Leonard Howell

For the footballer and cricketer, see Leonard Howell (footballer).

Leonard Percival Howell (June 16, 1898[1] – February 25, 1981), known as The Gong[2] or G.G. Maragh (for Gong Guru), was a Jamaican religious figure. According to his biographer Hélène Lee,[3] Howell was born in an Anglican family. He was one of the first preachers of the Rastafari movement (along with Joseph Hibbert, Archibald Dunkley, and Robert Hinds), and is known by many as The First Rasta.

Born in May Crawle River, Jamaica, Howell left the country as a youth, traveling amongst other places to New York, and returned in 1932. He began preaching in 1933 about what he considered the symbolic portent for the African diaspora—the crowning of Ras Tafari Makonnen as Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia. His preaching asserted that Haile Selassie was the "Messiah returned to earth," and he published a book called The Promised Key. Although this resulted in his being arrested, tried for sedition and imprisoned for two years, the Rastafari movement grew.[4]

Over the following years, Howell came into conflict with all the establishment authorities in Jamaica: the planters, the trade unions, established churches, police and colonial authorities. He formed a town or commune called Pinnacle in Saint Catherine Parish that became famous as a place for Rastafari. Nevertheless, this movement prospered, and today the Rastafari faith exists worldwide. Unlike many Rastas, Howell never wore dreadlocks.

Leonard Howell died February 1981 in Kingston, Jamaica.

Early life

Howell was born on June 16, 1898 in May Crawle village in the Bull Head mountain district of upper Clarendon. He was the eldest of a family of ten children. Charles Theophilus Howell, his father, worked as peasant cultivator and tailor. Clementina Bennett, his mother, worked as an agricultural laborer.

During the First World War, Howell worked as a seaman and served as part of a Jamaican contingent sent to Panama. Before temporarily settling in Panama in 1918, he travelled back and forth between New York City and Panama several times. While in New York he became a member of Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) after being confronted with his identity as a black man in Harlem for the first time and meeting Garvey, the revolutionary Rastafarian leader, in person.[5]

Howell lived abroad for a total of some twenty years in his early life, during which time he was arrested and jailed for his involvement with the UNIA. After migrating to Panama and the United States, he eventually returned home in December 1932 at the age of 34 after being deported from the US.[5] Upon returning to his homeland he decided to leave his family home to spread the word about Rastafarianism. This decision to break away from his home created a conflict between Howell and his family, presumably because of his controversial belief in the divine nature of Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia.[6]

Evangelism

Howell’s first public display of the divination of Haile Selassie occurred in January 1933. This first open deification, which proclaimed the Emperor of Ethiopia to be the incarnation of God, took place at “Redemption Ground” in Kingston and was ultimately deemed unsuccessful.[5]

In February 1933 Howell relocated his meeting to a southeastern parish of St. Thomas and two months later, on April 18 he addressed about two hundred people at a meeting in Trinity Ville, St. Thomas. During this meeting police were present to monitor and control the event, which they deemed to be of a “seditious nature”. Despite concerns, authorities chose not to press charges against Howell so as not to draw extra attention to his movement and decided instead to closely monitor him.

According to Howell and his followers, Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia was the “Black Messiah” – an incarnation of God predicted by biblical prophecy. Howell believed that the grand coronation of Haile Selassie, who was widely believed to be the descendant of King Solomon and King David, was the realization of a prophecy. The grandiose nature of the emperor's ascension to power appeared to validate Howell's imperative claim.[5]

Howell's teachings often began with background information about the people, land and sovereignty of Ethiopia as an unchanged land populated by original, primitive Christian people who were under direct rule of a king who was a direct descendant of King David. He idealized Ethiopia in his preaching, calling the country a land with unmatched people and the perfect language, or the sole uncorrupted language on Earth. Howell emphasized the coming of a new civilization based upon and founded in the glory and power of Haile Selassie, the "Supreme Black King". He instructed his followers to adore the Ethiopian emperor as the supreme God over all of mankind, as the measure of civilization. In Howell's view it was through Ethiopia that the truths of good character, social order, manhood and womanhood were preserved and were unfolding for all to see. Howell preached that Ethiopian culture was re-emerging to overtake hegemonic Anglo-Saxon forces that had kept Africans enslaved.[7]

