When
Sam Sharpe
Rose that day
In Jamaica
Revolution birthed
Christmas strike sought wages
Plantations burned, peace was lost
Sixty thousand enslaved rose—armed
Hanged, yet named National hero
When Sam Sharpe rose that day in Jamaica

Afterword: Emancipation in Jamaica was not granted. It was fought for. It was won through the courage, faith, and resistance of enslaved Africans who refused to accept slavery as their destiny.

One of the defining moments came on Christmas Day, 1831, when Baptist deacon Samuel Sharpe led what was intended to be a peaceful strike for freedom and fair wages. Instead, it became the Sam Sharpe Rebellion—the largest slave uprising in the British West Indies. For eleven days, as many as 60,000 enslaved Jamaicans stood together in one unyielding demand: freedom.

The rebellion was brutally crushed. Sharpe was captured, tried, and hanged on May 23, 1832. Before his execution, he declared, “I would rather die upon yonder gallows than live in slavery.”

Although the revolt was suppressed, it changed history. The brutality of its aftermath and the economic losses shook Britain and helped pave the way for the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. On August 1, 1834, slavery was legally abolished across the British Empire, with full freedom finally arriving in 1838.

As we commemorate Emancipation, we remember this truth:

Freedom was not given. It was fought for.

Happy Emancipendence Jamaica!

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Dectina Refrain: A ten-line syllabic I rhymed poem that builds from one to nine syllables per line. The final line repeats the first four lines exactly, creating a refrain that brings the poem full circle.

2025 [republished] 
All Rights Reserved

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In creative solidarity, Dee