.