WHEN it was first introduced on Tobago’s cultural landscape, more than five decades ago, the Miss Windward Afro Queen show was meant to be a celebration of Africanness and female empowerment – a true reflection of the traditions and values that have defined the Motherland for generations.
In the 2025 edition of the show, titled Ancestral Royalty – Resilience, Beauty & Unity of a People, organisers are returning to its original format in a way that combines African customs and rituals with Tobago’s unique cultural identity.
The event, one of the highlights of Tobago’s Carnival celebrations, takes place at the Cyd Gray Sporting Complex, Roxborough, on February 26, from 7pm.
Jesse Taylor, cultural officer 11, Department of Culture and Antiquities, said this year’s focus was deliberate.
“We have tried to use the way the Africans struggled, even in their moments of torture, despair and distress to show that the one thing they had in common was unity,” he told WMN in an interview at the Shaw Park Cultural Complex on February 11.
“Even coming out of the transatlantic era, they were still able to preserve their identity and use that identity to permeate it throughout the Caribbean. That is why we have all of the descendants of Africa and all of the traditions we uphold. So we are going back to the roots of the show.”
For this year’s event, Taylor said the organisers heeded the cries of the Windward Carnival Committee, which has traditionally regarded the show as one of its flagship presentations.
“We have always tried to use the Afro Queen show to encourage carnival activity in the east because, believe it or not, a lot of people in the east do not come to town, notwithstanding there are a few activities held in the east of that magnitude.”
Taylor said there also was an overwhelming sentiment that the Afro Queen show was best suited to the Tobago leg of the national festival as opposed to the October carnival.
As such, he said Secretary of Tourism, Culture, Antiquities and Transportation Tashia Burris, assistant secretary Niall George and administrator Julien Skeete all felt it should be restored to its grandeur but with improvements.
Taylor recalled in the days, not so long ago, when patrons wore strictly African clothing to the event.
“But they have moved more into the celebration. And there is nothing wrong with that, an appreciation of our carnival characters, traditional mas and calypso. But that, in itself, made less important, the role and function of the African woman as a role model and source of resilience for the continued development of the young people. What was missing was the Africanness of the show.”
In the upcoming show, Taylor said nine delegates, ranging in age 16-26, were selected from groups that are largely from the eastern part of Tobago.
“So we have groups that have just been formed and some that have made their mark in the Prime Minister’s Best Village Trophy Competition, in the Heritage Festival as groups that have competed and won.
“The intention is the use the q
