Unsung hero Samuel Haynes

[Disir]

As the September celebrations draw closer, many Belizeans are beginning to feel very patriotic and proud of their country. Some have already started to decorate their houses and business, while others prepare for Carnival, the Battle of St. George Caye and Independence Day road marches.

Throughout the country many students will have already started the new school year and are accustomed to singing Belize’s National Anthem.

However, many within the new generation of Belizeans are not aware of the history of this great song.

The National Institute of Culture and History (NICH) provides short biographical information on various Belizean heroes and benefactors, and one such unsung hero is Mr . Samuel Alfred Hayes.

According to NICH, Belize’s National Anthem, “O Land of the Free,” was written by Samuel Alfred Hayes and music was by Selwyn Walford Young, in 1963. Samuel Hayes (1898 – 1971), a social activist, was a soldier in World War 1 and along with other Belizeans soldiers fought in the colonial effort for Great Britain.

However, due to the abuse, discrimination, unfair pay he suffered in the war along with the other colored soldiers, he returned to Belize (then British Honduras) and became a key witness to the commission in the inquiry of the Ex-Servicemen’s Riot of 1919. It could be said that perhaps due to these turmoils he was suffering that he initially wrote the poem as a form of retaliation against colonialism and how it was oppressing Belizeans. The poem, titled “Land of the Gods,” was a salute to the explosion of organized religion in Belize.
During the emancipation efforts of British Honduras as a sovereign nation from Great Britain, the People’s United Party (PUP), led by George Cadle Price along with other founding fathers, began preparations and search for symbols representing Belize’s identity.
Unsung hero Samuel A. Haynes

I was like, Who?

He wrote the words:
Lyrics
O. Land of the Free by the Carib Sea,
Our manhood we pledge to thy liberty!
No tyrants here linger, despots must flee
This tranquil haven of democracy
The blood of our sires which hallows the sod,
Brought freedom from slavery, oppression's rod
By the might of truth, and the grace of god,
No longer shall we be hewers of wood.
chorus:

Arise! ye sons of the Baymen's clan,
Put on your armour, clear the land!
Drive back the tyrants, let despots flee -
Land of the Free by the Carib Sea!
Nature has blessed thee with wealth untold,
O'er mountains and valleys where prairies roll;
Our fathers, the Baymen, valiant and bold
Drove back the invader; this heritage hold
From proud Rio Hondo to old Sarstoon,
Through coral isle, over blue lagoon;
Keep watch with the angels, the stars and moon;
For freedom comes tomorrow's noon.
(chorus)


And apparently was in the Garvey movement.