Tall, handsome, physically attractive, articulate, brilliant, a scholar and negotiator yet none of these characteristics outweighed Norman Manley’s strongest quality as a champion and activist for the Jamaican people.
Born in Roxborough, Manchester on July 4, 1893, Manley began building his political legacy working with the Jamaica Welfare Limited. Like his cousin, Alexander Bustamante, he was moved by the plight of working Jamaicans, and together they advocated for better working conditions and petitioned the British government for the right of the Jamaican people to vote.
Manley naturally excelled at almost anything he did. In high school, he was as good at athletics as he was at academics. He first attended Beckford and Smith High School (now St. Jago High School) in Spanish Town and then transferred to Jamaica College after receiving an academic scholarship. While there, he competed in the Jamaica schoolboy championships and set a record for completing the 100-yard race in ten seconds. He later earned a Rhodes Scholarship and studied civil law at Jesus College in Oxford, England in 1914.
Manley’s time in England coincided with World War I and he served in the Royal Field Artillery while completing his legal studies. He was admitted to the Bar in 1921, receiving the Lee Prizeman Award and the Certificate of Honor at the Bar Finals. He then returned to Jamaica and established his legal practice in 1922. In 1932, he was appointed a King’s Counsel and was the first Jamaican attorney to appear before the Privy Council’s Judicial Committee in England.
In building a legacy, Manley had a more defined role when he formed and led the People’s National Party (PNP) in 1938. In 1954, Manley led the efforts to secure executive powers for elected representatives and it was under his leadership that Jamaica achieved full authority of government to operate internally in 1959, which served as a precursor to Jamaica’s political independence.
Manley served as Jamaica’s Chief Minister after the 1955 election and was the first and only premier of Jamaica in 1958, the same year Jamaica joined in the West Indies Federation. While Manley believed in and supported the Federation, he put the issue to the Jamaican people holding a referendum in 1961 to decide if the country should remain as part of the Federation. The answer was no, and Manley arranged for Jamaica’s orderly withdrawal.
Norman Manley remained president of the PNP, until his retirement in 1969.
In his last public address to an annual conference of the PNP, he said, “I say that the mission of my generation was to win self-government for Jamaica, to win political power which is the final power for the black masses of my country from which I spring. I am proud to stand here today and say to you who fought that fight with me, say it with gladness and pride, mission accomplished for my generation. And what is the mission of this generation? … It is… reconstructing the social and economic society and life of Jamaica.”
