Wed | Oct 8, 2025

Heritage

Great Jamaican Stories

For the month of October, Heritage Month, The Gleaner will be telling stories, some that are already out there, others that are not well known. Some of these are mentioned in our everyday sayings, but we have never stopped to think about the origin ... the backstory. 

The national anthem

Published:Friday | August 8, 2025 | 12:08 AMPaul H. Williams/Gleaner Writer

ON SEPTEMBER 30, 1961, with Jamaica on the cusp of political independence, the government announced a contest for a national anthem, starting with a competition for the words. The successful lyrics would be published so that they could be set to...

The national bird, tree and fruit

Published:Wednesday | August 6, 2025 | 12:55 PMPaul H. Williams/Gleaner Writer

THE RECOMMENDATION of the Jamaica Horticultural Society that the lignum vitae should be the floral emblem of Jamaica was adopted by the select committee in the House of Representatives after due consideration, and it went on to suggest that the...

The national flower

Published:Tuesday | August 5, 2025 | 12:05 AMPaul H. Williams/Gleaner Writer

AFTER CENTURIES of colonial rule by Britain, Jamaica was finally going to be an Independent nation in 1962. And, an Independent nation would have to have its own national emblems. Independence was to be in August, so the Government had to have...

Institute of Travel and Tourism of The Gambia and Western Hospitality Institute to sign MOU

Published:Saturday | August 2, 2025 | 12:05 AMPaul H. Williams/Gleaner Writer

ON TUESDAY, August 5, the Institute of Travel and Tourism of The Gambia (ITTOG) and Western Hospitality Institute (WHI) in Montego Bay, St James will sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) virtually for institutional collaboration, in a...

Olaudah Equiano’s memoir ignited the abolitionist movement in Britain

Published:Friday | August 1, 2025 | 9:43 AMPaul H. Williams/Gleaner Writer

FROM THE Americas to England, the free African man, Olaudah Equiano, returned. Eventually, he became involved in the movement to abolish the slave trade and slavery itself. The religious group, The Quakers, were the main antislavery agitators at...

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