Yesterday (September 7) marked the 103rd birthday of late cultural icon Louise ‘Miss Lou’ Bennett-Coverley. Many Jamaicans were delighted to see that a Google Doodle was created to celebrate and honour the beloved folklorist.

The celebrations around the life and legacy of Miss Lou will continue throughout the month of September.

A statuette portraying the likeness of the globally renowned cultural icon was unveiled at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, Library in St Andrew, on her birthday.

The unveiling formed part of the opening of the Miss Lou Exhibition, which is among several activities being held to commemorate the 103rd anniversary of the birth of one of the leading promoters of Jamaican culture.

The exhibition, which is now open to the public, is scheduled to run until September30. The showing features the prolific creative works of the much-loved cultural icon.

It chronicles the extensive work of Miss Lou, whose wit and prose captured and celebrated Jamaica’s colourful and unique culture.

Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Minister Olivia Grange, in her address at the exhibition’s opening, hailed Bennett-Coverley’s contribution to the widespread promotion of Jamaican culture.

“We celebrate Miss Lou’s impact on our Jamaican society and life. Her work was built on her love for Jamaicans. As such, every movement, every pronouncement, every jab at our society’s hypocritical norms was delivered with the kind of truth and bravado that allowed us to laugh at ourselves through her work,” she said.

Ms. Grange, who noted that Miss Lou was considered by many as the ‘Mother of Jamaica’s Culture’, said she epitomised the substance of the Jamaican character.

The Minister further pointed out that Miss Lou was able to articulate the sociological and political aspects of Jamaican life as depicted through the politics of culture and identity.

“Hers was the determination, in the face of criticism and repudiation, to celebrate the integrity of the culture of the Jamaican masses,” Grange added.

The statuette was gifted to the UWI Mona Library by the ministry. The exhibition and other commemorative events being held throughout September to celebrate the life and significant achievements of Bennett-Coverley are being organised by the ministry in collaboration with the JCDC and UWI.

The event also forms part of the yearlong Jamaica 60 Independence celebrations. Born September 7, 1919, Miss Lou is a world-renowned Jamaican poet and performer and is widely considered one of the country’s most important purveyors of Jamaican culture.

For her invaluable contribution to the promotion of Jamaican culture, she was honoured with the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (M.B.E.); the Norman Manley Award for Excellence in the field of Arts; the Order of Jamaica; the Institute of Jamaica’s Musgrave Silver and Gold Medals for distinguished eminence in the field of Arts and Culture, and an Honorary Doctor of Letters Degree from the UWI.

In September 1988, her composition, You’re Going Home Now, won a nomination from the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television for the Best Original Song in the movie Milk and Honey.

In 1998, she received an Honorary Doctor of Letters Degree from York University in Toronto, Canada.

Bennett-Coverley was appointed a member of the Order of Merit (OM) for her distinguished contribution to the development of the Arts and Culture by the Government of Jamaica in 2001.