Youngsters need to learn about Samuel Sharpe, says Davis
Published:Wednesday | December 14, 2022 | 12:08 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
AHEAD OF the upcoming ‘Flames of Freedom’ celebration in honour of National Hero Samuel Sharpe, St James Southern’s Member of Parliament, Homer Davis, says there is a growing need for Jamaican young people to be educated about Sharpe’s contributions to nation-building.
In a media release on Monday, Davis, who is also minister of state in the Office of the Prime Minister, said that the upcoming Flames of Freedom Lecture will assist in reviving among young people an interest in Sharpe’s story.
“There is a genuine need for the Jamaican youth to be educated and informed about the work and worth of National Hero, the Right Excellent Sam Sharpe, and the Flames of Freedom Lecture, scheduled for the Montego Bay Cultural Centre in Sam Sharpe Square on Thursday, December 22, is expected to be the catalyst in ensuring that it happens,” said Davis.
“It is a widely shared belief that not enough is known nor is being told of the work that ‘Daddy Sharpe’ did in helping to abolish slavery, and I am optimistic that the information shared at the lecture will be that catalyst to bring the national hero closer to the people,” Davis added.
The December 22 lecture is part of a series of activities to mark the celebration of Sam Sharpe Day, which will be officially celebrated on December 28. The lecture will also see the official launch of the inaugural Homer Davis/Sam Sharpe Essay and Poster Competition for primary and high schools.
“This year, we want to place more focus on getting the youth involved in understanding the work of Sam Sharpe. The essay and poster competition will give primary and high-school students a chance to pour their creative juices in putting their views of Sam Sharpe into words and drawings,” Davis explained.
“The winners of this competition will be announced and rewarded during the annual Sam Sharpe Tribute on Labour Day, May 23 next year (2023) in Sam Sharpe Square,” he added.
Sam Sharpe Day was officially announced in 2019 during the Flames of Freedom celebration that year, which heralded the 187th anniversary of the slave rebellion of 1831-1832 at Tulloch Castle in Kensington, St James. The annual celebration will resume this year after a two-year hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition to the lecture, and the essay and poster competition, the celebration will be capped off on December 28 with the Flames of Freedom Torch Run, which is expected to see some 200 youth from the St James Southern constituency taking part. The symbolic run will see participants going from Catadupa through Cambridge and into Montpellier, then to Anchovy en route to Sam Sharpe Square for a short ceremony.
The run will then continue into Granville and John’s Hall, ending at Tulloch Castle for another short ceremony, followed by a grand celebratory concert. That ceremony will include a re-enacted lighting of a thatch house, symbolic of the signal which started the 1831 rebellion that involved approximately 50,000 slaves across the island.
The 1831 rebellion was influential in the abolition of slavery and the push for full Emancipation, which came on August 1, 1838.
Samuel Sharpe, who was born in 1801 and served as a deacon at the now 198-year-old Burchell Baptist Church in Montego Bay, was proclaimed as one of Jamaica’s national heroes in 1975.