Norman Manley Museum

 In his last public address to an annual conference of the PNP, Norman Manley declare:

"I say that the mission of my generation was to win self-government for Jamaica. To win political power which is the final power for the black masses of my country from which I spring. I am proud to stand here today and say to you who fought that fight with me, say it with gladness and pride: Mission accomplished for my generation."

Norman Manley

"Among the things I will always remember is Norman Manley's towering intellect, his passion for selfless service, his energy which was boundless, and his enduring stamina."

Norman Washington Manley was born to mixed-race parents in Roxborough in Jamaica's Manchester parish, on 4 July 1893. His father Thomas Albert Samuel Manley, the out-of-wedlock son of a former slave and an English merchant from Yorkshire, worked as an agricultural businessman; he sold Jamaican spices and fruit to the United States. Norman Manley's mother, Margaret Shearer, was the daughter of a mixed-race woman and her ethnic Irish husband, a pen-keeper.

Manley was a brilliant scholar, soldier and athlete, and studied law at Jesus College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He served in the Royal Field Artillery during World War I, and was awarded the Military Medal (M.M.).

After suffrage was approved in 1944, Manley had to wait ten years and two terms before his party was elected to office. He was a strong advocate of the Federation of the West Indies, established in 1958. 

Norman Manley Museum, Jamaica

 Manley founded the left-wing People's National Party, which later was tied to the Trade Union Congress and the National Workers Union.Manley served as the colony's Chief Minister from 1955 to 1959, and as Premier from 1959 to 1962. He was a proponent of the island's participation in the Federation of the West Indies but bowed to pressure to hold a referendum on the issue in 1961. Voters chose to have Jamaica withdraw from the union.

Michael Manley

Michael Manley

Michael Norman Manley ON OCC (December 10, 1924 – March 6, 1997) was the fourth Prime Minister of Jamaica (1972–1980, 1989–1992). Manley was a democratic socialist.

The second son of Jamaica's Premier Norman Washington Manley and Jamaican artist Edna Manley, Michael Manley was a charismatic figure who became the leader of the Jamaican People's National Party a few months before his father's death in 1969.

Manley defeated unpopular incumbent Prime Minister Hugh Shearer (his cousin) in the election of 1972 on the platform of "Better must come", "Giving power to the people" and leading "a government of truth".

Manley instituted a series of Social and Economic reforms that yielded mixed success. Though he was a biracial Jamaican from an elite family, Manley's successful Trade Union background helped him to maintain a close relationship with the country's poor, black majority, and he was a dynamic, popular leader. Unlike his father, who had a reputation for being formal and business like, the younger Manley moved easily among people of all strata and made Parliament accessible to the people by abolishing the requirement for men to wear Jackets and Ties to its sittings. In this regard he started a fashion revolution, often preferring the Kariba Suit which was a type of formal bush or Safari Jacket with trousers and worn without a shirt and tie popularly worn by African Leaders.