Nitaino's Yard
Web presence of Larry Chang

TIMELINE


Taino dancers
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

1893 illustration of Columbus claiming New World territory
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Female slaves being whipped on treadmill
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Indians being transported to plantations by donkey cart
 
 
 
 

Chinese on arrival in Jamaica
 
 
 
 

Marcus Garvey
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Chang Yun Fu aka Chang Ah Chun
 
 
 
 

Chin Keun Tai aka Mary Chang
 
 
 
 

Larry Chang aka Chang Ten Sung
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Main Street, Brown's Town, Saint Ann
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

J-FLAG
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

PANACEA
 
 
 
 
2000 BCE-300 BCE

Amerindian settlement in the Caribbean, moving from North and South American mainland.

600 CE-900 CE

Taino settlement in Jamaica.

1509

African slaves and Jewish indentured servants brought by the Spanish.

1645

Hakka migration within China to coastal Guangdong

1655

After failed attempt to seize Hispaniola, and to deflect Oliver Cromwell's wrath, English forces capture Jamaica, with an ailing Spanish governor and weak defenses.

Spanish resistance and retreat.

Free Africans and escaped slaves established palenques led by Lubolo (Juan de Bolas) and Juan de Sierras.

Maroon resistance begins.

1660-70

Settlement by buccaneers, soldiers, colonists from Nevis, Suriname, West African slaves; beginning of plantation economy.

1730-40

First Maroon War.

1760

Slave rebellions; 400 executed and 600 transported to British Honduras (Belize).

1795-96

Second Maroon War; captured Maroons transported to Nova Scotia, Canada and Sierra Leone.

1834

Emancipation of African slaves in British West Indies; importation of indentured labor from Germany, Scotland, Ireland, England, St. Helena, Sierra Leone.

1845

South Asian indentured servants imported from Northern India.

1850

Taiping Rebellion led by Hakkas, forcing many of the rebels to flee overseas.

1854

First group of 267 Chinese indentured servants arrive from Hong Kong aboard the Epsom; 205 more in two groups are sent from Panama aboard the Gorgona and Theresa Jane in exchange for African-Jamaican workers.

1860s

Some Jamaican workers settle in Panama and Cuba on completion of their contracts.

1856-67

Punti-Hakka War in Guangdong.

1864-1873

200 Chinese settle in Jamaica having completed contracts in Trinidad, British Guiana (Guyana).

1865

Morant Bay Rebellion.

1866

Crown Colony government.

1881

Chinese begin to leave plantations on completion of contracts, open small shops.

1884

Final group of 696 indentured Chinese arrives on the Prinz Alexander; they derive from See-Ip, Dung Guan, Fui Yung and Bao On.

1886

First recorded strike in Jamaica by Chinese workers on Duckenfield Estate, St. Thomas; work day reduced from twelve to nine hours.

1887

Marcus Garvey born in St. Ann's Bay, Saint Ann.

1890

Chinese allowed into Jamaica as free immigrants.

1891

Chinese Benevolent Society formed; oversees Chinese cemetery, Sanatorium, Home for the Aged.

1899

Chang Yun Fu aka Chang Ah Chun (father) born Liang Pai Wei, Dong Guan, Guangdong, China.

1900

First immigrants from Palestine and Lebanon arrive.

1905

Immigration restrictions imposed on Chinese.

1916

Chin Keun Tai (mother) born Cheung En Haa, Bao On, Guangdong, China

1918

Anti-Chinese riots in Ewarton; shops burnt.

1921-30

Several groups of Chinese enter as free immigrants.

c. 1927

Chang Ah Chun settles in Jamaica.

1927-1940s

Chang Ah Chun sires 3 sons, 1 daughter (possibly more) with African-Jamaican women.
See Family tree

c. 1930

Chang Ah Chun returns to China, marries Chin Keun Tai and brings her to Jamaica; they operate a shop in Brown's Town, Saint Ann and have three daughters, Margaret (Siw Fong), Lily (Siw Lan), Gwen (Siw Dzin) and a still-born son.
See Family tree

1931

Jamaican government requests Hong Kong to cease Chinese immigration to Jamaica.

1940

Chinese immigrants barred.

