National Heroes of Jamaica (Jan-01-2003) Marcus Mosiah Garvey (1887-1940) Jamaica’s first national hero was born on August 17 in St. Ann’s Bay. As a youth, he moved to Kingston where he worked as a printer and he later published a small paper called “The Watchman”. Garvey traveled extensively throughout his career to many countries and observed the poor working and living conditions of black people. He then started the Universal Negro Improvement Association in 1914. This was started in Jamaica but grew into an international organization that encourages self-government for black people worldwide, self-help economic projects, protest against racial discrimination and cultural activities. Garvey went to the USA in 1916, where he preached his doctrine of freedom to the oppressed blacks throughout the country. The USA officials did not approve his activities and he was imprisoned and then deported. In 1929, he formed the People’s Political Party and was unsuccessful in the national elections but won a seat on the KSAC. He died in England in 1940 and his body was brought back to Jamaica and buried in the National Heroes Park in Kingston. Paul Bogle (1822-1865) A deacon of the Native Baptist Church of Stony Gut, St Thomas, along with his brother Moses, Paul Bogle was the leader of a passive resistance to oppression and injustice in this parish. When this failed he led the active resistance movement which culminated in the so-called Morant Bay Rebellion of 1865. Bogle was an independent peasant proprietor and one of only 106 inhabitants in the parish who had the right to vote. After the rebellion 2000 pounds was offered for Paul Bogle’s capture. He was eventually taken by the maroons near Torrington in St. Thomas on 24 October 1865 and hanged the same day from the blackened centre arch of the burnt-out Morant Bay curt-house, like the other leaders of the rebellion. George William Gordon (1820-1865) George William Gordon was a free colored land owner and an associate of Bogle. As a member of the House of Parliament, he used his position to highlight the sufferings of the people and to make a plea for changes. The Morant Bay Rebellion and the resultant deaths of Bogle and Gordon precipitated the beginning of a new era in Jamaica’s development. The British government became compelled to make changes including outstanding reforms in education, health, local government, banking and infrastructure. Norman Washington Manley (1893-1969) Norman Washington Manley founded the People’s National Party which later was tied to the Trade Union Congress and the N.W. U. Together with Bustamante, their efforts resulted in the New Constitution of 1944 granting full Adult Suffrage. In 1955 Manley was elected Chief Minister. The 400 year British Rule, invoking slavery, deculturisation, uprising and bloodshed was not at an end. William Alexander Bustamante (1884-1977) National Hero of Jamaica, first Prime Minister, labour leader extraordinaire. He founded the Jamaica Labour Party and the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union. He is honoured in Jamaica as a champion of the poor and oppressed, for his role in organising labour and for aiding the nationalist movement by his challenge to colonial authority. ‘Busta’, as he is familiarly called by everyone, was born at Blenheim, Hanover on 24 February, the son of an impoverished pen-keeping family and was christened William Alexander Clarke. In 1903 he left Jamaica and worked in many countries, eventually acquiring a Latin style of dress and behaviour – as well as the name Bustamante by which he was known thereafter. He formally changed his name by deed poll in 1944. He was well into his fifties when he entered public life and initially attracted attention by a series of letters to the editor, attacking the social and political conditions of colonial Jamaica. In 1937, Busta got into the business of organising the labour force and his charismatic personality won him huge success. For his role as spokesman and champion of labour he was imprisoned during island-wide riots in 1938. It was during the ’38 labour ferment that Bustamante formed the Bustmante Industrial Trade Union, officially launched in 1943. Bustamante formed the Jamaica Labour Party to contest Jamaica’s first general election in 1944. He won 22 of the 32 seats and thus became Jamaica’s first chief minister. In 1967, he retired from active politics. Before his death in 1977, Bustamante was proclaimed a National Hero, the only living national Hero Jamaica has had. Samuel Sharpe (1801-1832) ‘Daddy’ Sam Sharpe, as he was affectionately called was to carry on the Resistance against slavery effecting at the young age of 31, the most outstanding Slave Rebellion in Jamaica’s history. Sharpe, an educated town slave, was a preacher and spokesman. Intelligent and sharp, he followed the developments of the abolition movement by reading discarded local and foreign papers and was able to advise his followers. Sharpe was tired of slavery, spent months in strategic planning, educating the slaves and traveling from estate to estate in secret meetings at nights, igniting the slaves with inspiring messages of hope of freedom. The 1831 Christmas Rebellion started in St. James and spread throughout the entire island. The Rebellion started on December 28 and lasted 8 days. Sam Sharpe was eventually captured and hung at the Parade in Montego Bay (now renamed Sam Sharpe Square). On August 28, 1833 slavery was abolished and the System of Apprenticeship instituted, allowing for the total freedom of slaves in the next 4-6 years. On August 1, 1938 the Apprenticeship System ended granting full freedom to the slaves. Nanny lived and died in Nanny Town. Nanny of the Maroons stands out in history as the only female among Jamaica’s national heroes. She possessed that fierce fighting spirit generally associated with the courage of men. In fact, Nanny is described as a fearless Asante warrior who used militarist techniques to foul and beguile the English. Like the heroes of the pre Independence era, Nanny too met her untimely death at the instigation of the English sometime around 1734. Yet, the spirit of Nanny of the Maroons remains today as a symbol of that domitable desire that will never yield to captivity.