Gerald Harvey’s passing, only 12 days before his 100th birthday, marks the transition of a quiet, courageous activist who has allowed his actions to do much of his talking.

Many are aware that Gerald and his wife, Izola, were members of the Progressive Group, but most are unaware of the specific role that he played in the iconic Theatre Boycott in 1959.

Gerald was five or so years older than most of the other 15-odd members of that secret group. During his late teens and early twenties, this normally quiet guy was very active in the campaigning of the late-1940s by the Bermuda Workers Association to end segregation, gain the right to vote and promote workers’ rights. This reality made Gerald the literal tie that connected that foundational 1940s labour campaign — led by E.F. Gordon — to the grassroots movement known as the 1959 Theatre Boycott.

Once it was agreed within the Progressive Group that they would initiate a theatre boycott while remaining anonymous, it was clear that they would need to be able to produce large numbers of flyers to spread the word — and that they would need a copier! Preserving anonymity was the top priority of this group of activists, so that while six of the members were teachers who had some access to copiers, no one wanted to take that risk.

At the time, Gerald was an operator/owner of a taxi, and Izola was pregnant with their second child. The couple lived in their own home on Scaur Hill and had space to take in guests — a pioneering example of Airbnb practised by some Bermudians back then. In late May 1959, leading up to the planned start of the boycott, Gerald and Izola hosted two Canadian teachers who were friends of their independent-minded neighbour, Betty Kawaley.

Izola had an idea regarding theses “friends of Betty”, and she took the risk and approached these teachers for assistance. Those Canadians listened to Izola’s explanation regarding the planned boycott and the need for a copier. They agreed, as an act of solidarity, to make the purchase for the use of the campaign. Gerald drove the two overseas teachers to Riihiluoma’s on Queen Street, where they made the purchase of a manual copier. He subsequently took the small machine to Roslyn and Eduoard Williams’s home, where it was stashed in the kitchen ceiling.

During the week of June 7, some members of the Progressive Group gathered at the Williamses to run off copies of a flyer announcing that a Theatre Boycott would begin on Monday, June 15, 1959. Other handmade flyers and posters were produced in Flatts and at other venues. Gerald explained that with his cover as a taxi driver, he embraced the role of being the drop man for flyers — a role that became even more key for plans that the Progressive Group wanted to publicise independent of the local media.

Clifford Maxwell, the “quarterback” of the boycott, developed an effectively innovative scheme that preserved anonymity to make use of the newspapers — the biweekly Bermuda Recorder and the daily Royal Gazette. When these two publications received copies of the flyer launching the campaign, slipped under their doors through the night, most of the island was made aware of the imminent boycott. The campaign was so effective that the owners closed their cinemas throughout the island by the end of that first week.

In response to that success and with scores of residents having spontaneously rallied near the existing City Hall car park within view of three cinemas, the Progressive Group came up with a plan B. They decided to encourage those volunteers rallying for the campaign to stage two motorcades to either end of the island on separate days of that second week. Wishing to make these motorcades something of a surprise to the media, Gerald would fit the bill.

This plan required producing large numbers of flyers and ensuring that they could be shared, especially in “town”, while maintaining anonymity. By this stage of the campaign, the 40 Thieves had been doing their best to find out who was behind this boycott. Recorder editor Ira Philip was approached by some of the desperate elite to set up a meeting with the organisers. The Bermuda Police Service special branch had the boycott as their main focus.

Notwithstanding the tension and the atmosphere of paranoia for some, the quiet cabbie courageously embraced the role of circulating those new leaflets, which were run off at the Flatts headquarters. Gerald picked them up in his taxi during the evening and took batches of them hidden under his light jacket to the bathrooms of various clubs in Hamilton — such as PHC, Leopards Club and Young Men’s Social Club. In addition, he would quietly circulate among the crowd in the evening at the City Hall rally and deftly allow flyers to slip from under his jacket. He would do this calmly until some of the crowd would loudly declare that they had “found” a new flyer and take it to the speaker, who would clarify the message to all assembled.

Gerald would then quietly return to his taxi. Job done!

Within days of the motorcade to Somerset, the cinema owners announced that they would open on July 2, 1959, free of segregation. This because of the actions of folks such as Gerald.

Actions speak louder than words. Exercising courage, Gerald rose to the occasion and took action during two milestones of the social transformation of 20th-century Bermuda. Let us ensure that upcoming generations be reminded on whose shoulders on which we all stand by appreciating Gerald’s specific actions, “which speak louder”.

Thank you, Gerald.

• Glenn Fubler represents Imagine Bermuda