April 21 marks six decades since one of the most culturally transformative visits to Jamaican soil: the state arrival of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I. When the small-statured monarch touched down at Kingston’s then-Palisadoes Airport, tens of thousands of onlookers flooded the tarmac to catch a sight of him — among them throngs of passionate Rastafarians, who have long revered Selassie I as the divine incarnation of God.
Selassie I’s four-day Jamaican tour in 1966 formed part of a broader Caribbean itinerary, which included stops in Trinidad and Tobago ahead of his Jamaica visit, followed by a trip to Haiti after departing Kingston. For Jamaica’s large Rastafarian community, the visit was far more than a routine diplomatic stopover: the movement’s beliefs center on Selassie I as the Supreme Being, tracing his ancestral lineage directly back to the biblical King Solomon.
The groundwork for the Emperor’s visit was laid years earlier, rooted in growing cultural and political connection between Jamaica’s Rastafarian community and Ethiopia. In 1960, Rastafarian leaders partnered with three academics from the University of the West Indies (UWI) — M G Smith, Roy Augier, and Rex Nettleford — to conduct the first formal major study of the Rastafarian movement. The following year, the Jamaican government authorized a three-person Rastafarian delegation, including Mortimo Planno, Douglas Mack, and Philmore Alvaranga, to conduct a fact-finding mission to Africa, where the group met Selassie I in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. A second government-funded technical research delegation also traveled to the continent that same year, deepening the ties that would lead to Selassie I’s historic 1966 visit.
For context, Haile Selassie I was crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in 1930, ruled the East African nation for more than four decades, and was ultimately overthrown by a communist military junta in September 1974. He died in state custody in August 1975 at the age of 83. To mark the 60th anniversary of the Jamaican visit, Jamaica’s Observer Online collected firsthand recollections from figures who either met or witnessed the Emperor during his 1966 tour. Below are their accounts, which preserve the enduring cultural impact of the visit:
### Mortimo Planno
Born in Cuba, Planno was one of the founding pioneers of the Jamaican Rastafarian movement, best known for his revolutionary open-air “binghi” teaching gatherings in Kingston’s iconic Trench Town neighborhood. Many of his students went on to become global reggae legends, including Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Wailer (born Bunny Livingston), the core members of The Wailers. Planno was part of the 1961 Jamaican government-sanctioned delegation that met Selassie I in Addis Ababa, and during the 1966 arrival, he was the figure who greeted the Emperor at the aircraft door to guide him down the stairs to Jamaican soil. Planno, widely known by his Rastafarian name Kumi, died in 2006 at the age of 76.
### Justice Ronald Small
Born to parents who were followers of the pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey, Ronald Small made history as Jamaica’s first Black Supreme Court justice. On April 21, 1966, he was the first person scheduled to greet Selassie I at an official reception at King’s House, Jamaica’s official government residence. His youngest son, Robin “Jerry” Small, who was 18 and a practicing Rastafarian at the time of the visit, told Observer Online that Selassie I personally extended an invitation for his father to visit Ethiopia — an invitation Justice Small never acted on. Jerry Small recalled, “He told me that was the biggest mistake of his life. He said meeting Selassie was the proudest moment of his life.” Two of Justice Small’s other sons, Hugh and Richard, went on to become prominent Jamaican lawyers. He died in 2005 at 97 years old.
### Bruce Golding
During Selassie I’s visit, Bruce Golding was a student and head boy at Jamaica College, one of the island’s most prestigious secondary schools, which hosted a brief stop by the Emperor on April 22, 1966. Golding would go on to become a Member of Parliament and serve as Jamaica’s Prime Minister from 2007 to 2011. Recalling the visit in a 2021 interview with the Jamaica Observer, Golding explained: “In my day, the head boy had significant authority as well as responsibility in terms of discipline. Not only was I informed of the visit, but I was involved and we greeted His Imperial Majesty as he stepped out of his vehicle. He didn’t spend a long time. As a matter of fact, he was on his way to the University of the West Indies. He inspected a guard of honour of the cadet corps and when he was leaving, I said, ‘Three cheers for the Emperor!’”
### Dr Peter Phillips
Dr. Phillips was a sixth-form student at Jamaica College when Selassie I stopped at the campus, the alma mater of former Jamaican Prime Minister Norman Manley and other national luminaries. In a 2020 interview with the Jamaica Observer, he reflected on the immediate impact of seeing the Emperor: “We were just there mesmerised by the very powerful presence of this African monarch. One of the things that the visit did was to impel us to learn more, and part of that learning more was through contact with Rastafarians in Jamaica.” Shortly after graduating from Jamaica College, Phillips converted to Rastafarianism. He went on to become a UWI lecturer, a cabinet minister for the People’s National Party, and eventually led the opposition party until 2020.
### Copeland Forbes
Forbes, a member of the Boy Scouts of Jamaica, was assigned the official role of opening the car door for Selassie I throughout the visit — a role he had previously filled for Britain’s Princess Margaret during Jamaica’s 1962 independence ceremony at the National Stadium. Recalling the chaotic, joyful scenes at Palisadoes Airport in an interview with American author David Katz, Forbes described the arrival as a nearly spiritual experience: “That experience is something I will never forget. I don’t know if you want to call it a miracle, but it was raining heavy, and when the plane popped over the clouds, the sun came out. When the plane touched down on the runway, the pilot pulled the window open and put out an Ethiopian flag, and the plane was surrounded by hundreds; I saw people leaning up by the plane wheel, smoking a chalice, and drum beating, so the official welcome party had to be abandoned.” After the visit, Forbes became a leading figure in the global reggae industry, managing iconic acts including Peter Tosh, Jimmy Cliff, Black Uhuru, Dennis Brown, and Luciano.
### Fred Locks
At 16 years old, the aspiring reggae singer was living in East Kingston’s Harbour View neighborhood when he heard the radio announcement that Selassie I’s motorcade was approaching the local Harbour View roundabout. Overcome with excitement as the procession arrived, Locks recalled running into the street to get within five yards of the Emperor, who returned the moment with a warm salute. “I find myself running and reached out like five yards in front of him. And His Majesty was saluting, and I was hearing in my head, ‘Oh ye of so little faith’. I said, ‘wow! I was astonished, I couldn’t think straight. I didn’t want to go home,’” he remembered. Locks went on to build a successful decades-long career in reggae, and his 1975 anthem *Black Star Liner*, centered on the Rastafarian call for repatriation to Africa, remains one of the genre’s most iconic tracks.
