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Labor day 2009 Part 13 of 13

3,357 views · Published 11 October 2010 · 4:12 · Indexed 30 October 2026

Channel: My Channel · 2010 · People & Blogs

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Labor Day Carnival.
Ms. Jessie Waddle and some of her West Indian friends started the Carnival in Harlem in the 1920s by staging costume parties in large enclosed places - like the Savoy, Renaissance and Audubon Ballrooms due to the cold wintry weather of February. This is the usual time for the pre-Lenten celebrations held in most countries around the world. However, because of the very nature of Carnival and the need to parade in costume to music - indoor confinement did not work.

The earliest known Carnival street parade was held on September 1, 1947. The Trinidad Carnival Pageant Committee was the founding force behind the parade, which was held in Harlem. The parade route was along Seventh Avenue, starting at 110th St.

The first Carnival Queen was Miss Dorothy Godfrey. The Committee raised money to finance the parade. They sold advertisement space and boosters, that were printed in a Souvenir Journal for West Indies Day, a booklet which is a memento of that first parade. Mrs. Jessie Waddell Compton is presented in the journal as the person "whose inspiration and enterprise" was owed to the formation of this committee. The committee consisted of Mrs. Waddell Compton-Chairman; Ivan H. Daniel-Vice Chairman; Conrad Matthews-Treasurer; Roy Huggins-Secretary; and Robert J. Welsh-Assistant Secretary. Each member of the committee contributed in helping to organize the parade. The after-parade party, which the Trinidad Carnival Pageant Committee held at the Golden Gate Ballroom (located at 142nd St. and Lenox Ave), was arranged by James M. Green, another figure who helped make the first Carnival Parade in Harlem successful.

[edit] In popular culture
Many Calypso and Soca songs from Trinidad make reference to Labour Day Carnival, including "Gunplay on the Eastern Parkway" by Calypso Rose, "Melee (on the Eastern Parkway)" by Maestro, "Labour Day in Brooklyn" by the Mighty Sparrow. Jay-Z mentions the Labor Day Carnival on his hit song Empire State of Mind when he says "3 dice Cee-lo, 3 card monte, Labor Day Parade, rest in peace Bob Marley".
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_Day_Carnival

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