Samuel Haynes (1899 - 1971) was a Belizean soldier, activist and poet best known for writing the

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European n ...

of Belize, '' Land of the Free''.

Life and career

He was a leader of the 1919 riot by Belizean soldiers who had fought in 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 ...

and refused to accept racial discrimination back home. In 1925, he composed the lyrics of a song named "Land of the Gods", which later became Belize's national anthem, " Land of the Free". Also, prominent in the

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 ...

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 ...

, Haynes was once the President of the Pittsburgh Division, editor/writer for the ''

Negro World ''Negro World'' was the newspaper of the Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA). Founded by Garvey and Amy Ashwood Garvey, the newspaper was published weekly in Harlem, New York, and distr ...

'' and for a brief period the Official American Representative for the

UNIA-ACL 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 ...

1929 under the Honorable

References

Sources

"BELIZE : Belize National Anthem - Land of the Free"

1899 births 1971 deaths Belizean poets Belizean military personnel National anthem writers Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League members British West Indies Regiment soldiers 20th-century Belizean writers {{NorthAm-mil-bio-stub