Jamaican lore is filled with stories of and references to a legendary people, the Maroons — fearsome warriors who could melt into the bush and ambush many a British Redcoat.

We hear tell of the Abeng, secret languages, and powerful potions aplenty, of an unbowed people, who rule themselves — except for the death penalty — and hold their land in common based on a treaty signed in blood.

Many of us read V S Reid’s engaging story, The Young Warriors, about some boys newly initiated into manhood who helped defeat the English Redcoats against the odds. Our eyes opened wide to recountings of the exploits of the fearsome runaway Three Finger Jack, captured and killed by the Maroons in 1781. And we revere Nanny of the Maroons, national heroine with the fabled powers of catching and firing bullets from her buttocks. (Nanny of the Maroons was conferred the Order of National Hero as per Government Notice 23, Jamaica Gazette, along with Sam Sharpe on March 31, 1982.)

Everyone knows about the origins of our world-famous jerk. Many Jamaicans who do not reside in Maroon settlements claim Maroon heritage, including artistes Buju Banton, Protoje, and Spragga Benz. Amidst the acclaim, celebration, and mystery simmer whispers of betrayal of and enmity with our enslaved ancestors, too close ties to the colonial State and certain white men of yore, as well as obsequience to the British monarchy. Apologies have been called for and apologies given — or rebuffed.

What can we say in answer to some of these simmerings? This four-part series looks at some key questions about Jamaican Maroons, especially the Accompong community. Accompong has been in the forefront in recent years in pressing questions of Maroon sovereignty as well as land ownership and stewardship. These are not new questions, but they have taken on currency for a new generation. The series draws on the best available research, much of which values the traditions of the Maroons, despite the ambiguities inherent in the legacy of the “first-time Maroons”. These pressing concerns must be (re) considered for the good of the contemporary Maroons as well as the larger Jamaican society of which they are an important part.

Who are Jamaican Maroons?

Jamaican Maroons are usually described as the descendants of self-freed Africans and, some argue, also of indigenous Amerindians or Tainos — the earliest inhabitants of Jamaica. The Tainos fled the enslaving practices of the Europeans and are, therefore, referred to as the first Maroons. These self-freed Africans fought the British to a standstill and earned their freedom via treaties signed in 1738/39 (Leeward Maroons of the Cockpit Country) and 1739/40 (Windward Maroons of the Blue Mountains).

Accompong, the largest and perhaps the best-known Maroon community in Jamaica, is named for one of the brothers of Kojo/Cudjoe, who signed the treaty on behalf of the Leeward Maroons. It is one of the four remaining Treaty Maroon communities in Jamaica, the others being Moore Town (New Nanny Town, Portland), Charles Town (Portland) and Scott’s Hall (St Mary). Maroon settlements that no longer exist include Quao Hill, Nanny Town, and Crawford’s Town (named for Edward Crawford, an ancestor of Vivian Crawford, retired director of the Institute of Jamaica). Cudjoe’s Town (Trelawny Town), the largest Maroon settlement, was destroyed after the Second Maroon War of 1795 and replaced by barracks, the ruins of which can still be seen.

In the aftermath of the “war”, the inhabitants of Trelawny Town were betrayed by the colonial authorities and deported to Nova Scotia, Canada, and then resettled in Maroon Town, Sierra Leone, in West Africa.

In the 1840s, after Emancipation, a handful of them and their progeny paid their own way back to Jamaica, where they established a community of returned Maroons called Flagstaff, in the vicinity of Trelawny Town (renamed Maroon Town though no Maroons lived there), on the north-west boundary of the Cockpit Country.

The descendants of these returned Maroons still live in Flagstaff today. The bonds between the Flagstaff Maroons and their relatives in Sierra Leone remain strong, owing to such initiatives as the Transatlantic Maroon Connection Project. The Krios of Sierra Leone, descendants of Trelawny Maroons, are an important part of the Sierra Leonean society. Sierra Leone recently opened a consulate in Jamaica. A small number of Jamaican Maroons remained in Nova Scotia after 1800 and they hold a prominent place in the collective memory and culture of African Nova Scotians today. In 2023, Canada designated the Jamaican Maroons in Nova Scotia as an event of national historic significance under Parks Canada’s National Programme of Historical Commemoration.

