Patricia Green | Preserving Jamaica’s tangible heritage

“...The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history...” wrote George Orwell author of ‘1984’. Spontaneous wildfires from climate change are, tragically, erupting in Greece also devastating parts of the Hawaiian island of Maui. However, in Jamaica. citizens deliberately set fire to communities! Such actions are akin to subjugations under colonial conquest and enslavement.

How tragic that as we celebrate Jamaica’s 61st Independence, a fire attack erupts in Gregory Park, St Catherine. It recalls similar events around Jamaica’s fourth Independence in July 1966 at Shanty Town, West Kingston. Is this a recurring theme of Jamaica’s history?

In the West Kingston fire aftermath rebuilding, “garrisons” emerged. Are we about to witness a recurrence of “garrisons” in any Gregory Park housing rebuilding exercise? In 2010, as a doctoral student in Seville, Spain, I experienced global reactions to the socio-cultural reach of Jamaican “garrisons”. Sevillians who previously never spoke with me were offering condolences, uttering “Dudus” and asking after the well-being of my family in Jamaica during “garrison” uprisings in West Kingston. Until then, I was unaware that these Spanish citizens knew I was Jamaican!

COMMEMORATE CHAMPIONS

We should commemorate champions of development and growth, key personalities, and events contributing to post-Independence achievements. In this way, hopefully, we would be able to instil a sense of national commitment in many urban and rural communities to inspire each other and garner ownership of a rich legacy of tangible heritage in national sites and cultural landscapes.

I am impressed by countries recognising sites that shaped their modern nationhood. In the west zone of the City of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is the house with gardens developed over more than 40 years by landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx, listed nationally in 1983 and on the UNESCO World Heritage List (WHL) in 2021. It holds distinction as the first modern tropical garden to be inscribed. In South Africa, Robben Island, bearing witness to the triumph of democracy and freedom over oppression and racism, received national declaration in 1996 then WHL inscription in 1999. This was the maximum-security prison site where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated from 1964 to 1982.

Where are the post-Independence heroes that hailed from Gregory Park? Have their associated sites been obliterated by continuous violence and the recent fire?

The Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT) has designated Reggae Music sites associated with Robert Nesta Marley proclaimed and accepted worldwide as Bob Marley. However, what about sites related to the I-Threes - comprising Bob’s wife Rita Marley, Marcia Griffiths, and Judy Mowatt - as the most influential female singing group in the history of Jamaican music?

The Bob Marley Beach in St Thomas is so named because Bob and his group frequented it for black-sand sea baths. So, is there any truth that this has been given over to an exclusive hotel enclave that will prevent beach access by Jamaicans? This beach should be designated as national heritage by the JNHT and open to all people.

DRUMBLAIR

Do Jamaicans know that Drumblair, Kingston, currently teeming with high-rise multifamily residential buildings, which some suggest have breached development procedures, was the former property and family home of National Hero Norman Manley, lead author of the 1962 Jamaica Constitution and his wife Edna, an eminent artist? This property should receive JNHT listing.

Who are other nation-builders of post-Independence Jamaica? Where were they born? Where did they grow up? Where did they undertake their key activities? The JNHT, which has the responsibility under law to ensure that the best of the country’s legacy of historic buildings, archaeological sites, and landscapes are preserved, maintained, and protected should designate such properties. I suggest consideration of some key personalities and their associated sites:

• Architect Wilson Chung, who designed the National Stadium (ca.1962).

• Rev. Hugh Braham Sherlock author of both Jamaica’s National Anthem, and the National Pledge.

• Tenor David Augustus Reid, who publicly sang the first rendition of the National Anthem.

• Footballer and track and field athlete C.B. “Peter” Morgan from Jamaica College, the first schoolboy overall champion in the new National Stadium.

• Athletic champions Merlene Ottey-Page, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Usain St Leo Bolt have sites in Hanover, Kingston, and Trelawny, respectively.

• Athlete and coach Dennis Osric Johnson largely responsible for Jamaican sprinting successes.

• Footballer Allan ‘Skill’ Cole.

• Medical researchers Professor Manley West and Dr Albert Lockhart for ganja-based medication breakthrough for treatment of glaucoma patients globally.

• Actress Sheryl Lee Ralph, and her fashion designer mother Ivy Ralph.

• Miss World 1963 Carole Joan Crawford, 1976 Cynthia Jean Cameron Breakspeare, 1993 Lisa Hanna, and 2019 Toni-Ann Singh.

• Playwright and producer Trevor Rhone and Dennis Scott.

• Poet Laureates Mervyn Morris, Lorna Goodison, and Olive Senior.

• The Goodison family from Harvey’s River, Hanover with musicologist Vaughn “Bunny” Goodison, and broadcaster and playwright Barbara Goodison Gloudon.

• Dancers Ivy Baxter, Neville Black, and Eddy Thomas.

• Kindergarten and classical dance educator Fay Simpson.

• Scholar, choreographer, and dancer Ralston Milton “Rex” Nettleford.

• Culinary invention “Festival” from Hellshire Beach, St Catherine fry-fish vendor Miss May and team.

• Construction developers Moses Matalon, Mayer Matalon, Maurice Facey, and Frank Hall.

Other monuments and sites include Jamaica House, designed using Jamaican materials and craftsmanship for the official residence of Independence prime ministers; the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation Television (JBC-TV) building, where the first television station was launched in August 1963; the first high-rise in Downtown Kingston, “Air Jamaica Building,” offices for Jamaica’s first national airline; Turtle Towers, Ocho Rios, St Ann being the first high-rise apartment building; Hilton/Wyndham, Kingston, the first high-rise hotel; the Causeway Bridge opened January 21, 1970; first affordable housing solutions by National Housing Trust in 1976, Ashley Hall, Clarendon, Seville, St Ann, and Lower Works, St Elizabeth; potential development endangered properties in Golden Triangle, St Andrew, including “Hallin Bank” housing cluster, recipient of the 2000 prestigious Governor General’s Award in Architecture.

Let us link these heritage sites through an app for local and foreign cultural heritage tourism promotion. Imagine associated neighbourhoods and communities relating harmoniously with each other. Picture the development of local income-generation and enhanced physical environments.

Please forgive me if I left anyone. I, therefore, invite you to nominate yourselves and others as applicable. Who are our key bankers, nurses, agriculturalists, etc? We challenge the JNHT to designate Jamaica monuments and sites of significant post-Independence achievements.

Patricia Green, PhD, a registered architect and conservationist, is an independent scholar and advocate for the built and natural environment. Send feedback to patgreen2008@gmail.com and columns@gleanerjm.com