Blake was born on the 7th day of
February, 1906 in Salem, Clarendon to Cottilda Ayre- Blake and farmer,
Joseph Blake. He attended the Tabernacle Elementary School (1912- 1921)
in James Hill, Clarendon and the Government Farm School/ Jamaica School
of Agriculture (1921- 23) in Kingston. He later studied Stenography,
Accounting, Spanish Literature and Journalism in Colon, Panama, and
LaSalle Extension University of Scranton, Pennsylvania in the United
States of America where he attained a Ph.D. with honors.
In 1923, having just completed his third year at
the Government Farm School, Evon Blake, while on his way home, was drawn
to a ship in the Kingston harbour on which he spontaneously decided to
stow away to Panama where he spent thirteen years. It was here that his
career as a journalist began.
LIFEWORK
Blake started out as a columnist for the Star and
Herald of Panama from 1928 to 1929 and then moved on to serving as
secretary to the manager of Panama Agencies Company in Cristobal. Later,
he joined the staff of the United Fruit Company. This was his final job
in Panama as he returned to Jamaica in 1933 where he became an
established journalist. However, he first joined the Jamaica
Constabulary Force where he was recruited as an interpreter/translator
and political undercover operator at the Kingston Division; he served in
this capacity for only a brief period in 1933.
In June of the same year, Blake became crime
reporter and columnist at the Gleaner Company located at the time on
Harbour Street in Kingston. He resigned in 1938 and began freelance
writing for the Jamaica Standard, a daily newspaper, and the Jamaica Times,
a weekly newspaper. This lasted for about a year because in 1939 Blake
parted from this engagement to establish what would become a much
recognized and successful venture of his, the Spotlight Newsmagazine which was the first of its kind in Jamaica.
Spotlight Newsmagazine,
Evon Blake declared on its launch (January 1940) had, “a triple feature
combination—News, Information, Entertainment; a combination which no
literate man, woman or child can resist: a popular appeal” (Spotlight, 1). He further noted that although the Magazine
would communicate news of political happenings, it would avoid airing
views related to such happenings. Hence, the Magazine’s disconnect from
political tribalism which he believed would jeopardize its span of life.
As editor and publisher of the Magazine for sixteen
and a half years, Blake’s work covered several news items relating to
crime, the World War, business, industry, government, education, labor,
sport, religion, women, folklore, press, politics and other subjects. In
an endeavour to publish the “newsmagazine glamorous sister”, Mr. Blake,
in 1953 established Spotlight Illustrated. However, it survived only three issues as a result of a lack of technical expertise in Jamaica.
The year 1956 was a turning point in Blake’s
career. It was the year of Spotlight’s incorporation and his divorce
from the said publication; the former resulting from financial
difficulties and the second from irreconcilable differences between
Blake and management. Subsequently, he launched in August 1957, Newday Newsmagazine which became the competition of its forerunner and lasted for eight and a half years.
Although it was the rival of Spotlight, Newday
had a different geographical focus; it was West Indian. The name
‘Newday’, he said had a dual symbolism: “Considering the long mental
night out of which it was born, considering that even while it is being
born the people it is designed to serve are emerging joyously from out
of the long political and social night of colonial rule into the hopeful
new day of nationhood. . .” (Newday,
9) “Federal Affairs”, “Sport”, “Caribbean Quotes”, “About Ourselves”,
“Women” and “Education” are just some of the content headings of the Newday Newsmagazine of the West Indies.
Mr. Blake’s work was not limited to journalism or
publishing. He espoused nation building and sought to champion the cause
of the socially and economically deprived. Besides editorials, writing
letters to government officials was a fundamental part of these
undertakings. Correspondences between him and former Prime ministers
(The Most Honorable Michael Manley and The Right Excellent Sir William
Alexander Bustamante of Jamaica) speak to such efforts. These include:
A letter dated 6th June 1963 which Mr.
Blake wrote to Sir Bustamante stating that funds (20, 000 pounds)
allocated for the Chicago Exhibition should instead be used to support
the cause of the unemployed who were suffering dire hardships;
Correspondence between him and the Honorable
Michael Manley (in March 1961) on the issue of granting scholarships to
practicing Jamaican journalist;
A letter dated 2nd January which he
wrote to Sir Bustamante expressing his disapproval of Americans instead
of Jamaicans contracted to work on the Sandy Gully Project.
As a result of health issues, in 1963 Mr. Blake
retired to Long Bay and later Anchovy, Portland. Here, he worked as a
columnist for The Gleaner, feature writer for The Star, and produced two major publications; The Best of Evon Blake, 1967 and Beautiful Jamaica,
1970. Although the former of these two publications comprised the
articles Mr. Blake felt was the best written by him, the latter (a
colorful pictorial of Jamaica depicting various aspects of the society)
gained more recognition not only locally, but internationally. It was an
official government publication. Other publications include:
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