Friday Feature
Paul Bogle- Jamaica
Paul Bogle led the last large scale armed rebellion for voting rights and
an end to legal discrimination and economic oppression against African
Jamaicans.
Paul Bogle was born free to Cecelia Bogle, a free
woman, and an unknown father in the St. Thomas parish (1822- 24 October 1865). Bogle’s mother soon died and he was raised by his
grandmother. As an adult Bogle owned a home in Stony Gut and had another
house in Spring Garden as well as a 500 acre farm at Dunrobin making him one of
the few African Jamaicans prosperous enough to pay the fee to vote. In 1845, for example, there were only 104 voters
in St. Thomas parish which had an adult population of at least 3,300.
Bogle
became a supporter of George William Gordon, an Afro-Jamaican politician and
fellow landowner and Baptist. In 1854 Gordon made the 32-year-old Bogle a deacon. Bogle, in turn, built a chapel in Stony Gut which
held religious and political meetings.
Officially
Jamaican slavery ended in 1833 after the Sam
Sharpe Rebellion a year earlier. Yet from 1834 to 1838 former slaves served post-servitude
“apprenticeships” to their former owners. They were also subject to a judicial system controlled by the
Colonial government primarily for the benefit of the former slaveholders. They endured unemployment and taxes but low wages.
In 1865, Gordon chose Bogle to lead a delegation to present their
complaints to British Colonial governor, Edward John Eyre.
In August
of that year Bogle led a 50 mile march of small farmers and former slaves to
Spanish Town to meet with Governor Eyre to discuss their political grievances. They were denied an audience with the governor.Two months after that attempted meeting, the The Morant Bay Rebellion started, sparked by the arrest of a
supporter of Bogle for protesting the conviction of another black Jamaican for
trespassing on a long-abandoned plantation. Bogle and his supporters attended the trespassing trial in
Spanish Town on October 7. Shortly afterwards when colonial officials attempted to
arrest the Bogle supporter who had also attended the trial, he was immediately
freed by Bogle’s other supporters. They then forced Colonial police to release the man convicted
of trespassing. Returning to Stony Gut, Bogle and his supporters learned that
warrants had been issued for the arrest of 28 men for rioting in Spanish Town. When the Colonial police attempted to arrest Paul
Bogle, his followers fought them off.
On
October 11, 1865, Bogle and his brother Moses armed with sticks and machetes led
a protest march of nearly 300 people from Stony Gut to the Morant Bay
Courthouse in Spanish Town. They were confronted this time by the colonial militia who
opened fire on them, killing seven of the protesters. The protesters retaliated by killing a parish
official, Baron von Ketelhodt, and fifteen militia members, they then set 51
prisoners free.
Colonial
soldiers were now brought to Morant Bay to crush the rebellion. Nearly 500 people were killed and a greater number
were flogged before “order” was restored. Stony Gut, considered the stronghold of the rebels, was
destroyed. Paul and Moses Bogle were captured by Maroon militia taken to
Morant Bay where they were tried for conspiracy and hanged on October 24, 1865 at the Morant
Bay Court House a day after George William Gordon, who did not participate in
the rebellion, was executed.
Back in Britain there was public outcry, there
was increased opposition from liberals against Eyre’s handling of the
situation, and by the end of 1865 the ‘Governor Eyre Case’ had become the
subject of national debate. In January 1866, a Royal Commission was sent to
investigate the events. Governor Eyre was suspended and recalled to England and
eventually dismissed. Jamaica became a Crown Colony, being governed directly
from England. The ‘Eyre Controversy’ turned into a long and increasingly public
concern, dividing well known figures of the day, and possibly contributing to
the fall of the government of Lord John Russell in 1866.
The Morant Bay rebellion turned out to be one
of the defining points in Jamaica’s struggle for both political and economic
enhancement. Bogle’s demonstration ultimately achieved its objectives and paved
the way for the new attitudes. In January 1866, a Royal Commission was
sent from London to investigate the Rebellion. Following their investigation Governor Eyre was dismissed as
the Governor of Jamaica, and then charged but not convicted of murder. Jamaica became a Crown Colony governed directly
from England as a result of the rebellion.
In 1969 the Right Excellent Paul Bogle was named a National Hero along with George William Gordon,
Marcus Garvey, Sir Alexander Bustamante and Norman Washington Manley. Bogle
is depicted on the heads side of the Jamaican 10 cent coin. His face was also
depicted on the Jamaican two-dollar bill, from 1969 until 1989, when the
two-dollar bill was phased out. In "So Much Things to Say", by Bob
Marley & The Wailers (and subsequently covered by Lauryn Hill ), Marley mentions Bogle in the
same breath as Jesus Christ and Marcus Garvey,
concluding, "I'll never forget no way they turned their backs on Paul
Bogle, so don't you forget no youth who you are and where you stand in the
struggle."
Sources:
http://www.itzcaribbean.com/caribbean-history/people/paul-bogle/
http://www.blackpast.org/gah/bogle-paul-1822-1865
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