Great Jamaican Stories | To preach or not to: The killing of James Knight

IN THE days of slavery, enslaved people were forbidden to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to one another. They were also taught to obey their masters, and the Bible was referenced by some Christian holders of enslaved people to support that lesson. Those holders were also uncomfortable with the Church and missionaries preaching the Word to their “chattels”.

Nonetheless, some enslaved men were converted, and they wanted to share the “good news” of the salvation of Jesus Christ. James Knight was one such man. It was not known exactly how he acquired his “knowledge”, but it was assumed that he was highly influenced by the itinerant black Baptist preacher, George Lewis, the free spirit who could not be contained and of whom the missionaries were wary.

Knight lived and worked on Lyndhurst Estate in Manchester. There, he didn’t have enough latitude to preach the Word that was burning his heart, body and soul. He had to get it out, to release it so that his fellow enslaved people could get the chance to go to Heaven, out of the bondage of chattel slavery. It was during the first quarter of the 1800s.

After the workday ended, Knight would gather the enslaved residents on his estate at nights to tell them Bible stories. This was a very dangerous thing to do, but he was driven and inspired by the salvation story. But, as the saying goes, whatever is being done in darkness will soon be uncovered by the light of day. And Knight’s deeds were uncloaked. Clearly he was the leader, and the fury of his holders had no mercy. Knight fled their persecution.

Yet, his flight was not to hide, per se, it was to continue his modus operandi. Comfort Hall was the first place where he stopped, and started again, to preach the gospel. Not long after, he was found out again. In the neighbouring parish of St Elizabeth, at a place called Raheen, he found himself and he preached. He had absolutely no intention of stopping. But, unbeknownst to him, his holders were tracking him. He was their “property”, and they were as determined as he was.

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From Raheen to YS, from YS to Middle Quarters, he was on a roll, for, when the roll was called over yonder he would be there. Sensing it was not safe in Middle Quarters, he shifted to the bigger town of Black River.

And that was his biggest mistake. He intended to board a ship there, to go wherever. Yet, Black River was too public, and somehow his reputation must have preceded him. He was on the run, and his holders would put out the news to their associates in the region. He did not stop preaching initially, but Black River was to be his final stop; his preaching and his life ended there. For, he was killed by a mob which separated his head from his body.

His pursuers left his body in Black River, they had no use for it. His head was their trophy, and they used it to drive fear into the hearts of those who might have wanted to have their way as James Knight did. On a pole, they hoisted it as they travelled from St Elizabeth back to Lyndhurst. They displayed it at several estates to the enslaved people and their smug holders.

At a point along the highway, near where the present Cottage Police Station is situated, the pole with the head was planted for all to see. The spot was once called ‘Man Head’, but it is now on the map of Jamaica as Skull Point, as it was subsequently called. A monument in memory and honour of James Knight, the man who ran away to preach the gospel, is established there.

Not far from Skull Point is ‘Duppy Church’, the ruins of an abandoned Anglican church, said to be haunted. The folklore says Knight’s and other duppies had been haunting the church, and the congregation eventually abandoned it. A cemetery consisting of centuries-old graves surrounds the ruins. The oldest year of death seen on the inscriptions is 1814. That was 24 years before Emancipation.

The real reason for the abandonment, however, is that, in the 1950s when people were living at Skull Point, the land on which they were residing was bought for bauxite mining, and so they were relocated to different places. They used to go back to attend church but, as time passed, the congregation dwindled and the church was eventually abandoned.