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Alexander Bedward (born 1848 in Saint Andrew Parish, north of
Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley Inter ...
- died 8 November 1930) was the founder of
Bedwardism Bedwardism, more properly the Jamaica Native Baptist Free Church, was a religious movement of Jamaica. Origins Bedwardism was founded in August Town, Saint Andrew Parish, in 1889 by Harrison "Shakespeare" Woods, an African-American emigrant to J ...
. He was one of the most successful preachers of Jamaican
Revivalism Revivalism may refer to: * Christian revival, increased spiritual interest or renewal in the life of a church congregation or society, with a local, national or global effect * Revivalism (architecture), the use of visual styles that consciously ...
. Along with Joseph Robert Love, Bedward was one of the forerunners of
Marcus Garvey Marcus Mosiah Garvey Sr. (17 August 188710 June 1940) was a Jamaican political activist, publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator. He was the founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African ...
and his brand of pan-Africanism.


Early life

In his twenties, Bedward worked on the construction of the
Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit ...
. Jamaican labourers were subjected to harsh working conditions, before being boarded up at night in shoddy, disease-ridden shacks. In addition, white American workers were paid significantly more than their black counterparts. This experience would have a profound effect on Bedward's later life. Bedward had charisma, an acute sense of theatre, a scorching sense of injustice, and unshakeable faith in the righteousness of his words and deeds.


Native Baptist Preacher

After spending time in
Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...
, he returned to
Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
and was
baptized Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost ...
by a local
Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
preacher. He became not merely leader of a Revival branch but of a new movement, the Bedwardites. White and mixed-race Jamaicans worried about the African influences on these Native Baptist interpretations of Christianity. In the 1880s, he started to gather large groups of followers by conducting services which included reports of mass healings. He identified himself with
Paul Bogle Paul Bogle (1822– 24 October 1865)Dugdale-Pointon, T. Military History Encyclopedia good on the Web, 22 September 2008. was a Jamaican Baptist deacon and activist. He is a National Hero of Jamaica. He was a leader of the 1865 Morant Bay pr ...
, the Baptist leader of the
Morant Bay rebellion The Morant Bay Rebellion (11 October 1865) began with a protest march to the courthouse by hundreds of people led by preacher Paul Bogle in Morant Bay, Jamaica. Some were armed with sticks and stones. After seven men were shot and killed by th ...
, and he stressed the need for changes to the inequalities in race relations in Jamaican society. He reportedly said: “Brethren! Hell will be your position if you do not rise up and crush the white man. The time is coming! There is a white wall and a black wall. And the white wall has been closing around the black wall: but now the black wall has become bigger than the white.” Many Afro-Jamaican Christian churches sprung up in the aftermath of Emancipation. In 1889, Bedward became the leader of one of them, the Jamaica Native Baptist Free Church. He ministered to his flock by Hope River, and his congregation grew large and thrived. He warned that the government of the
Colony of Jamaica The Crown Colony of Jamaica and Dependencies was a British colony from 1655, when it was captured by the English Protectorate from the Spanish Empire. Jamaica became a British colony from 1707 and a Crown colony in 1866. The Colony was pri ...
was passing laws to oppress black people, and was robbing them of their money and their bread. By 1894, the Native Baptist Free Church was so thriving that it was able to commission a temple on the banks of the river, a confirmation in stone and slate that the Great Revival had produced genuine competition to the traditional centres of community power. In 1895, Bedward was arrested for
sedition Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or insurrection against, estab ...
but sent to a
mental asylum The lunatic asylum (or insane asylum) was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital. The fall of the lunatic asylum and its eventual replacement by modern psychiatric hospitals explains the rise of organized, institutional psychiatry ...
. Critics within the government succeeded in having Bedward sectioned in a mental asylum, but with the help of a sympathetic lawyer, Bedward secured his freedom. On release he continued his role as a Revival healer and preacher. He stressed his followers to be self-sufficient and at its height the movement gathered about 30,000 followers. He told his followers to sell their possessions including owned land and give him all the profits. Some of these followers did just that. Over the next quarter century, Bedward became an antiestablishment hero, preaching a message of black power. The crowds at Hope River grew larger, and increasing numbers committed to his regime of fasting and temperance. Events such as the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
fitted into his message that God was punishing the white Western world for hundreds of years of avarice, corruption and brutality.


