Pieces of Jamaica

Nanny of the Maroons

It is not certain whether Nanny was born in Jamaica or in Africa. It is said that she was of Ashante origin and was the sister of Cudjoe, the leader of the Trelawny Town Maroons. An individual who sparked numerous stories and legends, she nimbly straddles the realms of reality and myth. In 1517, when the Spanish ruled Jamaica, the first group of Africans arrived as slaves. When the British captured the island in 1655, many of the Spanish left, and their slaves became free. These ex-slaves fled to different hilly areas around the island. There they banded together to fight against the British and protect their freedom. They became known as Maroons. Some believe the name comes from the Spanish word, cimarron meaning wild. Although said to be small and wiry Nanny is recognized as a champion of freedom, a female warrior who promoted guerrilla warfare tactics against her British foes. She is recognized as a leader who symbolized hope in times of crisis and fostered respect for her own Ashanti traditions. She is also

immortalized as a high priestess with great powers. Nanny is said to have died in the 1750s and is buried at Bump Grave in what is now known as Moore Town in Portland, at the eastern end of Jamaica. Today Jamaicans honour Nanny as a National Hero out of respect for her wise, fighting spirit and her commitment to freedom and independence. An artists impression of her can be found on the five-hundred-dollar ($500) bill. Samuel Sharpe

( via ) Born in the parish of St. James, and named after his master, Samuel Sharpe is known for his pivotal role in the 1831 Christmas Rebellion on the Kensington Estate, a rebellion credited as instrumental to full emancipation in 1838. Sharpe, a Baptist preacher, was literate, a strong speaker and very religious. Sharpe had read many British anti-slavery bulletins and believed that Jamaicas only chance for redemption was the total abolition of slavery. Sharpe came up with an idea of passive resistance and communicated this message to slaves after prayer meetings on different estates. He explained his belief that the slaves had been freed in England but kept enslaved by the planters in Jamaica, and described how they could conduct a peaceful strike a

few days after Christmas by simply refusing to return to work in the fields unless their concerns were heard. Between 18,000-50,000 slaves joined in as news of the idea spread to Trelawny, Westmoreland, St. Elizabeth and Manchester. Daddy Sharpes peaceful protest was not to be however. It quickly turned into the largest slave rebellion in the islands history. On December 27, 1831, the Kensington Estate was set afire as a signal of the rebellion. Soon multiple fires broke out and all thoughts of non-violence fled. Great houses and cane fields in the west were burned and hundreds of lives were lost. By the first week in January the rebellion had been put down by the militia the dead included 14 whites and 500 slaves most slaves having died during the period of retribution that followed the rebellion. One such slave was Sam Sharpe who on May 28, 1832 was tried and hung for his part as organizer. Sharpes last words stand as testimony to the type of man he was and the cause to which he was so deeply committed: I would rather die in yonder gallows, than live for a minute more in slavery. Sam Sharpe Square in Montego Bay is named after him and his picture appears on the fifty-dollar ($50) bill. Paul Bogle

( via ) Paul Bogle, it is believed, was born free about 1822. He was a Baptist deacon in Stony Gut, a few miles north of Morant Bay, and was eligible to vote at a

time when there were only 104 voters in the parish of St. Thomas. He became a supporter of landowner and politician and fellow Baptist George William Gordon. In 1864, Gordon made Bogle a deacon in the Baptist church. As social injustices and peoples grievances grew Bogle led a group of small farmers 45 miles to discuss their grievances with Governor Eyre in Spanish Town, but they were denied an audience. This left the people of Stony Gut with a lack of confidence, and distrust for the Government, and Bogles supporters grew in number. Poverty and injustice in the society and lack of public confidence in the central authority urged Bogle to lead a protest march to the Morant Bay courthouse on October 11, 1865. In a violent confrontation with full official forces that followed the march, nearly 500 people were killed and a greater number was flogged and punished before order was restored. Bogle was captured and hanged on October 24, 1865; but his forceful demonstration achieved its objectives. It paved the way for the establishment of just practices in the courts and it brought about a change in official attitude which made possible the social and economic betterment of the people. The Morant Bay rebellion turned out to be one of the defining points in Jamaicas struggle for both political and economical enhancement. Bogles demonstration ultimately achieved its objectives and paved the way for the new attitudes. George William Gordon

