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Memories of the Motherland-Africa, Unshackled

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Memories of the Motherland-Africa, Unshackled CHAPTER 2 GLOBAL AND LOCAL RESISTANCE; MEMORIES OF THE MOTHERLAND-AFRICA, UNSHACKLED Always Africa is giving us something new or some metempsychosis of a world-old thing. On its black bosom arose one of the earliest, if not the earliest, of self-protecting civilizations, which grew so mightily that it still furnishes superlatives to thinking and speaking men. W. E. B. Du Bois – Dark waters: Voices from within the veil (p. 32) In the previous chapter, we discussed the early formations of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, the enslavement of native populations, and the subsequent development of the Underground Railroad as a vehicle of physical liberation. In this chapter, we explore the conditions that ultimately led to the abolition of slavery. We argue that during the period of emancipation, in North America, most African Americans were illiterate, so education was the key to helping them attain true freedom in a racist society and a racialized world. In the African Diaspora, among the Black population in North America and the Caribbean, many slaves’ interest in Africa remained intact in spite of Europeans’ deliberate attempts at dehumanization and the constant attacks on Africa and African people. In North America, in the mid-1770s, around the time of the Revolutionary War, Prince Hall, a prominent Black leader and abolitionist in Boston (who was originally from Barbados), started the African Lodge to help advocate for the rights of Black people [African rights and rituals in the Masonic order]. Through his African Lodge, Hall also supported initiatives aimed at the upliftment of Africa. In addition to the American Revolutionary War [1775-1783] and the battle for North America, during this time, the British were also under siege by the Maroons in Jamaica [which was also a British colony]. After a long battle and still being unable to defeat the Maroons, the British foraged a negotiation with a group of Maroons in what was then Trelawny Town in St. James. Later, the British would rename the eastern part of the parish of St. James in Jamaica – Trelawny, making it a separate parish to honor British Governor William Trelawny. The infamous Maroon leader Cudjoe was the original commander of the ban of Maroons in Trelawny Town, who were some of the most revered spiritual fighters (Campbell, 1993; Gleaner, 1995). 19 CHAPTER 2 Queen Nanny the Maroon It is important to note that Cudjoe was the brother of Queen Mother Nanny the Maroon, who was one of the most iconic Maroon leaders in Jamaica (Campbell, 1988). In fact, in Jamaica, Queen Nanny the Maroon and her brothers Accompong, Cudjoe, Quao, and Johnny [who were all sovereigns from the Ashanti tribe in Africa], were among Jamaica’s early royal families (Wiggan & Walrond, 2013). Queen Nanny the Maroon was taken from Africa and sold into slavery in Jamaica in the late 17th century. She was a queen mother and general of the most feared, armed and spiritual warriors. Maroons were largely African and Black slaves who escaped from the plantations and created communities in the mountainous regions of the Caribbean and Central and South America, where they were free to practice African religions and cultural traditions (Campbell, 1976, 1988). They would organize themselves to fight and free slaves, and for this, Nanny had become the most revered Maroon leader. The original Nanny Town in Portland, Jamaica, which was named by Nanny, still exists today, but in the 1700s it was renamed Moore Town after Colonial Lieutenant Governor Henry Moore. There is still a public cry to remove Henry Moore’s name from Moore Town, and rename it Queen Nanny Town. This is a request and petition to the government I (Greg Wiggan) have been trying to win. In the case of Cudjoe, although he had already transitioned (died) about 50 years earlier, in 1795 the British promised the Trelawny Maroons freedom, land and wealth in exchange for a ceasefire. Perhaps the British government felt that this was a reasonable concession, as it was overextended from fighting too many battles and constantly having to deal with the threat of new uprisings. Each decade was marked by long battles and many causalities, as the slaves resisted British enslavement. For 20.
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