Dudley Joseph Thompson OJ KC (19 January 1917 – 20 January 2012) was a Jamaican Pan-Africanist, lawyer, politician and diplomat, who made a contribution to jurisprudence and politics within the Caribbean, Africa and elsewhere internationally. In the Folks’s National Party (PNP) administration below Prime Minister Michael Manley, he was Minister of State for Foreign Affairs (1972-7), Minister of Mining and Pure Resources (1977-78), and Minister of Nationwide Security and Justice (1978-80). He was also a vice-president and later chairman of the PNP. Textual content is obtainable below the Artistic Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License; further phrases might apply. He was awarded the Mico Old College students’ Gold Medal – probably the most prestigious teacher’s award. The OAU had earlier awarded him a medal in recognition of his status as a “Legend of Africa”. In 1946, he went to England to attend Merton Faculty, Oxford, where he studied jurisprudence, as a Rhodes Scholar, obtaining degrees as a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Civil Legislation. In 1962, he successfully lobbied for the colour scheme black-gold-inexperienced (the colours of the African National Congress) for use as the premise of the Flag of Jamaica. Thompson practised legislation in Trinidad, Barbados, St. Kitts, Dominica, Bermuda, Grenada, The Bahamas, Belize and elsewhere within the West Indies, playing a job in the independence movements of each Belize and the Bahamas. From his college days, Thompson was a close associate of pan-Africanists similar to Kwame Nkrumah, George Padmore and C. L. R. James. This page was final edited on 6 October 2024, at 12:22 (UTC). After a brief period as headmaster of a rural faculty, he joined the Royal Air Force through the Second World Battle – one of Britain’s first black pilots – and saw lively service (1941-45) as a flight lieutenant in RAF Bomber Command over Europe, being awarded a number of decorations. From Kingston to Kenya: the making of a pan-Africanist lawyer, by Dudley Thompson with Margaret Cezair Thompson. Shortly earlier than his death, Thompson apologised for his role in the Inexperienced Bay Massacre, when members of the military ambushed younger Jamaica Labour Get together (JLP0 supporters, and shot them down in chilly blood. Born in Panama, to Daniel and Ruby Thompson, he was raised in Westmoreland, Jamaica, the place in the thirties he received a scholarship to The Mico (now Mico University School), coaching there as a trainer for three years. In 1945, he attended the Fifth Pan-African Congress in Manchester, together with Nkrumah, Padmore plus folks similar to Joe Appiah, W. E. B. Du Bois, Jomo Kenyatta, I. T. A. Wallace-Johnson and Jaja Wachuku. In 2006, in Ghana he was honoured as a “Living Legend of Africa”. The African Union declared him a “first citizen” passport of the continent because of his work for Africa internationally. 1962, as president of the Jamaica Bar Affiliation. BDA Sun, 13 April 2007. Archived 9 August 2019 at the Wayback Machine. In Tanzania, the place he was a good friend of Julius Nyerere, Thompson is remembered as a founding father of the Tanganyika African Nationwide Union (TANU). André, Irving W.; Gabriel J. Christian (2 March 2012). “The Exemplary Life of Honourable Dudley Thompson….Cont’d”. Jacobs, Curtis (2023). “The African Dimension to the Nationwide Flag of Jamaica”. In 1992 he was empanelled as a member of the Eminent Individuals Group charged with implementing the motion for reparations for slavery to Africa and the African diaspora, below the auspices of the OAU. Thompson represented Jamaica in many worldwide forums, together with the United Nations and the Group of African Unity (OAU). Geof Brown, “The Mico College phenomenon”, The Jamaica Gleaner, 20 October 2000. Archived 12 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine. He died on the age of 95 in New York Metropolis. Burke, Michael (17 January 2017). “Dudley Thompson centenary”. Raven: A Journal of Vexillology. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privateness Coverage. Foreword by Rex Nettleford. H. G. Helps, “Dudley is lifeless! – Former Cabinet Minister’s lengthy innings ends at 95”, Jamaica Observer, 21 January 2011. Archived 15 January 2020 on the Wayback Machine. Levens, R.G.C., ed. (1964). Merton Faculty Register 1900-1964. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-revenue organization. Official webpage of Hon. Dudley J. Thompson. Lindsay Barrett, “Black History Month: Dudley Thompson, When Jamaica meets Africa”, The Africa Report, 6 February 2012. Archived eleven February 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Andre, Irving W.; Gabriel J. Christian. Jamaica Gleaner, 8 October 2006. Archived 12 December 2013 on the Wayback Machine. Thompson was a recipient of the Order of Jamaica, one in all Jamaica’s most prestigious decorations, for distinguished service in the sector of Worldwide Affairs and his contribution to the authorized developments in Jamaica. He assembled the worldwide authorized group that defended Jomo Kenyatta in his trial after he had been arrested by the colonial government of Kenya in 1952 and subsequently charged with treason, accused of being an instigator of the Mau Mau rebellion. 1978 to 1983, as a member of the Home of Representatives. Dingle Foot, QC, Thompson went on to practise legislation in Africa – in Tanganyika and Kenya, where he grew to become concerned within the nationalist movements.