Rastafari History

1930s

HIM Haile Selassie I



Marcus Garvey

  The Ras Tafari began in Jamaica during the 1930s following a prophecy by Marcus Garvey, a political leader. Garvey preached "Look to Africa where a king shall be crowned, he shall be the Redeemer." This statement became the foundation of our Movement. The prophecy was rapidly followed by the crowning of Emperor Haile Selassie I in Ethiopia. We see this as the fulfilment of Garvey's prophecy. The religion takes its name from the original name of the emperor, Ras (Head, Chief) Tafari Makonnen. Haile Selassie I is therefore regarded as Yah. He is our figure of salvation and we believe He will redeem the downpressed from the downpressor, reuniting them with Afrika "The Cradle of Humanity".

1930s - 1950s

Leonard P. Howell

  The first branch of Rastafari is believed to have been established in Jamaica in 1935 by Leonard P. Howell. He preached the divinity of Haile Selassie. Howell's action encouraged others to help develop and spread the message of Rasta theology, and as E.E. Cashmore explains: "All, in their own ways, added pieces to the jigsaw, and the whole picture came together in the mid 1950s when a series of congregations of rastas appeared at various departure points on Jamaica's shores, awaiting ships bound for Africa". This marked the first uniting of Ras Tafari and it paved the way for the future of our movement, bringing hope of repatriation with Afrika and freedom. 

1960s - 1970s

Bob Marley and Peter Tosh

  In 1966 Haile Selassie I visited Jamaica, where He was greeted with vast enthusiasm. The development of Reggae music during this period made Ras Tafari audible and visible to an international audience. The work of Bob Marley or Peter Tosh (two of the most important figures between our Movement) was starting to be popular with a much wider group than the working class Jamaican culture from which it sprang. In 1974 Haile Selassie I was deposed by a Marxist revolution. He died mysteriously the next year. The removal of a divine figure by an atheist secular political group was initially discouraging to us.

They're saying lies. Yah live, Selassie I will live forever!