1924–2020

Dr. Eva Naomi Hodgson was an Author, Teacher, and Historian. She was well known as a fighter for racial equality. She was the second of six children born to Harold and Irene Hodgson. She came from a very religious family. After her early education she studied at the Berkeley Institute and than when on to higher education when she was a recipient of a government scholarship to study for an undergraduate degree from Queens University in Canada. Upon returning home in 1948 she went to teach at Berkeley Institute . She then won a scholarship to study for a diploma in Education at London University Institute of Education. She later won a scholarship to study geography in Britain and received with honors degrees in the subject as well as a diploma in education while teaching at Berkeley. She was elected the first President of the Amalgamated Bermuda Union of teachers now known as the Bermuda Union of teachers when the segregated teachers union united. She held a Phd. in Africa and Black American History from the Ivy League Columbia University in New York and was also awarded a national research fellowship for field research in Liberia, Africa. She was seconded to the Department of Education in 1983 as part of a government effort to preserve the Island Oral History and introduction known rights into the social services and civic curriculum of schools. She constantly voiced her stanch and criticism of Bermuda’s institutions over racism and Civil rights. She often found that the powers that be were more comfortable discussing labour rather then race. She was passionate about race equality and because of her determination to speak up meant she paid a heavy price in her professional career. She worked on the committee for Universal Adult Suffrage that fought for equal rights in 1960. She was a prolific writer and authored several books’ ‘Storm in a Tea Cup’ ‘Second Class Citizen First class men’. She was a regular writer of letters to the editor. She founded the National Association of Reconciliation as part of her long battle to improve race relations. She was a member of The Bermudian Heritage Museum and the African Diaspora Bermuda Foundation. In 2011 she was appointed an officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for her work to highlight an end to racial equality. As she now rest in peace her efforts will not go unnoticed by the people of her country Bermuda. A true person of note that will go down into the annuals of Bermuda’s history as a true fighter for racial justice.