Michael Allen | Reviewing Alexander Bedward

In the 60th anniversary of independence from our colonial masters, let us look at whether due respect is given to those who played a part along the way to this event. Alexander Bedward is someone that comes up again and again in that context. This against the background of what transpired in 2018.

In 2018, the Jamaican Parliament passed a long-overdue law to expunge the criminal records of national heroes Marcus Garvey, Sam Sharpe, George William Gordon, Paul Bogle, alongside other freedom fighters. This allowed for the correcting of acts of injustice meted out to them by the State. This gesture is commendable and timely but it cannot stop there as there are others who have suffered similar acts of injustice under the law. Among this group is Alexander Bedward, leader of the Jamaica Native Baptist Free Church with headquarters in August Town and a following of well over 30,000.

Bedward, a black man of the working class, became a strong and most vocal critic of the colonial government and its inherent structural racism and the concomitant acts of oppression and injustice against the black majority of the island. For over 30 years Bedward was the voice of the voiceless and oppressed black majority of the island and, for those 30 years, the thorn in the flesh of the colonial government. He had to be silenced.

It is unfortunate that Bedward is best remembered for his assumed failed attempt in 1920 to ascend into heaven. What led him to the conclusion that it was possible for him to do so is open to further scholarship. It must be noted, however, that any discussion of Bedward must be done in the context of the times in which he lived.

To begin, Bedward was a product of the political and poor socio-economic reality of the lower class black majority. In 1866, with the failure of Paul Bogle’s 1865 war against racial oppression and unjust socio-economic structures, Crown Colony government – a dictatorship from London, was introduced in Jamaica. Under Crown Colony Government, Jamaicans in general lost political rights and there was great economic hardship among the black population. With that (came) a sense of low esteem (as is usually) caused by acts of injustice.

There is no doubt that Bedward’s sermons, set in the context of the religious overtones of a type of end-of-the-world language, would be very fiery as he sought to address the ills of society at that time. The colonial masters of the time would have seen this as a threat to the status quo and would have sought to eliminate it by either declaring his actions treasonable or by declaring him a lunatic. The latter was the path chosen.

This is borne out by the events of April 1921 when Bedward summoned his followers for a march from August Town to Kingston. The colonial authorities, led by the governor, put in place measures to curtail and crush what they perceived as a black nationalism movement which would flow from Bedwardism.

Rev Professor Veront Satchell noted in the work ‘Colonial Injustice: The Crown versus Alexander Bedward’, that on the day of the march Bedward and his followers were arrested, most under the charge of vagrancy from the act of 1902 which placed the burden of proof on the defendants.

Rev Satchell records that the arrest, trial and sentencing of so many of Bedward’s followers, done within four hours, and convicting over 200 of them without recourse to legal representation shows the disregard and fear that the colonial authorities had for Bedwardism.

Fortunately, persons of influence in the society, seeing the injustice meted out to the Bedwardites, pushed back from different avenues and eventually got the release and pardon of over 200 of Bedward’s followers.

Alexander Bedward was not so fortunate, for although he was freed from the charge of vagrancy, he was subsequently charged for lunacy and eventually convicted.

He consequently spent ten years in an asylum where he later died, and with him, to some extent, the Bedward movement. But the racial consciousness continued.

In an article written by George Garwood and published in The Gleaner on November 10, 2021, the point was made on why Bedward and the movement he facilitated would have been seen as a threat. Garwood writes, “ Bedwardism planted a seed from which a culture of racial consciousness grew, and found its most emphatic form in Marcus Garvey and his Universal Negro Improvement Association.”

Our historians would perhaps go on to argue that even the Rastafarian movement is an offshoot of that attempt by persons of colour to claim their identity in the image of God.

Whatever may be our views on religion, there is no denying its ability to give people a sense of belonging, and with it identity. As with most religious movements, Bedward certainly did it with Bedwardites being found all over Jamaica. Perhaps religious functionaries are not always correct, but they are integral in giving hope, which ultimately is God’s greatest gift and the essence of God as well.

Father Michael Allen is an Anglican priest. Please send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com