Labour Day in Jamaica

Labour Day in Jamaica commemorates a labour rebellion on this day in 1938 that contributed to Jamaican independence.

By 1938 Jamaica was rife for labour unrest, labourers were grossly underpaid and several strikes broke out across the island with workers all asking for the same thing, better wages. The most outstanding of these unrests was the riot at Frome sugar factory which occurred in May of that 1938. One prominent figure that arose from the 1938 upheavals was St. William Grant, he was a labour leader, black nationalist and Garveyite. St. Wiliam Grant Labour Leader Activist Grant spoke loudly for the rights of workers and was even arrested in 1938 for his firm stands, however he sank from the pages on history into obscurity and poverty. His contributions have not been forgotten though and the Victoria Park in Parade in the centre of Kingston was renamed in memory of St.William Grant in 1977.