Ascension claim and later life

Later Bedward proclaimed that he was a reincarnation of
Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
and that, like
Elijah Elijah ( ; he, אֵלִיָּהוּ, ʾĒlīyyāhū, meaning "My God is Yahweh/YHWH"; Greek form: Elias, ''Elías''; syr, ܐܸܠܝܼܵܐ, ''Elyāe''; Arabic: إلياس or إليا, ''Ilyās'' or ''Ilyā''. ) was, according to the Books of ...
, he would ascend into heaven in a flaming chariot. He then expected to rain down fire on those that did not follow him, thereby destroying the whole world. He and 800 followers marched in to Kingston “to do battle with his enemies.” On New Year's Eve, in 1920, now an old man, Bedward told his followers that he had been called by the Lord to fly up to heaven. His ascent, he promised his followers, would hasten the Rapture; before the sun had set, he would be gone and they would be free. It is reported that thousands of his followers and critics turned up to see if his ascension would take place. He took to his chariot, which was a chair balanced in a tree, and declared that his ascension would take place at ten o'clock that morning. He later revised the time of his ascension to three in the afternoon, and then ten in the evening. But no ascension took place. Eventually, he climbed down from the tree, and went home. His supporters were disappointed, but his critics reacted with glee, and ridiculed him. In 1921, Bedward and his followers were arrested and he was sent to mental asylum for the second time where he remained to the end of his life. In 1930, he died in his cell from natural causes.


Legacy and Garveyism

His contemporary, Robert Love, the inspirational advocate of racial uplift via education and political engagement, always thought Bedward to be nothing more than a skilled showman whom a hysterical establishment had managed to turn into a martyr. Bedwardism planted a seed from which a culture of racial consciousness grew, and found its most emphatic form in Marcus Garvey and his
Universal Negro Improvement Association The Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) is a black nationalist fraternal organization founded by Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican immigrant to the United States, and Amy Ashwood Garvey. The Pan-African o ...
(UNIA). With Garvey’s rise to prominence in the 1910s, Bedward became convinced that God had only ever intended for him to be one of a sequence of prophets rather than a messiah —
Aaron According to Abrahamic religions, Aaron ''′aharon'', ar, هارون, Hārūn, Greek (Septuagint): Ἀαρών; often called Aaron the priest ()., group="note" ( or ; ''’Ahărōn'') was a prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother of ...
to Garvey’s
Moses Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...
is how he termed it — paving the way for the younger man to deliver his people into the Promised Land. He led his followers into
Garveyism Garveyism is an aspect of black nationalism that refers to the economic, racial and political policies of UNIA-ACL founder Marcus Garvey. The ideology of Garveyism centers on the unification and empowerment of African-descended men, women and ...
by finding the charismatic metaphor: one the
high priest The term "high priest" usually refers either to an individual who holds the office of ruler-priest, or to one who is the head of a religious caste. Ancient Egypt In ancient Egypt, a high priest was the chief priest of any of the many gods rever ...
, the other
prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...
, both leading the children of Israel out of exile.Edward White, ''Rise Up'' (5 October 2016) https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2016/10/05/rise-up/ Retrieved 30 July 2020. His impact was that many of his followers became Garveyites and
Rastafari Rastafari, sometimes called Rastafarianism, is a religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control of ...
, bringing with them the experience of resisting the system and demanding changes of the colonial oppression and the white oppression. Rastafari has taken the idea of Garvey as a prophet, while also casting him in the role of
John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
, by virtue of his "voice in the wilderness" call taken as heralding their expected Messiah, "Look to Africa where a black king shall be crowned."
Kei Miller Kei Miller (born 24 October 1978) is a Jamaican poet, fiction writer, essayist and blogger. He is also a professor of creative writing.Leonard Howell Leonard Percival Howell (16 June 1898 – 23 January 1981), also known as The Gong or G.G. Maragh (for ''Gangun Guru''), was a Jamaican religious figure. According to his biographer Hélène Lee, Howell was born into an Anglican family. He was one ...
's nascent
Rastafari Rastafari, sometimes called Rastafarianism, is a religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control of ...
.