Core Values, Leadership and Social Network

In a meeting at Port Mortant, St. Thomas on September 1933 it is recorded that Howell held a meeting that began with the singing of hymns. Howell reportedly taunted clergymen of other religious denominations at the gathering and discouraged people from attending church because “ministers were liars”.[8] He also spoke critically of slavery claiming that “the White man stole Africa from the Africans, and that Black people should think that Africa is their home, not Jamaica”.[8]

Howell’s message of praise for Emperor Haile Selassie also came with an open call for black supremacy as a way to combat colonialism and reject oppression by whites. At times Howell would ask his congregants to join together and sing “God Save the King” – the king being Haile Selassie.[9] Howell’s central doctrine acted as a force against white colonial ideology due to his placement of blackness as morally superior to whiteness, as is explained in his widely read publication, The Promised Key.

Amongst his followers, Howell preferred being called Gangunguru Maragh or ‘G.G. Maragh’ to distinguish his ritual, mystical personality from his secular identity. Howell’s ritual name is thought to a combination of three Hindi words – gyan (wisdom), gun (virtue or talent) and guru (teacher). In Hindi Maragh means ‘great kings’ or ‘king of kings’.[5] Howell used this name as a pseudonym when he published The Promised Key.

Howell is remembered as being a charismatic and authoritarian leader who sincerely cared about the wellbeing of his followers. In 1937 Howell founded the Ethiopian Salvation Society (ESS) whose objective was to use collective savings to better its members. A secondary purpose of the ESS was to help spread the good news about salvation and Christianity and underscore the value of self-help and good citizenship. These secondary purposes were expressly stated so as to shield the organization from suspicion that it was promoting sedition. Nevertheless in 1940 the Jamaican governor responded to pressure from the colonial secretary and the labor leadership by officially banning a meeting of the ESS due to the resentment the organization was creating as well as its internationalization.[10]

In addition to his leadership role in the ESS Howell served as a role model and father figure for the growing Rastafarian community. His audacious, giving persona combined with his well-traveled background made early Rastafarians particularly receptive to his messages. Howell brought “the hope of a new generation, one which was inspired by the magnificence of the new Ethiopian emperor”.[5]

To expand Howell’s Rastafarian network he formed relationships with other black groups such as the Afro-Athlican Constructive Gaathly and the UNIA. Additionally he collaborated closely with other icons of the Rastafarian movement such as Marcus Garvey as well as George Padmore, a Trinidadian Marxist.[11]

Howell’s appeal for identification with Africa was in opposition to concurrent movements in Jamaica promoting a Jamaican creole nationalism. Howell positioned himself as an opponent of the labor nationalists Bustamante and Manley who had gained a substantial following amongst the working class. Howell preached to both working class and peasantry in Jamaica, attempting to unite disenfranchised black people to overcome colonial oppression.[10] Jamaica's independence in 1962 (which nevertheless maintained social, political and economic ties between Jamaica and Great Britain) was largely a disappointment for Howell, who had called for the complete severance of relations with imperial Britain.

Trials and Punishments

In January 1934 Howell and Robert Hinds, another pioneer of the Rastafarian movement, were arrested and charged with sedition due to their gatherings and speeches at a meeting of 300 people at Seaforth, St Thomas on December 10, 1933.[5]

Howell was put on trial for sedition on March 13, 1934 and pleaded not guilty to openly expressing hatred and contempt for the Jamaican government and the King in addition to disturbing public peace on the island. Howell defended himself in court, using a photograph of Haile Selassie as evidence. During this historic trial, Howell is remembered as being the first person to declare that Haile Selassie was “the Messiah returned to earth”. Ultimately he was sentenced to two years in jail for sedition by Jamaican chief justice, Robert William Lyall-Grant.[5]

