Smith, Jennifer 1947–

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Jennifer Smith 1947–

Premier of Bermuda

When Jennifer Smith became premier of Bermuda in the fall of 1998, her election signaled the end of a long era of conservative politics on the island. In 1996, Smith became head of the Progressive Labour Party (PLP) of Bermuda after a long career as a legislator. For thirty years Smith’s party had been the official opposition to the dominant United Bermuda Party (UBP), considered to be the political representative of business interests and conservative whites of British heritage. By contrast, the PLP has traditionally received its support from Bermuda’s working-class blacks. Described as both tenacious and gracious, Smith had stood for election to Bermuda’s lower house for 17 years as a candidate from her home constituency, St. George’s, before winning her first election in 1989.

Rebellious Cub Reporter

Smith was born in Bermuda in 1947. The daughter of a bartender, Smith exhibited artistic talent at an early age and eventually left Bermuda to study at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. She earned an associates degree and returned to Bermuda in 1970. Upon her arrival at the airport in Bermuda, customs officials seized several of Smith’s books because they were supposedly on a “banned books” list that was created and supervised by a board of censors. Soon after this incident, Smith was hired as a reporter for the Bermuda Recorder and she began an investigation into the “banned books” list. She discovered that the books taken from her were not on the list. Smith then wrote an article in the Recorder that criticized the level of censorship in Bermuda. She was soon flooded with telephone calls and letters from other people who had experienced similar confiscations. In response to Smith’s article, a meeting of the governing board that controlled the “banned books” list was held and the titles of the books seized from Smith were added to the list.

The incident made Smith a minor celebrity. “People didn’t speak out so much in the 1970s,” she recalled in an interview with Elizabeth Harvey for RG magazine, “and they had very solid reasons…. You could not get a loan or a job or you would not be invited to things and people didn’t want to feel the repercussions.” Smith’s courage attracted the attention of the PLP, and she agreed to stand in an uncontested election as their

At a Glance…

Born 1947, in Bermuda; daughter of Lillian Smith. Education: Earned A.A. from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, 1970; earned certificate from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, 1984. Politics: Progressive Labour Party of Bermuda. Religion: African Methodist Episcopal.

Career: Bermuda Recorder, political reporter and editor, 1970-74;Fame magazine, Bermuda, writer and assistant editor, 1974-76; Bermuda Broadcasting Company Ltd., advertising copywriter, promotions manager, and as a production assistant and producer, 1976-80; Scott Crafts Ltd., positions included copywriter, artist, account executive, office and manager, 1980-93;Bermuda Times, assistant editor, beginning in 1993; appointed to the Bermuda Senate by the Bermuda goverrnor and Progressive Labour Party, 1980; elected deputy chair of Progressive Labour Party, 1981; reappointed to Senate, 1983, 1985; elected to Bermuda House of Assembly as a Progressive Labour Party candidate for St. George’s North, 1989, re-elected 1993; elected deputy leader of PLP; elected Party leader, 1996; served as shadow minister of education and culture, 1989-93, shadow minister of education, 1993-98; premier and minister of education, 1998-.

Awards: Miss Peace Bermuda, 1973; citation for accomplishment from state of Pennsylvania, 1993; Best of Bermuda Gold awards as Bermuda’s most effective politician, 1997, 1998.

Member: Bermuda Business and Professional Women’s Club, Bermuda Society of Arts, Bermuda National Gallery, Bermuda Zoological Society, St. George’s Heritage Advisory Committee.

Addresses: Home—53 York St., St. George’s GE 05, Bermuda. Office— Office of the Prime Ministers, Cabinet Bldg., 105 Front St., Hamilton HM 12, Bermuda.

candidate for St. George’s, a UBP stronghold, in 1972. By doing so, Smith had become the youngest woman in Bermudian history to run for legislative office. The race was closely contested and Smith lost the election by a mere 79 votes.

As an artist, Smith had also become quite active in the arts scene in Bermuda. She formed a dance group called Liberation Dancers, which was affiliated with a political society of black activists known as the Black Beret Cadre. Smith also founded an artists’ cooperative organization called Ujima Kuumba, worked as a dance teacher for many years, and taught art at a juvenile delinquent center. From 1976 to 1991, she was the coordinator of the Miss Bermuda pageant. Smith also continued to work in journalism, moving from the Bermuda Recorder to Fame magazine in 1974 as a writer and then assistant editor.

