Samuel Jackman Prescod

Biography Prescod was born as the son of a free woman of colour, Lidia Smith, and a wealthy white father, William Prescod. He was given his forenames for Samuel Jackman, a local white planter.

Prescod was excluded from politics in Barbados. A law of 1697 required that all voters should be white, own of land and be of the Christian religion. In fact it was not until 1721 that non-whites testimony was accepted in a court in Barbados.

Prescod began his political work in 1829

It was not until 1836 that non-whites were given their first newspaper, which was called the New Times. Prescod served for eight months without being paid, before the job was taken away from him as it was felt that his ideas were too radical. Prescod moved on to another paper, The Liberal, which was where he found his voice. This paper was targeted at working- and middle-class people irrespective of colour.

In July 1840, Prescod wrote to the Colonial Office in Barbados as a leader of the coloured community. He was protesting at the high prices that landowners were putting on small plots of land. This was important, since the white owners were using this as a device to prevent other races from entering the land-owning middle class. Moreover, the ability to vote was linked to land ownership. Investigations by the Colonial Office confirmed Prescod's suspicions and the landowners were indeed buying up any small plots of land that did become available, even if this meant some small hardship for themselves.

1840 must have been a very busy year for Prescod, as not only was he writing letters of protest and travelling to Europe and back but he also served eight days in gaol for criminal libel arising out of his editorial freedom with The Liberal newspaper. He has also appeared on stamps.

In April 1998, the Order of National Heroes Act was passed by the Parliament of Barbados. According to the government, the act established that 28 April (the centenary of the birth of Sir Grantley Adams) would be celebrated as National Heroes' Day. The act also declared that there are ten national heroes of Barbados, all of whom would be elevated to the title of "The Right Excellent".

The Samuel Jackman Prescod Institute of Technology and Jackmans, a town in the Saint Michael parish, are named in his honour.