Pree History

The Caribbean had a food supply problem for their enslaved population. Planters petitioned the government to bring back breadfruit trees from the newly "discovered" Polynesian islands- namely Tahiti. Capt Bligh was tasked to undertake this long mission to bring back seedlings on his plant nursery ships. The mission went terribly wrong the first try before he gave it another go. This expedition introduced many beloved foods which are now staples in the Jamaican diet. Resources: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/breadfruit-and-the-bounty-that-brought-it-across-the-ocean “Bastard Breadfruit and Other Cheap Provisions: Early Food Science for the Welfare of the Lower Orders.” Early Science and Medicine, vol. 21, no. 5, 2016, pp. 492–508. www.jstor.org/stable/44490835. “3. Banks and Breadfruit.” RSA Journal, vol. 141, no. 5444, 1993, pp. 817–820. www.jstor.org/stable/41376302. “4. Bligh's Successful Breadfruit Voyage.” RSA Journal, vol. 141, no. 5444, 1993, pp. 821–824.  www.jstor.org/stable/41376303. “The Voyage of the Plant Nursery, H.M.S. Providence, 1791-1793.” Economic Botany, vol. 31, no. 4, 1977, pp. 387–431. www.jstor.org/stable/4253870. “Voyages of the Bounty.” The Sewanee Review, vol. 115, no. 3, 2007, pp. 462–469. www.jstor.org/stable/40211620. Captain Bligh's Second Voyage to the South Sea. http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks12/1204361h.html https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/01/origins-most-popular-caribbean-foods/579052/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/captain-blighs-cursed-breadfruit-41433018/ https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/the-real-story-behind-infamous-mutiny-hms-bounty https://jis.gov.jm/information/symbols/jamaican-national-fruit-ackee/ Intro & outro music: Music: Dutty - Vibe Tracks https://youtu.be/YeHqPHl1114

Just a rundown of how the parishes evolved over time and fast facts on St. Elizabeth, Clarendon and St. Thomas. https://www.nlj.gov.jm/history-notes/History%20of%20Clarendon.pdf http://www.jnht.com/site_Bath_Botanic_Garden.php European Migration to Jamaica, 1655-1780. Trevor Burnard. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2947143 Morant Bay Rebellion - History Uncovered. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEH7fBz4K00 Hidden Textures of Race and Historical Memory: The Rediscovery of Photographs Relating to Jamaica's Morant Bay Rebellion of 1865. Mimi Sheller. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.25290/prinunivlibrchro.72.2.0533 https://jis.gov.jm/information/parish-profiles/parish-profiles-st-thomas/ https://jis.gov.jm/information/parish-profiles/parish-profile-st-elizabeth/ https://jis.gov.jm/information/parish-profiles/parish-profile-clarendon/ Intro & outro music: Music: Dutty - Vibe Tracks https://youtu.be/YeHqPHl1114

Trinidadian-born musical prodigy, Hazel Scott made waves during the 1930s to 1940s with her jazzed up classical numbers. She wowed the nightclub scenes with her musical rendition, used her influence to elevate how black people were portrayed in films and married the first black congressman from New York. Hazel Scott was a model of African American success until her career crumbled due to false accusations of communism.  Hazel Scott: A Career Curtailed. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20064068?read-now=1&seq=2#metadata_info_tab_contents.  What Ever Happened to Hazel Scott? - YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_WJ4PpxWaE  https://www.wnyc.org/people/hazel-scott/  https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/hazel-scott  https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/scott-hazel-1920-1981  https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/american_originals/eleanor.html  https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/hazel-scotts-lifetime-of-high-notes-145939027/ Intro & outro music: Music: Dutty - Vibe Tracks https://youtu.be/YeHqPHl1114

A "duppy" story aka Jamaican ghost story. Source: Duppy Stories by David Brailsford 

In this we cover Thomas-Alexandre's military career, his captivity in Naples and his falling out with Napoleon which got progressively worse. Sources: The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo. Tom Reiss. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alexandre-Dumas-French-general https://www.businessinsider.com/thomas-alexandre-dumas-france-first-black-general-napoleon-bonaparte-2018-3 Intro & outro music: Music: Dutty - Vibe Tracks https://youtu.be/YeHqPHl1114

