The Ethiopianist thrust was by no means confined to the island of Jamaica. Among the forebears of Pan-Africanism and the Rastafari Movement were other key figures such as Edward Wilmot Blyden (1832-1912) of St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, Dr. Robert Love (1835-1914) of the Bahamas and Shepherd Robert Athlyi Rogers who was born on the island of Anguilla on May 6, 1891.

 

In 1924, Rogers who had migrated to Perth Amboy, New Jersey published his vision, "The Holy Piby", which became known as the Blackman's Bible. Though emerging before the birth of the Rastafari Movement, the Blackman's Bible is thought to have influenced Leonard Percival Howell, who drew from it in his book "The Promised Key". The Holy Piby was smuggled into South Africa by a young seaman named Sol Plaatje, who introduced it to the diamond mine workers in Kimberly where it lit a fire. Solomon Plaatje later became the first Secretary General of the African National Congress and the name Athlyi Rogers is still revered in Kimberly which later became a Rastafari stronghold.

 

Rogers was also the author of the Rastafari

Creed which was published in The Holy Piby as The Shepherd's Prayer by Athlyi. Over time the prayer was adopted and adapted by the Nyahbinghi Order and is recited when Rastafari meet all over the world. The opening lines have been borrowed from Psalms 68.

 

The following excerpts from the Holy Piby serve to demonstrate its influence on Rastafari thought.

 

"Woe be unto a race of people who forsake their own and adhere to the doctrine of another. They shall be slaves to the people thereof. Verily I say unto you, O children of Ethiopia, boast not of the progress of other races, believing that thou are a part of the project for at any time thou shall be cast over bridge of death both body and soul.'

 

And it came to pass that the spirit moved in Athlyi and he became full with the holy ghost. And he cried out saying, "Hear me O children of Ethiopia. There is not a heaven nor a hell but that which ye make of yourselves and for yourselves.!

 

'Call together the children of Ethiopia, saith the Lord, that they may know my request, and send forth a mission unto the land of Ethiopia which I hath given to her children from the beginning of the world, that they prepare a foundation for all the posterities of Ethiopia, even unto the end!

 

Robert Athlyi Rogers, The Holy Piby, 1924, book. Anguillian-born Garveyite Robert Athlyi Rogers wrote this book in the early 1920's and it has had an enduring impact on the Rastafari. It is considered one of the foundational texts of Rastafari theology. However, Rogers originally wrote it for the use of an Afrocentric religion he had founded, known as the Afro-Athlican Constructive Gaathly.