The Right Excellent Samuel Jackman Prescod (1806 – 26 September 1871) became the first person of African descent to be elected to Barbados’s Parliament in 1843. He also helped found the Liberal Party, whose following included small landowners, businessmen, and coloured clerks. The Barbadian parliament has enacted that he should be called “The Right Excellent” and that his life be celebrated on National Heroes Day in Barbados.