From Miss Lou to Bob Marley and Usain Bolt to Kamala Harris, Jamaica has had an outsized reach in global mainstream culture. Yet many of its most important historical, cultural, and political events and aspects are largely unknown beyond the island. The Jamaica Reader presents a panoramic history of the country, from its precontact indigenous origins to the present. Combining more than one hundred classic and lesser-known texts that include journalism, lyrics, memoir, and poetry, the Reader showcases myriad voices from over the centuries: the earliest published black writer in the English-speaking world; contemporary dancehall artists; Marcus Garvey; and anonymous migrant workers. It illuminates the complexities of Jamaica's past, addressing topics such as resistance to slavery, the modern tourist industry, the realities of urban life, and the struggle to find a national identity following independence in 1962. Throughout, it sketches how its residents and visitors have experienced and shaped its place in the world. Providing an unparalleled look at Jamaica's history, culture, and politics, this volume is an ideal companion for anyone interested in learning about this magnetic and dynamic nation.
- Cover
- Contents
- Note on Abridgment
- Acknowledgments
- Color Plates
- Introduction
- I. Becoming Jamaica
- Taíno Society, Kit W. Wesler
- Taíno Worship, Ramón Pané
- The First European Account of Jamaica, Andrés Bernáldez
- A Spanish Settler in Jamaica, Pedro de Maçuelo
- The Spanish Capital, James Robertson
- Slavery in Spanish Jamaica, Francisco Morales Padrón
- A Description of Spanish Jamaica, Francisco Marques de Villalobos
- The Economy of Spanish Jamaica, Alonzo de Miranda
- The Western Design, Juan Ramírez
- Mountains of Gold Turned into Dross, Anonymous
- The Establishment of Maroon Society, Robert Sedgwicke and William Goodson
- II. From English Conquest to Slave Society
- Pirate Stronghold, Nuala Zahedieh
- Port Royal Destroyed, Anonymous
- White Servants, Government of Jamaica
- The Rise of Slave Society, Richard S. Dunn
- African Music in Jamaica, Hans Sloane
- A Maroon Tradition, Collected by Kenneth M. Bilby
- Treaty between the British and the Maroons, Anonymous
- African Arrivals, Audra A. Diptee
- Spiritual Terror, Vincent Brown
- Two Enslaved Lives, Trevor Burnard
- Increase and Decrease, Managers of Haughton Tower Estate
- A Free Black Poet, Francis Williams
- Jamaica Talk, Frederic G. Cassidy
- The War of 1760–1761, Edward Long
- III. Enlightenment Slavery
- Creole Society, Edward (Kamau) Brathwaite
- Cane and Coffee, Robert Charles Dallas
- Women’s and Men’s Work under Slavery, Lucille Mathurin Mair
- Although a Slave Me Is Born and Bred, Recorded by J. B. Moreton
- Capture and Enslavement, Archibald John Monteath
- The Black Church, George Liele
- British Missionaries, Mary Turner
- The Second Maroon War, Representatives of the Trelawny Town Maroons
- Jonkanoo, Michael Scott
- Provision Grounds, Sidney Mintz
- The Liberation War of 1831, Henry Bleby
- Apprenticeship and Its Conflicts, Diana Paton
- An Apprentice’s Story, James Williams
- Because of 1833, Andrew Salkey
- IV. Colonial Freedom
- Free Villages, Jean Besson
- Cholera, Samuel Jones
- Black Voters, Swithin Wilmot
- Religion after Slavery, Hope Waddell
- Indentured Workers, Verene Shepherd
- The Morant Bay Rebellion, Gad Heuman
- Dear Lucy, George William Gordon
- Vindicating the Race, Rev. R. Gordon
- August Town Craze, Frederick S. Sanguinetti
