- HAILE SELASSIE: REGAL PRESENCE - Photobucket
Lij Tafari Makonnen was born July 23, 1892 in a humble mud and wattle house of the Amhara tribe near Harar, Ethiopia. He was the son of Ras Makonnen, Governor of Harar, cousin and chief advisor to the current Emperor Menelik II.
In 1913, he married Menelik II's granddaughter, Wayzaro Menen. In the same year, Menelik II died and was eventually succeeded to the throne by Empress Zauditu, Menelik II's daughter.
In the meantime, Ras Tafari was instrumental in Ethiopian's admission to the League of Nations in 1923 after:
- outlawing slavery
- implementing providential schools
- strengthening the police
- outlawing feudalism
- increasing the central governments control of the population
King Selassie
Ras Tafari dethroned the Empresses’ husband causing friction between him and Empress Zauditu until he thwarted a coup against her in 1928 . The Empress thanked him by crowning him Negus Tafari Makonnen or King Tafari Makonnen.
Within two years the Empress had died and on November 2, 1930 NegusTafari was crowned Haile Selassie I (Might of the Trinity), thus fulfilling the prophecy of Marcus Garvey, an American black activist, who stated that "a black king will be crowned in Africa and redeem the black people" sparking Ras Tafari worship or Rastafarianism.
During the early years of his reign as emperor he implemented:
- a penal code
- imported printing presses
- started a national newspaper
- made electricity widely available
- connected phone service
- promoted health care
- established the Bank of Ethiopia
By 1934, a border dispute between Ethiopia and Italian Somalia prompted the Premier Benito Mussolini of Fascist Italy to invade Ethiopia. It was a cruel, decimating and heart wrenching conflict that took the life’s of innocent civilians and ill-prepared Ethiopian soldiers and volunteers from neighboring countries and blacks from the U.S., U.K. and the Caribbean.
Selassie was exiled and Ethiopia was an occupied nation. In 1936, the emperor gave a moving speech to the League of Nations in Geneva to an unprovoked crowd. This disappointment lasted until 1940, when Italy entered WWII as an enemy of Britain prompting the British, French and other allies to send representatives to help build an Ethiopian liberation army, soon after Selassie was restored to his throne.
Shashamane and Haile Selassie University
Between 1948-1952 Selassie donated part of his private land to the repatriation of the African Diaspora. It was a gift to the black peoples of the U.S., U.K. and the Caribbean that supported him during the Ethiopian-Italian War. The donated 500 acres of land is now called Shashamane.
For those wanting a higher education, in 1960 his Guenteteleul palace was turned into the Haile Selassie I University, now known as the Addis Ababa University. At the same time, opposition to his rule became overtly apparent when his Imperial bodyguards staged a coup capturing Addis Ababa, the capital, while he was on a trip to Brazil. The opposition was crushed upon Selassie's return.
The Dergue
By 1974, the famines of the Welo and Tigray areas, unemployment, political stasis and Selassie's reluctance to name an heir to the throne was the catalyst needed for the army to conspire against him. Riots in Addis Ababa urged Selassie's arrest. A military coup took form under the direction of the Dergue, a Marxist group determined to smear the Emperor's lineage claiming he was illegitimate and therefore had no claim to the throne.
The charges included abuse of the throne, and being too old and incompetent to continue to rule. The Dergue disposed of the Emperor making him a prisoner. Within a year, on August 22, 1975 at the age of 83, Emperor Selassie I died in a small room in his former palace. The official report given claimed his death was due to complications following a prostrate operation he had undergone months prior.
On November 5, 2000 Haile Selassie I, last Emperor of Ethiopia was laid to rest after a stately ceremony was conducted in his honor, which was denied him after his death in 1974. Amongst, his people, international nobility that knew him, the people of the Shashamane settlement, and friends and family he will be remembered as a hero who not only held the title of Emperor but used it confidently and to his peoples' advantage.
Sources:
Whitman, Alden. Obituary: Haile Selassie of Ethiopia dies at 83. NY Times. 16 Aug. 2010
“Haile Selassie I”. Encyclopedia Britannica. 16 Aug. 2010
“Religions: Haile Selassie of Africa”. BBC. 16 Aug. 2010
“History: Shashamane”. The Shashamane Settlement Community Development Foundation. 16 Aug.
“Military: 1930-1974 Haile Selassie Ras Tafari”. Global Security. 16 Aug. 2010
Delores Parker - I've always enjoyed writing ever since I was a little girl. I started with journalizing my thoughts and the dreams that I'd have at night. ...
