Rastafarianism - An Introduction
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 Rastafarianism:
The redemption of Africa by the Messiah of Africa, Haile Selassie
(Ras Tafari), spurred several members of the Back to Africa Movement to
reconsolidate the members under the name of Rastafarians (Ras-Tafari-ans).
Four members in particular: Leonard Howell, Joseph Hibbert, Archibald
Dunkley, and Robert Hinds, played the major role in getting the movement
going. As heads of rebellious and militant movements, the leaders were
at odds with the presiding authorities. By 1953 "Rastas" had
begun wearing their hair in long curling locks, now known as "dreadlocks,"
as a form of group identity, and had formed a commune called "Pinnacle"
in the hills twenty miles from Kingston. However, as the Rastafarians
had been growing ganga (marijuana, an illegal substance in Jamaica) at
Pinnacle for ritual purposes, the police raided and destroyed the commune
and arrested many of its members, which put a damper on the movement.
Eventually the movement grew less militant, and the followers have become
a peaceful, loosely structured, multiracial body, who find fellowship
through the music and a cultural identity known as Reggae. This music,
with its Rasta themes, has spread throughout both the black and Western
nations of the world and Reggae music has become popular with millions
of people of every race.
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