Born to a slave mother and a planter father who was attorney to several sugar estates in Jamaica, George William Gordon was self-educated and a landowner in the parish of St. Thomas. Gordon had established his own Native Baptist church, of which Paul Bogle was a deacon, and was a member of the Jamaica Assembly. He became the voice of the people, who did not qualify to vote, and had subdivided his own lands, selling lots cheaply to the people and organising marketing of their produce at a fair price. Gordon urged the people to protest against and resist the oppressive and unjust conditions under which they were forced to live. He was accused of instigating the Morant Bay Rebellion. In October, 1865 following the rebellion, George William Gordon was taken from Kingston to Morant Bay, where he was charged for complicity in the rebellion and executed. Gordons death and the brutality of Governor Edward John Eyres suppression of the revolt was cause for concern in Britain. In 1969, when Jamaica decimalized its currency the Hon. George William Gordon appeared on the ten dollar note (now a coin). Marcus Garvey

Marcus Garvey was born in St. Anns Bay, Jamaica, on 17th August, 1887. After seven years of schooling he worked as a printer. He became an active trade unionist and in 1907 was elected vice president of compositors branch of the printers union. He helped lead a printers strike (1908-09) and after it collapsed the union disintegrated. In 1911 Garvey moved to England and briefly studied at Birbeck College where he met other blacks who were involved in the struggle to obtain independence from the British Empire. Inspired by what he heard he returned to Jamaica and established the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and published the pamphlet, The Negro Race and Its Problems. Garvey was influenced by the ideas of Booker T. Washington and made plans to develop a trade school for the poor similar to the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Garvey arrived in the United States on 23rd March 1916 and immediately launched a year-long tour of the country. He organized the first branch of UNIA in June 1917 and began published the Negro World, a journal that promoted his African nationalist ideas. Garveys organization was extremely popular and by 1919 UNIA had 30 branches and over 2 million members. Like the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) Garvey campaigned against lynching, Jim Crow laws, denial of black voting rights and racial discrimination. Where UNIA differed from other civil rights organizations was on how the problem could be solved. Garvey doubted whether whites in the United States would ever agree to African Americans being treated as equals and argued for segregation rather than integration. Garvey suggested that African Americans should go and live in Africa. He wrote that he believed in the principle of Europe for the Europeans, and Asia for the Asiatics and Africa for the Africans at home and abroad. Sir Alexander Bustamante

(Via ) Born as William Alexander Clarke to an Irish Roman Catholic planter, Robert Constantine Clarke, and wife Mary ne Wilson, who was of mixed race. He claimed that he took the name Bustamante to honour an Iberian sea captain who befriended him in his youth. After travelling the world, including working as a policeman in Cuba and as a dietician in a New York City hospital, he returned to Jamaica in 1932 and became a leader of the struggle against colonial rule. He first brought himself to public attention as a writer of letters to the Daily Gleaner newspaper; in 1937 he became treasurer of the Jamaica Workers Union which had been founded by labour activist Allan G.S. Coombs. During the 1938 labour rebellion he quickly became identified as the spokesman for striking workers. Coombs JWU became the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU) after the revolt, and Bustamante became known as The Chief. He was imprisoned for subversive activities in 1940. However, the anticolonial effort resulted in the granting of universal suffrage to Jamaica. He was released from prison in 1943 and founded the Jamaica Labour Party the same year, having previously been a member of the party founded by his cousin, Norman Manley, the Peoples National Party (founded 1938). Bustamantes party won 22 of 32 seats in the first House of Representatives elected by universal suffrage, making Bustamante the unofficial government leader (as Minister for Communications) until the position of Chief Minister was created in 1953. He held this position until the JLP was defeated in 1955. In 1947 and 1948 he also served as mayor of Kingston. Sir Alexander Bustamante shares with his cousin Norman Washington Manley, the honour

of being one of the two Founding Fathers of Jamaicas Independence, attained peacefully, August 6, 1962. Norman Manley