Thomas-Alexandre would one day become the father of Alexandre Dumas, infamous writer of classics such as The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte-Cristo. Much of his life would inspire his son's characters and story beats, and no wonder as Thomas-Alexandre was born as a slave on a French colony and eventually rise to become the first black generals in the French Army. This is part 1 of 2 exploring his family background up to his early life in Paris. Sources: The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo. Tom Reiss. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alexandre-Dumas-French-general https://www.businessinsider.com/thomas-alexandre-dumas-france-first-black-general-napoleon-bonaparte-2018-3 Intro & outro music: Music: Dutty - Vibe Tracks https://youtu.be/YeHqPHl1114

Welcome to a very special episode. We will cover the origins of the Chinese Jamaican community and the difficulties they faced as new immigrants to the country. As American Asians experience an increase in violence and hostility we should remember the history of such incidents and ensure we do not repeat them and educate ourselves on the different groups who make up our community. https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/those-major-anti-chinese-riots-in-jamaica-those-major-anti-chinese-riots-in-jamaica_124171?profile=1096 http://old.jamaica-gleaner.com/pages/history/story0055.htm https://www.cbajamaica.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/HANDOUT_Hakka_Migration_History.182201835.pdf https://www.cbajamaica.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/Chang_J_Victor_-_Lessons_from_the_Past-English_rev.1182635.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20080414200426/https://www.britannica.com/blogs/2007/04/the-new-panama-railroad-ninth-wonder-of-the-world/ https://www.panamarailroad.org/chinesetragedy.html https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/150-years-ago-chinese-railroad-workers-staged-era-s-largest-n774901 The Settlement of the Chinese in Jamaica: 1854 -c.1970. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40654450?seq=1 https://gleaner.newspaperarchive.com/kingston-gleaner/2007-02-18/page-155/ https://gleaner.newspaperarchive.com/kingston-gleaner/1997-08-25/page-32/ https://gleaner.newspaperarchive.com/kingston-gleaner/1918-07-11/ https://gleaner.newspaperarchive.com/kingston-gleaner/1918-07-10/ https://gleaner.newspaperarchive.com/kingston-gleaner/1925-10-02/page-12/ https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/dr-paul-chen-young-passes_193561 https://sflcn.com/ambassador-marks-hails-paul-chen-young-as-a-jamaican-patriot-visionary/ Intro & outro music: Music: Dutty - Vibe Tracks https://youtu.be/YeHqPHl1114

Slave rebellions were pretty frequent in Jamaica's early colony years. We take a quick look at the early ones including Cudjoe's rebellion and how it led to the formation of Maroon communities across the island. Sources: Apocalypse 1692. Ben Hughes. https://gleaner.newspaperarchive.com/kingston-gleaner/1998-02-25/page-3/ "The First Maroon War Begins: 1731." Global Events: Milestone Events Throughout History (Vol. 3: Central and South America.) "Maroons (Cimarrones)." Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture (2nd ed., Vol. 4, pp. 381-383). https://daily.jstor.org/maroon-societies-in-jamaica/ https://gleaner.newspaperarchive.com/kingston-gleaner/1961-09-17/page-14/ http://scholar.library.miami.edu/slaves/Maroons/maroons.html "The Maroon culture of endurance." Americas, vol. 42, no. 1, Jan.-Feb. 1990 Sugar and Slaves. The Rise of the Planter Class in the English West Indies, 1624-1713. Richard S. Dunn. Intro & outro music: Music: Dutty - Vibe Tracks https://youtu.be/YeHqPHl1114

In the weeks after the American Civil War, urbanites were going crazy for a new sport- pedestrianism. Fred Hart an immigrant from Haiti would snatch the championship and fame while setting a path for future black racewalkers who participated in a nearly deadly 84-day long footrace across America during the Jim Crow era. Sources: https://www.npr.org/2014/04/03/297327865/in-the-1870s-and-80s-being-a-pedestrian-was-anything-but Bunion Derby: The 1928 Footrace Across America. Charles B. Kastner. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/frank-hart-pedestrianism https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/olympics2016/2016/07/30/racewalking-olympic-sport-people-can-relate/hCn9TvBYM6k4mWxZIocbbP/story.html https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/hart-frank-black-dan-1859/ https://www.nyrr.org/Run/Photos-And-Stories/2021/Black-American-Running-Timeline https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1928-bunion-derby-america-s-brush-integrated-sports/ Intro & outro music: Music: Dutty - Vibe Tracks https://youtu.be/YeHqPHl1114

