Chitra and Pritha Singh Oral History Interview
Chitra Singh is a singer/songwriter and a nursing aide. Here, she and her sister Pritha, co-founder of the Rakjumari Cultural Center, an Indo-Caribbean arts and culture organization in Queens, share the family's history of double diaspora and some of the objects, including an intricately carved brass lota, that made the journey across generations from India to Guyana to New York City.
Portrait of Per Ajie
Chitra Singh is a singer/songwriter and a nursing aide. She is the co-founder of the Rajkumari Cultural Center, an Indo-Caribbean arts and culture organization in Queens.
"Per ajie," the great-grandmother of the Singh sisters, who arrived indentured in the Caribbean in the 19th century.
Poem Dedicated to Per Ajie
Chitra Singh is a singer/songwriter and a nursing aide. She is the co-founder of the Rajkumari Cultural Center, an Indo-Caribbean arts and culture organization in Queens.
Text of "Per ajie," a poem by Rajkumari Singh, Pritha and Chitra's mother, in her self-published collection Days of the Sahib.
Days of the Sahib Dedication Page
Chitra Singh is a singer/songwriter and a nursing aide. She is the co-founder of the Rajkumari Cultural Center, an Indo-Caribbean arts and culture organization in Queens.
Dedication page for Days of the Sahib
The poet dedicated her collection to her parents, Jung Bahadur Singh and Alice Sitalpersad Singh, who are shown here in pen portraits by Pritha Singh.
Days of the Sahib Poet Bio
Chitra Singh is a singer/songwriter and a nursing aide. She is the co-founder of the Rajkumari Cultural Center, an Indo-Caribbean arts and culture organization in Queens.
Here, a biography of Rajkumari Singh is accompanied by a portrait by pen done by her daughter Pritha Singh.
Rajkumari Singh
Rajkumari Singh was a poet, playwright, activist and cultural producer who presided over a movement by artists in Guyana to reclaim the slur "coolie." She suffered from polio and died while receiving treatment in New York City in 1979, at the age of 56. She was the mother of eight children, who carried on her artist legacy through dance, song, theater and literature.
Cover of Heritage Issue 1
One of Rajkumari Singh's chidren, Gora Singh, who was trained in Indian classical dance in India, produced an event in Guyana in 1973 to commemorate the 135th anniversary of Indians landing in the colony. The program also doubled as the first issue of Heritage, a literary pamphlet/newsletter put out by the Messenger Group artistic collective.
Cover of Heritage Issue 2
The second issue of Heritage, containing new writing by Mahadai Das, Henry Muttoo, Janet Naidu and others, appeared in September 1973, six months after the first issue. This is a rare and historically significant publication.
Pages from Heritage Issue 2
These pages from the second issue of Heritage contain a pen drawing and a polemic about the 1948 massacre of sugar cane workers at the Enmore Plantation in Guyana, which fanned the embers of the movement for independence in Guyana. The pages also contain an add for the third issue of the newsletter.
Remembering Gora
Chitra Singh is a singer/songwriter and a nursing aide. She is the co-founder of the Rajkumari Cultural Center, an Indo-Caribbean arts and culture organization in Queens.
In 1998, the Queens Museum hosted a memorial for Chitra and Pritha's brother Gora Singh, a classically trained dancer and a co-founder of the Rajkumari Cultural Center.
