Nanny of the Maroons
Marcus Mosiah Garvey
Paul Bogle
The lady among the heroes,
she was born in Ghana, West
Africa in 1686 among the
Ashanti tribe. She came to
Jamaica as a slave but escaped the oppressive plantations by fleeing to the hills
to live with other escapees
forming the Maroons. As
the leader of the Maroons,
Nanny was said to be the
“old obeah woman” having
mythical powers. It is alleged that she once caught
a bullet in her buttocks!
In the first Maroon war of
1733 she and many others
were killed by hired soldiers
called “Black Shots.” As Jamaica’s only female national
hero she is remembered and
honoured for her bravery
and great leadership skills in
slave resistance.
Jamaica’s first national hero,
born on August 17, 1887 in
St Ann, was a man of many
motivational and inspirational
words, ideas and acts. He started out working as a printer and
then published a small newspaper called “The Watchman”. He
also instituted many different
organizations gear and black
‘upliftment’ locally and internationally and he was a part of the
idea of back-to-Africa movement. He instilled much pride,
courage, intellectual empowerment in black people. He was
the voice of the blacks. Sadly
he died at a period before his
acts were fully recognized and
appreciated.
This quaint deacon of a
Baptist Church in Stony
Gut turned into a rebellious individual was b