We Africans occupy a different - indeed a unique - position among the nations of this Century. Having for so long known oppression, tyranny and subjugation, who, with better right, can claim for all the opportunity and the right to grow as free men? Ourselves forlong decades the victims of injustice, whose voices can be better raised in the demand for justice and right for all? We demand an end to colonialism because domination of one people by another is wrong. We demand an end to nuclear testing and the arms race because these activities, which pose such dreadful threats to man's existence and waste and squander humanity's material heritage, are wrong. We demand an end to racial segregation as anaffront to man's dignity which is wrong. We act in these matters in the right,as a matter of high principle. We act out of the integrity and conviction of our most deep-founded beliefs.

 

If we permit ourselves to be tempted by narrow self-interest and vain ambition, if we barter our beliefs for short-term advantage, who will listen when we claim to speak for conscience, and who will contend that our words deserve to be heeded? We must speak out on major world issues, courageously, openly and honestly, and in blunt terms of right and wrong. If we yield to blandishments or threats, if we compromise when no honourable compromise is possible, our influence will be sadly diminished and our prestige woefully prejudiced and weakened. Let us not deny our ideals or sacrifice our right to stand up as champions of the poor, the ignorant, the oppressed everywhere. The acts by which we live and the attitudes by which we act must be clear beyond question. Principles alone can endow our deeds with force and meaning. Let us be true to what we believe, that our beliefs may serve and honour us."

 

- Leonard P. Howell (frontispiece of The Promised Key). 

 

Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution.

 

 

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Leonard Percival Howell is considered the founding patriarch of the Rastafari Movement. He was born in the parish of Clarendon, Jamaica on 16 June 1898. After migrating to the United States, a young Howell joined Marcus Garvey's UNIA movement. Garvey quickly recognized his leadership and business abilities, and soon he became one of the top lieutenants in the UNIA. It is said however, that he and Garvey had differences regarding Howell's practice of Faith Healing, viewed by many in Garvey's circle as Obeah, and therefore undesirable. He was deported back to Jamaica in 1932, two years after the coronation of H.I.M.Haile Selassie in 1930, which he claimed to have witnessed. Haile Selassie had captured the attention of the world through his messianic rise to power in Ethiopia and upon his return Howell began publicly preaching of the importance of the coming of this Black Messiah in Ethiopia. In Jamaica, Howell established the first association paying homage to the Emperor. This was known as the King of Kings

Mission, and he Howell, was the self-appointed Ambassador of the Ethiopian Emperor in Jamaica. Howell was also inspired to write the Movement's first religious text, 'The Promised Key' This book outlined the philosophy, beliefs and practices of the early Rastafarian Movement. Its repeated references to the King Alpha Queen Omega balance and the empowering descriptions of the Ethiopian woman/the Rastafari woman, are consistent with Haile Selassie I's act of having Empress Menen crowned at the same time as Himself.

 

Excerpts from the Promised Key:

 

"Speaking for the Universe and the womanhood of man Queen Omega the Ethiopian woman is the crown woman of this world. She hands us Her Rule-Book from the poles of supreme authority she is the Cannon Mistress of creation" (Maragh 1935).

 

It was Howell's "Faith Healing" work in the parish of St. Thomas that brought him to national attention. Howell's reputation propelled his rise to become leader of a new 'Ras Tafari cult' in Jamaica. This message of the 'cult' was considered dangerous. It preached Africa in a new and celebratory way. It argued that African redemption was at hand; that the white monarch of England was an impostor; that the existing teachers and preachers were deceivers and perpetrators of falsehoods; and that true salvation was now in the hand of this legendary Emperor of Ethiopia and his Divine Laws. Howell exhorted his followers to stop paying taxes to the King of England and refrain from using the banking system. Howell's message did not go over well with the established church or the government. They charged him with sedition and he was tried, convicted and sent to prison.

 

Upon his release, Howell's message continued. He soon gained a large following, and in 1940 set up the first Rastafari village encampment on 400 acres in Sligoville, St. Catherine. The settlement was known as Pinnacle and comprised approximately 800 men, women and children. They made a living by planting crops and selling them at the major market in Kingston. Howell was held as their Supreme Leader and some treated him with Christ-like reverence. He introduced himself to his congregation as Ganganguru Maragh, a Hindu title meaning "teacher of famed wisdom" Howell is thought to have been influenced by fairly large Indian populations in Kingston and his home parish of Clarendon. He was becoming influential, and the authorities were watching him closely. In the middle of 1941, Howel, 'The Gong' (the moniker from which Bob Marley's nickname and the name of his recording studio 'Tuff Gong', was derived) as his followers called him, received a vision that a raid was apparent.

 

In early summer 1941 a government militia stormed the camp and arrested more than seventy Howellites. Their real target however, was nowhere to be found. Legend has it that Howell disguised himself as a worman and escaped to nearby hills where he found refuge. He returned to camp in July of that year and told his contacts to inform the police that he was ready to face the courts. On August 20, he was tried for sedition and sentenced to two years in prison, his third time behind bars. Upon his release in 1943 he returned to Pinnacle.

 

Howell attracted various individuals, especially single mothers and orphans. He indeed was a father to many providing them with food, shelter and clothing as well as developing their entrepreneurial skills to help them survive.

 

As it turns out, Howell had quite a reputation with the women in the village. He was married but had relations with several women. His wife, to whom he had returned after his sentence, gave birth to a son in his absence and a daughter shortly after his release. At the same time another of his female consorts had given birth to two of his children. His wife was distraught and threatened to kill herself and he prevented her. Not long after however, she went missing. A huge search party was formed and she was nowhere to be found. In 1943 Howell again returned to prison, this time accused of murdering his wife. The story is told that he had gone to report his wife's death, and the police arrested him. This time around the court could find no evidence against him and he was again set free.

 

In 1944, Pinnacle began its ascent to becoming a major hub for ganja cultivation sale and export. In the decade that followed, this lucrative business yielded Howell and Pinnacle untold wealth.

 

Residents of Pinnacle were able to acquire equipment, motor vehicles, expand their markets, control supply, and make enormous profits. The community began to attract many more residents, and at one point, as many of 5000 persons made Pinnacle their home. It was this expansion, coupled with the newfound prosperity that formed the catalyst for Pinnacle's demise. The ganja trade had attracted unwanted attention, and so in 1954, things came to a head. For the final time, a government militia invaded the settlement, set the ganja fields alight, burned the houses to the ground and destroyed Pinnacle completely. According to newspaper reports at the time of the invasion individuals had in their possession huge sums of cash, over 3000 British pounds was handed over to the police, and from one woman only over 800 British pounds was seized:" Not only did the community at Pinnacle organize their own banking but Howell talked about Rastas having our own currency - having our own mints - not just a bank you know, but a mint. No one was poor in that community. (Lorne 2003).

 

Howell's movement and congregation were never to resurface within his midst with the same capacity as he had shown previously. It transitioned away to a newer group of leaders who were to establish the Rastafari as a vibrant urban force.

 

What remained was his message of hope and his example of Black self-determination. This philosophy became the cornerstone of the Rastafari faith. Today Howell is celebrated as one whose example emulated that of His Imperial Majesty, making him, in essence, the First Rasta. Howell died in 1981 at age 82, the same year as Bob Marley.