Robert Nesta Marley, famously known as Bob Marley was born on February 6, 1945 in Nine Mile, Jamaica. His father, Norval Marley was a plantation supervisor who married eighteen year old Cedella Booker, had Robert, then split shortly after his birth. Due to the complicated status of being a middle aged White man and Booker being a Black teen caused him to be absent in his son’s life. In the 1950s, Marley lived in Jamaica’s capital in a small city named Trench Town; one of the poorest neighborhoods. Here, Marley and his family lived in poverty, however, this is where he found his inspiration for music.
Eventually, Marley would go on to form the group The Wailers, finding his spiritual and political identity around movements that pulled from Jamaican nationalists like Marcus Garvey, the African heritage and culture. The Wailers gained their big break in 1972 when they signed to Island Records touring in Britain and the United States. Their music began to reflect his lived experiences and injustices like their song Rebel Music (3 o’clock Roadblock) which tells his story of getting stopped by army members. Their album Natty Dread expressed the political climate between Jamaica and the People’s National Party.
In his later projects, like Exodus he curates the concept of returning to Africa. Marley, an avid marijuana user, became an advocate for the legalization of it as well as advocating for peace and positivity. He went on to marry Alfarita “Rita” Anderson on February 10, 1966 and had 11 children. Sadly, in 1981 he passed away from cancer at the age of 36. Nonetheless, he spent his last years utilizing his music to advocate for a united Africa pushing a sense of Pan-Africanism into his writing. Bob Marley’s legacy lives on through his children who adopted his love for music and promotion of peace and positivity for the world. Marley’s song’s are still beloved and played within today’s popular culture.
Pan African Studies Encyclopedia 