(Via ) Norman Washington Manley was born in Roxborough in Jamaicas Manchester parish, on July 4, 1893. His father, Thomas Albert Samuel Manley, who was the illegitimate son of an English trader from Yorkshire and a former slave, worked as an agricultural businessman and sold Jamaican spices and fruits to the United States. Norman Manleys mother, Margaret Shearer, was the daughter of a pen-keeper of Irish descent and his Mulatto wife. As a young man, Manley was a brilliant scholar, soldier and athlete, studying law at Jesus College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He enlisted and fought in the First World War in the Royal Field Artillery, and later returned to Jamaica to serve as a barrister. He identified himself with the cause of the workers at the time of the labour troubles of 1938 and donated time and advocacy to the cause. Manley and the PNP supported the trade union movement, then led by Alexander Bustamante, while leading the demand for universal adult suffrage. When

Suffrage came, Manley had to wait ten years and two terms before his party was elected to office. He was a strong advocate of the Federation of the West Indies, established in 1958, but when Sir Alexander Bustamante declared that opposition Jamaica Labour Party would take Jamaica out of the Federation, Norman Manley, already renowned for his integrity and commitment to democracy, called a referendum, unprecedented in Jamaica, to let the people decide. The vote was decidedly against Jamaicas continued membership of the Federation. Norman Manley, after arranging Jamaicas orderly withdrawal from the union, set up a joint committee to decide on a constitution for separate independence for Jamaica. He himself chaired the committee with great distinction and then led the team that negotiated Jamaicas independence from Britain

Asafa Powell
Asafa Powell

Asafa Powell C.D (born 23 November 1982) is a Jamaican sprinter who specialises in the 100 metres. He held the 100 m world record between June 2005 and May 2008, with times of 9.77 and 9.74 seconds respectively. Powell has consistently broken the 10-second barrier in competition, with his personal best of 9.72 s being the fourth fastest time in the history of the event. As of July 2011, Powell has broken the ten-second barrier legally more times than anyone else 80 times in total.

Powell competed in the 100 m at the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2008 Beijing Olympics but failed to convert his success to the world stage, finishing fifth both times. However, in Beijing with the Jamaican team he won a gold medal and set the world and Olympic record in the 4 100 metres relay. At the 2007 Osaka World Championships he won a bronze and a silver medal in the 100 m and 4 x 100 m relay respectively and he has been successful at the

Commonwealth, winning two gold and one silver medal. At the 2009 World

Championships he won 100 m bronze and a relay gold. Powell has won five times at the IAAF World Athletics Final and is the 100 m record holder for the event. Powell also holds the record for the fastest 100 metres run to place third. In August 2009, he ran 9.84 seconds in the World Athletics Championships from Berlin, Germany. Powell suffers from pre-race anxiety and has underperformed his abilities in some major races.

Biography and sprinting career

Born on 23 November 1982, in Spanish Town, Jamaica, Asafa Powell is the youngest of six sons of two ministers. His first name, Asafa has a Yoruba origin. A past student of Ewarton Primary School and Charlemont High School, both in St. Catherine, Jamaica. Powell planned to be a mechanic before he took up running while studying in Kingston, Jamaica.[3][4] His eldest brother Donovan,[5] was a 60 m finalist in the 1999 World Indoor Championships. [6] Running runs in the family: His brothers clocked 9.5[dubious discuss] seconds for the 100 m dash, his mother 11.4, and his father 10.2.[2] Powell is a member of the MVP (Maximizing Velocity and Power) Track & Field Club based at the University of Technology (U-Tech), Kingston,[7] and has been coached by Stephen Francis since 2001.

Physiology and running style

Asafa Powell is 190 cm tall and weighs 88 kg. In spite of his height, he has an explosive start unusual for big runners. His long legs give him a mechanical advantage and his maximum stride length was recorded at 2.60 m. He is a mid-foot striker: he puts his much of his foot, foot on the ground for maximum friction to push off. This enables him to his turnover, or rate of stepping, is fast. His poses major muscle, which lifts the leg for the next stride, has four times the normal cross-sectional area. His tendons are extremely hard: it takes 43 kg of muscular force to stretch the average man's thigh tendons 1 cm, 59 kg for Japanese champion sprinter Nobuharu Asahara; but for Powell it takes 114 kg of muscle strength.[2] These extremely hard tendons increase the amount of force that is elastically stored and then restored to momentum at each stride. However, the most impressive thing about his running is his technique and how he combines that with immense power every time he runs. His leg extension and clawing is great and his back-kick is very short and low.

