ABSTRACT
The first Rastafarians appeared after Haile Selassie became Emperor of Ethiopia in 1930. The crowning of a black king was greeted enthusiastically throughout the Caribbean. And when in 1935 the Italian fascist dictator Mussolini invaded Ethiopia, there was a tremendous surge of popular support in the West Indies for Selassie and the Ethiopian people. But it was in Jamaica that support for Selassie was most extreme. Soon after Selassie’s coronation, three black preachersLeonard Howell, Joseph Hibbert and Archibald Dunkley-began proclaiming that Selassie was more than just a black hero. For these men and their followers, the Emperor was nothing less than the Living God. The Rastafarians quoted Biblical prophecies to justify this claim. Selassie numbered among his many official titles, Prince Ras Tafari, the Negus, Lord of Lords and the Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah. He was also directly descended from the Old Testament King Solomon.
