The 12th of July Movement is demanding for a National Day and historic monument in honour of slain Maroon chief, Jacko. A Neg Mawon chief, Jacko was killed on July 12, 1814 when he and the Maroon Africans he led staged a resistance against colonial slave masters.
At the 200th anniversary of his death on July 12, 2014, attorney Bernard Wiltshire established a movement to commemorate the contributions of Jacko and his slain Maroons to the emancipation of modern-day Dominica.
As part of the celebrations for Jacko’s resistance and eventual death in the battle against slavery, the 12th of July Movement demands that the government recognize that July 12 be made a National Maroon Day and that the Old Market Square in Roseau where Jacko died in battle be transformed into a National Monument.
The group also wants the ancient building at the old market to be converted into a shrine where a lamp would burn eternally in honour of the ancestors who laid down their lives to fight slavery. Furthermore, Wiltshire also wants the cobbled square between the Old Market Square and the museum to be transformed into a national heroes park which will be called the Maroon Square.
The Maroons of which Jacko was the tribal head landed in Dominica before 1700 and grew to a population of around 3,000 people who dwelt in communities. With the arrival of colonial masters who engaged in slavery, the Maroons refused to be bought or sold as slaves and formed a local army against the colonial masters.
At the landmark battle fought against their rulers, Chief Jacko and hundreds of Maroon people, women and children inclusive, fell to the superior military weapons of the colonial masters.
With the creation of a national Maroon Day and conversion of Old Market Square to a Maroon Square, Wiltshire said the Dominican publics will remain eternally aware of the sacrifices of their ancestors against slavery, with a view to eliminating any residual negative psychological effects of slavery.
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