THOSE WHO
CARRIED THE FIRE.
From the Maroon hills of Jamaica to the throne of Ethiopia, from the roots of Trench Town to the African continent — a living record of the freedom fighters, prophets and artists who built the road we walk.
ALL PIONEERS
28 HONOREDQueen Nanny of the Maroons
c. 1686–1755
Spiritual and military leader of the Windward Maroons who led the resistance against British colonial rule in Jamaica's Blue Mountains.
Read the record →Cudjoe
c. 1690s–1764
Leader of the Leeward Maroons who waged guerrilla war until the 1739 treaty granting Maroon autonomy.
Read the record →Accompong
18th century
Maroon chief and brother of Cudjoe; founded the still-living town of Accompong in St. Elizabeth.
Read the record →Sam Sharpe
1801–1832
Baptist deacon who led the 1831 Christmas Rebellion, accelerating the abolition of slavery in the British Empire.
Read the record →Paul Bogle
c. 1822–1865
National hero who led the Morant Bay Rebellion against colonial injustice.
Read the record →George William Gordon
1820–1865
Politician and landowner executed by the colonial government for his alleged role in the Morant Bay Rebellion.
Read the record →Marcus Mosiah Garvey
1887–1940
Founder of the UNIA and the Black Star Line; prophet of African redemption whose teachings inspired Rastafari.
Read the record →Kwame Nkrumah
1909–1972
First Prime Minister and President of independent Ghana; foundational architect of Pan-Africanism.
Read the record →Haile Selassie I
1892–1975
Emperor of Ethiopia, revered by Rastafari as the returned Messiah; co-founder of the Organisation of African Unity.
Read the record →Leonard Howell
1898–1981
The First Rasta. Founded the Pinnacle commune, the earliest organised Rastafari community.
Read the record →Joseph Hibbert
1894–1986
Co-founder of the Rastafari movement; began preaching the divinity of Haile Selassie I in 1931.
Read the record →Archibald Dunkley
1900s
Early Rastafari evangelist who spread the faith through Kingston in the 1930s.
Read the record →Robert Hinds
1900s
Founder of the King of Kings Mission; bridge between Garveyism and early Rastafari.
Read the record →Bob Marley
1945–1981
Singer, songwriter, prophet. Brought reggae and Rastafari consciousness to the world.
Read the record →Peter Tosh
1944–1987
Wailer, militant equal-rights advocate, and revolutionary voice of reggae.
Read the record →Bunny Wailer
1947–2021
Founding Wailer and roots elder whose Blackheart Man remains a sacred reggae text.
Read the record →Burning Spear
b. 1945
Keeper of Marcus Garvey's flame; one of roots reggae's deepest voices.
Read the record →Jimmy Cliff
b. 1944
Star of The Harder They Come; helped open reggae to the global stage.
Read the record →Toots Hibbert
1942–2020
Frontman of Toots and the Maytals; coined the very word reggae with Do the Reggay.
Read the record →Dennis Brown
1957–1999
The Crown Prince of Reggae; defining voice of lovers rock and roots.
Read the record →Gregory Isaacs
1951–2010
The Cool Ruler. Velvet-voiced master of lovers rock and conscious dancehall.
Read the record →Black Uhuru
founded 1972
Pioneering harmony trio; first reggae act to win a Grammy.
Read the record →Culture
founded 1976
Led by Joseph Hill; Two Sevens Clash is a roots reggae landmark.
Read the record →Lucky Dube
1964–2007
South Africa's voice of unity and resistance; the most popular African reggae artist of his era.
Read the record →Alpha Blondy
b. 1953
Sings reggae in Dioula, French, English, Hebrew, and Arabic; voice of African Jerusalem.
Read the record →Tiken Jah Fakoly
b. 1968
Pan-African reggae conscience; relentless critic of corruption and neocolonialism.
Read the record →Rocky Dawuni
b. 1969
Grammy-nominated Afro Roots ambassador bridging Ghana and the world.
Read the record →Majek Fashek
1963–2020
The Rainmaker. Nigeria's reggae prophet who carried the message across continents.
Read the record →"Until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned — everywhere is war."
— HAILE SELASSIE I · 1963