Professor Verene A. Shepherd

Since its official establishment in December 2005, the Jamaica National Bicentenary Committee has been working assiduously with communities, sponsors and other stakeholders to find meaningful ways to honour the African ancestors who set us on our freedom journey, and mark the 200th anniversary of the legislative abolition of the trans-Atlantic trade in Africans. While early opposition from several quarters threatened to derail our mission, skillful negotiation and persistence have resulted in greater, if not total, national support.

The bicentennial is now upon us; and in the modern Caribbean, a civilisation, crafted and sustained by the horrors of the experience, civil society is preparing to mark this anniversary. The region, and the African diaspora on a whole, will probably find itself doing so from a perspective that underscores resistance, survival, and the triumph of human decency over the destruction and despair. Respect for the social worth of free souls, and the celebration of the dignity of citizens, have replaced the selling of souls and the degradation of labour. Citizenship and nationhood have emerged from the ashes of chattel enslavement, and the right to life is embedded in laws that once served only the white and wealthy. Nevertheless, this 200th anniversary year will also provide the Commonwealth Caribbean nations with an opportunity to revisit this tragedy and address what UNESCO has termed /the silence/, even at the risk of opening painful wounds.

Among such wounds is the effect of the realization that even after 1807, our ancestors still were not free of the fear and trauma of slave catchers and traders. Those 235 Africans from Angola who arrived in Kingston Harbour on the George, captained by Hamilton Hance from Liverpool on February 17, 1808, and those who arrived ahead of them on the Kitty s Amelia, Lucy, Margaret, Mersey, Union, Polly, Ruby, Hinde, Perseus, Swift, Anderson ׳s, Ann, Argus, Caledonia, and Jane, must have wondered if they had heard correctly about the Act of 25th March 1807. But we can take some pride in the knowledge that the continuation of the TTA and slavery after 1807 intensified the freedom struggles. We honour those ancestors who took the fight to the British and died in the attempt to secure complete liberation, even if in other places, Wilberforcemania and Amazing Grace have marginalised them in the discourses of abolition.

The freedom journey continues as we seek to rid our region of the legacies of slavery, achieve true mental liberation inspired by the teachings of Marcus Mosiah Garvey and the lyrics of Bob Marley and other cultural ambassadors, and build post-colonial and post-modern societies that reflect an understanding of what our ancestors went through and the journey we must never take again.

I thank the members of the Committee for their commitment and urge them to keep up the energy as we continue with our year-long activities to mark a momentous moment in African diasporic history.

Message from Professor Verene A. Shepherd
Chair of the JNBC