Appointed to Senate

Smith was again chosen by the PLP as their candidate in the 1976 election. She was defeated again, this time by only 50 votes. That same year, Smith was hired by the Bermuda Broadcasting Company as a copywriter and promotions manager, and continued to play an active role in a number of arts organizations. She again stood for election in 1980, and lost once more. Her dedication and commitment to the PLP were recognized, however, and she was appointed to a seat in the Senate, Bermuda’s upper house, that same year. Appointed by the governor on recommendation from party leaders, the senators, in contrast to the elected lower house, are equally divided among the political parties.

Smith became the first female senator in Bermuda’s upper house, and was elected deputy chair of the PLP in 1981. When she was reappointed to the Senate in 1983, Smith took on the shadow portfolio for youth and sport. She returned to the United States to attend the prestigious John F. Kennedy School of Government’s Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Governments at Harvard University in 1984. The months abroad served to reaffirm Smith’s faith in the electoral process, and she later remarked that she was greatly inspired by the presidential campaign of the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

Shadow Education Minister

In 1985, Smith lost her bid for a seat in the House of Assembly. She finally won a seat in the 1989 elections and soon took an active role in the House of Assembly’s lower house. In 1992 she became the first woman to chair a committee there, and has served on Constitutional Review, Private Bills, and Political Education committees, among several others. She also became a shadow minister for the Ministry of Education. Because educational reform is one of the most highly debated topics in Bermuda, Smith became a well-recognized figure on the island.

Smith has credited longtime PLP politician Lois Browne-Evans as one of her most important role models. In 1963, Browne-Evans became the first woman to earn admittance to the Bermuda bar. Smith was re-elected to her St. George’s seat in 1993, and was voted by PLP members to serve as deputy leader of the party in 1994. When another of Smith’s mentors, PLP chair Frederick Wade, died in August of 1996, she was chosen to succeed him. In 1998, Smith was selected by the PLP as its candidate for premier of Bermuda.

An Historic Victory

The PLP ran a campaign that avoided media soundbytes and spin-doctoring. Instead, it concentrated on street-level visibility and Smith campaigned door-to-door around the island. The PLP also encouraged their candidates to appear as guests on talk radio shows. This strategy became so successful that the UBP-controlled government tried to ban political discussion on radio shows before the election. Smith’s running mate, Delaey Robinson, wore dreadlocks—as did a growing number of middle-class Bermudians—and “among the political disasters of the campaign was a negative [UBP] ad which questioned the suitability of Delaey Robinson—presumably due to his appearance—as a possible PLP finance minister,” wrote Tania Therault in the Bermuda Sun.

In the elections in November of 1998, the PLP took an astonishing 26 seats in the House, compared to just 14 captured by the UBP. With that majority, Smith became Bermuda’s first elected female premier. On the morning of November 10, Smith presented her victory speech to the rousing cheers of PLP supporters. Ousted UBP leader Pamela Gordon praised the PLP election strategy, noting in her concession speech that “the Opposition ran a hard campaign. It ran one that touched the hearts of the average Bermudians,” according to reporter Meredith Ebbin in the Bermuda Sun. The PLP campaign chair, Calvin Smith, also remarked to Ebbin that Smith’s “leadership in all of this has been tremendous…. She was extremely focused, which was a major factor in creating a bandwagon effect.”

In addition to her duties as premier, Smith also served as minister of education. She looked forward to the unprecedented challenge presented by her victory over the UBP, a fitting victory for a woman who began her political career speaking out against government censorship. As Smith told Harvey in RG, “As long as you tell people, ‘Black people can never run this country’—for black substitute the Progressive Labour Party—as though we are some strange bodies and not Bermudians who have Bermuda’s best interests at heart, just as does the other party, they’ll believe it…. And we also know that we stand, more than any other Government, the chance of being booted out after one term because the people will hold us to a higher standard. They will expect more from us and they will have no compunction in voting us out…. but I think that the political landscape will be greatly changed after that and I think that will be good.”