Samuel Haynes

Upon the outbreak of the First World War, Haynes enlisted in the British West Indies Regiment. After being discharged at the end of the war, Hayne returned to Belize where he joined various workers' movements in Belize and played a vital role in a riot by ex-servicemen against racial discrimination which occurred 22 July. After the riot was suppressed by the colonial government, Haynes began organising the Belizean branch of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and facilitated the visit of its leader, Jamaican activist Marcus Garvey to Belize. Garvey recruited Haynes to work with him in the United States, a move that rendered the UNIA chapted in Belize leaderless for much of the 1920s and that indirectly contributed to the Isaiah Emmanuel Morter controversy. Haynes most likely wrote the anthem as an answer to colonialism's stifling of Belizeans' identity. The lofty language and uplifting lyrics referenced Belize's former status as a slave society indebted to profits from forestry, linking it to the end of Belize's colonial period, a process that culminated on 21 September 1981. The song was originally titled "Land of the Gods", a salute to the proliferation of organised religion in Belize.

Exalting by the PUP

With the arrival of the nationalist movement led by the People's United Party, the search was on for new symbols of Belizean identity. The PUP had defied the colonial order by singing "God Bless America" instead of the royal anthem "God Save the King" (or Queen). At independence, the ruling PUP named "Land of the Free" Belize's official anthem and played it at emotional independence ceremonies on 21 September. Most Belizeans agreed with the choice but lamented that it had not been put to a vote of Belizean residents.

Common complaints since

The anthem has come under fire from critics who charge that its language is archaic and does not appeal to a new generation of Belizeans who are in any case too young to remember Samuel Haynes.

Some have argued that the anthem is too male-centric. Lyrics such as "Our manhood we pledge to thy liberty" suggest the song was originally intended to be sung only by men. Amandala correspondent Naomi Burn suggested that "manhood" be replaced by "honour" so that the lyrics would have more relevance for women.^[1] It has also been noted that women are never mentioned in the anthem, only men.^[2] A 1998 survey of approximately 2,000 Belizean women asked how important it was to include women in the national anthem. 14.6% answered "most important", 19.7% answered "somewhat important", and 63.4% answered "not very important".^[2]

Nationalist writers have argued that the anthem's references to the Baymen ignore the multi-cultural diversity of Belize today and have proposed a number of replacements. The most recent complaint of this nature was leveled by Maya-Mestizo-born correspondent Clinton Luna, who suggested that the phrase "sons of the Belizean soil" should replace "sons of the Baymen's clan" in the chorus in recent issues of the Amandala weekly newspaper. The newspaper itself has previously argued to the same effect. However, Amandala contributor Henry Gordon countered in a later issue that nothing in the anthem represents any sort of bias to any ethnic group in Belize.

Belizeans speak a wide range of languages including English, Spanish, three different Mayan languages, as well as native languages spoken by its diverse Chinese-speaking people, Garinagu, East Indian population, Mennonite community. The anthem, in formal English, has been memorised by generations of children, but not necessarily understood.^[3] Because Kriol is the language that binds all Belizeans together, regardless of the origin of their first language, Leela Vernon translated the song into Kriol in 2011 with the hope that the meaning behind the words would be better understood.^[4]