Rastafarianism is an African-based spiritual outlook that emerged in Jamaica in the 1930s. It is considered as a religion by few, but by many people it is considered as “a way of life” because it is not very organized. In 1927, Marcus Garvey who is an Afrocentric, black political activist, made a prophecy that his race will be emancipated after a black king is crowned. Three years later, in 1930 Haile Selassie was crowned as king in Africa. Selassie was later declared as the savior by four Jamaican ministers.
Rastafarians believe that Haile Selassie is the messiah, who they refer to as “Jah” or God. They believe that one day he will lead them to the Promised Land. Although, Selassie died in 1975, his death is not accepted by many due to the fact that they believe he will come back one day; reincarnation. Selassie was known as “Ras Tafari Makonnen”, and this is how the name of the religion came to be. Rastafarianism began as a social stand against white people and middle-classes, because they viewed them as oppressors. They also wanted to recapture and reestablish their African heritage, because many of them felt that by being captured and taken to the Caribbean by slave traders, they were defrauded out of their heritage.
The Bible is taken as the sacred text by Rastafarians, but it is interpreted in an Afrocentric way. The reason behind the different interpretation of the Bible is to reverse the changes that they assume were made by white powers. They hold the black race as one of the tribes of Israel, and believe that the promise to the chosen people is relevant to them as well. Rastas also obtain many of the Old Testament prohibitions, like forbidding the cutting of their hair, and eating pork and shellfish. Rastafarians ac...
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... during slavery. In Rastafarianism, no two weddings are the same, they choose to be very diverse and different.
Lastly, Rastafarianism is growing very rapidly between people of many different cultures. The Rastafari movement has spread all around the world because of Bob Marley's famous music. The lyrics to most of Marley's songs contained the Rasta doctrine and many of things about the religion/way of life. Bob Marley's style of music was Raggae, and it was very popular, and still is on a certain level. There are many Raggae artists today, like Shaggy & Barrington, Sizzla, and Gyptian. Today, there appears to be more than one million followers of Rastafarianism, and most live in communes. Although, Rastafarianism is spread through Africa, most Rastafarians are from Jamaica. They settle in other places around the world like the Caribbean, US, UK, and Canada.
The second edition of “African American Religious History: A Documentary Witness,” covers the religious experiences of African Americans—from the late eighteenth century until the early 1980s. My paper is written in a chronological order to reflect on the progress blacks have made during the years—by expounding on the earliest religion of Africans to black religion of today. Race Relation and Religion plays a major role in today’s society—history is present in all that we do and it is to history that African-Americans have its identity and aspiration.
Marcus Garvey, and the ideology of Garveyism, was crucial in creating a movement of Revivalism and the reinvigoration of Africa-first religions. Marcus Garvey is one of the most influential people in the movements of Revivalism and Rastafarianism. Garvey took to the streets of Kingston to proclaim his message about an Africa-first ideology that begin to resonate with a Jamaican population that was slowly beginning to understand the breadth of the oppression they experience. He emphasized this connection with Africa and the desire for a black-controlled African homeland as a unifying characteristic of all black people in Jamaica. Chevannes notes Garvey’s position was largely centered on “the dignity and equality of blacks… [and] their ability to claim a land they could call their own, one in which they could be their own master” (p 95). The concept of “being their own master” is key to the Revivalism and then later the Rastafarian movement; it encouraged a unification of black people everywhere, not only in
Those who are uneducated in what exactly the Rastafarian lifestyle contains may think that Rastafarians are people who have dreads, people who only wear pan-Africanism colors, and people who inhale narcotics while listening to reggae music. True Rastafarians are those who follow the doctrine of Haile Selassie I, even though Haile Selassie I never regarded himself as a god, nor did he adhere to the Rastafari lifestyle. Marcus Garvey is the one people are holding responsible with the adaption of Rastas regarding Selassie as a god. I was also surprise that Skopal only mentioned Ethiopia but once or twice when, Ethiopia is the foundation of the Rastafari ideology. Rastafari’s believe that Hallie Selassie I was the second coming of my Christian savior
10. Yawney, Carole D. Moving with the dawtas of Rastafari: from myth to reality. pgs. 15--23; 33--55; and 65--73. (excerpts from Teresa Turner's New Society.)
Before the Nation of Islam came to its existence, there were other activist groups that influenced the Nation of Islam. Prior to the emergence of the Nation of Islam in the 1960’s, there were other successful Black Nationalist groups such as Garveyism (Talhami 130). Marcus Garvey led a “return-to-Africa movement” (Talhami 131). This movement called for all blacks to leave America and return to Africa, and re-claim their original land (Talhami 131). The Garveyite movement wanted Islam to be its official religion being that most Africans were Muslims, and Marcus Garvey believed that Islam was the “black man’s” original religion (Talhami 131), and it had been stated that “This notion gained strength through the desire to seek a national identity linking them to a homeland other than the white dominated United States” (Talhami 130). Drew Ali and Elijah Muhammad were influenced by Islam during the Garvey movement (Talhami 131). Elijah Muhammad was strongly influenced by Marcus Garvey’s philosophy to follow other black leaders, and his political transformation to the Nation of Islam (Talhami 132).