- Anansi and the Tiger, Walter Jekyll
- The 1907 Earthquake, Dick Chislett
- Traveling from Kingston to Montego Bay, Herbert de Lisser
- V. Jamaica Arise
- Life in Rural Jamaica, Lorna Goodison
- An Amazing Island, W. E. B. Du Bois
- Marcus Garvey Comes to the United States, Marcus Garvey
- Jamaica and the Great War, Daily Gleaner
- Returning from War, Glenford Howe
- Self-Government for Jamaica, W. Adolphe Roberts
- The 1938 Rebellion, Richard Hart
- Remembering the Rebellion, Lucius Watson
- Now We Know, Roger Mais
- Cookshop Culture, Planters’ Punch
- My Mother Who Fathered Me, Edith Clarke
- The Origins of Dreadlocks, Barry Chevannes
- Pleasure Island, Esther Chapman
- Hurricane Charlie, Spotlight
- Jamaican East Indians, Laxmi and Ajai Mansingh
- Blackness and Beauty, Rochelle Rowe
- Chinese Jamaica, Easton Lee
- Bauxite, Sherry Keith and Robert Girling
- The West Indies Federation, Michele A. Johnson
- Rastafari and the New Nation, Michael G. Smith, Roy Augier, and Rex Nettleford
- VI. Independence and After
- A Date with Destiny, Daily Gleaner
- The Meaning of Independence, Government of Jamaica
- The Assets We Have, Norman Washington Manley
- Rastafari and the Coral Gardens Incident, John Maxwell and Mortimo Togo Desta Planno
- Country Boy, The Heptones
- How to Be a “Face-Man,” The Star
- Cancer in West Kingston, Edward Seaga
- Birth of the Sound System, Norman C. Stolzoff
- Rudie, Oh Rudie!, Garth White
- 1968 Revisited, Rupert Lewis
- The Visual Arts, Anne Walmsley and Stanley Greaves
- Better Mus’ Come, Delroy Wilson
- Bob Marley’s Fame, Ed McCormack
- Ganja Smoking, Daily News
- We Are Not for Sale, Michael Manley
- Zig-Zag Politics and the IMF, George L. Beckford
- Yesterday/Today/Tomorrow, Oku Onuora
- Equal Rights, Committee of Women for Progress
- A Helper’s Story, Sistren, with Honor Ford Smith
- VII. Jamaica in the Age of Neoliberalism
- Nine Months of Turmoil, Barbara Nelson
- Seaga v. Manley, Carl Stone
- Born Fi’ Dead, Laurie Gunst
- Sunsplash 1984, Roger Steffens
- Walking Jewellery Store, Yellowman
- Hurricane Story, 1988, Olive Senior
- Wild Gilbert, Lloyd Lovindeer
- Showing Skin Teeth, A. Lynn Bolles
- Slackness, Lady Saw
- Downtown Ladies, Gina A. Ulysse
- Jamaica’s Shame, Thomas Glave
- Woman Time Now, HG Helps
- A Wild Ride, Robert Lalah
- Skin Bleaching, Carolyn Cooper
- Tragedy in Tivoli, W. Earl Witter and Livern Barrett
- The Cell Phone and the Economy of Communication, Heather A. Horst and Daniel Miller
- Unsustainable Development, Esther Figueroa
- The Case for Reparations, P. J. Patterson
- These Islands of Love and Hate, Kei Miller
- VIII. Jamaicans in the World
- In the Canal Zone, Alfred Mitchell S.
- A Diaspora Story, Lok C. D. Siu and Fernando Jackson
- Going to Cuba, “Man-Boy”
- Tropics in New York, Claude McKay
- Little Brown Girl, Una Marson
- Colonization in Reverse, Louise Bennett
- A Farmworker in Florida, Delroy Livingston
- Reggae and Possible Africas, Louis Chude-Sokei
- Canadian-Jamaican, Carl E. James and Andrea Davis
- A Maid in New York City, Shellee Colen
- My Great Shun, Mutabaruka
- Homecomers, C. S. Reid
- Return to Jamaica, Emma Brooker
- Things Change, Buju Banton
- Jamaica to the World, Ingrid Brown
- Suggestions for Further Reading
- Acknowledgment of Copyrights and Sources
- Index
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- Q
- R
- S
- T
- U
- V
- W
- Y
- Z
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