Linton P. Gordon
There is, in Walkerswood Saint Ann, a burial site where slaves were buried. The site is known as “Niggerhouse” and the history of this site is that over the years, during slavery, the plantation owners in Walkerswood would bury the slaves who died by whatever cause at this location. It is handed down by oral history to the citizens of Walkerswood that this is the site where the bodies of slaves would be “tossed”. In the vernacular of the citizens of Walkerswood, this is where the slave masters ‘tassed weh’ the bodies of slaves.
The site is important not only to the citizens of Walkerswood, most of whom are descendants of slaves but also to Jamaica as it contains an important link in our history. It reminds us where we are coming from, and it tells us that there was a time when our fore parents were treated like animals and chattels on the estate, instead of as human beings. Many of us need to remind ourselves that the several Estates in the Walkerswood area owe their economic success to the exploitation of slaves; that is to say, our fore parents. None of these Estates or their owners has paid any reparation to the descendants of the slaves whom they exploited.
The lands belonging to nearly all the slave-owning Estates are either still owned by them, or were sold to Reynolds Jamaica Mines, the first bauxite company to commence mining in Walkerswood and areas adjacent to Walkerswood.
The Government ought to move urgently to take steps to secure the slave burial ground at “Niggerhouse” in Walkerswood. This site should be secured, developed, and protected so that it will forever remind us of the dark days of our past when our ancestors were entered in ledger books on the Estate, beside mules, horses and agricultural produce as “items sold and purchased” by the Estate. Unfortunately, we do not have a tradition in Jamaica of protecting the burial sites and cemeteries throughout the country. Most of our cemeteries are run down and overgrown.
We can learn a lot from the British and the way they revere and honour their dead. The British established a Commonwealth War Graves Commission which has the mission of ensuring that service members who died in war are never forgotten. This Commission cares for cemeteries and memorials at over Twenty Three Thousand (23,000) locations in over 150 countries throughout the world. They visit these memorials, graves and cemeteries regularly and they maintain and protect them as best they can. The motto of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission is; “the fallen will never be forgotten”. The crews of visiting British naval vessels, supported by the British High Commission, regularly visit the old Naval Cemetery in Port Royal to clean it up and repair any of the graves of their fallen comrades that need repair. Members of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission regularly visit other burial sites in Jamaica including a grave located at a prominent North Coast hotel. Perhaps the best example of the British commitment to their fallen comrades is when they exhumed the bones of a British soldier, Private McDermot, from a grave in May Pen cemetery which was badly damaged, and re-interned him at Up Park Camp.
The graves at “Niggerhouse” in Walkerswood are a good point for us to start to show commitment to our heritage, our history and respect for our ancestors. ‘Niggerhouse’ is located in the constituency represented by Lisa Hanna, the Minister of Culture. We are confident that the Honourable Minister will take the lead in supporting the citizens of Walkerswood in their effort to have the burial site of the slaves declared a heritage site and be protected and developed as part of our national heritage. The citizens of Walkerswood, those living there and those not there, are in one accord that this should be done.
