Learn more about Simpson’s life and career, including her numerous government posts. “My father has never seen a picture of his father before,” said Gray who turns 60 this year. Boost Birthday June Jun 24, 1911. |  “For him, this will be a revelation. In 1998 she married business executive Errald Miller and added his surname after hers. Raised in Halifax where she sang in the church choir as a child, White won a scholarship in 1939 to attend the Halifax Conservatory of Music and, two years later, made her debut at age 30 in Toronto. Simpson Miller left office in March 2016 after the PNP’s loss by a small margin to the JLP in the February general election. In 2007, White was posthumously awarded a lifetime achievement award by the East Coast Music Association. After Golding’s resignation in October 2011, his successor, Andrew Holness, called for early elections to be held on December 29. Publicity Listings [9] In 1945, she signed a contract with artist agency Columbia Concerts Incorporated. During the same period, she also rose through the PNP’s ranks, serving as her party’s vice president (1978–2006) and heading its Women’s Movement (1983–2006). The son of a runaway slave was a scholar, bass-baritone concert singer, actor, writer, multi-lingual orator, lawyer and an accomplished athlete who earned 13 varsity letters in football, basketball, track and field and baseball. The following year she stepped down as leader of the PNP and resigned from Parliament. Simpson was parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Local Government and, later, in the Office of the Prime Minister (1977–80) during the first administration of Michael Manley. Her repertoire included both classics and Negro spirituals with which most critics and audiences felt she really excelled. White later completed tours throughout Europe, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. In 2002 the leader of the PNP, Prime Minister P.J. “As much as she sang the classical art songs, when she committed to singing the music which came from outside the conservatories, the salons and the aristocratic patronage, that gift of Negro song registered with everyone who heard them just as well and as deep as any melodies or song by Beethoven or Mozart or even Duke Ellington for that matter.”. In 1999, Canada Post issued a millennium stamp bearing the image of Portia White who was named ‘A Person of National Historical Significance’ by the Canadian government four years earlier. In 1939, she studied under Ernesto Vinci at the Conservatory and began to sing as a contralto. "[15] The Nova Scotia provincial government also awards a Portia White Prize for "cultural and artistic excellence,"[16] and the 1998 inaugural Portia White Prize was awarded to Nova Scotian poet George Elliott Clarke, White's great nephew. Simpson Miller and her party enjoyed popularity among the public, but her administration’s reputation was damaged by a financial scandal and by its perceived slowness in providing disaster relief after Hurricane Dean in mid-August 2007. Famous Birthdays. One of six siblings (a brother is deceased), Gray took his youngest child – five-year-old Shawn Gray --  to the exhibit featuring recordings, letters, photos and concert programs. In preparation for that event, in February 2006 the party held a leadership election that was won by Simpson Miller, who edged out her male rivals with a campaign that featured the distinctive slogan “Come to Mama.” Upon Patterson’s retirement the following month, Simpson Miller took office as the country’s first female prime minister. Our main campus is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land promised to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River. Although White wanted to pursue a singing career, she could not afford professional training at the time. Portia Simpson received her early education at Marlie Hill Primary School and St. Martin’s High School. The National Library of Jamaica - Biography of Portia Simpson-Miller, Portia Simpson Miller - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). They won first prize. “Portia White: In honour of the 75th anniversary of her Toronto debut.”. “Yes, this is related to Portia White, but beyond her a history of struggle for equality and how essential it is that we have access to these archives of histories of struggle. ... Portia "swallows fire" or hot coals which burn up her internal organs--a horrible way to die. Portia White was born on June 24, 1911 in Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada as Portia May White. Jesse Pinkman's aunt Ginny also contracted Lung Cancer and she passed away a few years before the events of Breaking Bad. It is a natural voice, a gift from heaven. During the 1930s, Portia started taking voice lessons as a mezzo-soprano at the Halifax Conservatory of Music. At the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto she continued to train her voice and also began teaching voice lessons privately and at Branksome Hall. “As his voice was registered in the struggle for freedom, so was hers,” said Clarke who holds eight honourary degrees. It would be good for them.”. Since then many honours have been bestowed on her. Visit our COVID-19 information website to learn how Warriors protect Warriors. [1] She is the namesake of Portia White Court, a Halifax street,[18] as well as the Portia White Atrium in Citadel High School. It’s something he has never known and always wanted to know.”. [1], White has been declared a person of national historic significance by the Government of Canada,[17] and she was featured in a special issue of Millennium postage stamps celebrating Canadian achievement. There White became the voice and music instructor of such well known performers as Lorne Greene, Dinah Christie, Don Francks, and Robert Goulet. Portia White was born on June 24, 1911 in Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada as Portia May White. She also completed the Leaders in Development executive education program of Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government (1999). This exhibit is actually a transcendent exhibit because it helps reminds us all of the deep necessity of having access to archives.”. “As she paraded across those concert stages around the world, she was echoing in a sense Paul Robeson’s similar attempts to sing the world to greater unity through song and through music.”. Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription. A plaque in Truro declared Portia White to be a person of historic significance, the first Canadian woman of African descent to receive this designation, a fitting tribute to a remarkable woman who figured so prominently in the musical life of her community and the world. [5] As White grew older, she became the choir director and assisted with church fundraising by singing on her father's weekly radio show. “I am going to bring my two older kids ages 10 and nine to the exhibit so they would get to know more about our family history. Historica Canada. Portia May White was born June 24, 1911, in Truro, Nova Scotia,[1] the third of 13 children born to Izie Dora (White) and William Andrew White. Canada Post has issued a Portia White stamp. William Shakespeare. In 1944 White auditioned with Edward Johnson, the Canadian-born general manager of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, New York. Featured Posts. Whenever we felt that the larger society wasn’t giving us our due, it was important to be able to say to ourselves that our great aunt sang before Queen Elizabeth II.