WESTERN BUREAU:
Statesman-in-Residence of the PJ Patterson Institute for Africa-Caribbean Advocacy, former Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, on his 90th birthday, honoured The University of the West Indies with a Pan-Africanist mural celebrating 17 freedom fighters.
The mural, a reproduction of the late Barrington Watson’s masterwork The Pan-Africanists, was donated by the PJ Patterson Institute to the university’s new Cultural Heritage Park and unveiled during a special ceremony on Saturday.
It now stands as a powerful symbol of black resilience, cultural identity, and Caribbean legacy.
Located along UWI Mona’s Ring Road, the mural has been installed in the vicinity of 14 ackee trees planted by enslaved Africans on the former Hope and Mona plantations. It complements an existing obelisk that memorialises the ancestors who once walked the very grounds now occupied by the university.
“This is sacred space,” said Margaret Bernal, project director of the PJ Patterson Institute. “This mural connects the living trees, the bones unearthed here, and the mission of education and remembrance. It is part of a larger story of where we’ve come from and who we honour.”
The Pan-Africanists features 17 historic leaders of global black liberation movements, including Marcus Garvey, Harriet Tubman, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr, W.E.B. Du Bois, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, and Kwame Nkrumah. Each was carefully selected and painted by Watson over a 30-year period.
According to Doreen Watson, the artist’s widow, the inspiration for the work came on the day Watson was scheduled to meet with US President Lyndon B. Johnson, a meeting that was cancelled due to the assassination of Dr King.
“From that moment, he knew he had to create something bold, a statement for Black people everywhere,” she said. “That’s how The Pan-Africanists came to be. And P.J. Patterson truly loved this piece.”
The original canvas remains with the Watson family, but the university received a high-resolution mural reproduction, a gift of legacy that now forms the first installation in what will become a full Cultural Heritage Park on the campus.
Heartfelt reflections
Patterson, who humbly insisted that there be no speeches during the 90th birthday celebration, offered heartfelt reflections on the moment and his lineage. He noted his shared heritage with Sir Alexander Bustamante, Jamaica’s first prime minister, both of them hailing from Cacoon, Hanover, attending school under the tutelage of his grandfather, William James.
“William James has produced two prime ministers who’ve reached this age,” Patterson said with a smile. “And when you combine our years of service, we are the two longest-serving prime ministers to date.”
He confirmed that both the vice-chancellor and principal of the Mona campus have approved plans to expand the Cultural Heritage Park, using the mural as a foundation for future installations.
“Your (friends and family in attendance) presence here symbolises the unity we need, not just in Jamaica, but across the Caribbean and the developing world,” Patterson added. “I’ve been truly blessed, and for that, I give thanks.”
The event had in attendance Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness; Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands, Charles Washington Misick; former Prime Minister Bruce Golding and his wife Lorna; as well as former Bahamas prime ministers Perry Christie and Hubert Ingraham.
Source: Jamaica Gleaner
