What happens in Chapter 1 of Checking Out Me History?
John Agard's "Checking Out Me History" is a powerful poem where the speaker, a Caribbean man, takes a stand against the Eurocentric education imposed by a colonial British curriculum. He starts by listing the figures he was taught in school: nursery-rhyme characters like Dick Whittington and Old King Cole, along with British historical events like the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and Guy Fawkes. Then, he shifts gears, forcefully highlighting the influential figures he was not taught about: Toussaint L'Ouverture, the Haitian revolutionary; Mary Seacole, the Jamaican nurse; and Nanny of the Maroons, an Amerindian leader. Each of these overlooked figures is presented in lyrical, italicized stanzas that starkly contrast with the blunt, dismissive lines about the colonial curriculum. The poem concludes with the speaker confidently claiming his right to reclaim his history — to "carve out me identity" — portraying self-education as a form of resistance and a means of survival.
Analysis
Agard engineers the poem's argument using contrasts in typography and tone. The stanzas that describe the colonial curriculum are clipped and almost contemptuous — featuring short, phonetically spelled lines ("Dem tell me / Dem tell me") that mimic rote recitation and reveal its emptiness. In contrast, the italicized stanzas that celebrate Toussaint, Seacole, and Nanny shift entirely in tone: they become incantatory, rich in imagery, and rhythmically expansive, embodying the very vitality that colonial education suppressed. This structural split is the argument — the form itself conveys meaning.
The non-standard spelling ("Dem tell me," "wha dem want to tell me") isn’t just a stylistic choice but a political statement: Agard uses Caribbean creole to assert the legitimacy of a voice that the curriculum sought to silence. The nursery-rhyme references (Dick Whittington, Old King Cole) are deliberate — they compare lessons in colonial history with children's fantasies, trivializing the empire's self-mythology.
Light and vision are recurring motifs: Toussaint is described as "a beacon," while Nanny is a "hopeful stream." These figures shed light on what colonial education intentionally kept in darkness. The repeated phrase "Dem tell me / Wha dem want to tell me" builds into a drumbeat of grievance before the final shift, where the speaker's tone moves from accusation to agency — "But now I checking out me own history" — signaling a resolution that is defiant instead of despairing.
Key quotes from Chapter 1
“Dem tell me / Dem tell me / Wha dem want to tell me”
The poem's driving refrain, repeated throughout, exposing the curriculum as an act of deliberate selection rather than neutral education.
“Toussaint / a slave / with vision / lick back / Napoleon / battalion / and first Black / Republic born”
One of the italicised celebratory stanzas, compressing the Haitian Revolution into urgent, percussive lines that contrast with the flat recitation of British history.
“But now I / checking out me own history / I carving out me identity”
The poem's closing declaration, in which accusation transforms into agency and self-determined identity.
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Create an accountSign inVocabulary in Chapter 1
- Dem
- Caribbean Creole/dialect form of 'them,' used here to refer to the colonial educators who controlled what the speaker was taught. It carries a distancing tone, marking those people as outsiders imposing their will.
- Wha
- Caribbean Creole spelling of 'what,' reflecting the spoken dialect of the narrator. Its use signals that the poem is written in the speaker's own voice, not in the language of his colonisers.
- lick back
- Caribbean idiom meaning to strike back, defeat, or push back against someone. Here it describes Toussaint's military victory over Napoleon's forces.
- battalion
- A large organised unit of soldiers, typically several hundred strong. In this poem it refers to the military force Napoleon sent to crush the Haitian uprising.
- vision
- The ability to imagine and plan for a future that does not yet exist. The poem uses it to show that Toussaint could see beyond his enslaved condition toward freedom and nationhood.
- beacon
- A guiding light or source of inspiration that others can follow, especially in dark or difficult times. The poem uses it to honour Toussaint as a symbol of hope for the Haitian Revolution.
- thorn
- A persistent source of pain, trouble, or irritation to someone powerful. Calling Toussaint 'a thorn' to Napoleon means he was a constant, sharp obstacle the empire could not remove.
- Maroon
- A member of a community of self-liberated enslaved Africans and their descendants who escaped plantations and established free settlements, especially in Jamaica. Nanny of the Maroons led one such community in armed resistance.
- carving out
- Actively creating or shaping something for oneself through effort and determination, as a sculptor cuts a form from raw material. The speaker uses it to say he is deliberately constructing his own sense of self.
- identity
- A person's understanding of who they are — their culture, history, and sense of self. In this poem it is something the speaker must reclaim because colonial education tried to erase it.
- checking out
- Investigating or actively looking into something for oneself. The speaker uses it to mean he is now seeking out and examining his own history rather than accepting what he was told.
- Republic
- A nation governed by elected representatives of its people rather than by a monarch or colonial power. 'First Black Republic' refers to Haiti becoming the first nation led by formerly enslaved Black people.