KINGSTON, Jamaica—This island nation boasts miles of pristine beaches, reggae music and the Western hemisphere’s largest butterfly.

Now, it’s promoting a new asset to tourists: its Jews.

From the tourism minister on down, Jamaican officialdom has embraced a plan to market the nation’s Jewish history as a way of wooing a new segment of travelers.

No matter that Jamaica has just one synagogue and no rabbi, or that its Jewish community is down to around 200 people. It was once home to a Jewish pirate named Moses, according to one account.

A global economic downturn and “ferocious” competition from Mexico, says Jamaican tourism director John Lynch, mean that every traveler counts these days. Jamaica’s Jewish history, he concedes, has “been a well-kept secret.”

Mr. Lynch wants to put together a tourism package that includes stops at historic Jewish cemeteries, a visit to the island’s synagogue and a traditional post-worship repast with Jewish families—with some beach time thrown in.

Since most of the island’s Jewish history is centered around Kingston, the strategy fits the government’s desire to boost tourism in the scruffy capital city most vacationers skip.

In January, Kingston hosted a five-day conference on Jewish-Caribbean history that drew 200 academics, genealogists and history buffs from Israel to Oregon.

But Jamaica is still finding its way in this new market. Two conference attendees negotiated a kosher meal with a waitress at a Kingston restaurant, insisting that a fish not touch a cooking surface that might have been used to cook meat. “You’ll wrap the fish in two pieces of foil?” a diner shouted as reggae music crackled in the background. “Yeah, mon,” she said.

Ainsley Henriques, an energetic 70-year-old who organized the conference, says Jamaica’s Jewish community does have a rich history. Mr. Henriques, with blue eyes and a lilting Jamaican accent, catches many off guard.

“When I travel, people say to me, ‘What, you’re Jamaican?’ And then, ‘What, you’re Jewish? There are Jews in Jamaica?’ They have no idea we’ve been here for 350 years.”

Author of The Children of Children Keep Coming, an epic poem drawing upon the influences of griot songs to creatively express African American history, Russell Goings has led an incredibly full and interesting life. He was the first African American to hold a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, played professional football for the Buffalo Bills, trained pilots for the U.S. Air Force, and foundedEssence Magazine.

John Dankosky of WNPR News Radio facilitated the panel discussion about Goings’ unique style. The panel also included University of North Carolina Professor and folklorist of African American literature Glen Henson, as well as Fairfield English Professor Kim Bridgford who mentored Goings during the writing of The Children of Children Keep Coming.

To introduce the audience to his book, Goings read excerpts in his slow, soothing voice. The words from The Children of Children Keep Coming held a certain lyrical beauty.

After the readings, when WNPR host John Dankosky asked Goings why he chose to write like a griot, Goings explained, “It’s not a sonnet, gospel, poem, or any of that. It’s the music that comes from the soul of who we are as African Americans. It has a spirit to it. I don’t want to be enslaved anymore, freedom! I don’t want to be stuck with the structure after all those years of being enslaved. I don’t want the European form, I want the black form. Does that make sense? I need to be free!”

Like Goings, Henson appreciates the griot, pointing out that times isn’t linear with the griot. For instance, Goings created a world which collapses time to evoke the power of the ancients. In a sense, the griot gives shout-outs to those who came before by making them a part of the present. The idea of the griot can even be seen in modern day hip-hop. Hip-hop often times consists of taking different parts of songs and putting them together, like a musical collage. In the mixing and matching, something new is always being created.

This panel was the first of a 3-part series for Fairfield dedicated to fostering discussion about Goings’ poetry. There’s no doubt that those who attended will be looking forward to more on-campus experiences of the charisma, grandeur, and the epic personality of Russell Goings.