At Jamaica''s independence, on 6 August 1962, Alexander Bustamante became our first Prime Minister. Like
Marcus Garvey, he was a man of vision - he saw why life was hard for ordinary
people, and he saw what he could do to help. He fought for what he believed was right - not with guns or knives, but with words! He fought for the rights of workers, and he became their leader. So when the people got the vote, they were grateful, and they voted for him.
Alexander Bustamante was born at Blenheim, in Hanover, in 1884. He was christened William Alexander Clarke, and changed his name later. He was a cousin of another National Hero, Norman Manley, and when he was twenty he worked for a year on the Manley''s property at Belmont. He was a good horseman, and farmers sent him their horses to tame.
In 1905 Bustamante started to travel. He went to Cuba, Panama and the United States. At that time, many Jamaicans went to these countries to find new opportunities, and to seek their fortunes. Bustamante spent some time in New York, and he made money there.
Bustamante came back to Jamaica in the 1930s. He was sad to see how the poor people were suffering, and he wrote letters to the newspapers, and to important people. He wrote about the bad conditions, and he asked for things to be made better. This is a part of a letter he wrote in 1938:
"The pot of Discontent is boiling, today it has reached the brim, tomorrow it may overflow
Workers were still badly treated. They worked very long hours for very little money. They were angry, and in 1938 they went on
strike for more pay. Bustamante went to support them at places where they were on strike - Serge Island in St. Thomas, and Frome in Westmoreland. In Kingston, a strike grew into a mass protest of workers and the unemployed. Bustamante went where there was trouble, and the government thought he was trying to get people to rebel. At one meeting, the security forces threatened to shoot. Bustamante opened his shirt, stuck out his chest and asked them to shoot him instead of the people. He was put in prison.