Great Jamaicans

It’s a mystery.  From Bob Marley’s “One Love” millennium anthem to record- breaking sprint sensation Usain Bolt; from Shaggy (Mr. Bombastic) singing of the strength of a woman to diminutive Shelly Ann Fraser’s searing run as Jamaica in 2008, building on a long tradition, took every Olympic sprint title …. How does a small island of 2.7 million so consistently produce such brilliance?  Jamaican folklorist and poet Louise Bennett expressed the strength and disproportionate influence of her country by declaring, “We little but we Tallawah!” 

 

Many Jamaicans have followed Bob Marley in giving the gift of reggae and dance hall music to the world.  A sampling of artistes would include such names as Jimmy Cliff, star of the Jamaican iconic film, “The Harder They Come”, Sean Paul, Beenie Man, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, Ziggy and Damian Marley, Elephant Man, Third World, and dozens more.  International figures with their roots firmly in Jamaican soil include General Colin Powell and the Hon Lord Morris of Handsworth.  Jamaican Marcus Mosiah Garvey led a movement that stirred black pride across continents. 

 

Jamaica lays claim to scientists from Dr. Thomas Lecky who developed new breeds of cattle in Jamaica to young Joel Sadler, developer of a prosthesis numbered 18 among TIME magazine’s 50 best inventions for 2009. The splendour of the island is reflected in beauty queens Cindy Breakspeare, Lisa Hanna, Sara Lawrence and others who have charmed the world as they wore their crowns.  Jamaican writers of international repute abound and include Anthony Winkler, Perry Henzel, H. Orlando Patterson, Trevor Rhone, Everton Whitely, Rachael Manley, Mervyn Morris, and young prize-winners for fiction Alecia McKenzie and Vanessa Spence.  Many writers may be found sharing annually at the Calabash Literary Festival on Jamaica’s south coast, the brain child of novelist Colin Channer.   

 

Rex Nettleford and Ivy Baxter are among those who most strongly influenced the development of Jamaican dance.  Edna Manley, Barrington Watson and Karl Parboosingh helped to lay the foundation for the blossoming of Jamaica’s genius in art.  In the culinary arts, in academia, gospel, fashion; in sports from netball and cricket to boxing and bobsledding, in so many wonderful ways as young Usain Bolt says, it’s “Jamaica to the world.”