RESOURCES

SLAVERY'S HEROES: George Liele and the Ethiopian Baptist of Jamaica 1783 - 1865 Doreen Morrison (published 2015)

Coinciding with the 230 year anniversary of the establishing of the first Baptist church in Jamaica by the Ethiopian Baptist society, Slavery's Heroes documents its pioneers; the men and women who, led by George Liele, advocated for a nation from enslavement to emancipation and beyond. This work offers insight into a people, a faith and a movement which demonstrated boldness, bravery and self-sacrifice, as it sought to achieve freedom for generations of people it knew it would never meet.

Paperback and Kindle

REVIEWS

"Slavery's Heroes constitutes required reading for all who search for a rich historical resource for understanding the legacy of Baptist witness in Jamaica between 1783 and 1865. Dr Morrison's familiarity with extant original sources furnishes the tools for the coherent articulation of a fresh interpretation that is both credible and compelling."

Dr Neville G Callam, General Secretary, Baptist World Alliance

"Dr Morrison in this study of George Liele and his contemporaries has demonstrated that the modern Christian missionary movement owes more to African American Christianity than has previously been acknowledged. She elucidates skillfully how they dealt with the catholicity and particularities of the Christian faith in their obedience to God in its transmission and in this lies their relevance for our times and place."

Rev Dr Horace O Russell, Emeritus Professor of Historical Theology and Dean of Chapel, Palmer Theological Seminary of Eastern University, St David's, USA; Formerly, President UTCWI, Kingston, Jamaica

Dr Morrison has chronicled for us ground-breaking work in "Slavery's Heroes." For the first time we receive research with the quality of an eye witness account on the Ethiopian Baptists who with George Liele introduced Baptist work to Jamaica and the Caribbean and began a trail that led to the emancipation of enslaved people in the Caribbean and the founding of indigenous religions. This book is carefully researched and cogently argued."

 Dr Noel L Erskine, Professor of Theology and Ethics, Emory University 

A Caribbean History Board Game created by Doreen Morrison

Welcome to Freedom Trail.  Freedom Trail is an 'experiential' Caribbean history board game of fun and frustration, telling the story of the nations which used to make up the British Caribbean and its people, from enslavement to the present day.

The game is played on a 'snakes and ladders' type board, wherein you play your part in history - as a slave, trader, politician or plantation owner - and learn about the history, culture and identity of the nations, their roots in slavery, and the African, African American, Jamaican and British heroes and heroines who called it home and demanded freedom for enslaved Africans.

The board is designed to look like a treasure map - roll it out and reveal the game board!! it is child friendly (aged 8+), so you can wipe clean any spills and accidents without worry.

Each box contains approximately 176 question cards, taken from 9 categories, 8 of which can be used at any one time. The 9 categories are: Culture, Empire, Flags, Geography, People, Places, Slave Days, Windrush Generation and Ethiopian Baptists. Each category also includes 1 slavery emancipation card which can change the whole game.

Card size: 8 1/4 cm x 5 1/4 cm   1 Dice: 50 x 12 mm (approximately) 8 Pawns: 1 inch, Board size: 59 1/2 cm x 59 1/2 cm   Box size:  61 cm x 9 1/2 cm  Weight of box and contents:  730 grams

Education: Suitable for History Key Stage 3 (England): British Transatlantic Trade and/or the Development of the British Empire, with an in depth study of one nation - Jamaica.

Just a thought. If you want to involve more people and do more with this game, then why not make an event of it by using the question cards as quiz cards, to give yourself an educational, fun event, whether you are a hospital, school, church, club or society etc.  Test your knowledge of the Freedom Trail and see who knows their Caribbean history best. Enjoy!!

RULED BY BRITANNIA: Jamaican Christianity's Interregnum 1866 - 2016 Doreen Morrison (published 2018)

What happens when the religion which governs a culture is not the culture of the people concerned? What happens when a people are forced to assimilate into another culture and adopt it as their own? Is is now 150 years since Jamaica came under the direct rule of the British Government and though independent since 1962, the legacy of a people and a church ruled by Britannia still remains fot hte present day. 'Ruled by Britannia' is a call to see the tragedy of a culture denied and a religion colonised. It explains why it is time to remove the shackels of slavery and colonialism which binds Jamaican Christianity, by leaving the god's of their enslavement behind them.

Paperback 

REVIEWS

Ruled by Britannia is a timely warning to the churches of Jamaica and United Kingdom for abandoning their original role as liberators of the African Jamaican. It is cry from the heart of one who observes her people thrice disadvantaged. First by the transatlantic slave trade, then by the denuding of Emancipation and now by the bastardizing of the religious, social and cultural norms of the African Jamaican.Perhaps the most important contributions of this book are the results of the Focus Groups whose conclusions prove to be fascinating, instructive, challenging and hopeful. This book is an urgent message addressed primarily to the Jamaican (Caribbean) church but it is also an invitation to every person of good endeavour and I recommend it.

Rev. Dr Horace O Russell CD is Professor Emeritus of Historical Theology and Dean of Chapel of Eastern Seminary, St. David's, USA and former President of United Theological College of the West Indies, Kingston Jamaica.

Dr Morrison's superb book is both timely and important.Her argument is not only fascinating in historical terms, but highly salient today.Dr Morrison shows how theological education was used by British colonial rulers to suppress resistance in Jamaica in the period following the 1865 Morant Bay rebellion. Her thesis is powerful, and her evidence detailed and illuminating.Her analysis offers lessons that we would all do well to heed today, as we seek to redress the legacies of this period, and journey towards justice in the aftermath of slavery and colonialism.

Dr Joanna Burch-Brown is a lecturer of Philosophy at the University of Bristol.

Ruled by Britannia is very important contribution to Black Atlantic Christianity. This work identifies and explores a subject of study that is either ignored or excluded from religious and theological scholarship. It is useful to church, academy and civil society by providing a non-Eurocentric perspective of Christianity.Dr Morrison is especially qualified to unravel this much overdue study as a student and practitioner of the diverse Black Atlantic theological tradition.

Delroy A. Reid-Salmon, Pastor of Grace Baptist Chapel & Visiting Fellow, Oxford Centre for Christianity and Culture, Regent's Park College.