Tribute to the Maroons and their contribution to Dominica’s history

Play held in 2016 to commemorate Maroon ancestors

Today is the 12th of July.

Today we remember the Maroons and pay tribute to their contribution to our history.

We have chosen the anniversary of the death in battle of Chief Jacko, most respected and long-lived leader of the Maroons (Neg Mawon) of Dominica to symbolize the whole Maroon presence in our history.

The Maroons were the Africans who, since 1761 at least, refused to accept the system of slavery and took up arms against it. At their height, they were probably around 3000 men, women and children. They organized themselves in military camps that later developed into strong social communities. Some of the most developed camps resembled the kinds of villages that would emerge among the freed slaves after emancipation more than half a century later.

It is truly remarkable that in the very difficult circumstances that they found themselves, fighting for their lives in dense mountain jungles thousands of miles from their native lands, these Africans were still able to survive and create sufficiently stable communities to raise children and cultivate. A significant proportion of Maroon society were women. At the time of Jacko’s death, there were thirteen such Maroon Communities (camps), scattered in the forested mountains. Their military campaigns were coordinated by the Grand Camp which both Bala and Jacko seemed to have controlled at various times and which was probably located in the area of Morne Neg Mawon in the Belles Area.

They had an economy also with a well-developed trade in agricultural products which were traded not only with the plantation slave/labourers, but free people in Roseau also. They could be very productive farmers, said, in one case to have more than 4 acres extensively cultivated with a diversity of crops. Wah-wah was a staple item of exchange, but all sorts of forest produce were involved.

By the time of the second and last Maroon Wars, 1814/1815, Maroon numbers had dwindled and marroonage had lost much of its appeal among the plantation slaves from which they recruited, but they never lost the boldness in action that made them famous in the region. When Governor Ainslie sent captured Maroons to Chief Quashie in 1814 with an ultimatum to surrender or face death, and a bounty of £2000 put on his head, the Great Chief immediately proclaimed a similar bounty back on Ainslie’s head.

The Maroons are hugely important to our self-identity as a society and nation. Their story says loudly to us that our past is not defined just by slavery; but also resistance to slavery also. It shows us that wired in our cultural DNA is an attitude not just to power and governance, but the limits of power of governance; and that it is always open to the body of ordinary citizens to take action to end tyranny and abuse of power by those who govern.

This cultural trait has surfaced over and over in our relatively short history – in what was called the Negro Riots of 1844; the LaPlain insurrection of 1891; the Kalinago Revolt of 1932, the “Back to the Land” Dred Movement of the early 70s, the Castle Bruce Cooperative Revolt in 1972, the Geneva Uprising of 1974 and of course the Great Political Uprising which toppled the elected Government of Patrick John in 1979. This same cultural trait may yet accomplish even greater feats in the future! Its roots go right back to the Maron Resistance and to the Resistance of our Kalinago ancestors which had been crushed a century earlier in the 1720s, but which may also have inspired Maroon resistance.

And yet the story of the Maroons remains largely unknown, in spite of Dr. Honychurch’s recent book, “Neg Mawon”. This is the worst of ironies considering that it is no longer the white slave master, but the descendants of those same suffering slaves, who now rule the land. We are nowhere close to being truly free. We are still constrained by the dead hand of the past. Either by design or ignorance, we are ourselves the agents of a system made to keep us down. The education system is an effective tool for misrepresenting or deliberately ignoring the significance of our Maroon past.

The 12th of July Movement is a movement for cultural transformation; a movement aimed at tackling our longest and most persistent foe – slavery of the mind, Bob Marley’s “mental slavery”, the biggest obstacle to our progress and the greatest threat to our survival as a people.

But we can take small steps to begin to bring forward the message and raise the consciousness of our people: We call on the government to officially declare the 12th July as National Maroon Day; transform the old market from a private to a public space as a national monument of remembrance of the Maroon legacy in our history; that we burn a flame eternally, to forever mark the time of the Maroons and what they stood for, the most precious things for humans apart from their basic needs – liberty, human dignity, community.

Will not the younger generation help make the change? Young Dominicans, this is a message to you. Let us locate and reconstruct those 13 Maroon camps in tribute to the memories of such an illustrious ancestry for the education and enjoyment of our people and our visitors.