We'll wrap up the final years of the Golden Age of Piracy with the pirate queens Anne Bonny and Mary Read and their captain Calico Jack Rackam. There's a lot of legend mixed in with the facts but they forever left their mark on pirate lore to this day. Sources: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/if-theres-a-man-among-ye-the-tale-of-pirate-queens-anne-bonny-and-mary-read-45576461/ Means, R. (2017). Jack Rackham (Calico Jack). Jack Rackham (Calico Jack), 1–2. https://www.thoughtco.com/biography-of-john-calico-jack-rackham-2136377 Rediker, M. (1993). When women pirates sailed the seas. The Wilson Quarterly, 17(4), 102+. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A14522412/GPS?u=mlin_n_bevpubl&sid=GPS&xid=0571076a https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anne-Bonny https://www.postandcourier.com/news/the-true-and-false-stories-of-anne-bonny-pirate-woman-of-the-caribbean/article_e7fc1e2c-101d-11e8-90b7-9fdf20ba62f8.html https://www.postandcourier.com/news/a-22-year-old-youtuber-may-have-solved-anne-bonny-pirate-mystery-300-years-after/article_78fc0a2e-2914-11eb-a5f5-03b65f4d281a.html https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/world-history-magazine/article/ahoy-meet-the-real-pirates-caribbean-carolinas https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/grim-life-cursed-real-pirates-of-caribbean http://gallery.lib.umn.edu/exhibits/show/mary-read-anne-bonny/introduction https://www.nationalgeographic.com/pages/article/blackbeard-pirate-book-cannon-revenge https://csphistorical.com/2016/05/08/anne-bonny-and-mary-read-female-pirates-and-maritime-women-page-one/ Intro & outro music: Music: Dutty - Vibe Tracks https://youtu.be/YeHqPHl1114

Henry Morgan, revered pirate turned pirate hunter, kept himself busy being a terror to the Spanish on the high seas. This episode covers his most daring expedition of all, capturing Panama, a key source of Spain's wealth in the New World. His trips would lead to the complete destruction of Panama City and loosen the grip of Spain on the Americas. He also returned home a hero and turned his back on his pirate brethren without hesitation. This is Henry Morgan, who helped shaped Jamaica's early years as a pirate haven and English colony. Sources: Pieces of the Past: A Stroll Down Jamaica's Memory Lane. Rebecca Tortello. Empire of Blue Water: Henry Morgan and the Pirates who Ruled the Caribbean Waves. Stephan Talty. Empire's Crossroads: A History of the Caribbean from Columbus to the Present Day. Carrie Gibson. https://blog.marinersmuseum.org/2012/10/the-difference-between-pirates-privateers-and-buccaneers-pt-2/ https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/books/chapters/0603-1st-earl.html https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henry-Morgan-Welsh-buccaneer https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofWales/Sir-Henry-Morgan/ Intro & outro music: Music: Dutty - Vibe Tracks https://youtu.be/YeHqPHl1114

Mary Seacole took what she learned from her "doctress" mother who cared for the British army in Jamaica and her adventures in Panama during a cholera epidemic to care for her boys during the Crimea War. Mary didn't let others, including contemporaries like Florence Nightingale, discourage her from serving the front lines. Sources: Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands, by Mary Seacole https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/mary-seacole/ https://gleaner.newspaperarchive.com/kingston-gleaner/2005-05-02/page-58/ https://gleaner.newspaperarchive.com/kingston-gleaner/2009-11-30/page-104/ https://gleaner.newspaperarchive.com/kingston-gleaner/2002-04-08/page-2/ https://gleaner.newspaperarchive.com/kingston-gleaner/1866-01-15/page-6/ https://gleaner.newspaperarchive.com/kingston-gleaner/1998-02-11/page-2/ https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mary-Seacole https://www.maryseacoletrust.org.uk/learn-about-mary/ https://illustratedwomeninhistory.com/mary-seacole-was-a-jamaican-born-nurse-who-helped/ https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A126874863/WHIC?u=mlin_n_bevpubl&sid=WHIC&xid=966b6beb https://jamaica-history.weebly.com/blundellblundle-hall.html Intro & outro music: Music: Dutty - Vibe Tracks https://youtu.be/YeHqPHl1114

