Sam Sharpe and the Quest for Liberation

• by admin on April 7th, 2010

In 2008 we published Daddy Sharpe: A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Samuel Sharpe, A West Indian Slave Written by Himself, 1832 by Fred Kennedy.

The Oxford Centre for Christianity and Culture at Regent’s Park College, the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Jamaica Baptist Union, and BMS World Mission will host an international conference on Sam Sharpe at Regent’s Park College, University of Oxford from April 13-16, 2010. The Conference title is Sam Sharpe and the Quest for Liberation:Context, Theology and Legacy for Today.

The Conference takes as its centre-piece the story of Sam Sharpe, the Baptist deacon and enslaved person who played an important role in the ‘Great Jamaican Slave Revolt’ of 1831. One of the leaders of a group of enslaved persons who took part in a ‘sit-down strike’ against slavery, he was executed together with more than 500 others. Nevertheless, their revolt is recognized by historians and theologians as having a powerful influence on the process leading to the abolition of slavery, and Sam Sharpe is honoured as a National Hero in Jamaica. The story is of a Baptist Christian whose actions were clearly motivated by his faith and by his reading of scripture; he is reported to have said, ‘In reading my Bible, I found that the white man had no more right to make a slave of me than I have to make a slave of the white man.’ He remains a witness to the principle of ‘liberation from below’: that is, true liberation comes when those who are oppressed or marginalized participate in making their own freedom and justice, rather than simply having it granted to them by those who have power and authority. This is what the Conference identifies as the ‘legacy’ of Sam Sharpe today.

Taken from http://www.rpc.ox.ac.uk/newsevent.php?newseventid=13

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