Elma Francois

Elma Francois
Born	(1897-10-14)14 October 1897 Melbourne, Australia
Nationality	Trinidadian
Occupation(s)	Human rights campaigner, political activist
Awards	National Heroine of Trinidad and Tobago

Elma Francois (born in Overland, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on October 14, 1897 – 1944) was an Africentric political activist who, on October 14, 1987, was declared as a "national heroine of Trinidad and Tobago". She had been described as one of the "vociferous Africentric activists" in the history of Trinidad and Tobago and in the Caribbean region.

Biography

Early life

Born in 1897, Elma Francois acquired her primary education (up to "5th Standard") while working as a cotton picker with her mother, for which the typical pay was just 12-14 cents per day. Even at a young age Francois was an activist for the betterment of her people. She tried to organise the fellow laborers at the Mt. Bentick factory for better working conditions and was fired for doing so.

Personal life

She bore a son, named Conrad, in 1917, who she had to leave in the care of her own mother when she needed to migrate to Trinidad and Tobago for better opportunities.

Later, Francois became broken-hearted after her son Conrad joined the army to "fight in a war" that involves black people. Francois died in 1944.

Trinidad Workingman's Association

In Trinidad and Tobago, she worked as a domestic helper. There she joined the Trinidad Workingman's Association, which was lead by Captain A. A. Cipriani, a former soldier of the West India Regiment and a sympathizer of the racism and tough conditions faced by the working class of Trinidad. The Workingman's Association was renamed the Trinidad Labour Party in 1934, becoming the country's first political party. Their ambition was to reform the colony's system from within through a series of gradual improvements for workers.

Francois began to clash with Cipriani, who favoured non-confrontational action and often suffered a conflict of interest due to his privileged position as a landowner and a member of the Catholic French Creole class. Francois preferred direct action through the workers rather than the employers. She believed International Workers' Day should be declared a public holiday, to celebrate workers rights.

Negro Welfare Cultural and Social Association

Francois met Jim Headly as she gave a speech on African Heritage in Woodford Square. Together they were the co-founding members of the so-called Negro Welfare Cultural and Social Association (NWCSA). The association was Marxist oriented and committed to the empowerment of people of African descent, but also had Indian and Chinese members. Francois held the position of Organising Secretary and the NWSCA sought to include both men and women within executive positions.

The NWSCA helped organise hunger marches for sugar workers rights in 1934 and supported Tubal Uriah Butler's 1935 Hunger March. The NWCSA spurred on the national response against the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, leading to many dockworkers refused to unload Italian ships. They also helped form the Seamen and Waterfront Workers Trade Union and the Federated Workers Trade Union.

She was a participant in the "Butler Riots" of 1937, which began in oilfields as a protest of working conditions, wages, racism and exploitation. After being captured by the police, Francois was tried for sedition, becoming the first woman in the history of Trinidad and Tobago to be tried for such. After defending herself, Francois was eventually found not guilty of the crime.

See also

• Women in Trinidad and Tobago

Further reading

• Reddock, Rhoda (1988). Elma Francois: the NWCSA and the worker's struggle for change in the Caribbean. London and Port of Spain: New Beacon Books. ISBN 978-0-901241-79-5.