Bussa was likely a Coromantee, yet there is also reasonable speculation that he may have descended from the Igbo peoples of modern-day south-eastern Nigeria.

[1] This position would have given Bussa more freedom of movement than the average slave and would have made it easier for him to plan and coordinate the rebellion.

The revolts arose at a time when the British Parliament was working on schemes to ameliorate the conditions of slaves in the Caribbean.

Preparation for this rebellion began soon after the House of Assembly discussed and rejected the Imperial Registry Bill in November 1815, which would have registered West Indian slaves.

He was killed in battle, his forces continued the fight until they were defeated by superior firepower of the colonial militia.

In 1985, 169 years after his rebellion, the Emancipation Statue, created by Karl Broodhagen, was unveiled in Haggatt Hall, in the parish of St Michael.