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9 Comments

  1. Interesting
    July 15, 2018

    Very good article… I did not want it to end. I could just visualize our ancestors hiding out and fighting for their freedom. We must never forget where we came from and our power as a people. But, now it appears “to each his own.” So sad.

  2. The most High is watching and listening
    July 13, 2018

    Amen! Long Live The Spirit Of The Ancestors. Not even the Brutality and the “Kill and Take” mentality of the oppressors could subdue them. They Knew they were NOT slaves and REFUSED to be such.
    Therefore, they Fought and Broke the shackles to Free Themselves from the imposed bondage.
    PRAISE JAH. Their children today should honour their sacrifices and their memory. They should learn from The Ancestors and strive to gain Wisdom and Overstanding in order to move forward and not just be fodder for all and sundry.

  3. Da Girl
    July 13, 2018

    I would really love to see those maroon villages reconstructed..I think too that those would be awesome tourist sites, catering not just to tourists but locals as well. The Carib Village is really interesting so why not include the other part of our history as well.

  4. Believer
    July 12, 2018

    Thanks for the history lesson…..we owe a lot to our brave ancestors the “NegMawon”, who fought so fiercely for their freedom, which we inherit today.
    Very good article.

  5. July 12, 2018

    When you have people who don’t look like you writing your history, not knowing will continue to burden the mis-guided young Black men, they have nothing to be proud of, nothing to build on. I will forever be proud of the exploits of true leaders Bala , Jacko and the extremely strong Women of his time, todays Dominican women would gain a lot in learning how to bond in order to build. Dominica’ true History , is covered by people of certain societal groups with their own agendas, the plantation remnants and Mullatto fiends, hold sway. BALLA’ lessons are just as important now , we must know who our enemies are. Dominica’ true History is not taught in school at any level, why? because the people must be kept in ignorance, which have been the historical philosophy of the past, the present writers and leaders adheres to the STATUS QUO.

  6. Cabrits land given Free to foreigners
    July 12, 2018

    Dominicans are culturally. in a coma. Many trying to forget the rich history of RESISTANCE against colonial rule, oppression and exploitation.

    A few reasons for coming to that conclusion.

    (1) Hundreds of years ago, our Kalinago and Black Freedom fighters fought against the colonial powers to preserve the land for future Dominicans. In 2015, a few of the children of Kalinago and Negre Mawon now in Gov’t,, in their wicked ways and having no respect for their ancestors and their struggles, went to Parliament, changed the National Parks’ laws, carved out 15 ACRES of our land from our Cabrits National Park and gave all of that FREE to the foreigner Range Development.

    On top of that, Skerritt’s DLP Gov’t gave the foreigner, Range Dev. our passports to make MILLIONS to build a hotel. Those neo-colonialists were aided and abetted by greedy, selfish people in Gov’t.

    (2) Today unjust Laws by Gov’t to victimize

    (3) Free and Fair elections elude…

    • out of south city
      July 13, 2018

      It is slavery in disguise by those who are in power over the less fortunate. We do not even know how to love and appreciate each other any more. We now live in a dysfunctional society where those who are in power oppress too many who do not have the eyes to see. We are being victimized by those whom we have voted for. It seems like what was once a peaceful island has become so divided and many can’t seem to find their way because of bad governance. Our ancestors are turning in their graves right now because we have become such a loveless and uncaring people. Our enemies have taught us well because we are now carrying their plan against each other through politics and religion.
      We need to return to African Spirituality or else we will be doomed as a nation. In days gone by, our parents were seers but now we are so side-tracked and so distracted that we can’t see what’s going and what’s coming. Now, we think and act just like those who sold and murdered our ancestors.

  7. Shaka Zulu
    July 12, 2018

    Maybe if we change thier names from maroons to the original freedom fighters it will have more meaning. Men and women who choose to fight instead of being enslaved. They choose to live as free men by thier own means on thier own terms. That is something worth celebrating.

  8. Massacre
    July 12, 2018

    WE should never forget the people who laid down their lives so that we can be free today. Will always be in our memory.
    “Least we forget.”

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