Watch Bob Marley’s Final Trip To Africa To Perform Live In Zimbabwe

Bob Marley Performs At Zimbabwe Independence

Source: William Campbell / Getty

The icon Bob Marley stood up for injustices not only within his home country of Jamaica but all over the world. He was ready to spread freedom no matter what was in the way. Even his diagnosis of skin cancer couldn’t hold him back, but unfortunately the disease overcame his body and the legend passed on May 11, 1981 at 36 years old.

See How Bob Marley’s 11 Children Are Keeping His Legacy Alive

Before his untimely death, Bob Marley and his band, The Wailers, traveled to many countries on tours singing their reggae hits for all to hear. As Rastas, Bob Marley and The Wailers believe in Haile Selassie, the Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974, as the second coming of Christ. Rastafari do not believe that the God has blue eyes and white skin, as many Christians do as well.

On April 21, 1966, Emperor Haile Selassie made his first and only visit to Jamaica but during this time Bob was in the United States to bring his family closer to his mother after getting married to Rita. It wasn’t until December of 1978, that Marley made his first trip to Africa, visiting Ethiopia, which was after Haile Selassie’s passing. But, Bob Marley was determined this wouldn’t be his last trip to the motherland.

<br />

( function() {
var func = function() {
var iframe = document.getElementById(‘wpcom-iframe-a541fbb8e53706d398aa424cace0defe’)
if ( iframe ) {
iframe.onload = function() {
iframe.contentWindow.postMessage( {
‘msg_type’: ‘poll_size’,
‘frame_id’: ‘wpcom-iframe-a541fbb8e53706d398aa424cace0defe’
}, “https://embeds.go.ione.nyc” );
}
}

// Autosize iframe
var funcSizeResponse = function( e ) {

var origin = document.createElement( ‘a’ );
origin.href = e.origin;

// Verify message origin
if ( ’embeds.go.ione.nyc’ !== origin.host )
return;

// Verify message is in a format we expect
if ( ‘object’ !== typeof e.data || undefined === e.data.msg_type )
return;

switch ( e.data.msg_type ) {
case ‘poll_size:response’:
var iframe = document.getElementById( e.data._request.frame_id );

if ( iframe && ” === iframe.width )
iframe.width = ‘100%’;
if ( iframe && ” === iframe.height )
iframe.height = parseInt( e.data.height );

return;
default:
return;
}
}

if ( ‘function’ === typeof window.addEventListener ) {
window.addEventListener( ‘message’, funcSizeResponse, false );
} else if ( ‘function’ === typeof window.attachEvent ) {
window.attachEvent( ‘onmessage’, funcSizeResponse );
}
}
if (document.readyState === ‘complete’) { func.apply(); /* compat for infinite scroll */ }
else if ( document.addEventListener ) { document.addEventListener( ‘DOMContentLoaded’, func, false ); }
else if ( document.attachEvent ) { document.attachEvent( ‘onreadystatechange’, func ); }
} )();

In 1978, Bob Marley and The Wailers released the album Survival with the purpose of liberation and unification within Africa and the struggles of Black people. After returning to Jamaica earlier that year for the One Love Peace Concert in Kingston, Bob continued to bring our people together and was invited to perform in the Southern African country of Zimbabwe to celebrate them reclaiming their independence on April 18, 1980 from Great Britain! See more from his time in Zimbabwe in the video below and continuing scrolling to watch his performance.

Even through the photos you can feel the passion:

Source: William Campbell / Getty

Bob Marley: One Love is out now in theaters and throughout the film you can see how important this performance was to him! Watch Bob Marley Live in Zimbabwe in the video below.