The important place of Maroons in Jamaican society has been recognised by the post-Independence State with which they have sometimes had a rocky relationship. Annually, the Jamaica Government supports the Maroon communities in undertaking their festivals and development initiatives, including the Charles Town Festival and Conference, the Emancipation Day celebration in Scott’s Hall, and the Accompong January 6 celebrations.

Flagstaff also received support for its Emancipation and Christmas rebellion events. Charles Town is led by beknown herbalist acting Colonel Marcia “Kim” Douglas, the first woman to lead the community in the present time. Under her leadership Charles Town continues to contribute to local and international discussion on matters such as indigenous knowledge, climate change, and the rights and protections of indigenous peoples.

Accompong elected its youngest-ever chief in 2021, Colonel Richard Currie. Colonel Wallace Sterling of the Moore Town Maroons, the longest-serving Maroon chief, was awarded a national honour for the promotion and protection of Maroon heritage in Jamaica in 2022. Likewise, Garfield Anthony Rowe, former deputy colonel of Accompong and renowned educator, was also honoured for his contribution to education and for the promotion and protection of Maroon heritage in Jamaica.

In 2003 the Kromanti music of the Moore Town Maroons was proclaimed a UNESCO Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. The Government, in collaboration with the Moore Town community, secured the inscription of the Maroon heritage of Moore Town to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008. This listing contributes to safeguarding Maroon traditions practised in Moore Town. Similarly, the Blue and John Crow Mountains, where sacred and ritual spaces of the Windward Maroons are located, were declared a World Heritage Site in 2015.

Accompong today

Accompong is inhabited by around 600 people today. The name Accompong is derived from the Akan surname Akyeampong/Onyangkopong, meaning God/Supreme Being. Kojo is the Akan day name for a male born on Monday. Clause XV of the Leeward Treaty names Accompong as Cudjoe’s successor, highlighting the role of the colonial government in controlling leadership in the early Maroon communities.

Accompong’s oral tradition names Nanny of the Maroons — after whom Nanny Town was named — as Cudjoe’s sister and claims that she is buried next to him in Old Town. Today many members of the Rastafari community in Frankfield, Clarendon, claim the Leeward Maroons as their direct ancestors, including matrilineal descent from Nanny. On January 6 each year Accompong celebrates the signing of the treaty as well as Kojo’s birthday. People from across the world visit to participate in the public part of the festivities.

According to the oral traditions of Accompong, Nanny is said to have opposed the signing of the treaty, although some scholars, like Michael Sivapragasam, relegate this to the province of myth.

Beverley Carey, Maroon and scholar of her people, however, references the memoir written by Lieutenant Phillip Thickness, who had been held as a voluntary captive among the Windward Maroons while the peace was discussed, in saying that there was an influential old Obeah woman who was in disagreement with the signing of the treaty. Carey identifies that woman as Nanny. Nanny and Quao both led the Windward Maroons, but since Nanny did not sign the treaty, this caused speculation that she did not agree with it. However, Nanny’s absence from signing could well be explained by British cultural norms, which did not expect women to engage in such negotiations.

Oral traditions among the Moore Town Maroons, however, speak of the treaty as “Grandy Nanny’s” treaty, based on a “blood covenant”, while Kojo and the others were said to have signed a “paper treaty”. Notably, a land grant was registered in 1740 for Nanny and her people: “King George the Second by Letters patent dated 5 August 1740 granted unto Nanny a free Negroe and the people under command her & their heirs & Assigns for ever a parcell of land containing 500 acres in the parish of Portland. Bounding North, South and East on King’s land and West on Mr John Stevenson. Pursuant to an Act for encouraging White people to come over and become Settlers & passed 12 November 1723.” This land, originally called New Nanny Town, is now called Moore Town, which commemorates Nanny Day in October of each year.

Dr Anna Kasafi Perkins is a senior programme officere, Quality Assurance Unit, The University of the West Indies Regional Headquarters, and adjunct faculty at St Michael’s Theological College.