NEVIS DIASPORA
Coming Soon...
This long-anticipated exhibition will explore Nevisians – and persons of Nevisian heritage – who ended up on the world stage. They include actors, musicians, policians, activists, scientists and many others! Our island may be small in size, but these torchbearers prove that greatness is in Nevis' DNA, and that no dream is too big!
Windrush Generation
HMT Empire Windrush sailed from Jamaica to the UK in 1948, carrying the first large group of post-war Caribbean immigrants. The 'Windrush generation' includes people who migrated from the Caribbean to the United Kingdom between 1948 and 1971, seeking work. This included people from Nevis, such as Robert Wallace from Jessups Village (who turned 100 in 2025) and Arthur France who went on to found the West Indian Carnival in Leeds.
PA: Press Association Archive
Carnival in the UK
The Leeds West Indian Carnival is the brainchild of Arthur France, MBE, who was born in Mount Lily village, Nevis, in September 1935, son of Ebenezer France, and a nephew of politician and later national hero, Joseph Nathaniel France. He grew up in Nevis, and in 1957 moved to Leeds in England. "France decided there should be a carnival parade along the streets of Leeds, as well as the indoor festival of music and costume. “People said I was crazy,” said Arthur, but through his driving force... Leeds West Indian Carnival was on the road for the first time in 1967. Arthur remains chair of the carnival committee, with Ian as its treasurer, to this day." – Leeds West Indian Carnival
Playing steel pans at Leeds West Indian Carnival 1974
© Max Farrar and West Yorkshire Archive Service.
Hollywood Royalty
Beloved American actress, Cicely Tyson, was born in New York City to Nevisian parents Fredericka (née Huggins) Tyson and William Augustine Tyson. She started her career as a model, and went on to be an award-winning star of the stage and screen. Not only did she break barriers in acting, but she championed representation, and used her platform to advocate for social justice. In 2016 Cicely Tyson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama for her pioneering work in film and television. On 19 September 1983, Ms Tyson presided over the dedication of the newly restored building in Charlestown that now houses the Nevis Island Assembly, the NHCS offices, and the Museum of Nevis History.
Cicely Tyson being greeted by then Prime Minister of St Kitts and Nevis, Sir Kennedy Simmonds on Sept. 19, 1983 at the dedication of Alexander Hamilton House on the island of Nevis in the West Indies. (AP Photo/Joe Skipper)
Pop Music History
Melanie Janine Brown was born in the UK to Eileen Mary English and Stanley Dixon, a Nevisian. Popularly known as Mel B., she is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality who rose to fame in the mid 1990s as a member of the Spice Girls. In 2020, she was appointed UK Tourism Ambassador for Nevis: "I feel incredibly honoured to be asked to be an ambassador for Nevis. Nevis is not just part of where I come from but it is part of who I am. It is my dad’s home country and it is still the place where so many members of my family still live.”
Daily Mail UK: Ken Goff
Activisits, Inventors
& Scientists
Constance Baker Motley was born in the USA to Nevisian parents Rachel (née Huggins) and Willoughby Alva Baker. She became the first African American woman to preside over a federal court and played an active role in to dismantling segregation laws. Judge Motley was the recipient of numerous awards during her lifetime, including the Candace Award for Distinguished Service by the National Coalition of 100 Black Women in 1984. In 1993, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.
United States Library of Congress Prints and Photographs division