The Betty Black Blog

Does anyone remember Leandro? As well as the major historic events, there are so many little things that make Jamaica unique. We have so many cartoonists now, there’s Clovis and others, that we forget that once upon a time there was only one!

There is no Jamaican over the age of forty who did not grow up on Leandro cartoons. Every day for roughly half a century, in Jamaica’s oldest newspaper, two simple characters said in two sentences all we needed to know about politics, economics, world events and life in Jamaica. And he did it in patois! He may well have been the first person to put patois in writing, even before Miss Lou’s poetry.

Born in Trinidad of Guyanese parents, Urban Leandro moved with his parents to Jamaica in the early 1930s. He joined the Gleaner’s staff as a cartoonist in 1937 and there he remained for almost fifty years until 1985. He died in Kingston in 1989. Leandro chronicled an important chunk of Jamaica’s history; the early labour movement and universal suffrage, Independence and events surrounding it, the volatile politics of the 1970s and everyday life in general; but the odd thing is that we can find very little of his own history. I met the man; he lived in Barbican, next door to a boyfriend of my youth. I never got to know him though as he was very quiet and unassuming.

I was very fortunate a few years ago to have been given the opportunity to offer for sale a collection of his works spanning 1961-1986. If you feel for a tongue-in-cheek walk down memory lane and a reminder of some of the high (and low) points in our history, drop me a line and I can arrange a copy for you. The book is US$25 plus shipping and is 11″x8.5″ soft-cover format and is in black and white, as were Leandro’s cartoons. Caveat emptor: If you are not Jamaican you might not understand a single word!

If you wish a copy of Jamaica (in Pen and Ink) please use the Paypal Button below or <!– /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:”"; margin:0pt; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –>

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Read more about Jamaica at Jamaica-Allspice.com