{{Short description|Belizean activist (1887–1955)}} {{Infobox person | name = Thomas Vincent Ramos | image = File:Thomas Vincent Ramos.jpg | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1887|09|17|df=y}} | birth_place = Puerto Cortés, Honduras | death_date = {{Death date and age|1955|11|13|1887|09|17|df=y}} | death_place = Stann Creek Town, British Honduras<br />(now Dangriga, Belize) | other_names = | occupation = School teacher | known_for = Civil rights activist, founder of Garifuna Settlement Day | relatives = Pi'erre Bourne }}
'''Thomas Vincent Ramos''', commonly known as '''T. V. Ramos''', (17 September 1887 – 13 November 1955) was a Belizean civil rights activist who promoted the interests of the Garifuna people, and is now considered a national hero.<ref name=bio>{{cite web |url=http://www.nlsbze.bz/bios.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090312003202/http://www.nlsbze.bz/bios.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=March 12, 2009 |title=Belizean Biographies: Thomas Vincent Ramos |publisher=Belize National Library Service and Information System |access-date=2010-02-07}}</ref>
==Background==
T. V. Ramos was born in Puerto Cortés, Honduras, on 17 September 1887 and was educated at Wesleyan Methodist primary schools in Stann Creek Town, British Honduras (now Dangriga, Belize), and Belize City. He took correspondence courses in business administration, public speaking, journalism and accountancy. Ramos married Elisa Marian Fuentes in 1914. He moved permanently to Stann Creek Town in 1923 but did not formally become a British subject until one year before his death in 1955.<ref name=bio/>
==Social activist==
After moving to British Honduras, Ramos became a school teacher. He was also a visionary leader. Concerned about the systematic neglect of health facilities for Garinagu in Stann Creek Town, he founded the Carib Development and Sick Aid Society and later the Carib International Society, which had affiliations in Guatemala and Honduras.<ref name=avila>{{cite book |title=Garifuna World |chapter=The Period 1920 - 1940 - Thomas Vincent Ramos |author=Jose Francisco Avila & Tomas Alberto Avila |publisher=Lulu.com |isbn=1-928810-02-0}}</ref> The purpose of the Carib Development Society was to help the sick and to assist those who need financial assistance to bury their dead. The society owns {{convert|800|acre|km2}} of land that was called the Carib Reserve at Sarawee in the Stann Creek valley.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sjc.edu.bz/belizeanstudies/newsmodule/view/section/10/id/35/src/@random4aa16edf3337b/ |title=Thomas Vincent Ramos |publisher=The Belizean Studies Resource Center |access-date=2010-02-07}}</ref> He lobbied successfully for the colonial authorities to provide native Garifuna nurses in the local hospital.<ref name=avila/> Ramos was a Methodist, a preacher, and wrote several Garifuna hymns. Some of them are sung each year at his memorial.<ref name="amandala">Ramos, Adele. [http://amandala.com.bz/news/52nd-tribute-to-t-v-ramos/ "52nd tribute to T.V. Ramos"]. ''Amandala'', 18 November 2008. (accessed 22 May 2015)</ref>
T. V. Ramos was a contemporary of Marcus Garvey, and was involved in Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association. He fought discrimination against Garifuna people, including all Afro-Belizeans. He was founder of the Independent Manhood and Exodus Uplift Society and the Colonial Industrial Instruction Association.<ref name=bio/> He was a prolific contributor to the newspapers. For example, writing in the ''Belize Independent'' on 21 January 1942 Ramos complained of the brutality of some Wesleyan School teachers towards their students, and the immorality of some of the female pupil teachers.<ref>{{cite book |title=Education And Multi-cultural Cohesion in the Caribbean: The Case of Belize, 1931 - 1981 |author=Peter Hitchen |publisher=Lulu.com |year=2005 |isbn=1-4116-5453-6}}</ref>
In 1940, as leader and spokesman of the Garifuna people along with Pantaleon Hernandez and Domingo Ventura he approached the governor of the colony and asked for establishment of a public and bank holiday to observe the Garifuna arrival in Belize. The request was granted and the Carib Disembarkation Day, later named Garifuna Settlement Day, was first celebrated in Stann Creek District on 19 November 1941. The holiday was recognized in Toledo District in 1943 and throughout the country in 1977.<ref name=avila/>
==Legacy==
Ramos died on 13 November 1955 and was put to rest the following day.<ref name="amandala" /> Since 1956, A torchlight parade has been held on 13 November every year in honor of his contributions to Belize and to his people.<ref>{{cite book |title=Garifuna history, language & culture of Belize, Central America & the Caribbean |author=Sebastian Cayetano |publisher=The Author |year=1993 |page=51}}</ref> The parade is part of the week-long lead-up to the Garifuna Settlement Day that he established, which includes selection of Miss Garifuna, parades and special church services, and The T. V. Ramos Classic Bike Race.<ref>{{cite book |title=Explore Belize |author=Harry S. Pariser |publisher=Harry S. Pariser |year=1998 |isbn=1-55650-785-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/explorebelize00harr/page/279 279] |url=https://archive.org/details/explorebelize00harr/page/279 }}</ref> <ref>{{cite web |url=http://sanpedrosun.net/old/98-431.html |title=Celebrating Garifuna Day |work=San Pedro Sun |access-date=2010-02-07}}</ref> His granddaughter Adele Ramos published a biography of T. V. Ramos in 2000.<ref>{{cite book |title=Thomas Vincent Ramos: the man and his writings |author=Thomas Vincent Ramos |author2=Adele Ramos |publisher=National Garifuna Council of Belize |year=2000 |isbn=976-8111-56-9}}</ref> A statue of Thomas Vincent Ramos stands at the junction of Commerce and Front Streets in Dangriga.<ref>{{cite book |title=Belize |author=Mara Vorhees |author2=Joshua Samuel Brown |publisher=Lonely Planet |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-74104-703-5 |page=222}}</ref>
Ivan Ramos, a grandson, served as a member of the Belize House of Representatives from Dangriga from 2012 to 2015.<ref name="amandala" /><ref name="ramosresign">[http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=32683 "Bye-Election In July! PUP Hon. Ivan Ramos Steps Down As Representative"], Tropical Vision Limited, 8 June 2015. (accessed 18 June 2015)</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramos, Thomas Vincent}} Category:1887 births Category:1955 deaths Category:Garifuna people Category:Indigenous rights activists Category:Caribbean pan-Africanists Category:People from Cortés Department Category:People from Dangriga Category:Belizean Methodists Category:British Honduras people of World War II Category:British Honduras activists