Who: Eminent Jamaican author, journalist and historian.
Born: May 1, 1913 in Kingston.
Claim to fame: Author of New Day, The Leopard, Mount Ephraim and Sixty-Five.
Is usually credited, along with Trinidad and Tobago's V.S. Naipaul and St Lucian Derek Walcott, as shaping the modern Caribbean writer.
New Day, his first book, was published in the 1940s.
The Leopard was influenced by the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya during the 1950s.
Sixty-Five is set in 1865 and is inspired by the Morant Bay Rebellion. It was a popular textbook in high schools.
Mount Ephraim is based on the Sam Sharpe rebellion of the 1830s.
Reid was reporter and sometimes editor of the Public Opinion, a weekly newspaper.
Quote: "I write to make black people feel proud of themselves and their history."
Awards: Order of Jamaica for contribution to literature.
Alma mater: Kingston Technical High School.
Died: August 25, 1987. Vic Reid was 74 years old.
