The Significance of the Ormond Panton Inaugural Lecture at UCCI

The Hon. Ormond Panton

( National Hero)

Professor Nathan Connolly, Associate Professor, Johns Hopkins University

The University College is staging a Distinguished Lecture this Thursday, February 1, at the Sir Vassel Johnson Hall. It begins at 6pm. The broad objective of the distinguished lecture series is to bring to the UCCI campus, scholars of the highest calibre from academia, business, and the arts and sciences, to examine pertinent issues and share their scholarship and experience with the university community and the wider Cayman public.

These lectures are intended to enrich the academic environment, encourage discussion and learning among faculty, students, and the public. Lectures such as these are featured in many universities and are intended to bring to their campuses scholars and experts who are thought leaders in their fields. Because these individuals have achieved intellectual stature and distinction in their fields, they bring additional insights to the areas they speak. This encourages further probing and discussion of ideas.

In addition to offering inspiration to those who attend, distinguished lectures in bringing people together to discuss issues, also provide opportunities for connections beyond the event itself. When attendees connect in this way, collaborations of various types are possible. The university benefits from the increased visibility when it shows that it is committed to engaging these speakers, especially when the issues are relevant to the society.

For this year, the Distinguished Lecture Series Committee of the University College of the Cayman Islands, in addition to the lectures, launches an Education Drive that seeks to edify the Cayman Islands public and private schools at all levels, primary, secondary, and tertiary, as well as the larger Cayman community about its history and culture. There are many Caymanians who have worked assiduously over the years to build the society, but many times, these Caymanian giants do not receive the respect and societal memory they deserve because younger generations are not fully aware of the sacrifices and contributions that they made. Every effort to rectify this situation is valuable.

The Honorable Ormond Panton Inaugural Lecture

The distinguished lecture scheduled for this Thursday, February one, is especially important as it is honour of one of Cayman’s most important historical figures and national hero, Ormond Panton.

The Cayman Government Website notes that:

‘Mr Ormond L. Panton (b. 1920, d. 1992) was one of Cayman’s most politically active national heroes, dedicating his life to what he saw as improving the lives of those most socially and politically disadvantaged in the Cayman Islands. Mr Panton was an attorney who began his political career in the Vestry (the name of the Cayman’s legislature before it became the Legislative Assembly) and endeavored to represent ordinary Caymanians. His successes included securing the right to fair trial in 1955, and he was the first Caymanian to appear before the UK Privy Council.’

The first 150 persons to arrive for the lecture will receive a free copy of His Biography,A Special Son: A Unique and Gripping Life by Dave Martins.

Distinguished Lecturer - Professor Nathan Connolly

The distinguished lecturer will be Professor Nathan Connolly, Hebert Baxter Adams Associate Professor of History, Johns Hopkins University. He will speak on the topic ‘Letters from the Ancestors: Family History, Political Economy and the Future of the Cayman Islands.’ Professor Connolly has a Caymanian background.

Dr. Nathan Connolly is the Herbert Baxter Adams Associate Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University, the first African American to be tenured. He is also the director of the programme, Racism, Immigration, and Citizenship. His credentials include an MA, Social Sciences, from the University of Chicago; MA, History, University of Chicago; PhD, History, University of Michigan, with distinction.

Professor Connolly has written many books, all widely acclaimed. These include: A World More Concrete: Real Estate and the Remaking of Jim Crow South Florida (2014) and By Eminent Domain: Race and Capital in the Building of an American South Florida (2008). He is currently working on two book-length projects: Four Daughters: An American Story and Black Capitalism: The ‘Negro Problem’ and the American Economy. He writes commentary for the New York Times, among other publications.

Brief Cayman Family Connections

Nathan Connolly traces his family history back to illustrious Grand Cayman Sea Captain William Smiley Connolly I, whose son William Smiley Connolly II, Nathan’s great-grandfather, is reported to be the first Caymanian to earn a bachelor’s degree, graduating from the Howard University, in the Class of 1913. 

Next in line is Nathan’s grandfather, Reginald King “Naldy” Connolly, who passed away in 2019, at the age of 92. Naldy was born in Grand Cayman but spent some of his formative years in Jamaica. He migrated to the UK as a young adult and served in Britain’s merchant marine, later moving to the US where he remained until his passing.

One can read about some of Nathan’s Cayman family history in the story of Eunice Stone and William Smiley Connolly I in The Sea Captain’s Wife, a book researched by author Martha Hodes.  The idea of the book evolved from the discovery of a cache of letters at Duke University, from which Hodes reconstructs the intriguing and unusual life of Eunice, a white mill labourer in mid–19th-century New England.

As events transpired, Eunice went South with her then-husband to seek her fortune, but homesick, returned to New Hampshire. Her then-husband, however, remained to fight for the Confederacy in the American Civil War, ultimately becoming another sad casualty. In 1869, Eunice remarried to the well-to-do Grand Cayman Sea captain, William Smiley Connolly I, and moved here with him.

Everyone should take the opportunity to attend.

By Professor Livingston Smith Dip. (Hons), BSc. (Hons), MPhil., GFL, LLM, PhD.