For Ages: 11-13 years

• June Cezair Wallace
• Gloria V. Robinson

Creating Jamaica – Our Early Years is an exciting introduction to the study of history for Grade 7 students. This is a revision of the longstanding Creating a Nation: Jamaica, which meets the requirements of the National Standards Curriculum (NSC) and explores the concept of history and the skills that the historian must use to investigate the past, and explains why history is such an important discipline.

Using a social history approach, Creating Jamaica tells the story of Jamaica from the arrival of the Tainos to the development of the peasantry in the post emancipation years and shows how various events and groups of people interrelated to create a unique Jamaican history.

Organization of the text

There are 4 Sections (A–D), each of which is further broken down into units, making a total of 12 units as follows:

Section A

Concepts and methods the historian uses to collect, verify, analyse and interpret the facts before they are presented as history.

Section B

Tainos and the Kalinagos, their way of life and their interactions with the Europeans. It also addresses the enslavement of Africans in the Caribbean.

Section C

Enslaved Africans and their resistance and rebellion against the system. The section explores the efforts of the Abolitionists and those of the enslaved to gain their freedom.

Section D

The changes in the demography of Jamaica after slavery was abolished and the efforts made by various groups to create a new society.

Key Features:

• Objectives which list key areas treated in each unit
• Scenarios that are used at the beginning of most units to engage the interest of students
• Exploration of concepts which are important to the historian
• Student-centred activities that help to develop investigative and analytical skills
• Revision sections which sum up the content covered in each unit   

The Authors

June Cezair Wallace taught history at the secondary level for several years. Formerly President of the History Teachers’ Association and the Jamaica Historical Society, Mrs Wallace has also been an examiner at the highest level.

Dr Gloria V. Robinson is a former Education Officer at the Ministry of Education, Jamaica and Assistant Registrar, Syllabus Formulation at CXC®. She has also been a member of several historical societies.