Virgin Islanders Celebrate 111th Liberty Day
Virgin Islanders gathered to celebrate the 111th Liberty Day, honoring labor rights icon and crusading journalist David Hamilton Jackson. The annual observance commemorates the founding of The Herald, the first free newspaper in the former Danish West Indies. Community members took part in traditional festivities, including the historic Bull and Bread gathering.
Virgin Islanders gathered across the neighboring United States Virgin Islands to observe Liberty Day, marking the 111th anniversary of The Herald, the first free newspaper published in the former Danish West Indies, and honoring the legacy of human rights icon David Hamilton Jackson.
Community members assembled at the park named in Jackson’s honor on St. Croix for the annual commemoration, which featured the beloved Liberty Day Bull and Bread Festival. The annual holiday, celebrated on November 1, serves as a major milestone in regional history, commemorating the moment Jackson successfully published the uncensored periodical after traveling to Denmark in 1915 to petition King Christian X for the repeal of strict colonial censorship laws.
For residents across the wider Virgin Islands archipelago, including the British Virgin Islands, Jackson’s legacy represents a defining chapter in regional empowerment. The deep familial, economic, and cultural bonds shared between the British and American Virgin Islands mean that early twentieth-century struggles for press freedom, fair labor standards, and civic dignity resonated throughout both territories.
Jackson’s pioneering work laid foundational stones for modern democratic engagement across the northeastern Caribbean. Throughout his lifetime, Jackson served with distinction as a crusading journalist, labor organizer, attorney, judge, and elected legislator. His bold organizing efforts united sugar plantation workers and ordinary citizens, demonstrating the transformative power of collective action and independent journalism in advancing human rights and economic fairness.
Virgin Islands Lieutenant Governor Tregenza Roach highlighted Jackson’s pivotal role in reshaping the course of Virgin Islands history. Roach emphasized that Jackson’s fearless determination to challenge systemic inequities helped dismantle generations of suppression, leaving behind an enduring blueprint for justice, civic responsibility, and freedom of expression that continues to inspire Virgin Islanders on both sides of the border.
Primary source: Virgin Islands Daily News (Website)