Today (April 21) marks the 60th anniversary of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I’s state visit to Jamaica. The diminutive monarch’s arrival at what was then the Palisadoes Airport in Kingston drew thousands of people, including impassioned Rastafarians who swarmed the tarmac to get a glimpse of the man they considered God.

His four-day visit followed a similar trip to Trinidad and Tobago. After Jamaica, the Emperor visited Haiti.

Selassie I’s trip to Jamaica was significant. He was seen by the country’s massive Rastafarian population as a Supreme Being, who cited his reported lineage to King Solomon.

In 1960, Rastafarian leaders in Jamaica approached University of the West Indies (UWI) lecturers M G Smith, Roy Augier, and Rex Nettleford to conduct a study on their movement. One year later, three Rastafarians — Mortimo Planno, Douglas Mack, and Philmore Alvaranga — were part of a Government-sanctioned team that went on a fact-finding tour of Africa and met with Selassie I in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital.

A technical mission, again funded by the Government, also visited the continent in 1961.

Haile Selassie was crowned Emperor in 1930. He was overthrown by Communist forces in Ethiopia in September 1974, and killed in August 1975 at age 83.

Observer Online looks at some of the people who met, or saw, Selassie I when he visited Jamaica.

Mortimo Planno

Mortimo Planno

A pioneer of the Jamaican Rasta movement, Cuba-born Planno was famous for his groundbreaking ‘binghi’ teaching sessions in Trench Town. Some of his ‘students’ included Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Livingston, members of The Wailers.

In 1960, he was part of a delegation sanctioned by the Jamaican government that visited Africa, and met with the Emperor in Ethiopia. When Selassie came to Jamaica, Planno is seen at the entrance of the airplane guiding his descent.

Planno, popularly known as Kumi, died in 2006 at age 76.

Justice Ronald Small

The son of Garveyites, Ronald Small was Jamaica’s first black Supreme Court judge. He was first in line to meet Selassie I during an official event at King’s House on April 21, 1966.

Justice Small’s youngest son, Robin “Jerry” Small, told Observer Online that Selassie I invited his father to Ethiopia but his old man never took up the offer.

“Him tell mi that was di biggest mistake of his life. He said meeting Selassie was di proudest moment of his life,” said Jerry Small, who was 18 at the time and a Rastafarian.

Justice Ronald Small, whose sons Hugh and Richard also became prominent lawyers, died in 2005 at age 97.

Bruce Golding

Bruce Golding

The future prime minister was head boy at Jamaica College, where Selassie I visited on April 22 1966.

“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,” Golding recalled in a 2021 interview with the Jamaica Observer. “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!’”

Golding became a Member of Parliament and was Jamaica’s prime minister from 2007-2011.

Dr Peter Phillips

Peter Phillips

Phillips was a sixth form student at Jamaica College. He was on campus the day Selassie I made a brief stop at the school which produced luminaries like former Jamaican premier Norman Manley.

“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,” said Phillips in a 2020 interview with the Jamaica Observer.

Phillips became a Rastafarian shortly after leaving JC. He was also a lecturer at the University of the West Indies, a cabinet minister in the People’s National Party government and was that organisation’s leader until 2020.

Copeland Forbes

Copeland Forbes

A member of the Boy Scouts of Jamaica, Forbes was Selassie I’s official car-door opener, a role he had for Britain’s Princess Margaret on August 6, 1962, the day Jamaica gained independence at the National Stadium.

He recalled the remarkable scenes at the Palisadoes Airport on April 21 1966 when Selassie I arrived in an interview with American writer David Katz.

“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.”

Forbes became a major figure in reggae, managing acts such as Peter Tosh, Jimmy Cliff, Black Uhuru, Dennis Brown and Luciano.

Fred Locks

Fred Locks

Sixteen years-old at the time, the aspiring singer lived in Harbour View in East Kingston. He remembers hearing the announcement on radio that, “His Imperial Majesty is now approaching the Harbour View roundabout.”

When Selassie I’s motorcade reached that location, Fred Locks said he was overcome by excitement.

“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.”

Fred Locks went on to have a solid career. His signature song is Black Star Liner, a repatriation anthem released in 1975.