Dread History:
The African Diaspora,
Ethiopianism, and Rastafari
Amharic alphabet on doorway
Lion Bay, Jamaica
During the early 1970s, many Rastafari in West Kingston, Jamaica, organized Amharic language courses. In pre-socialist Ethiopia, Amharic was the language of the Ethiopian nobility. In this photograph, a Rasta of Lion Bay writes the alphabet on his doorway.
photograph by Jake Homiak, Smithsonian Institution