Morant Bay rebellion

The Morant Bay rebellion began on October 11, 1865, when Paul Bogle led 200 to 300 black men and women into the town of Morant Bay, parish of St. Thomas in the East, Jamaica. The rebellion and its aftermath were a major turning point in Jamaica's history, and also generated a significant political debate in Britain. Today, the rebellion remains controversial, and is frequently mentioned by specialists in black and colonial studies.

Background
Slavery ended in Jamaica on August 1, 1834, with the passing of the British Emancipation Act, which led to emancipation on 1 August 1838 the date on which former slaves became free to choose their employment and employer. On paper, former slaves gained the right to vote; however, most blacks remained desperately poor, and a high poll tax effectively excluded them from the franchise. During the elections of 1864, fewer than 2,000 black Jamaicans were eligible to vote out of a total population of over 436,000, despite outnumbering whites by a ratio of 32:1. A two-year drought preceding 1865 made economic conditions still worse for the population of former slaves and their descendants, and rumours began circulating that white planters intended to restore slavery. In 1865, Dr. Edward Underhill, Secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society of Great Britain, wrote a letter to the Colonial Office in order to express Jamaica's current poor state of affairs. This letter was later shown to Jamaica's Governor Edward Eyre, who immediately tried to deny the truth of its statements, and Jamaica's poor blacks began organizing in "Underhill Meetings." In fact, peasants in St. Ann parish sent a petition to Queen Victoria asking for Crown lands to cultivate as they could not find land for themselves, but it passed by Eyre first and he enclosed a letter with his own comments. The Queen's reply left no doubt in the minds of the poor that Eyre had influenced her opinion she encouraged the poor to work harder, rather than offering any help. George William Gordon, a wealthy mulatto politician, began encouraging the people to find ways to make their grievances known. One of his followers was a church deacon named Paul Bogle. Following the massacres of Europeans during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the British population on Jamaica, as in many other British colonies, was fearful of a black uprising

The Jamaica Independence Festival is a celebration of Jamaica's independence, a status gained in 1962. The festival was initiated in 1962 by then Minister of Community Development (and later Prime Minister) Edward Seaga, to showcase literary, fine, and performing artists, and to celebrate "things

Jamaican". The festival was considered integral to national development as a way of giving Jamaicans a sense of who they are, and what their history and culture is all about.The festival was scheduled for the first Monday in August, to coincide with the holiday to celebrate both independence and emancipation..The festival includes agricultural exhibitions, and street parades, climaxing in a grand gala at Kingston's National Stadium. Supporting events take place all over the island. A formal organizing group, the Jamaica Festival Commission was established by an act of parliament in 1968, which became the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) by another parliamentary act in 1980.[ Today, the administrative structure includes a large volunteer-base with a JCDC officer appointed to oversee activities in each parish. The festival now includes the Miss Jamaica Festival Queen Contest, a national Mentoband competition, and a Gospel song competition. One of the highlights of the festival is the Popular Song Competition (before 1990 known as the Independence Festival Song Competition), which first took place in 1966, and has been won by artists such as The Maytals, Desmond Dekker, Freddie McKay, and Eric Donaldson.

