Ijahnya Christian
Ijahnya Christian (January 31, 1957 – April 27, 2020) was an Afro-Anguillian social activist and noted member of the Rastafarian community. As a member of the pan-African and repatriation movements, Christian traveled worldwide to help preserve the African languages, traditions, and heritage of the diaspora and encouraged study on the history and culture of Caribbean communities. Early life Ijahnya Christian was born Carol Patricia Rey January 31, 1957 in The Valley, Anguilla to Amethyst and Hugh Rey, a civil servant. Her childhood was spent on each of the three islands of the colony and she graduated from Basseterre High School in St. Kitts in the year 1976. While she was a teenager, she became interested in the Rastafarian movement sweeping through the Caribbean after Haile Selassie's 1966 visit to the region and Bob Marley's music added visibility to the ideology. She joined the movement in 1980, changed her name to Ijahnya Christian, and went on to study social work at the University of the West Indies in Mona, Jamaica, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1984. Career Returning to Anguilla, Christian began her career as a high school teacher. Simultaneously, she began editing working on two ethnographic projects. She served