And, as we round out the September Celebrations, Author Lawrence Vernon and the National Institute of Culture and History have launched a new book. It's called "The Time To Save Your Country" and it's a biography of Belize's other national hero Phillip Goldson.
Goldson was the cornerstone of democracy in pre-independent Belize - and a man who defined the term super-patriot with commitment, integrity and sacrifice - even doing hard time in prison for offending the colonial establishment with his nationalist fervor.
And now this book chronicles that remarkable life. It was launched this morning at Belize City's House of Culture and the event welcomed many of Goldson's friends' family and political admirers. We stopped in to see the long lines waiting for an autographed copy:
Lawrence Vernon, Author
"For several years he was the lone opposition person in the house because at one time only two of his party colleagues were elected and at that time, he was the only one. Most of my research was done from the two Newspapers that we had back then which was the Belize Billboard and the Daily Clarion, because at that time they were very explicit in their descriptions so I could have gotten a lot of almost word-for-word what the people were saying. I then interviewed one or two people who knew him, like his sister Maud Williams and Dr. Gilda Lewis, he was the first and only politician who went to jail for his belief for as way back in 1952. He was then aligned to at least four political parties during his career starting with the PUP, the National Independence Party, the UDP and of course NABR, National Alliance for Belizean rights. Then, he was the first Belizean to make a speech to the United Nations, first politician in 1967. Some people thought it was George Price, but George Price didn't make a speech to the UN until 1975."
A second launch for the book will be held at the Goldson House for Democracy and Patriotism in Belmopan at 6:00 PM tomorrow Friday, September 23rd.
The book is now on sale at the Museum of Belize in Belize City and the Goldson House in Belmopan.
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