Independent Jamaica:1962-Present Day

Jamaica gained a degree of local political control in the mid-1940s. The People's National Party (PNP) was founded in 1938. Its main rival, theJamaica Labour Party (JLP) was established five years later. The first elections under universal adult suffrage were held in 1944. Jamaica joined nine other UK territories in the Federation of the West Indies in 1958 but withdrew after Jamaican voters rejected membership in 1961. Jamaica gained independence on August 6, 1962, remaining a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The first prime minister was Alexander of the Jamaica Labour Party. Initially, power swapped between the People's National Party and the Jamaican Labour Party regularly. Michael Manley was the first PNP prime minister in 1972. He introduced socialist policies and relations with Cuba. His second term elections marked the start of repeated political violence. When the PNP lost power in 1980 Edward Seaga immediately began to reverse the policies of his predecessor, bringing in privatization and seeking closer ties with the USA. When the PNP and Manley returned to power in 1989 they continued the more moderate policies and were returned in the elections of 1993 and 1998. Manley resigned for health reasons in 1992 and was succeeded as leader of the PNP by Percival Patterson. Historically, Jamaican emigration has been heavy. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, many Jamaicans migrated to Central America, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic to work in the banana and canefields. In the 1950s the primary destination was to the United Kingdom; but since the United Kingdom restricted emigration in 1962, major flow has been to the United States and Canada. The heaviest flow of emigration particularly to New York, and Miami occurred during the 1990s and continues to the present day due to high economical crisis. About 20,000 Jamaicans emigrate to the United States each year; another 200,000 visit annually. New York, Hartford, CT, Miami, andFort Lauderdale are among the U.S. cities with the largest Jamaican population. In New York, over half of Jamaican expatriates reside in Brooklyn. Remittances from the expatriate communities in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada make increasingly significant contributions to Jamaica's economy. General Sir Lionel Smith, 1st Baronet GCB GCH (9 October 1778 2 January 1842) was a British diplomat, colonial administrator, and soldier.

His mother was noted writer and feminist Charlotte Turner Smith. Smith was Governor of Tobago in 1833 and then Governor of Barbados, Viceroy of the colony of Winward Islands and Grenada from 1833 to 1836. He was awarded a Baronetcy on 19 July 1838 for his service as Governor of Jamaica from 1836 to 1839. During his governorship, The United Kingdom passed the Abolition Act that stated that slavery "shall be and is hereby utterly abolished and unlawful".

The Jamaica National Flag

One of the most popular national symbols of Jamaica, The Jamaica National Flag was first raised on Independence Day, August 6, 1962. It signifies the birth of our nation. The Flag brings to mind memories of past achievements and gives inspiration towards further success. It is flown on many triumphant occasions, showing the pride that Jamaicans have in their country and in the flag itself.

The Jamaican Coat of Arms

The Jamaican national motto is Out of Many One People, based on the populations multi-racial roots. The motto is represented on the Coat of Arms, showing a male and female member of the Taino tribe standing on either side of a shield which bears a red cross with five golden pineapples. The crest shows a Jamaican crocodile mounted on the Royal Helmet of the British Monarchy and mantling.

The National Fruit The Ackee (Blighia sapida)

Carry me ackee go a Linstead Market, not a quattie wud sell is a line in the popular Jamaican folk song Linstead Market. Ackee is the national fruit of Jamaica as well as a component of the national dish ackee and codfish. Although the ackee is not indigenous to Jamaica, it has remarkable historic associations.

National Bird - The Doctor Bird (Trochilus polytmus)

The doctor bird or swallow tail humming bird, is one of the most outstanding of the 320 species of hummingbirds. It lives only in Jamaica. These birds beautiful feathers have no counterpart in the entire bird population and they produce iridescent colours characteristic only of that family. In addition to these beautiful feathers, the mature male has tow long tails which stream behind him when he flies. The doctor bird remains a colorful national symbol of Jamaica!

The National Flower Lignum Vitae (Guiacum officinale)

The Lignum Vitae was found here by Christopher Columbus. Its name, when translated from Latin, means wood of life probably adopted because of its medicinal qualities. The short, compact tree is native to continental tropical American and the West Indies. In Jamaica it grows best in the dry woodland along the north and south coasts of the island.

National Tree The Blue Mahoe (Hibiscus Elatus)

The Blue Mahoe is the national tree of Jamaica. It is indigenous to the island and grows quite rapidly, often attaining 20m (66ft) or more in height. In wetter districts it will grow in a wide range of elevations, up to 1200m (4000 ft.) and is often used in reforestation. The tree is quite attractive with its straight trunk, broad green leaves and hibiscus-like flowers.

On 1 August 1838, Governor Sir Lionel read the Proclamation of Freedom to a crowd of 8,000 at the Celebration of Emancipationin the Square of Spanish Town, the then capital of Jamaica. The day has since been a day of celebration on Jamaica and a public holiday since 1893. He left Jamaica in 1839 having run into difficulties with the passing of the Prisons Act and dissolving Jamaica's Assembly. Lionel Town, Clarendon, Jamaica is named after the Governor. He was 5th Governor of Mauritius from 16 Jul 1840 to 2 Jan 1842.