Republicanism in Jamaica required for independence, the popularity of the Royal Family amongst Jamaicans, and tendencies towards Anglophilia among the political elites. The first Jamaican prime minister to make steps towards a republic was Michael Manley, whose People's National Party (PNP) came to power at the 1972 general election. His government established a commission into constitutional reform in 1975, and in July 1977, following a march to commemorate the Morant Bay rebellion, Manley announced that Jamaica would become a republic by 1981. However, his government was defeated at the 1980 general election by the more conservative Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), led by Edward
Igbo people in Jamaica were known to have committed mass suicides, not only for rebellion, but in the belief their spirits will return to their motherland. In a publication of a 1791 issue of "Massachusetts Magazine", an anti-slavery poem was published called "Monimba", which depicted a fictional pregnant enslaved Igbo woman who committed suicide on a slave ship bound for Jamaica. The poem is an example of the stereotype of enslaved Igbo people in the Americas. Igbo slaves were also distinguished physically by a prevalence of "yellowish" skin tones prompting the colloquialisms "red eboe" used to describe people with light skin tones and African