Sir Alexander Bustamante was born William Alexander Clarke on February 24, 1884 in Blenheim, Hanover. Along with his cousin, Norman Washington Manley, he is considered one of the founding fathers of modern Jamaica.
As a young man, Bustamante was restless and traveled extensively between 1905 and 1934, going from Panama to Cuba and the U.S. He tried his hand at a variety of jobs, including hospital attendant, police, beekeeper, and dairy farmer.
It is well known that Bustamante created stories about his background to suit his own purposes, including one that a Spanish sailor adopted him and brought him up. The truth is that he was a part of the privileged planter class. When he returned to Jamaica, he established himself as a money-lender.
The Jamaica that Bustamante returned to was still a crown colony. Under this system, the governor had the right of veto and often exercised it against the wishes of the majority.
Pay and working conditions were poor. Falling harvests and the lay-off of workers resulted in an influx of the unemployed into the city. This mass migration did little to alleviate the unemployment situation.
Bustamante realized the social and economic ills that the crown colony system engendered and began mobilizing the working-class. He started a letter writing campaign to the local newspaper, The Daily Gleaner, and occasionally to British newspapers, calling attention to the social and economic problems of the poor and underprivileged.
In time, Bustamante became a well-known advocate of the cause of the masses. Soon, he started traveling around the country, making speeches and getting to know the people.
By 1938, there was much labor unrest and protest by the people against the poverty and degradation that they faced. At a rally in Kingston, when the army threatened to open fire on the crowd, Bustamante is said to have opened his shirt, bared his chest to the soldiers and told them to shoot him and leave the innocent people. He was arrested later that day and was bailed by his cousin, Norman Manley, an attorney. The charges were subsequently dropped.
On September 8, 1940, Bustamante was detained at Up Park Camp, for alleged violation of the Defence of the Realm Act. He was released seventeen months later.
In 1943 he founded the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), with himself as head. The first general election under Universal Adult Suffrage came in 1944 and the JLP won 22 of the 32 seats.
Bustamante was knighted by the Queen in 1955. In 1962, became the first prime minister of independent Jamaica. He retired from active politics in 1967 and was named a national hero in 1969. He is the only national hero to receive the honor while still alive. Bustamante died on August 6,1977, at the age of 93.
The Bustamante backbone or Busta is a hard candy that was named for Bustamante as he was considered by many to be like the candy, of “firm character.”
