Maurice Bishop, the son of Rupert and Alimenta Bishop, was born in Aruba on 29th May 1944. Along with his parents Rupert and Alimenta Bishop the Bishops returned to Grenada in 1950. At the age of 6 Maurice Bishop enrolled in the Wesley Hall Primary school.
One year later Maurice Bishop enrolled in the St. George’s Roman Catholic Primary school. It was in the St. George's Roman Catholic School Maurice Bishop won a scholarship to attend a high school. With the Scholarship he won in 1956 he was able to enroll in the Roman Catholic Presentation College.
Maurice Bishop went to the Roman Catholic Presentation College from 1957 to 1963. While attending the Roman Catholic Presentation College Maurice Bishop decide to study Law. After leaving the Roman Catholic Presentation College in 1963 Maurice Bishop worked a few month at the Registry in Grenada before leaving for England to further his studied in Law.
In the mid to the late 60's Maurice Bishop gained a degree at London University’s Holborn College of Law.
In 1966, he married a nurse, Angela Redhead, and that same year was called to the Bar in London but never completed his post graduate studies. By 1967, Bishop had accomplished the requirement for practicing law in Lincoln's Inn. His law studies were complete in 1969. Bishop worked in the civil service as a surtax examiner until 1970, He also involved himself with voluntary work with the Legal Aid Clinic in Nottinghill Gate.
During his time in the United Kingdon Maurice Bishop travelled to places like Czechoslovakia and East Germany. During his stay in the United Kingdom there were two books that influenced Maurice Bishop.
(1) Julius Nyerere's "Arusha Declaration" issued in 1967
(2) The Tanzanian socialist leader's book "Ujamaa: Essays on Socialism" published in 1968 by Oxford University Press
Maurice Bishop returned to Grenada in 1970. On his return to Grenada Maurice Bishop then went into private Practice.
After the Elections of 1972 Maurice Bishop, Franklyn Harvey, Kendrick Radix and a few other urban professionals were the leaders of Movement for Assemblies of the People (MAP) from St. George's.
In January of 1973, Maurice Bishop took the lead at La Sagesse in St. David's of the large gathering protesting the locked gates to the beach at Lord Bronlow's estate. Bishop was an early leader New Jewel Movement (NJM) leader in March of 1973 when MAP and JEWEL merged. He was Joint Coordinating Secretary of the NJM along with Unison Whiteman.
In 1976, Maurice Bishop was elected to the House of Representatives and became leader of the Opposition. He held that post until March 13th 1979 where he lead an armed, bloodless revolution and seized power of
the Government. During his time as leader of the revolution, his People’s Revolutionary Government (PRG) made great achievements in the fields of Education, Medical services, workers rights, women’s rights, co-operatives, Political awareness, land development, infrastructure and started the International Airport.
On October 18th 1983 the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Government placed Maurice under house arrest. He was freed by the Grenadian people and then taken to the army’s headquarters on Fort Rupert. He was later ambushed and assaulted by the (PRA) also known People’s Revolutionary Army. On October 19th 1983 Maurice Bishop was executed along with along with Norris Bain, Fitzroy Bain, Jacqueline Creft, Unison Whiteman, Vincent Noel and many other fellow Grenadians. This led to the U.S Invasion on October 25th, 1983.
Listen to some of Maurice Bishop speeches (Courtesy of : WETHING.COM)
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