Pinnacle – Jamaican nationalist and African conscious incubator

Just over 100 years after slavery was abolished in Jamaica, a community was established at Pinnacle in St Catherine. Pinnacle was created as a place and a concept for industry and self-reliance. The year was 1940 and Jamaica was still under colonial rule.

The founder of this community was a Jamaican named Leonard Percival Howell. Leonard Howell was born in 1898 in Mason River, Clarendon, and left Jamaica at a young age. He travelled throughout Central and North America before being deported to Jamaica in 1932 due to his involvement in Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA).

The establishment of Pinnacle close to Sligoville, the first free village formed by ex-slaves in 1834, some consider an indication of a purposeful continuation of the fight for a free African identity in colonial Jamaica. Pinnacle stood as a form of non-violent agitation. Approximately 500 acres grounded in an industrial mission of economic self-reliance. An extensive farming settlement that included a bakery, small craft workshops, health and welfare facilities, over 700 people. Howell is recorded as being a charismatic and authoritarian leader who sincerely cared about the well-being of his followers. Pinnacle was a manifestation of Howell’s ideas regarding self-government and self-reliance for black people.

Like other activists of the 1920s-30s, Leonard Howell’s appeal for identification with Africa was in opposition to concurrent movements. His call for black supremacy was a tool to free the mind to reject colonialism and the white superiority imposed by the colonisers. The colonial records confirm surveillance of his activities upon arrival to Jamaica. The Records of 1933 captured statements made by Howell at a mass meeting in Trinity Vale, St Thomas, proclaiming the divinity of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, the returned messiah. The international recognition and ceremony of the crowning of Ras Tafari as Emperor Haile Selassie in 1930 served as a solid foundation for Howell’s realisation. In 1935 he published The Promised Key to serve as a guide for those who would choose to follow, through HIM Emperor Haile Selassie, a non-violent path to a black empowered and anti-colonial consciousness.

CULTURAL CONTEXT

Although some of the contents in the publication may be argued as hate-speech and Howell’s advocacy for anti-colonialism too revolutionary, the reality of the sociopolitical and prevailing cultural context should not be lost. Leonard Howell was branded as seditious and jailed for several years. He was also at another time briefly placed in a lunatic asylum. Howell was committed to his mission to free the minds of black people. Pinnacle successfully functioned for many years notwithstanding a series of raids and attempts by the authorities to destroy the community under the guise of communism or ganja eradication. The determination to silence both Howell and the burgeoning Rastafarian movement was real.

The raids by the authorities in 1954 severely crippled Pinnacle, and in 1958, it was permanently dismantled and destroyed. The period between 1954 -1958 is regarded as a forced, but important scattering of the Rastafarians throughout the island where like seeds, they began to grow. Leonard Howell died peacefully in 1981 having witnessed Jamaica’s Independence, HIM Haile Selassie’s visit to Jamaica, and the growth of the Rastafarian movement. Rastafari is now a global reality impacting people’s consciousness through culture, religion, music, food, human rights, and environmental awareness. The movement and the music have served as the rally-cry for both the oppressed and liberated around the world. Today, Howell is remembered as the First Rasta and pioneer of the Rastafarian movement. In honour of his values and persistent fight against colonial authority, he is also recognised for his contributions to PanAfricanism.

The cultural landscape in Jamaica currently lacks a space of national and legal recognition of the contribution of the Rastafarian philosophy and heritage to the cultural identity of Jamaica. A project for the development of Pinnacle should satisfy that need. The development must elevate to national consciousness the influence of Leonard P. Howell on African identity, self-reliance, anti-colonialism, and the emergence of the Rastafarian philosophy in Jamaica. Pinnacle should simultaneously be positioned as a space for the recognition of the historically negative treatment of the Rastafarians in Jamaica while carving a path towards healing and reconciliation.

Christopher Whyms-Stone is the principal architect at Cornerstone Design Architecture and trustee of the JNHT Board. He is also deputy chairman of the NRCA/TCPA and Board Member at TPDCo.