1944

New constitution with ministerial government adopted.

1947

Annual quota of 20 Chinese allowed for wives, children.

1949

Larry Chang born in Alexandria, Saint Ann, fifth and last child of Chang Ah Chun and Chin Keun Tai aka Mary Chang; only son and heir, given Chinese name Ten Sung, Heaven sent; British subject under King George VI.
See Family tree

1950s

Migration of Jamaicans by banana boat to rebuild war-torn Britain, primarily as nurses and transit workers, many via HMS Empire Windrush.

c. 1957-1961

LC attends preparatory school at the Servite Convent of the Assumption, Huntley Park, Brown's Town, Saint Ann. Passes the Common Entrance Examination, earning a free place to high school.

1957

Internal self-government.

1961-1966

LC attends York Castle High School, Egypt, Brown's Town, Saint Ann, earning a Cambridge University General Certificate of Education at Advanced Level.

1962

Jamaica Independence, August 6; first Chinese, Rupert Chin See, appointed to the Senate.

Chang Ah Chun dies, September 12.

1965

Anti-Chinese riots in Kingston, some Chinese migrate to US, Canada and Britain.

1967-1971

LC at California College of the Arts in Oakland, California, where he earns a BFA majoring in Environmental Design.

1970s

Fearing Michael Manley government's socialism, large-scale migration of middle-class, including Chinese, to Toronto, Canada and Miami, Florida.

1972

LC returns to Jamaica, living in Kingston and working as architectural illustrator, designer.

1977

LC and five others found Gay Freedom Movement (GFM), leading it as General Secretary and Editor of Jamaica Gaily News until 1981; he is the first Jamaican to come out publicly.

With little work due to economic decline, LC explores poetry, writing, painting, gardening, spirituality, yoga, meditation.

1991

Eldest sibling, Margaret, dies July 5 in Montego Bay, Saint James, Jamaica.

1993-1995

LC studies Religious Science; qualifies as practitioner intern.

1997

Sixteen men, suspected of being gay, killed in St. Catherine District Prison.

1998

LC helps found Jamaica Forum of Lesbians, All-Sexuals & Gays (J-FLAG)

Mary Chang dies September 22 in Kingston, Jamaica

2000

After murder of many gay men, vandalism and threats to him, LC exiles to the US in Atlanta, Georgia.

First North American Hakka Conference organized by Chinese-Jamaicans

2002

LC moves to Washington, DC.

2004

Brian Williamson, J-FLAG spokesperson, close friend and former business partner, killed.

LC granted political asylum in the US; launches website for asylum seekers (no longer online).

2005

LC addresses Amnesty International rally and joins march on Jamaican Consulate in New York to protest Jamaican government's failure to protect its LGBT citizens.

2006

LC launches LangwiJumieka, Jamaican language website.

LC publishes Wisdom for the Soul: Five Millennia of Prescriptions for Spiritual Healing, an anthology of quotations.

2007

Buju Banton, Beenie Man, Sizzla and Capleton sign Reggae Compassionate Act, following years of campaigning by GLAAD, OutRage!, JFLAG, Black Gay Men's Advisory Group and Stop Murder Music; within Jamaica they deny capitulating.

Second anthology published, Wisdom for the Soul of Black Folk.

LC creates Yes Strings Attached, social network for men who date men (no longer online).

2008

LC granted permanent residence in US.

LC initiates EcolocityDC, an environmental initiative to transform Washington into a Transition town.

2009

Second sibling, Lily, dies May 23 in St. Ann's Bay, Saint Ann, Jamaica.

2011

LC writes PANACEA, a new economic paradigm.

2013

Last remaining sibling, Gwendoline, dies June 5 in Orlando, Florida, USA.

2014

LC publishes Biesik Jumiekan: Introduction to Jamaican Language.

2015

LC naturalized as US citizen, resides in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

2016

LC moves to Guimarães, Portugal.

2017

LC moves to Lisboa, Portugal.

LC returns to Jamaica for the first time since exile in 2000 to deliver the keynote address at JFLAG's annual eponymous Larry Chang Human Rights Symposium to mark International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT)

2020

LC moves to Vila Franca de Xira, Portugal.

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