Walter Rodney

Walter Anthony Rodney (23 March 1942 – 13 June 1980) was a prominent Guyanese historian, political activist and preeminent scholar, who was assassinated in Guyana in 1980.

June 13, marked the 28th anniversary of the death of one of the Caribbean’s most prominent offsprings, historian, scholar and political activist, Walter Rodney. The Guyanese was assassinated in a bomb explosion in his hometown, Georgetown, at a time when he was campaigning for office in the upcoming Guyanese elections.

Rodney was a very influential figure in his time, in fact he still is. In Jamaica, his legacy is kept alive through his works, including what is his most popular and arguably his most influential, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972), in which he claims that Africa’s underdevelopment was as a result of the slave trade and the exploitation and exploration of the developed world. His protégés here also help to keep his legacy alive despite efforts to suppress his memory and contribution to Jamaica. These include his friend Arnold Bertram, former cabinet member, University Professor of Political Science, Rupert Lewis, Professor Trevor Munroe, founder of the Workers Liberation League, the Workers Party of Jamaica and the University and Allied Workers Union, and other students of the 1960s.

But how did a Guyanese activist come to have such a great impact on the lives of so many Jamaicans?

Well, Jamaica’s first introduction to Rodney was when he earned a scholarship to attend the University of the West Indies in Jamaica in 1960. On completion of his studies, he was awarded a first class honours degree in History. After graduation, Rodney left Jamaica to further his studies in London, where he attended the School of Oriental and African Studies, after receiving a second scholarship. He was awarded a PhD with honours in African History at the tender age of 24 years. He taught for a short time in Tanzania after which he returned to the University of the West Indies in Jamaica as a...