‘Do You Remember the Days of Slav'ry?’ Connecting the Present with the Past in Contemporary Jamaica

Abstract

In early 2006, the parish councilors of St Elizabeth, Jamaica, decided not to support plans for celebration of the abolition of slavery citing the position taken by National Hero Sir Alexander Bustamante, founding father of the Jamaica Labour Party, that ‘we should celebrate our achievements (but) we should not look back at our shame’. This article looks at this instance and others like it of ambivalence towards the memory of slavery and how it ought to be treated today. Main sources for the article are discussions in the public sphere, radio, newspaper and television debates on the subject, and interviews with key principals such as the chairwoman of the Committee for the Commemoration of the Abolition of Slavery as well as dissenting voices such as the St Elizabeth councilors during the period 2006–2007 in the run-up to commemorative activities.