Shouter Baptist Day

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Shouter Baptist Day
A Celebration of Faith
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A Day to Celebrate
Spiritual Baptist Shouter Liberation Day
celebrates the Spiritual/ Shouter Baptists long
struggle to worship freely.

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History of the Shouter Baptists
The Shouter Baptist religion developed among
Trinidadians of African descent. It combined
elements of Protestant Christianity and African
religions. It is the only religion (besides the
Orisha and Rastafarianism) that was not brought
to the West.
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History of the Shouter Baptists
When Trinidad became a British colony in 1797,
many new settlers came. This included former
American slaves who had supported Britain during
the War of American Independence.
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Roots of the Shouter Baptists
These former slaves received land grants in south
Trinidad. They formed villages based on their
former military companies. They brought their
Baptist faith with them.
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Shouter Baptist Caribbean Roots
The Shakers in St Vincent also added their mix of
African and Christian religion into the Baptist
melting pot when they came to Trinidad.
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African Roots
The religion of the Afro-American immigrants and
the African rituals and customs brought by
Trinidadian slaves of Yoruban descent formed
many different versions of the Baptist mix, which
is not to be confused with the Orisha.
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The Struggle for Freedom
In 1917, the British, who ruled Trinidad and
Tobago, passed The Shouter Prohibition Ordinance.
This outlawed the Shouter Baptist religion.
Shouter Baptists had to worship secretly.
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Scorned by Society

Much of society scorned Shouter Baptists during
the time their religion was outlawed.
Calypsonians made fun of Shouter Baptists in
their songs.
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Baptist Influence on Calypso of the 1930s
Roaring Lion recorded Happy Land of
Canaan Lion and Attila recorded Where is Jonah
Gone?
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Shouter Baptists Influence Music
Calypsonians, like Growling Tiger poked fun at
Shouter Baptists. At the same time,
calypsonians recorded Shouter Baptist hymns.
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The British Free Shouter Baptists
On March 30, 1951, The Shouter Prohibition
Ordinance was lifted. The Shouter Baptists
decided to shed the stigma of the term Shouter
and call themselves Spiritual Baptists.
Spiritual/Shouter Baptists were now free to
worship in public.
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Revolutionizing Music
Calypsonians began to look at Shouter Baptists in
a different light after the law against them was
removed. A turning point came when the Mighty
Sparrow sang Dont Touch Me, which had Shouter
Baptist preaching in it.
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The Baptists Get a Rose
Calypso Rose, the first woman to be crowned
Calypso Monarch of Trinidad and Tobago, used
Baptist rhythms in her music.
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Super Blue Creates a Stir
In 1980, an unknown fisherman, named Austin Lyons
(Super Blue) sang a calypso called Soca
Baptist. This song, which has been used as
background music for this presentation, caused a
major stir. Some Shouter Baptists said it was
sacrilegious, and they asked Prime Minister Eric
Williams to have the song banned.
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The Baptists Turn the Tables
The Prime Minister made his famous comment, Let
good sense prevail. Super Blue won the 1980
Road March. In 1991 he won Road March with Get
Something and Wave a Baptist-influenced song
about the 1990 coup attempt in Trinidad. In
the song, SuperBlue gets a vision that the
country will be all right from Mother Muriel, a
Baptist woman.
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The Baptists in Literature
Now, musicians and writers in Trinidad and Tobago
celebrate the contribution of the
Spiritual/Shouter Baptists. David Rudder,
Penguin and Singing Sandra have music heavily
influenced by Baptist music. The most famous
book about the Shouter Baptists is The Wine of
Astonishment by Earl Lovelace.
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Shouter Baptists Today
Today, we all recognize the struggle of the
Shouter Baptists. We celebrate Shouter Baptist
Day for what it represents The freedom to
worship how we want.
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Bibliography

• Calypso Rose, http//www.afromontrreal.com/artits_
  pics/calypsorose
• The Shouter Baptists in Trinidad. The
  National Library of Trinidad and Tobago (NALIS)
  Nalis Web site, http//library2.nalis.gov.tt/
• Jacob, Debbie, This Thing Must Be Spiritual,
  Port of Spain, Guardian, March 30, 2001.
• Lovelace, Earl, The Wine of Astonishment, London,
  Heinemann, Caribbean, 1982.
• Calypsonian pictures, http//calypsoworld.org/trin
  idad/dh019.jpg.
• Beney, Sookdeo, cover picture, Trinidad Guardian,
  2004.

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• A presentation by the ISPS Library
• Music Soca Baptist by Austin Lyons
• Picture research Kurt Caesar
• Presentation by Debbie Jacob