Samuel Alfred Haynes


Samuel Haynes was an Belizean soldier, activist and poet.

Life and career

He was a leader of the 1919 riot by Belizean soldiers who had fought for Great Britain in World War I and refused to accept racial discrimination at home. In 1925, he composed the lyrics of a song named "Land of the Gods", which later became Belize's national anthem, "Land of the Free".
Also, prominent in the Garvey Movement, Haynes was once the President of the Pittsburgh Division, editor/writer for the Negro World and for a brief period the Official American Representative for the UNIA-ACL 1929 under the Honorable Marcus Garvey.