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1838–2026 · 397 moments · page 1 of 20
1838–2026 · Reading moment 1 of 397
- History
August 1, 1838 marked the end of the apprenticeship period and the official emancipation of all slaves in British colonies. As such this day, Emancipation Day, is observed as a public holiday in Jamaica to provide Jamaicans with the opportunity to reflect on their ancestors and the freedom for which they fought.
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African-derived spiritual traditions including Kumina and Pocomania continue to shape rural Jamaican music after emancipation, preserving drumming, call-and-response singing, and ring dances. These living forms provide the rhythmic and spiritual DNA that later surfaces in mento, nyabinghi, and roots reggae.
Read more - HistoryOctober 11, 1865
The Morant Bay Rebellion erupts in St. Thomas parish, a watershed moment in Jamaican history that sharpened debates over justice, land, and identity. The social upheaval that followed would echo through folk song, mento storytelling, and the protest traditions later heard in reggae.
Read more - ArtistAugust 17, 1887
Marcus Garvey is born in St. Ann's Bay. His philosophy of Black pride and self-determination would later influence Rastafari thought, reggae consciousness, and generations of Jamaican artists from Burning Spear to Chronixx.
Read more - MovementJuly 20, 1914
Marcus Garvey founds the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in Kingston, launching a global movement for Black liberation. UNIA's cultural pride and Pan-African vision helped lay intellectual groundwork for Rastafari and the conscious reggae tradition.
Read more - ArtistSeptember 7, 1919
Louise Bennett-Coverley is born in Kingston. She becomes Jamaica's foremost folklorist and poet, preserving patois and mento traditions on stage and radio — giving voice to everyday Jamaican life long before reggae made patois a global language.
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Tommy McCook (3 March 1927 – 5 May 1998) Perhaps the most innovative and influential tenor saxophonist in Jamaican popular music; founding member of The Skatalites band; leader of The Supersonics band and member of The Revolutionaries.
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Oswald Williams, (1928-1976) Count Ossie is said to be among the first if not the first to put niyabinghi drumming to records and so helped to establish and maintain Rastafari culture through Jamaican music; incorporating influences from traditional Jamaican Kumina drumming with songs and rhythms. He formed a group called "Mystic Revelation Of Rastafari" producing the masterpiece 'Grounation' (1973).
Read more - ArtistMarch 8, 1931
Lloyd Knibbs is born in Kingston. The Skatalites drummer's syncopated backbeat on Treasure Isle and Studio One sessions is widely credited with crystallising the ska rhythm that launches Jamaica's independent recording industry.
Read more - ArtistAugust 1, 1931
Lloyd Brevett is born in Kingston. The upright bassist anchors the Skatalites and, with drummer Lloyd Knibbs, helps weld jazz discipline to the island's emerging ska pulse on sessions for Coxsone Dodd and Duke Reid.
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Don Drummond (12 March 1932 – 6 May 1969) One of the greatest trombonist in the history of Jamaican music. He was one of the original members of The Skatalites, and composed many of their tunes.
Read more - ArtistJanuary 26, 1932
Clement Seymour "Sir Coxsone" Dodd is born in Kingston. The Downbeat sound-system operator opens Studio One in 1963 and records virtually every formative voice in ska, rocksteady, and roots reggae — from the Skatalites and Heptones to Bob Marley and the Wailers.
Read more - ArtistOctober 2, 1934
Joseph Abraham Gordon is born in Kingston, later celebrated as Lord Tanamo. A founding Skatalites vocalist, mento star, and 1965 Festival Song winner with "Come Down," he keeps Jamaica's pre-ska acoustic traditions alive across six decades.
Read more - ArtistNovember 1, 1936
Vernon Carrington is born in Kingston, later known as the Prophet Gad. Founder of the Twelve Tribes of Israel branch of Rastafari in 1968, his teachings and organisation deeply influence roots reggae consciousness from Studio One to the present.
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Labour uprisings sweep Jamaica from Kingston to the rural parishes, as workers demand better wages and conditions. The unrest reshapes the island's political landscape and feeds the social consciousness that would surface in ska, rocksteady, and roots reggae lyrics decades later.
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Sound-system culture takes root in Kingston as operators like Tom the Great Sebastian begin building mobile discotheques. The sound clash — a uniquely Jamaican invention — would become the engine room of ska, rocksteady, dub, and dancehall for the next eighty years.
Read more - ArtistJanuary 28, 1941
Osbourne Ruddock is born in Kingston, later celebrated worldwide as King Tubby. From his Waterhouse sound system and dub mixes at Duke Reid's cutting lathe, he pioneers the stripped-down bass-and-drums versions that reshape reggae production and inspire dance music globally.
Read more - ArtistDecember 10, 1942
Joseph "Jo Jo" Hoo Kim is born in Kingston. With his brothers he founds Channel One Studios in 1972 on Maxfield Avenue, producing a militant rockers sound that dominated 1970s roots reggae and launched the Revolutionaries rhythm section of Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare.
Read more - ArtistApril 12, 1943
Roydel Anthony Johnson is born in Kendal, Hanover Parish, later celebrated as Congo Ashanti Roy. His tenor anchors The Congos' "Fisherman" and "Pass the Knowledge," and his guitar work links Studio One-era session culture to roots reggae.
Read more - ArtistNovember 12, 1943
Lester Errol Brown is born in Kingston, later fronting Hot Chocolate. The Jamaica-born songwriter co-writes "You Sexy Thing" and gives John Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance" its first commercial recording in 1969.
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