Ira Pearman Philip’s remarkable career as a writer spans more than 70 years. At the age of 11, his essay on the subject of patriotism earned him first prize in an Island-wide Empire Day competition sponsored in 1937 by the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire.
He would rise to prominence as a print and radio and television journalist, as well as a political and union activist—and either covered or was a participant in many of the seminal events of Bermuda’s modern history.
Philip began his journalistic journey as a schoolboy, contributing articles to the Bermuda Recorder newspaper. Mastering Pitman shorthand and typing in his early teens at Mr. Lionel Jean-Jacques’ Commercial School, he later became a parliamentary and general news reporter for the Recorder. He was to stay at the newspaper for some 25 years as the organisation’s only full-time journalist.
At the Recorder, he had a seat at the frontlines of the battles by black Bermudians for racial equality and full voting rights. He reported on the early activities of the Bermuda Workers Association and its successor, the Bermuda Industrial Union, heated parliamentary debates as well as on major figures from charismatic labour leader Dr. E. F. Gordon to Front Street baron Sir Henry Tucker.
He also covered the 1959 Theatre Boycott, and more than 40 years later, he was a narrator for Errol Williams’ film When Voices Rise, because of his first-hand knowledge of that pivotal event.
His career in broadcasting began in the 1960s. When the black-owned and operated Capital Broadcasting Company launched ZFB AM and FM radio stations in 1962 and its ZFB Channel 8 television station in 1963, Philip was given wide latitude as the Company’s news director and as manager of its radio and TV stations. By the time his tenure as a broadcaster ended in January 1982, he had become one of the Island’s best known television personalities.
It was Philip who established ZFB News, and his interviews soon became a popular feature of the nightly news programmes as well as Here and Now, a popular interview programme featuring the Island’s top newsmakers. During his years at ZFB, he continued to cover major, even tumultuous events, from riots to royal visits as well as general elections.
He was trained in the radio and television arts, principally by the Thomson Foundation of Scotland and the ABC network in the US, for which ZFB was an affiliate. In addition, he took several courses at the University of Maryland’s extension programme at the US base in Bermuda.
“That background enabled me to instruct and train some promising young Bermudian broadcasters, who are still performing admirably both in Bermuda and abroad,” Philip said.
When the short-lived Bermuda Times newspaper launched in 1987, Philip became one of the paper’s editors. At the age of 85, he was still going strong as the writer of Island Notebook, a regular feature in The Royal Gazette, after the column first appeared for many years in the now-defunct Mid-Ocean News.
Philip is also a prolific author. His published works include Freedom Fighters—from Monk to Mazumbo; Heroines in the Medical Field; Hakim, Son of Mazumbo; History of the Bermuda Industrial Union; and Champ, the One and Only Alma Hunt.
An early member of the BWA, he served as the BIU’s second treasurer from 1952-55 and its third secretary-general from 1955-57. “That was a most critical period in the evolution of the union,” Philip said. “I am proud that I was able to play my part in the launch of the labour movement in Bermuda.”
That involvement, along with his close association with Gordon, provided him with crucial material and insights for his books Freedom Fighters, Hakim, and the history of the BIU.
Philip was involved in the political arena as chairman of the Progressive Labour Party from 1985 to 1991 and represented the party in the Senate for four years, during which he was Opposition spokesman for Education, Justice, Works & Engineering, and the Environment.
Philip was awarded an MBE in the 1999 New Year’s Honours List for outstanding public service and contributions to literature in Bermuda. In 2002, he was a recipient of a Bermuda Arts Council’s Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in literature.
In February 2003 he travelled to Washington, D.C. where the 2nd District of the AME Church honoured him as a ‘Trailblazer in the Media’. He shared the spotlight on that occasion with luminaries from the Howard University School of Communications and the Black Entertainment Network.
The Bermuda African Diaspora Heritage Trail Board in 2010 bestowed its first Lifetime Achievement Award on Philip when it hosted the ADHT International Conference in Bermuda.
His ability and professionalism has been recognised on numerous other occasions. On May 1, 1970, Richard Allen AME Church, St. George’s honoured him with a Meritorious Award for outstanding performance in the field of public relations and television mews.
In Detroit, Michigan on November 29, 1975, the Education Careers Institute of Detroit presented him with an International Achievement Award for Excellence in Public Relations. On April 22, 1982, Allen Temple AME Church, Somerset awarded him its Lay Organisation’s plaque for Meritorious Contributions to Community Service.
Philip is Vice-Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Governors of Sandys Secondary School and a Trustee. His membership has extended more than 50 years, during which time he acted occasionally as Chairman of the Board.
In 2008 he was named a Fellow of the Bermuda College. Philip became a widower on August 26, 2005, with the sudden death of Ismay, his wife of more than 57 years.
“Ismay and I had seven children together, and I am pleased to say they are all college or university graduates,” he said.
