" . . . Every nation must have its own government, it must have its own laws, it must have its own leaders."

— Gaanman Gazon Matodja, paramount leader of the Ndjuka Maroons, Suriname, 1992

— Colonel C.L.G. Harris, leader of the Windward Maroons, Moore Town, Jamaica, 1992

Maroon leaders at the Smithsonian Institution’s first Maroon peoples meeting posing in front of the White House, Washington, D.C., 1992.

Left to right: Gaama Songo Aboikoni, paramount leader of the Saramaka Maroons; William "Dub" Warrior, leader of the Seminole Maroons; Joachin-Joseph Adochini, paramount leader of the Aluku Maroons.
Courtesy of Thomas Polimé

"We do not pay taxes for the lands . . . . By virtue of the treaty all these lands are free. The courts of Jamaica cannot rule in our land issues; the highest court, where our land is concerned, is the Council of the Maroons."

— Colonel C.L.G. Harris, leader of the Windward Maroons, Moore Town, Jamaica, 1992

"These [colonial] treaties are still in force. We will not let them slip out of our hands."

— Colonel C.L.G. Harris, leader of the Windward Maroons, Moore Town, Jamaica, 1992

Mann Rowe, secretary of the Leeward Maroons, holding a copy of the 1739 Maroon Treaty of Jamaica, which ended hostilities between the Maroons and the British, Accompong, Jamaica, about 1980.
Courtesy of National Library of Jamaica

Maroon land, Moore Town, Jamaica, 1991.
Photograph by Diana Baird N’Diaye

The river is the fountain of life for Maroons in Suriname and French Guiana.