Later, in 1938 Howell was sent to a mental asylum in Kingston called Bellevue after being certified as insane for the inflammatory statements he published in his book The Promised Key. In this publication, which was released while Howell was still incarcerated, he labeled the Roman Catholic Pope as "Satan the Devil" and created the impression that war was being declared against colonialism and white supremacy - which Howell asserted should be replaced with "Black supremacy". Furthermore, he openly objected to locally created religious systems like Revivalism and Obeah, a Jamaican folk practice. Although small, the book was powerful and very popular to the dismay of the Jamaican government.[12]

As one of the most charismatic and outspoken of Rastafarian leaders, Howell was incarcerated at notably higher rates than other pioneers of the Rastafrian movement such as Joseph Nathaniel Hibbert and Garveyite Robert Hinds.[5] Described as “the most persecuted Rastafarian to date” Howell suffered considerably under constant state surveillance.[5] Due to his repeated imprisonment and persecution he was largely absent during Haile Selassie’s 1966 visit to Jamaica.

Howell was seen as a threat largely due to the anti-colonial message of the Rastafarian movement that he was perpetuating along with the sermons promoting the idea of a positive black racial identity. Local ruling elites were uneasy with Howell’s popular call to action among black people to take a stand. Colonial authorities hoped to quell Howell’s growing movement early so as to snuff out support early on.[13] As his following grew, the threat of Howell and his movement expanded to become an international concern given his strong messages of black liberation and Pan-Africanism that resonated with blacks across the globe.

Especially threatening was the prophetic call to destroy the legitimacy and might of the British empire and international white supremacy, which had an existential signification for identity, agency, and socio-political mobilization in Jamaica and elsewhere.[14]

Creation of 'Pinnacle'

Following his release from prison, Howell created the first Rastafarian village in Jamaica at Sligoville, St. Catherine in 1940. The settlement was called ‘Pinnacle’ due to its high hilltop elevation and was symbolically located in the first free village established to house former slaves in Jamaica.[10] Pinnacle was one of the country’s first self-sustaining communities in the nation, its community members were able to meet their needs without dependence on outside resources. Some refer to Pinnacle as a commune, in which Howell's form of socialism was practiced.[15] Soon after its foundation other similar Rastafarian communities were established across the country.[16] Pinnacle was especially known for the cultivation of ganja, a marijuana that was grown in the community that has religious significance for Rastafarians.[17]

In efforts to shut down Howell and his followers, police raided Howell’s community of Pinnacle multiple times and labeled the community as a "communist experiment" in 1941. Just one year after the creation of the settlement, government forces infiltrated and arrested many of Howell’s followers. After escaping immediate arrest, Howell was eventually arrested and tried once again for sedition and consequently was faced with two more years behind bars. Upon his release in 1943, he returned to Pinnacle once again.[18] Howell hired guards and brought in watch dogs to protect Pinnacle from future attacks.

The police raided Pinnacle several more times in the 1950. In 1954 militia invaded the community and almost completely destroyed the village. Even after this mass destruction settlers returned, though the settlement was never restored to its previous thriving state. During a final raid in 1958, the police cleared out remaining residents from the community completely. Despite its ultimate destruction, the impact of the settlement made it legendary among other settlements around the country who were observed to have been "miniature Pinnacles".[4]

Alleged Disappearance and Ongoing Legacy

Howell is claimed to have disappeared around 1958 or 1960 and completely dropped out of his role as a Rastafarian leader. Accounts that he was neither heard from nor interacted with between this period and his death in 1981 have been challenged by historians who examine his life.[10] Even after the final major raid of Pinnacle and Howell's confinement in a mental asylum, he reportedly continued in his leadership of the Pinnacle community and as a Rastafari foundational role model as is noted by his role as a defendant in several cases at the Home Circuit Court, Kingston, regarding disputes about his ownership of Pinnacle.

