Ronald Lee (1934January 25, 2020) was a Romani

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

writer, linguist, professor, folk musician, and activist. He studied

Romani society and culture The Romani people are a distinct ethnic and cultural group of peoples living all across the globe, who share a family of languages and sometimes a traditional nomadic mode of life. Though their exact origins are unclear, central India is a not ...

and worked to foster intercultural dialogue between Roma and Non-Roma.

Early life and education

Ronald Lee was born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

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in 1934. Lee's father was a Kalderash musician from

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who immigrated to

, where he married and took his wife's surname of Lee. In 1939, his family went to

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

on a visit but were unable to return to Canada for several years because of the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. The Lees eventually returned to Canada in 1945. After returning to Canada, Lee worked during the summer with his uncle for the fairs and amusement parks. In the fall, winter, and spring seasons, he attended night school in Montreal in the 1950s and 1960s. When Lee was 18, he started to travel with a Kalderash family from Europe and worked on plating mixing bowls and doing other smithing arts and odd jobs. Later, he took courses in journalism and creative writing.

Adult years

Lee began to work with the Canadian Roma as an activist in 1965, through the '' Kris Romani'' (Romani internal judicial assembly). He tried to foster a better understanding between Roma and non-Roma, to combat prejudice and misinformation in newspapers, and to help the Roma represent themselves. In the 1970s, he got involved in helping the Romani refugees from the Communist Eastern Bloc and ex-

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

. He went with

Yul Brynner Yuliy Borisovich Briner (russian: link=no, Юлий Борисович Бринер; July 11, 1920 – October 10, 1985), known professionally as Yul Brynner, was a Russian-born actor. He was best known for his portrayal of King Mongkut in th ...

, Ian Hancock and John Tene to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

on July 5, 1978 to present a Romani petition asking for NGO status. This was granted a year later. From 1989 to 1990, he helped those seeking asylum who had been persecuted as Roma in their former countries. In 1997, he initiated and was one of the founders of '' Roma Community and Advocacy Centre'' (based in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

) and the ''Western Canadian Romani Alliance'', in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, in 1998. Ronald Lee taught a course on the Romani Diaspora at the University of Toronto from 2003 to 2008. In 2014, Ronald Lee was honoured by Queen's University,

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between To ...

, with an Honorary

Doctorate of Laws A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor (LL. ...

Writings

* ''Goddamn Gypsy'' (1971), a popular autobiographical fiction novel translated into Spanish, German, Italian, Serbian, Czech, Russian, and other languages. Published by Tundra Books of Montreal, and McClelland and Stewart, Toronto, Canada * ''The Living Fire (E Zhivindi Yag)'' (2009), the republication of ''Goddamn Gypsy'' (above) under the author's originally intended title, by Magoria Books in 2009. * * ''Learn Romani: Das-duma Rromanes'', University Of Hertfordshire Press, 2005 * * ''Romani Dictionary: Kalderash-English'', Magoria Books, 2010.

References

External links

Ronald Lee's Website
with information and articles

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Ronald 1934 births 2020 deaths Canadian Romani people Kalderash people Romani writers Romani activists Linguists of Romani