George Stiebel didn't have an easy life being half-Jewish and mixed race but he fought and won an uphill battle to make a comfortable life for his family by trying everything and never giving up. Follow George as he became a school dropout, carpenter, trader of legal and illegal goods, prisoner and stranded in South America before making big bucks. All while this went on, his heart was with his family who would bring him great joy and great tragedy. George would live on in Jamaica's heart forever as the builder of Devon House, a national treasure. https://www.devonhouseja.com/about-us http://jamaicagreathouses.com/devonhouse/ http://jamaicagreathouses.com/devonhouse/santodomingo-prison.html http://old.jamaica-gleaner.com/pages/history/story0028.html https://www.jpost.com/Features/Sugar-Slavery-and-Jews https://jamaicans.com/much-know-george-stiebel-builder-devon-house/ https://jewishjournal.com/culture/lifestyle/travel/10647/ https://www.geni.com/people/George-Stiebel/6000000070172108871 https://www.geni.com/people/Sigismund-Stiebel/6000000051169344826 http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20100804/business/business2.html https://earthjournalism.net/stories/digging-into-the-mining-arc Devon House Families. Enid Shields. Intro & outro music: Music: Dutty - Vibe Tracks https://youtu.be/YeHqPHl1114

In the 1770's travelers who passed too close to Edinburgh Castle, Jamaica, frequently disappeared. No one seemed willing to make the suspected murderer, Lewis Hutchinson, take responsibility for his sadistic actions until a feud with a neighbor got out hand. Sources: Gleaner Article: Weird Jamaican Story of the Killer of Edinburg Castle (https://gleaner.newspaperarchive.com/kingston-gleaner/1948-10-24/page-2/) Gleaner Article: Lewis Hutchinson, the Jamaican Highwayman (https://gleaner.newspaperarchive.com/kingston-gleaner/1963-12-29/page-8/) Cundall, F. (1915). Historic Jamaica. Institute of Jamaica. Nelson, L. P. (2016). Architecture and empire in Jamaica. Yale University Press. Dream House | Edinburgh Castle: The residential icon of ‘yesteryear’ | Outlook | Jamaica Gleaner (http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/outlook/20200112/dream-house-edinburgh-castle-residential-icon-yesteryear#slideshow-2) Dr Jonathan Hutton – All Things Georgian (https://georgianera.wordpress.com/tag/dr-jonathan-hutton/) Jamaica has its own Edinburgh Castle, with a very gruesome history (https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/jamaica-edinburgh-castle-very-gruesome-17568187) Lewis Hutchinson: Jamaican serial killer (born: n/a - died: 1773) (https://peoplepill.com/people/lewis-hutchinson/ https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/S1XbBgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1) Jamaica: the country with more Campbells per head of population than Scotland | HeraldScotland (https://www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/13839601.jamaica-the-country-with-more-campbells-per-head-of-population-than-scotland/) Murder in Paradise: Jamaica’s “Mad Doctor” Lewis Hutchinson (https://the-line-up.com/mad-doctor-lewis-hutchinson-jamaica) The Killer in the Castle (https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1950/11/15/the-killer-in-the-castle) Intro & outro music: Music: Dutty - Vibe Tracks https://youtu.be/YeHqPHl1114

Jamaica is the only country in the world without red, blue or white in its flag (so far). How did this happen and what's the story behind that and how did the new country decide, after a long decision making process and arguments, to settle on the iconic black, green and gold? We may have a combination of black pride and Scotland to thank for the current flag design. See early flag design submission from the public here: https://nlj.gov.jm/story-jamaican-national-flag/ Sources: https://nlj.gov.jm/story-jamaican-national-flag/ http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20100701/cleisure/cleisure4.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Jamaica https://jis.gov.jm/information/get-the-facts/the-jamaican-flag/ http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/opinion/when-members-of-the-house-saw-black-when-members-of-the-house-saw-black_98140?profile=1607 http://www.flagupscotjam.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Rev-William-McGhie-rev.pdf https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/revealed-church-scotland-minister-who-3951493 https://www.pressreader.com/uk/scottish-daily-mail/20180525/283192969032914 http://old.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20090802/ent/ent3.html https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/jm.html https://nava.org/good-flag-bad-flag/ https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/vexillonaire/ Intro & outro music: Music: Dutty - Vibe Tracks https://youtu.be/YeHqPHl1114

Trailer for Pree History. A podcast about Caribbean history and folklore.