Today Howell is remembered as a pioneer of the Rastafarian movement. Additionally, in honor of his values and persistent fight against colonial authority he is seen as a leader of Pan-Africanism. To fight for his remembrance the Leonard P Howell Foundation was created to “perpetuate and honor the memory of Leonard P Howell”.[19] The Foundation calls for the restoration of a portion of the Pinnacle Property into a UNESCO world heritage site, an international Rastafarian worship and research center and as a monument in tribute to Leonard Percival Howell.[19]

References

  1. ↑ We are HEROES - Leonard Howell
  2. ↑ Regaining Bob Marley’s catalogue - Legal battles ahead for Tuff Gong?
  3. ↑ See a review of The First Rasta - Leonard Howell and the Rise of Rastafarianism (Lawrence Hill Books) by Hélène Lee:
  4. 1 2 Barrett, Sr., Leonard E.; Lee, Helene, Davis, Stephen (foreword) (2005). "The Rastafarians". The First Rasta: HON.Leonard Howell and the Rise of Rastafarianism. Chicago Review Press, USA. ISBN 1-55652-558-3. Cite uses deprecated parameter |coauthors= (help)
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Hutton, Clinton A.; Barnett, Michael A.; Dunkley, D. A., eds. (2015-09-30). Leonard Percival Howell and the Genesis of Rastafari. University of the West Indies Press. ISBN 9789766405496.
  6. ↑ Charles, Christopher A. D. (2013-12-26). "The Process of Becoming Black: Leonard Howell and the Revelation of Rastafari". Rochester, NY: Social Science Research Network.
  7. ↑ Niaah, Jahlani. Leonard Howell's Philosophy of Rasafari Manhood. 2015.
  8. 1 2 Lee, Hélène; Davis, Stephen (2004-01-01). The First Rasta: Leonard Howell and the Rise of Rastafarianism (Tra edition ed.). Chicago, Ill.: Chicago Review Press. ISBN 9781556525582.
  9. ↑ Charles, Christopher A. D. (2014-01-12). "Racial Socialization, Black Identity Transactions, Beauty and Skin Bleaching". Rochester, NY: Social Science Research Network.
  10. 1 2 3 4 DUNKLEY, DAIVE A. (2012-01-01). "Leonard P. Howell's Leadership of the Rastafari Movement and his "Missing Years"". Caribbean Quarterly. 58 (4): 1–24.
  11. ↑ Hoenisch, Michael (1988-01-01). "Symbolic Politics: Perceptions of the Early Rastafari Movement". The Massachusetts Review. 29 (3): 432–449.
  12. ↑ "D.A. Dunkley, Leonard P. Howell's Leadership of the Rastafari Movement and his "Missing Years", Caribbean Quarterly 58:4 (2012): 1-24". Retrieved 2016-11-27.
  13. ↑ Dunkley, D. A. (2013-01-01). "The Suppression of Leonard Howell in Late Colonial Jamaica, 1932-1954". New West Indian Guide / Nieuwe West-Indische Gids. 87 (1-2): 62–93. doi:10.1163/22134360-12340004. ISSN 2213-4360.
  14. ↑ Bogues, Anthony (2003-04-06). Black Heretics, Black Prophets: Radical Political Intellectuals (1 edition ed.). Routledge. ISBN 9780415943253.
  15. ↑ Price, Charles. "The Cultural Production of a Black Messiah: Ethiopianism and the Rastafari." Journal of Africana Religions, vol. 2, no. 3, 2014., pp. 418-433.
  16. ↑ "BLACK HISTORY: Leonard P. Howell the first Rasta". jamaica-gleaner.com. Retrieved 2016-11-27.
  17. ↑ CAMPBELL, HORACE (1980-01-01). "Review of the Rastafari Movement in Britain, Rastaman". Caribbean Quarterly. 26 (4): 86–91.
  18. ↑ Limited, Jamaica Observer. "Leonard Howell and the struggles that he fought - News". Jamaica Observer. Retrieved 2016-11-27.
  19. 1 2 "Leonard P Howell Foundation".

External links

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