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INSPIRING JAMAICA

Emancipation Park: sanctuary of freedom and reflection

Published:Sunday | August 3, 2025 | 12:08 AM
 A group of children play by Redemption Song sculpture outside Emancipation Park.
A group of children play by Redemption Song sculpture outside Emancipation Park.

In the vibrant core of New Kingston, Emancipation Park rises like a quiet anthem, six acres of serenity cradled in the hum of city life. Although the city continues to evolve, the park encourages us to pause, reflect, and remember. And this Sunday, just two days after Emancipation Day, its meaning feels even more alive.

Emancipation Day, celebrated last Friday, marks the end of slavery in Jamaica in 1838, a day of spiritual and cultural awakening that continues to echo through generations. Emancipation Park, officially opened on July 31, 2002, was created as a living memorial to that history. It is more than a green space. It is sacred ground, reminding us not just of what was endured, but of what was overcome.

Once part of the elite Liguanea Club, the land was gifted to the Jamaican Government with one condition: that it be used for the uplifting of the people. What emerged was a space not for leisure alone, but for remembrance and renewal.

Standing sentinel at the park’s entrance is Redemption Song, Laura Facey’s powerful sculpture of a man and woman, gazing skyward, nude, unshackled, and transcendent. Inspired by Bob Marley’s lyrics, the figures symbolise not only the end of physical bondage, but the beginning of mental and emotional liberation. “None but ourselves can free our minds,” they seem to say, even now, even still.

Around them, Adinkra symbols, native to West Africa, whisper ancient truths on benches and fences, while the vibrant flora lignum vitae, Bougainvillea, Poui celebrate nature’s beauty and endurance.

Emancipation Park becomes especially sacred after the commemorative events of Friday. And so today, in the gentle quiet of a Sunday morning, the park offers something deeper, a mirror for the soul. It reminds us that emancipation is not confined to the pages of history books. It is a daily commitment to justice, dignity, creativity and inner peace.

May Emancipation Park continue to inspire us to walk boldly into freedom just as our ancestors did not only on Emancipation Day, but every day we choose to rise.

Contributed by Dr Lorenzo Gordon, a diabetologist, internal medicine consultant, biochemist, and a history and heritage enthusiast. Send feedback to inspiring876@gmail.com