Americans falsely identify National Hero Paul Bogle as Thomas Jennings
The identity of Jamaican National Hero Paul Bogle and Thomas Jennings has been finally been rectified.
The photograph of Jamaican National Hero Paul Bogle is generating another round of controversy and discussion on social media following a video that is being circulated on popular social media platform, TikTok. There are calls for the Jamaican Government to establish, once and for all, whether the image that Jamaicans have known for years is, in fact, that of Paul Bogle.
For years, the widely used photograph of Bogle has been the same photo that has been used by the international press for Thomas L Jennings, an African-American inventor, tradesman, entrepreneur and abolitionist who lived in New York City, United States. Jennings had the distinction of being the first African-American patent holder in history after the right was granted in 1821 for his novel method of dry cleaning. Jennings was born 1791 and died 1859, while Bogle was born in 1822 and was hung on October 24, 1865, on the premises of the St Thomas courthouse, one of some 500 persons who died during or shortly after the Morant Bay Rebellion that year.
Interestingly, a simple search of the name Jennings on Google will reveal the photograph that has become associated with Bogle, who was conferred with the Order of the National Hero in Jamaica in 1969.
So, it was no surprise that many Jamaicans were left in both shock and amusement after seeing a video on American television and on the platform created by @meanteam25 showed American comedian, television host and actor, Steve Harvey, showing a photograph supposedly of Paul Bogle as Thomas L Jennings.
A 2018 Jamaican newspaper article titled, ‘Stop asking, It is Paul Bogle,’ attempted to settle the debate by referencing an April 19, 1959 story. The article concluded that the photograph was indeed Bogle, according to Reuben Ewen, a relative of Bogle, who confirmed the image based on family traits and historical descriptions.
The story said a W.G. Ogilvie, a member of the Jamaica Historical Society at the time, had discovered the ‘tintype’ photograph, and had attributed ownership of it to a Reuben Ewen of Spring Garden, a village located above Stony Gut in St Thomas. Bogle lived in both places. Ewen’s mother was a Bogle, and his maternal grandmother was a niece of Paul Bogle. His mother and his grand-uncle, Paul Bogle’s nephew, assured him that the image in the photo was, in fact, that of Paul Bogle.
The identity of Jamaican National Hero Paul Bogle and Thomas Jennings has been finally been rectified.
Irina Bruce a creator of the YouTube channel “Jamaica with irie” has done a deep dive and in-depth academic and details research on both Bogle and Jennings and had resolved the problem.