Many threads wove together at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Museum on May 18:
It was International Museum Day 2016, with the theme of Museums & Cultural Landscapes – landscapes interpreted as geographic, historical, economic, social and cultural contexts in which museums exist and operate.
What more appropriate time for an extended exploration of the context, significance and impact of the game-changing 1966 visit to Jamaica by Ethopian Emperor Haile Selassie. The visit is commemorated in the museum’s current visiting exhibition – just extended into June.
“Ras Tafari came to drum beats.
The Negus
God-like on a golden lion
rode shafts of sunlight
and burnt away the rain…”
(Raymond Mair, 1966, published in ‘these days i celebrate’)
Our visiting exhibition commemorating the visit to Jamaica and other Caribbean islands by Ethopian Emperor Haile Selassie I in 1966, 50 years ago, has drawn wide-ranging interest.