Caribbean historian passes on

The Jamaica-born historian was best known for her seminal book on indentureship in Trinidad, Survivors of Another Crossing: A history of East Indians in Trinidad 1880-1946. (UWI, 1994).

Her book on the history of Aramalaya Presbyterian Church, Celebration: A Centenary History of Aramalaya Presbyterian Church, Tunapuna, Trinidad 1881-1981, was later published and stands as another critical work. Other works appear in 17 publications and 134 library holdings.

She had been engaged in research over two decades on her African ancestry in the Caribbean, tracing her first slave ancestor, Addo, to Ghana where she would later give birth to two of her three children.

Ramesar was a part of West Indian history herself as a her name is memorialised on the monument at The University of the West Indies’ (UWI), Mona campus recognising the university’s first cohort of students.

Later at the UWI St Augustine she functioned as a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Social Economic Research (ISE R). Her husband, adult education pioneer, Esmond D Ramesar (deceased), who also served UWI died in 2005.