Alice Bhagwandai Singh
Alice Bhagwandai Singh | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 22, 1891 |
| Died | November 2, 1970 (aged 79) |
| Spouse | Jung Bahadur Singh (1910 -) |
| Children | 7; Rajkumari Singh |
Alice Bhagwandai Singh (April 22, 1891 - November 2, 1970) was a Surinamese activist, feminist, and community organizer.[1] She was the first Caribbean woman of Indian descent to write an autobiography about her family's immigration to the region.[1]
Early life
Singh was born in Suriname (then Dutch Guiana), and raised in the capital, Paramaribo.[1][2] Her grandmother, Phularjee, was originally from Bengal.[3] Her father, Sital, who was a community leader and organizer, was a role model to her as she grew up.[2][3] Singh's mother grew up in Dutch Guiana in a middle-class Christian Indian family, but defied her family's expectations to marry Singh's father.[4] She had two brothers and a sister.[3] Singh grew up speaking Hindi at home, and was educated at a nearby convent.[1][3]
While working as a typist at the Government Immigration Office, Singh met Jung Bahadur Singh.[1] They married on February 23, 1910, in Paramaribo in both a civil, Christian, and Hindu ceremony, and subsequently moved to British Guiana.[1][2]
Organizing and career
In June 1927, Singh established the East Indian Ladies' Guild (EILG), which was a charitable organization.[5]
In 1934, her husband established the British Guiana Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha, a Hindu religious organization, which Singh helped to support; she also co-founded a women's branch of the organization, called Sanatan Dharma Maha Lakshmi Sabha.[1][2]
The British Guiana Democratic Society (BGDS) was inaugurated at her home on March 10, 1937.[1][2] Singh served as the society's first president and directed several of their plays.[2][6] The society put on annual public performances, usually in May, which were often plays written by Indian playwrights and/or drawing on Indian history and mythology.[1]
Singh was also involved in the Commonwealth Heart and Chest Association, the Girl Guides, the Red Cross, the St. John's Ambulance Brigade, the Tuberculosis Society, the Women's League of Social Services (of which she was a founding member), and the YWCA.[1][4] She also founded the Balak Sahaita Mandalee (BSM) in 1936, which served poor Indian women and their children.[2][4][6]
Singh also worked in government positions. She was appointed by the government to be a board member of the Poor Law Commission, where she helped process applications and run interviews for welfare recipients.[1] She was also appointed to the Prison Commissioners, where she helped ensure inmates were treated humanely.[1]
In 1950, she received the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in honor of her social organizing work.[1]
Writing
In her later years, Singh was convinced by one of her sons, Hardutt, to write an autobiography.[3][4]
Personal life
Singh had four daughters and three sons with her husband.[1][3] One of her daughters, Rajkumari Singh, was an activist and writer in her own right.[1][2][3]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Ramharack, Baytoram (March 2, 2023). A Powerful Indian Voice Alice Bhagwandai Singh: Reflections on Her Work in Guyana. Xlibris US. ISBN 9781669858751.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Naidu, Janet (2023-04-30). "Baytoram Ramharack's "A Powerful Indian Voice: Alice Bhagwandai Singh, Reflections on Her Work in Guyana". Xlibris, 2023. 491 pages". Stabroek News. Retrieved 2023-09-08.
- ^ a b c d e f g Klein, Alison (2018-09-27). Anglophone Literature of Caribbean Indenture: The Seductive Hierarchies of Empire. Springer. p. 35. ISBN 978-3-319-99055-2.
- ^ a b c d Hosein, Gabrielle Jamela; Outar, Lisa (2016-11-25). Indo-Caribbean Feminist Thought: Genealogies, Theories, Enactments. Springer. p. 77. ISBN 978-1-137-55937-1.
- ^ Bragard, Veronique (1998). "Gendered Voyages into Coolitude: the Shaping of the Indo- Caribbean Woman's Literary Consciousness". Kunapipi. 20 (1): 102.
- ^ a b Poynting, Jeremy (1986). "East Indian Women in the Caribbean: Experience, Image, and Voice". Journal of South Asian Literature. 21: 136 – via JSTOR.