Dutch historians who have been captivated by the story of St Lucian businessman Joseph Sylvester are currently on-island to research Sylvester's family background, as part of a movie documentary to be made about this remarkable man. Marga Altena, Hubert Berkhout and Petra Grimberg happened across some newspaper clippings about Sylvester, earlier this year, and were immediately swept off their feet by the flamboyance and inventiveness of this man who has been dubbed "The First Successful Black Businessman in Holland". Sylvester is also one of the subjects of a study concerning the media portrayal of white Dutch women married to foreign black men in the early 20th century.

Joseph Sylvester was born in St Lucia in 1890. At a young age, he started roaming the world. Via Philadelphia, he eventually landed in Antwerp in Belgium at the start of the 1920s. In Antwerp, he developed his sales technique and marketed his own personal brand of peppermints, which he sold in the market.

Five years later, he moved to the neighbouring country of Holland, where he ended up in a small provincial textile town in the east: Hengelo. The mints became toothpaste but before long, Joseph Sylvester's brand of Babajaba-toothpaste was a big hit in Hengelo. His theatrical antics brought buyers to his market stall and Sylvester cunningly exploited his skin colour. In those days, black people were renowned for having beautiful white teeth, and Joseph Sylvester quickly became known as 'Menthol'.



Dressed in a white medical coat, and speaking his own peculiar mixture of English and local Dutch dialect, Sylvester entertained large audiences in the marketplace. Everyone knew "Menthol" because of his remarkable looks and outfit. He habitually dressed like a real dandy , in three-piece suits, top hats, white gloves and gaiters, and carried a walking stick with large silver knob clenched tightly under his arm.

In 1928, Joseph Sylvester gained national fame when he married local model, Roosje Borchert. All of Hengelo lined the roadside so as not to miss one moment of this 'Marriage between Black and White', as the local press billed it.

The Great Depression of the 1930s forced Sylvester to move into another business: trading rabbits and rabbit skins. But his sales techniques did not desert him and he quickly gained legendary fame with his 'Atomic Power Torpedo Fastbreed Rabbits' which he offered to the owners of female rabbits for breeding purposes. "... successful conception guaranteed". Sylvester also offered professional butchering services, "... completed within 4 minutes and 59 seconds, at no cost whatsoever, in exchange for the skin".

The War Years (1940-45) were hard, but the Nazi occupier mostly left Sylvester (a British citizen after all) alone. He also overcame a long illness but after that, his characteristic liveliness and sense of adventure started to wane. He also found it increasingly difficult to stay afloat financially.

On 26th of May 1955, Joseph Sylvester passed away in his hometown of Hengelo. The following day saw just a short notice in the newspapers. Nevertheless, Sylvester continues to live on in the stories and anecdotes of Hengelo, taking on near legendary proportions. The exotic and flamboyant Joseph Sylvester is now inextricably a part of the history of this otherwise very down-to-earth town in the east of Holland.

The team of Dutch researchers are attempting to uncover Joseph Sylvester's family history in St Lucia. Very little is know, except that his father, William Sylvester, was born around 1850 in California in America (perhaps his father had gone there during the 1849 gold rush?). William Sylvester later moved to St Lucia, where he married Veronique, Philipsia. It would seem that she died before 1920. Joseph Sylvester was born in 1890, probably in Castries or surrounding area. Very little else is known about Joseph Sylvester's brothers or sisters - except that a sister once visited him in Holland.

Does anybody know this Joseph Sylvester, or know anything more about his family and background in St Lucia, America or Holland? Does anybody know more about the Sylvester family in St Lucia? Any information would be very much appreciated! It would be wonderful to be able to showcase a little more of St Lucia in this documentary about Holland's first successful black businessman!
For more information, please email jolien@slucia.com.