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Alimenta Bishop (1914-August 24, 2013) was a Grenadian activist and unwavering in her support of the liberation of her community. Alimenta Bishop was also the mother of Maurice Bishop, a Grenadian revolutionary and leader of the New Jewel Movement.

Biography of Jaedyn Griddine

Photo of Alimenta Bishop. Photo Credit: Now Grenada.

Alimenta Bishop was a true representative of Black womanhood, both in her tenacity and unwavering in her support of the liberation of her community, and in the reduction of her life to merely being a mother. Because of this, not much is recorded about her full, intricate life; vague bits and pieces of it scattered throughout various sources, her son’s name trumping hers in frequency-even in articles where her name is in the headline, her legacy shrouded in the grief and indignance of the last 30 years of her life. We’ve attempted to piece together a comprehensive, albeit sparse, mosaic of these odds and ends of information, though it’s important to drive home the point that she was infinitely more than what historians and journalists sparingly wrote about her.

Though the exact date is unknown, Alimenta was born in 1914; one can only infer about her youth and early adulthood, but it’s certain that whatever occurred shaped her into an impassioned, politically-minded individual and supportive mother. Somewhere along the way she met her husband Rupert, which is where the story becomes elucidated by the records. Rupert traveled to Aruba, leaving then-wife Alimenta in Grenada, in the late 1930s in pursuit of a better-paying job, though he sent for her soon after. Alimenta gave birth to three children (Ann, Maureen and Maurice), her son Maurice being the most well-known, and the entire family soon packed up and moved back to Grenada in 1950, where they enjoyed a middle-class lifestyle.

At this time, the country was under British rule, the land and people heavily exploited for colonial benefit. Over the course of two decades, Maurice fought against the colonial state and Sir Eric Gairy’s pre-independence leadership alongside the New Jewel Movement (NJM), a leftist revolutionary organization, slowly garnering more support for Grenadian liberation until the passion escalated into a deadly demonstration on January 21, 1974; this day became known as Bloody Monday, and Rupert Bishop was one of the casualties. Grenada achieved independence a month later, yet Gairy maintained a close relationship with Great Britain; Gairy’s rule came to a bitter end in 1979 when he was ousted by the NJM. This revolution instated the People’s Revolutionary Government (PRG), of which Maurice was the first Prime Minister for the first four years of its existence before his murder in 1983.

Alimenta lived through tumultuous times, during which she fervently advocated for her son and her people. Due to infighting within the PRG during Maurice’s leadership, her and her family’s lives were frequently under scrutiny and in physical danger; on multiple occasions, some occurring during her battles with cancer and heart disease, Alimenta spoke out against the imprisonment of her son and cried out for peace and liberation for her son’s constituents, earning her the affectionate titles of ‘Ma Bishop’ and ‘Lioness.’ Despite the underlying evidence, her political activism is greatly overshadowed by her grief for her husband, son, and grandson--Vladimir, who, in 1994, was also murdered. She was constantly interviewed about her bereavement, solidifying her somber image; her indignance against the Grenadian government for withholding the location of her son’s remains is famously quoted: “[Jesus’] mother was able to get his body to bury, but when I ask what happened to my son, nobody would tell me.”

Rather than this being seen as the political message it is, it was used to memorialize her as a perpetual symbol of sadness. A painting by Grenadian artist Susan Mains depicts a pietà wherein Alimenta is the grieving Mary, but with empty arms, to reflect Alimenta’s condition. Her name in publications, even those announcing her death, is always attached to her son’s name and legacy rather than to her own or to the Grenadian Revolution as a whole; one journal, the Caribbean Camera, eulogizes her not as an activist, nor as a person, but as “an embodiment of the saying that on the side of every good man is an excellent woman.” Unfortunately and oftentimes, such is the Black woman’s condition–to be an extension or supporting character to Black men.

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Alimenta Bishop

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GRAPHICS TO SHARE ON SOCIAL MEDIA: ALIMENTA BISHOP