History slavery Jamaica
📅 14 December 1944
📍 Jamaica
On 14 December 1944, Jamaica held its first general election under universal adult suffrage. The vote brought a much broader electorate into political life and elected the first House of Representatives under the new constitution. The Jamaica Labour Party won a majority of seats, while the People’s National Party became the principal opposition. The election was a major democratic opening won after popular organizing, but it took place within a colonial constitution and did not itself end British rule.
On 23 May 1938, labor disturbances in Kingston included strikes by wharf, transport and public-service workers amid island-wide demands for higher wages. In a statement to Parliament, the Colonial...
On 26 May 1938, serious disturbances occurred in Spanish Town during the wider labor uprising. The Colonial Secretary reported eight casualties among police and the crowd, none fatal, and said order...
On 18 September 1938, Norman Manley and fellow organizers launched the People’s National Party (PNP) at Kingston’s Ward Theatre, in the wake of the island-wide labor unrest. The party connected...
On 8 July 1943, Alexander Bustamante launched the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), closely linked to the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union and the labor movement formed amid the 1938 upheavals. The party...
On 20 November 1944, Jamaica’s new constitution came into effect and universal adult suffrage was introduced. Adults aged 21 and older could vote without the property qualifications that had...
👉 Jamaicans vote in the first election under universal adult suffrage
Current
14 December 1944
On 14 December 1944, Jamaica held its first general election under universal adult suffrage. The vote brought a much broader electorate into political life and elected the first House of...
On 19 September 1961, Jamaicans voted in a referendum on whether to remain in the West Indies Federation. A majority voted against remaining, and the result set Jamaica on a separate path toward...
On 6 August 1962, Jamaica became an independent state, ending formal British responsibility for governing the country. The locally drafted constitution came into effect, and the Jamaican flag was...
On 20 October 1969, Jamaica first celebrated National Heroes Day, formally honoring figures whose work included resistance to slavery, anti-colonial struggle, labor organizing, and nation building....
On 1 August 1997, Jamaica reinstated Emancipation Day as a national public holiday, after the observance had been discontinued when independence celebrations replaced it in 1962. Restoring the date...
On 22 January 2009, Jamaica’s Cabinet approved the establishment of a National Commission on Reparations. Its remit was to consider proposals seeking reparations from countries involved in the slave...
