Georgine Mary Hill was not a born Bermudian she can to Bermuda in 1941. She was the daughter of Dr. Alfred P. Russell and Maybelle. Dr. Russell was a Dentist by trade and his wife Mabel Grant Russell was a Pianist and Organist who attended the New England Conservatory of Music. Born February 1st. 1918 Georgine was the youngest of two siblings. She was the descendant of a well -known abolitionist and City Councilor, who had many distinguished friends and whose home was a stopping off point on the Under-ground Railroad. Her Grandfather, Dr. George Franklin Grant, who was the son of runway slaves, trained at Harvard Dental School and became Harvard’s first black faculty member in the 1870s. In her early years Georgine attended Girls Latin School. There, she studied Latin, French and German, as well as the sciences and humanities. Georgine loved music especially Jazz or the symphony. She enrolled in the Massachusetts College of Art and mastered in various Media (Sculpture, Watercolours, drawings) before settling on portraiture. In 1940 she met her husband Hilton G. Hill 2nd. a grandson of businessman Samuel David Robinson and a founder of the Berkeley Institute while at College in Boston University. They married that same year and had their first child, Hilton G. Hill 111.in 1941.

During her first years in Bermuda the Hills resided in the Family Homestead, on the corner of Princess and Dundonald Street. During that time Georgine had a daughter in 1951. The family later moved to Spice Hill in Warwick. Mrs. Hill was a featured soloist in many concerts. She was reported to have a beautiful Contralto voice. She teamed up with Artist and Art enthusiast, helping to create a more vibrant and racially diverse art community. In 1947 she became a founding member of the Bermuda Arts Association. She along with Byllee Lang established the annual children’s Art Exhibition.

Her teaching career began in Bermuda in 1956 when she was employed at the Girls Institute of Arts and Crafts where she taught Art. She remained there until 1975 and while there she established the first Public School Art Curriculum. She also taught at St. George’s Secondary School.

She was a prime force along with Hilton, Carol and cousin Eva Robinson, in organizing a Protest against The Bermudiana Theatre Club. Hilton carried pickets on Front Street after being denied tickets to attend plays, which were produced at U.S. Theatre Company. The Bermudiana Theatre Club insisted that patrons had to be of unmixed European ancestry (White) A passion for live plays was the spark for a successful protest against the segregated policies of the Theatre. Following the Protest in 1951 Georgina and husband, Hilton, a member of Colonial Parliament from 1953-1958, gathered other activists in their home in Warwick joined a group of Activists and produced and distributed a document ‘An analysis of Social Problems’ which called for sweeping social and political changes in Bermuda.

She was a member and Chair of teen services and a founding trustee of the Bermuda National Gallery. The Dance Foundation named a scholarship in her honour. She received an M.B.E. in 1993 and a life time Achievement Award from the Bermuda Arts Council in 2001. In 2010 she was one of several Bermudians honored by Image Bermuda, She was dedicated to achieving equality and racial harmony.

In 2012 she received the Bermuda Arts Councils Patron Award. In 2013 she was honored by the Bermuda Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority as its oldest member. Mrs. Hill should be remembered for her vast contribution to her second home Bermuda and listed among the Islands great female activist to right the wrongs in the Island. Mrs. Hill went to her great reward in January of 2014.

Researched By Joy Wilson-Tucker Historian.