‘Flames of Freedom’ Returns to St. James in December

Flames of Freedom returns to St. James in December after a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19.

The annual event commemorates the anniversary of the 1831 Christmas Rebellion led by National Hero, the Right Excellent Samuel Sharpe, which began on the Kensington Estate in the parish and was largely instrumental in bringing about the abolition of slavery.

Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister and Member of Parliament for St. James Southern, Hon. Homer Davis, said that this year’s staging, which marks the 191st anniversary of the rebellion, will include two new features.

“We want to ensure that the activities of ‘Flames of Freedom’ are felt across St. James Southern, the birthplace of Sam Sharpe and where the rebellion started. We will be staging the traditional events and will be adding a few new ones,” he noted.

The new features are a Sam Sharpe Lecture and an essay and poster competition.

Mr. Davis said that the lecture, which will be held at the Montego Bay Cultural Centre on December 22, starting at 3:00 pm, will look at “Sam Sharpe, the Baptist deacon and Sam Sharpe, the revolutionary leader and the role he played in gaining freedom for Jamaicans”.

“We are seeking to confirm two great historians who will be able to give attendees their perspectives of the deacon and revolutionary, who was named National Hero on March 31, 1982,” he told JIS News.

During that lecture, the inaugural Homer Davis/Sam Sharpe Essay and Poster competition for primary and high schools will be launched.

The competition will give students an opportunity to apply their creative talents in expressing their views of Sam Sharpe through words and drawings.

The winners of the competition will be announced and awarded during the annual Labour Day tribute honouring the National Hero in Sam Sharpe Square in May 2023.

On Wednesday (December 28), the traditional ‘Flames of Freedom’ Torch Run will be held, with participation from more than 300 young people from the constituency.

It will start at 7:00 a.m. at Catadupa, which is the birthplace of Sam Sharpe, and continue through Cambridge into Anchovy.

The runners will stop at Sam Sharpe Square for a brief ceremony, where the Torch will be handed over to Mayor of Montego Bay, Councillor Leeroy Williams.

The runners will then make their way to Tulloch Castle in Kensington for a grand celebration and concert, with stops at the entrance of Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College in Granville and John’s Hall.

The ceremony at Tulloch Castle will include presentations by government officials and representatives of St. James Southern and a concert featuring top gospel and reggae acts.

Re-enactment of the lighting of the thatch house at midnight, which signalled the start of the rebellion and involved some 50,000 slaves throughout the island, will highlight the event.

The inquisition that followed resulted in the execution of approximately 500 slaves, including Sam Sharpe.

The 1831 rebellion helped to influence the abolition of slavery and the push for full emancipation, which came on August 1, 1838.