Sam Sharpe still slighted

By Devon Dick

RECENTLY, I was given a coffee-table book related to the work of traditional churches in Jamaica. This significant work and beautiful book was published last year in the 50th year of Jamaica's Independence. But, alas, Sam Sharpe was still slighted in this work.

In one section of the book it describes the history of the Baptists from George Liele to William Knibb. It is not unusual for scholars to omit the contribution and significance of the Native Baptists, including notable ones such as national heroes Paul Bogle and George William Gordon. But for the work not to mention Sam Sharpe is unforgivable.

Based on my book, The Cross and the Machete: Native Baptists of Jamaica - Identity, Ministry and Legacy, Andrew Holness, when he was education minister, asked me and Dr Daive Dunkley of the University of the West Indies history department to write a syllabus that would correct this and other deficiencies. Hopefully, the present minister of education, Ronnie Thwaites, will, in addition to the teaching of the philosophy of Marcus Garvey, encourage a more accurate description of the contribution of other national heroes.

Tremendous assistance

In this gift book it states that British Baptist missionaries Knibb and James Phillippo provided tremendous assistance in helping to break the back of slavery. Though one cannot discount the work of Knibb after 1832 in the fight against slavery, it should be noted that all Baptist missionaries came with the understanding that they would not attack slavery, and it was only after the Sharpe-led strike that some missionaries changed their attitude towards slavery. For example, on January 1, 1832, Knibb and other missionaries "warned the people of the sin and danger of uniting with the insurgents ..." For the missionaries it was a sin to associate with the protestors such as Sam Sharpe. Knibb also confessed on June 21, 1832 that, "We should still have maintained the silence that had been imposed upon us as to civil and political affairs, however enormous, and cruel, and revolting the evils we were compelled to witness, had they not at last deprived us of the privilege of telling the poor, ill-used, and oppressed slave." (Cross and Machete, 119-20) .

Knibb honestly acknowledged that the change of heart towards slavery was the result of slavery preventing the spread of the gospel among the enslaved.

Wrong ideas

So often credit is given to the work of the missionaries for putting freedom into the head of the enslaved, but it appears that freedom was there in spite of the missionaries prior to 1832. The testimonies of Sharpe and others stated that it was not the missionaries who taught them about freedom. In fact, Phillippo said that in his meetings he did not sing certain hymns, especially those that had the word 'liberty' so as to prevent the enslaved from getting the wrong ideas. Knibb said he did not preach from the text "If the Son has set you free, you are free indeed" for a similar reason. The missionaries preached to the enslaved on the virtues of hard work, submission, obedience, honesty and discipline. But Sharpe and others said that they read about freedom in the Bible for themselves. It was to their credit, based on their interpretation, that they believed in equality of all humans, which was a revolutionary idea that was not accepted by most Europeans.

For them, freedom from the dominion of sin also meant freedom from the sinful system of slavery. Therefore, as we celebrate Jamaica's Jubilee, it's sad that National Hero the Rt Excellent Sam Sharpe is still slighted.

Devon Dick is pastor of the Boulevard Baptist Church in St Andrew. Send comments to columns@gleanerjm.com.