Songs

Bedward is mentioned in an early Trinidadian recording of Jamaican mento classic
Sly Mongoose ''Sly Mongoose'' is the third science fiction novel of Caribbean writer Tobias S. Buckell. The novel is a standalone but is set in the same universe as Buckell's novels '' Crystal Rain'' and ''Ragamuffin Ragamuffin or Raggamuffin may refer t ...
by Sam Manning, who recorded it in December 1925 for the Okeh label (the song was recorded by many artists with changing lyrics). He is mentioned in Jamaican reggae artist Etana's "I Am Not Afraid." He is also mentioned in the Jamaican folk classic "Dip Dem," which was recorded by
Louise Bennett Louise Simone Bennett-Coverley or Miss Lou (7 September 1919 – 26 July 2006), was a Jamaican poet, folklorist, writer, and educator. Writing and performing her poems in Jamaican Patois or Creole, Bennett worked to preserve the practice of p ...
for her 1954 album ''Jamaican Folk Songs''. The famous refrain from the Jamaican folk went: “Dip dem, Bedward, dip dem / Dip dem in the healing stream / Dip dem deep, but not too deep / dip dem fi cure bad feeling.” "Bedward the Flying Preacher" by Singers & Players featuring
Prince Far I Prince Far I (23 March 1945 – 15 September 1983) was a Jamaican reggae deejay and producer, and a Rastafarian. He was known for his gruff voice and critical assessment of the Jamaican government. His track "Heavy Manners" used lyrics about ...
appears on the 1983 album ''Staggering Heights'', and the 1985 compilation ''Pay It All Back Vol. 1'', both on Britain's On-U Sound label. This was also released as a 7" single on the On-U Sound offshoot Sound Boy in 2003, credited to Prince Far I, with a dub version on the B-side. Prince Pompadoe released a 7" 45 called "Dip them Bedward" on the Pressure Sounds and Prophet labels in 1976. The song was produced by Vivian 'Yabby You' Jackson. It was reissued on the CD Deeper Roots, a compilation of Yabby You productions. Jamaican singer Paul Hamilton also released a 45' entitled "Who Say Bedward Fly?"


See also

*
Ethiopian movement The Ethiopian movement is a religious movement that began in southern Africa towards the end of the 19th and early 20th century, when two groups broke away from the Anglican and Methodist churches. One of the main reasons for breaking away was ...
*
Rastafari Rastafari, sometimes called Rastafarianism, is a religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control of ...
*
Leonard Howell Leonard Percival Howell (16 June 1898 – 23 January 1981), also known as The Gong or G.G. Maragh (for ''Gangun Guru''), was a Jamaican religious figure. According to his biographer Hélène Lee, Howell was born into an Anglican family. He was one ...
*
Marcus Garvey Marcus Mosiah Garvey Sr. (17 August 188710 June 1940) was a Jamaican political activist, publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator. He was the founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African ...
*
Afrocentrism Afrocentrism is an approach to the study of world history that focuses on the history of people of recent African descent. It is in some respects a response to Eurocentric attitudes about African people and their historical contributions. It ...


External links


''Rise Up: Alexander Bedward’s mythical powers of flight.''

''Ahead of their Time''
www.jamaicans.com


References

* Jack A. Johnson- Hill, ''I-Sight: the world of Rastafari: An Interpretive Sociological Account of Rastafarian Ethics'', Scarecrow Press, London (1995) *Barry Chevannes, ''Rastafari : roots and ideology'', Syracuse Univ. Press, New York (1994) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bedward, Alexander Rastafari Jamaican Baptists 1930 deaths 1859 births People from Saint Andrew Parish, Jamaica Founders of new religious movements Self-declared messiahs