"The Rastafarians emerge as a loosely organized inspirational group (or groups?) of men and women concerned at the plight of black people, especially the plight of those whose ancestors were forcibly removed from Africa to become the slaves of the white man on his plantations in the islands of the Caribbean"(Cashmore, 1). The English takeover of Jamaica in 1660 started the terrible beginning of the African Diaspora. Millions of Africans were stolen off of their continent and were shipped over to the Caribbean where they were fashioned to do slave labor so the Europeans could make money. Over 80 million Africans died in the process of departing to the islands. The slaves were denied any form of religion and were treated like animals. They were also denied food and were made to grow their own food so they could feed themselves. Many years went by till the slaves started to rebel. The 'Maroons' were a group of runaway slaves who started a powerful group of guerrilla warriors who lived in the most dangerous woods in Jamaica. But the Maroons gave in and signed a peace treaty in 1738 and were paid to catch the runaway slaves and became supporters of slavery.
Author of “The Negro Family”, E. Franklin Frazier believed that the centrality of the bible, structure of Black worship, and notion of God that evolved from the invisible institution to the Black Church was confirmation of the power of white influence . These tactics and different developments were merely adaptive methods used by slaves in order to worship freely in a confined space. Frazier’s beliefs were undermined by author Gayraud S. Wilmore’s description of Vodun in his book Black Religion and Black Radicalism. Frazier’s contention that black religion was evidence of white influence assumes a blank and passive slate. While Vodun in West Africa did have organization that was probably “infiltrated by Roman Catholicism” the goal of New World Africans was to adapt and understand their lives (Wilmore 43). Although white influence was forced upon New World Africans, slaves did not accept this influence but rather interpreted it to create a new, place-based Vodun religion. Vodun adapted to New World conditions, functioned as a coping mechanism, and possessed evolutionary qualities.
Marcus Mosiah Garvey was a philosopher who inspired Rastafarians to resist against the colonial system. He likened the Africans in the Caribbean and Americas to the Jews in the biblical city of Babylon. There are many deep connections between Rastafarianism and Judiasm, and this topic could no doubt warrent much more discussion.
The origins of African American religious music are directly linked to the Negro spirituals of enslaved Africans. One cannot research religious music of blacks in this country without first exploring these spirituals. The spirituals were part of a religious expression that enslaved people used to transcend the narrow limits and dehumanizing effects of slavery. It was through the performance of the spirituals that the individual and the community experienced their God, a God who affirmed their humanity in ways whites did not and a God who could set them free both spiritually and physically. These “sacred songs” were also used as secret communication. That is not to say that all spirituals functioned as coded protest songs or as some sort of secret language. The structure of the spirituals and the way in which they were created and performed allowed for flexibility in their function and meaning.
The Rastafari movement stems from the teachings of the great Jamaican leader and motivator of masses, Maces Garvey. Garvey told the African people of the world to unite and to return to African, the homeland. Garvey’s vision was for the “Blacks to overcome their feelings of inferiority and build upon their own unique and evolving culture, and ultimately return to Africa to redeem their homeland and to build a future...
Many, such as Nat Turner, Marcus Garvey, who is regarded as “the apostle of Black Theology” in the United States, Howard Thurman, and Martin Luther King all contributed to the cause of Black liberation and theology throughout black history. Due to these men, Black Theology emerged as a formal discipline. Many black clergy were apart of the “Black Power” movement in 1966. Black Theology began to originate when it was realized that a new starting point was needed in theology. It was realized that just as everything else had been taught incorrectly, so had Biblical history.
Since its founding in the 1930s, the Rastafarian movement has grown to the point where it has become a major cultural and political force in Jamaica. During its existence, the movement has challenged Jamaica's neo-colonialist society's attempts to keep whites at the top and blacks at the bottom of the socio-economic structure.
Rastafari is a theology based upon the writings of Marcus Garvey a Jamaican social activist. The movement’s global spread from Jamaica across the world has been strongly influenced by Bob Marley and closely associated with reggae. Many of Marley’s songs captured the essence of Rastafari religion and its social and political beliefs. (bbc.co.uk, 2014)
Although black theology became popular in the early 1960’s, it was not an entirely new subject. Black theology views God and Christianity as a gospel relevant to blacks who struggled daily under the oppression of whites. The origins of it are clearly seen in spirituals sang by African Americans during the time of slavery nearly 400 years ago. Because of slavery, Blacks’ concept of God was totally different from the masters who enslaved them. White Christians saw god as more of a spiritual savior, while the reflection of God for blacks came in their struggle for freedom. Slave theology then opened up to Black theology which first began when churches began to become segregated. Many could not understand how Whites could continue to behave this way in the Lord’s house. It was soon realized that this was because, according to them, their God allowed segregation.
"I Light and I Salvation": The Rise and Impact of Rastafarianism in Jamaican Culture and Politics.