Stephen Campbell – the man behind Heritage Month

By Mark DaCosta- Every year, on August 9, Guyana joins the international community to observe International Day of the World’s Indigenous peoples. In Guyana, though, the bigger observances take place in September – Indigenous Heritage Month.  September 10, is Heritage Day. The man behind it is the legendary Stephen Campbell.

Stephen Joseph Campbell was an Arawak politician and political and social activist. He was the first indigenous Guyanese to be elected to the Legislative Council of British Guyana – we now call it parliament. He was sworn into office on September 10,  1957. As such, in his honour, Prime Minister Dr. Cheddi Jagan, in 1995, officially designated September as Heritage Month in memory of Campbell’s achievement. September 10 is celebrated as “Heritage Day.”

Stephen Campbell was born on December 26, 1897 in Santa Rosa to Tiburtio A. Campbell and his wife, Maria dos Santos. The  Santa Rosa mission is a community established by Catholics in Barima-Waini, Region One. Campbell’s parents died when he was young, and he was raised by his grandmother. He was brought up as a devout Catholic. It is generally known that he studied at Santa Rosa Mission School, and subsequently worked for many years as a teacher in various parts of the country.

Less known, though, is the fact that Campbell was a man of many jobs. In addition to teaching, he also worked in bauxite mining operations, and, for a while, he was a farmer. His work alongside poor, uneducated people probably shaped his outlook on life and compelled him to political and social activism.

At the age of 60 Campbell openly embraced a political career. After running for office and being elected to the Legislative Council, he subsequently joined the National Labor Front In 1961. Campbell later changed parties to the United Force. In 1964, he became Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Throughout his adult life, Campbell fought for the rights of Indigenous peoples, particularly, their right to have their own titled lands and equal access to educational opportunities. Unfortunately, Guyanese are well aware that even more than half a century after Guyana’s independence, Indigenous peoples are still fighting for equality under the rule of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) regime.

Another fact about Stephen Campbell that is not widely known is that in 1962 he travelled to London to lobby for independence and land rights for Guyana’s first peoples. As a result of his efforts, the entitlement of Indigenous peoples to have land is enshrined in Guyana’s constitution.

At age 68 Campbell fell ill. He went to Canada for medical treatment, and died there on May 12, 1966, just two weeks before Guyana became an independent nation.

In 1995 a monument, in his honour, was erected in Santa Rosa. This monument is located within close proximity to the Heroes of Moruca Monument.

In 2018, under the government of the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC), the building that housed the Ministry of Citizenship was named in honour of Stephen Joseph Campbell. That ministry was abolished by the PPP in August 2020.