The Mother Of Us All: A History of Queen Nanny, Leader of the Winward Jamaican Maroons, by Karla Gottlieb

"The Mother of Us All" is an analysis of the history of Queen nanny, the great 18th century leader of the Windward of Eastern Jamaican Maroons. The importance of this great leader's struggle against British colonial empire and its institution of slavery on the island of Jamaica has previously been largely ignored. To correct this gap, oral histories, including myths, legends, songs, ceremonies and local language are analyzed, as well as written texts including legal documents, journals of the era, historical land grants and peace treaties, poems, novels, critical texts, historical texts and children's books.The Maroons of Jamaica were ex-slaves who had escaped from slave ships and plantations to form viable communities in remote and inaccessible parts of the country. Queen Nanny, warrior, general, spiritual adviser and, some say, messiah to the Maroons, led her people from their base camp of nanny Town in the rugged Blue Mountains of Eastern Jamaica, to repeated victories against the B