Murphy Browne © October 11, 2020
PAUL BOGLE OCTOBER 11, 1865
Said it was 96 degrees, in the shade
Ten thousand soldiers on parade
Taking I and I to meet a big fat boy
Sent from overseas, the queen employ
Excellency, before you I come
With my representation
You know where I'm coming from
You caught me on the loose
Fighting to be free
Now you show me a noose
On the cotton tree
Entertainment for you
Martyrdom for me
Some may suffer and some may burn
But I know that one day
My people will learn
As sure as the sun shines
Way up in the sky
Today I stand here a victim
The truth is I'll never die
Excerpt from “96 Degrees in The Shade” by Third World.
The song “96 Degrees in The Shade” tells the story of Paul Bogle and the “Morant Bay Rebellion” of October, 1865. Paul Bogle was an African Jamaican social justice activist who led a group of protesters against the British colonizers in Morant Bay on October 11, 1865. The recently freed Africans (August 1, 1838) were protesting their working conditions, racism and social discrimination. They had suffered epidemics, flooding and crop failure. The protest march included hundreds of disenfranchised and disgruntled Africans from Stony Gut (a few miles north of Morant Bay) who marched to the Morant Bay Court House on October 11, 1865. They were protesting the injustice and oppression to which they were subjected by the colonizing British ruling class. They were oppressed in various ways and were required to pay poll taxes to have the right to vote. At that time there were only 104 voters in the parish of St. Thomas; the majority were not eligible to vote and had no voice.
The British met the protesters with military force, sending out members of their volunteer militia against the protesters. Seven protestors were shot and killed by the volunteer militia, the protesters retaliated and burned the courthouse and nearby buildings. A total of 25 people on both sides were killed on October 11, 1865. Over the next two days, African Jamaicans rose up in revolt and took control of the parish of St Thomas.
The governor quickly retaliated, declaring martial law and ordering troops to capture the revolutionaries and suppress the revolution. The British troops destroyed Stony Gut, killing more than 400 men, women and children. They arrested more than 300 revolutionaries. Bogle was betrayed, captured, tried under martial law and executed on October 24, 1865, along with many others. The British colonial authorities hanged Bogle on October 24, 1865 at the Morant Bay courthouse.
Bogle was named a national hero by the Jamaican Government in 1969. His image appears on the Jamaican 10 cent coin and he was also depicted on the Jamaican two-dollar bill, from 1969 until 1989, when the two-dollar bill was phased out. The Paul Bogle High School in St. Thomas parish is named in his honour.
The memory of Paul Bogle is immortalized in song by various artists including Bob Marley and the Wailers, Burning Spear, Brigadier Jerry, The Cimarons, Steel Pulse, Prince Far I, Lauryn Hill and General Trees. In "So Much Things to Say," Bob Marley sang: "I'll never forget no way they turned their backs on Paul Bogle, so don't you forget no youth who you are and where you stand in the struggle."
In 1977, the members of the band “Third World” sang in tribute to Paul Bogle’s October 11, 1865 bravery and leadership:
“Some may suffer and some may burn
But I know that one day
My people will learn
As sure as the sun shines
Way up in the sky
Today I stand here a victim
The truth is I'll never die”
Murphy Browne © October 11, 2020
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