Unapologetically Black: Blood in the Mortar of Speightstown

Overview

We don't just walk; we convene. By gathering at the Esplanade, we occupy the silence left by historical erasure, filling the void with stories of Black economic sovereignty and defiance. The "Blood in the Mortar" of the Skinner House to the living triumph of Tyrone’s Bar, we bridge the gap between kidnapped Africans and their sovereign descendants. This is not a history lesson—it is a resurrection of the Black pulse. At the Esplanade, we speak into the void where landmarks were erased. We resurrect the martyrs of the 1675 and 1692 plots—those burned and beheaded in these streets to break the Black spirit. We expose the psychological warfare of Fortuna’s betrayal and the resilience found after the 1780 hurricane. We celebrate the town’s unique economic defiance: a powerhouse of Free Black shopkeepers who ran underground trade networks with the enslaved. The fire of 1876, proved that the Black struggle always reclaimed its own heat. This is just a snippet of the many stories to be told.