Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Alexander Bedward
Alexander Bedward (1848, Saint Andrew Parish, north of Kingston, Jamaica - 8 November 1930) was the founder of Bedwardism. He was one of the most successful preachers of Jamaican Revivalism. Along with Joseph Robert Love, Bedward was one of the forerunners of Marcus Garvey and his brand of pan-Africanism.
In his twenties, Bedward worked on the construction of the Panama Canal. Jamaican labourers were subjected to harsh working conditions, before being boarded up at night in shoddy, disease-ridden shacks. In addition, white American workers were paid significantly more than their black counterparts. This experience would have a profound effect on Bedward's later life.
Bedward had charisma, an acute sense of theatre, a scorching sense of injustice, and unshakeable faith in the righteousness of his words and deeds.
After spending time in Panama, he returned to Jamaica and was baptized by a local Baptist preacher. He became not merely leader of a Revival branch but of a new movement, the Bedwardites. White and mixed-race Jamaicans worried about the African influences on these Native Baptist interpretations of Christianity.
In the 1880s, he started to gather large groups of followers by conducting services which included reports of mass healings. He identified himself with Paul Bogle, the Baptist leader of the Morant Bay rebellion, and he stressed the need for changes to the inequalities in race relations in Jamaican society. He reportedly said: “Brethren! Hell will be your position if you do not rise up and crush the white man. The time is coming! There is a white wall and a black wall. And the white wall has been closing around the black wall: but now the black wall has become bigger than the white.”
Many Afro-Jamaican Christian churches sprung up in the aftermath of Emancipation. In 1889, Bedward became the leader of one of them, the Jamaica Native Baptist Free Church. He ministered to his flock by Hope River, and his congregation grew large and thrived. He warned that the government of the Colony of Jamaica was passing laws to oppress black people, and was robbing them of their money and their bread.
By 1894, the Native Baptist Free Church was so thriving that it was able to commission a temple on the banks of the river, a confirmation in stone and slate that the Great Revival had produced genuine competition to the traditional centres of community power.
In 1895, Bedward was arrested for sedition, but critics within the government succeeded in having him sectioned in a mental asylum. With the help of a sympathetic lawyer, Bedward secured his freedom. On release he continued his role as a Revival healer and preacher. He urged his followers to be self-sufficient and at its height the movement gathered about 30,000 followers. He told his followers to sell their possessions including owned land and give him all the profits. Some of these followers did just that.
Hub AI
Alexander Bedward AI simulator
(@Alexander Bedward_simulator)
Alexander Bedward
Alexander Bedward (1848, Saint Andrew Parish, north of Kingston, Jamaica - 8 November 1930) was the founder of Bedwardism. He was one of the most successful preachers of Jamaican Revivalism. Along with Joseph Robert Love, Bedward was one of the forerunners of Marcus Garvey and his brand of pan-Africanism.
In his twenties, Bedward worked on the construction of the Panama Canal. Jamaican labourers were subjected to harsh working conditions, before being boarded up at night in shoddy, disease-ridden shacks. In addition, white American workers were paid significantly more than their black counterparts. This experience would have a profound effect on Bedward's later life.
Bedward had charisma, an acute sense of theatre, a scorching sense of injustice, and unshakeable faith in the righteousness of his words and deeds.
After spending time in Panama, he returned to Jamaica and was baptized by a local Baptist preacher. He became not merely leader of a Revival branch but of a new movement, the Bedwardites. White and mixed-race Jamaicans worried about the African influences on these Native Baptist interpretations of Christianity.
In the 1880s, he started to gather large groups of followers by conducting services which included reports of mass healings. He identified himself with Paul Bogle, the Baptist leader of the Morant Bay rebellion, and he stressed the need for changes to the inequalities in race relations in Jamaican society. He reportedly said: “Brethren! Hell will be your position if you do not rise up and crush the white man. The time is coming! There is a white wall and a black wall. And the white wall has been closing around the black wall: but now the black wall has become bigger than the white.”
Many Afro-Jamaican Christian churches sprung up in the aftermath of Emancipation. In 1889, Bedward became the leader of one of them, the Jamaica Native Baptist Free Church. He ministered to his flock by Hope River, and his congregation grew large and thrived. He warned that the government of the Colony of Jamaica was passing laws to oppress black people, and was robbing them of their money and their bread.
By 1894, the Native Baptist Free Church was so thriving that it was able to commission a temple on the banks of the river, a confirmation in stone and slate that the Great Revival had produced genuine competition to the traditional centres of community power.
In 1895, Bedward was arrested for sedition, but critics within the government succeeded in having him sectioned in a mental asylum. With the help of a sympathetic lawyer, Bedward secured his freedom. On release he continued his role as a Revival healer and preacher. He urged his followers to be self-sufficient and at its height the movement gathered about 30,000 followers. He told his followers to sell their possessions including owned land and give him all the profits. Some of these followers did just that.