Bussa Emancipation Statue, Bronze memorial statue at Ramsay Roundabout, Bridgetown, Barbados.
The Bussa Emancipation Statue is a bronze figure at Ramsay Roundabout in Bridgetown, depicted with raised arms and broken chains visible at the wrists. The work stands at the intersection of ABC Highway and Highway 5, symbolizing liberation from enslavement.
The bronze was cast in 1985 by Karl Broodhagen, twenty years after Barbados became independent. The figure is not a portrait of Bussa, the enslaved man linked to the 1816 revolt, though most Barbadians call it by his name. The monument marks emancipation in 1838, five years after the Slavery Abolition Act 1833.
The pedestal carries a chant in Bajan dialect: "Lick an Lock-up Done Wid, Hurray fuh Jin-Jin", with "Jin-Jin" meaning Queen Victoria, sung by thousands when slavery was abolished in 1838, five years after the 1833 Abolition Act. Many Barbadians call the figure Bussa, after the slave who helped inspire the 1816 revolt, though the statue was not sculpted as him.
The statue stands in the middle of the J.T.C. Ramsay roundabout, where the ABC Highway meets Highway 5, east of central Bridgetown. It is a traffic island, so it is seen from the roadside or from a passing vehicle rather than approached on foot.
The statue is widely called "Bussa" after the enslaved man linked to the 1816 revolt, yet it was not sculpted as a portrait of him. A 2017 Twitter debate noted that comparable depictions of freed slaves were absent in the United States.
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