Yaksta Reignites a Longstanding Debate About the Real Image of Paul Bogle “History or His-Story”

Dancehall artiste Yaksta recently made a post questioning the origins and foundation of Jamaica’s history. Or His-Story, as Yaksta puts it, the question surrounds the image of one of Jamaica’s most celebrated heroes Paul Bogle.

Like Yaksta, countless scholars and historians have also raised questions regarding the authenticity of the picture presented as Paul Bogle by schools and books.

Yaksta threw out the question to his thousands of fans on his Instagram page. The Bush Lawd posted two slides of the same image but with different names and descriptions, according to Wikipedia, with the following caption, “All our childhood lives we have been lied to repeatedly and I just want to share this with everyone because maybe someone knows. Swipe left, then explain. Please, because Paul is Thomas, who lying. History or His story.”

One description provided by Wikipedia of the same image reads Thomas L. Jennings, an African American inventor, tradesman, entrepreneur and abolitionist in New York City, credited with being the first patent holder in history for his novel method of dry cleaning.

While the other slide posted by the artiste describes the same picture as Paul Bogle, a Jamaican baptist decon and activist. The Wikipedia page also states that he was a leader of the 1865 Morant Bay protesters, who marched for justice and fair treatment for all Jamaicans.

It is understandable and rational why anyone would be confused by these two different descriptions of the same images. Historians point to the fact that because in those days of recorded history, cameras were not around, outlining that most pictures and imagery in those days were drawings, paintings and depictions of the person’s likeness.

Other historians claim that most of these images under the colonial rule of heroes and freedom fighters in those days are far fetch because most of these heroes were not even known or seen by those individuals recording the history at that time, in most cases.

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Many historians and scholars suggest that the images should not be taken literally in most cases but rather used to serve as a mere representation of the individual likeness.