Rt Hon. Dr. D Gail Saunders, Retired Chief Archivist and Historian Dies

30 June 2023

From Sean McWeeney Q C:

The death of Dr Gail Saunders is a great loss for our nation. She was the pre-eminent Bahamian historian of her time, including the post-Independence era to date. Her ground-breaking academic research and writings about Slavery in The Bahamas form an especially important part of her legacy. This was a subject which had been glossed over, even trivialized in some cases, by historians who came before her. Dr. Saunders changed all that. She put Slavery front and centre, correctly treating it as the most defining experience in our development as a people. Of no less importance to her legacy was her pioneering work in putting the Department of Archives on a modern, professional footing, then guiding its growth for decades as Executive Director. Perhaps less well known to younger generations of Bahamians, Dr. Saunders was also an outstanding track athlete as a student at Queen’s College and later at University in the UK. Indeed she was for a time the top female sprinter in The Bahamas. Gail was also with her late husband, Winston Saunders, one of the true “power couples” in The Bahamas, leading figures among the intelligentsia and in the cultural community. Despite her numerous and diverse accomplishments, however, Gail remained an individual of exceptional modesty and unassuming manner who shunned the spotlight and instinctively recoiled from praise. She will be missed by many. I extend deepest condolences to Gail’s brother, Terry North, and the entire North/Isaacs clan. Sean