Haile Selassie (1892–1975) was the last emperor of Ethiopia, a symbol of resistance to European colonialism, and a respected global statesman. But to a group of followers in Jamaica, Selassie was something far more than that: He was a living god.
The story of Selassie and the religious group he inspired, the Rastafarians, may be among the most unique in the history of religion. Selassie, a devout Ethiopian Orthodox Christian, rejected the notion that he had divine powers. Still, the Rastafarian movement grew during the emperor’s lifetime and remains strong decades after his death.
Selassie was born in an Ethiopian village, took control of the country after a coup in 1916, and was formally crowned its leader in 1930. According to legend, the ancient monarchy’s lineage traced back 3,000 years to the biblical Queen of Sheba and King Solomon. Ethiopia was one of the few African countries that had never fallen victim to European conquest, a status Selassie—the 225th emperor in the line—struggled to maintain during his reign.
Ethiopia’s independence made Selassie a hero to many blacks in North America, who looked back to Africa for inspirational examples of self-sufficiency. One of his admirers was the Jamaican-born activist Marcus Garvey (1887–1940), who embraced Selassie as a symbol of black liberation and self-reliance.
In 1936, in a conflict that made international headlines, Ethiopia was invaded by the Italian fascist government of Benito Mussolini (1883–1945). Selassie was forced out of the country, but became famous for his eloquent defense of his country’s rights. (“It is us today. It will be you tomorrow,” he warned the League of Nations.) During World War II, he marshaled opposition while in exile in London and returned home after his country was liberated in 1941.
By then, Selassie’s followers in Jamaica had begun worshipping him, perceiving him as the black messiah and the second coming of Jesus Christ. They called themselves Rastafarians, taking the name from Selassie’s name in Amharic. Selassie was alternately bemused and perplexed by the Rastafarians, and by the adoration he encountered whenever he traveled outside his country. But he also firmly rejected their theology, and Rastafarianism never took root in Ethiopia.
ADDITIONAL FACTS
- Selassie, who used the ceremonial title Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah because of his family’s purported links to King Solomon, lived in regal settings at his three palaces. His entourage included trained dogs, cheetahs, and even a pride of lions that guarded his throne.
- After returning from exile, twenty-three years later, Selassie abolished slavery in Ethiopia in 1964.
- Selassie was deposed by army officers amid a devastating drought in 1974, and the Ethiopian monarchy was officially abolished the same year.
