Ras Sam Brown (16 December 1925-August 1998) was a Jamaican Rastafari elder well known in Kingston for his politics after he participated in the elections of 1961 with his Suffering People's Party. He received fewer than 100 votes, yet by being the first rasta to ever stand for politics his influence has been greater than this statistic suggests, especially as at the time there was generalised feeling in the Rastafarian movement that Rastas do not vote. He had a 21 point plan. Some of his ideas were:
Leonard E Barrett in his 1977 book The Rastafarians includes an interview with Brown, who he describes as "one of the most complex personalities within the Rastafarian movemnt". He also provides extracts from Brown`s election campaign literature [1]. Barrett refers to Brown`s political Party as the Black Man`s Party rather than The Suffering People`s Party, though he also quotes the party`s position that all were free to join regardless of colour. also included in his book is a photograph captioned "rare photograph of a Rastafarian political party symbol", depicting a group od Rastafarians (one of whom may be Brown)standing by a placard advertising Brown`s campaign.
In 1996 he became a roots reggae singer and poet with an album called History, Past and Present. Brown died while attending an international trade fair in Barbados