On April 21, 1966, tens of thousands of Jamaicans exuberantly greeted Ethiopia’s Emperor Haile Selassie I in Kingston, Jamaica. The emperor came to express gratitude for the peoples’ support during the Italo-Ethiopian War and bolster the ongoing struggle for liberation in Rhodesia. This state visit repositioned Rastafari in Jamaican society and ignited widespread cultural, social, and political transformations across the Caribbean. Enter the Lion assembles a vital archive of this landmark event, gathering British colonial records, newspaper reportage from the Caribbean and Ethiopia, the official records of the Ethiopian Ministry of Information, and oral history. The authors paint an illuminating picture of the diverse political interests at play, exploring how the visit reshaped the Rastafari movement, Jamaican society, the wider Caribbean, and their Pan-African connections.

John P. Homiak is Research Associate of Anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History.

Giulia Bonacci is a historian and researcher at the Institute of Research for Sustainable Development.

Jahlani A. Niaah is Senior Lecturer in Cultural Studies at the Institute of Caribbean Studies in the University of the West Indies.

List of Illustrations  vii
Acknowledgments  xi
Introduction  1
1. Setting the Stage  17
2. Enter the Lion: Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, and Haiti  32
3. Enter the Lion: Jamaica  70
4. “We Are Blood Brothers”: Affirming Bonds with Africa  106
5. “The Generation That Seek Jah Face”: Testimony of the Rastafari  158
6. Contending Narratives of Belonging  251
7. In the Footsteps of the Lion: The Afterlife of the Visit  285
Postscript. The Conquering Lion Hath Prevailed  315
Glossary  323
Notes  337
References  353
Index  363