Amy Jacques Garvey was a pioneer Pan-African emancipator born in Kingston, Jamaica on December 31, 1885. She became the first lady of the Interim-Provisional Government of Africa – the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and African Communities League (ACL) in August 1920. She was the wife of the Right Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey – The Universal African Redeemer, and mother of two sons – Marcus Garvey, Jr. and
Julius Garvey.
Amy Jacques Garvey, like her husband, became a life-long toiler for Universal African Liberation and advancement. She was a very special person, pursuing a brilliant meaningful lifetime work of which every moment was dedicated to the dissemination of the philosophy and principles of her beloved husband of Race First, Self-Reliance and Nationhood. Amy Jacques Garvey was an international organizer and Race Leader in her own right. In the cause for African Emancipation, her message was the same as her husband’s – “The hour of Black resurrection is at hand. Black man, Black woman, be up and doing for self and kind – for you can achieve what you will.” She was genuinely concerned with the plight of her fellow Africans and for this reason she toiled unceasingly from youth to old age to spread the teachings of African Solidarity and Independence. Mrs. Garvey was an exemplary politician and wife. She was best known as a publicist of Garveyism. In 1923, she edited and published Volume One of The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey (sub-titled Africa for the Africans), and in 1925, she compiled and published Volume Two. During that time, she was one of the editors of the Negro World Newspaper.
From 1919, when she became the Secretary-General of the UNIA until her death, 54 years of her life was intricately bound up with the national liberation struggles of African people. She was a relentless enemy of colonialism and neo-colonialism. In her letters, essays, books and speeches, she always stressed the point that the imperialist must not be allowed to creep in at the back fence in disguise in independent African countries.
She aided and contributed financial assistance to the workers’ movement in Nigeria. She was instrumental in organizing the 5th Pan African Congress held in 1945. Twenty-five years later, she visited West Africa at the invitation of Kwame Nkrumah. During the 1940s she labored for the Peoples National Party of Jamaica. She also was a sponsor of the 6th Pan African Congress which convened in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania in 1974. In her final years between 1968-1973, she had written and published Garvey and Garveyism (1963) and her collection of essays on Black Power in America and The Impact of Garvey in Africa and Jamaica.
Her activities in Jamaica and the United States from 1919 to 1940 prefaced the defeat of fascism
and the irreversible disintegration of the colonial system which led to the upsurge and triumphs of the National Liberation Movement. Amy Jacques Garvey, who was in the forefront of this movement, wrote her seminal “A Memorandum Correlative of Africa, West Indies and the Americas” in 1944, which was sent to the representatives of the United Nations urging them to declare an “African Freedom Charter”. She spent thousands of dollars in purchasing and mailing many pamphlets, leaflets and newspapers to Africa, the United States and Europe. She spent hours writing letters, articles and doing interviews and making speeches on Black Liberation. She refused to rest or accept payment for her work.
Amy Jacques Garvey died a fighter on July 25, 1973. Her work and memory serve the cause for which she stood. As a Pan African Patriot, Pioneering Nationalist, Political Scientist, Organizer, Journalist, Editor, Publisher, Philosopher, Mother, Wife and an immortal African Giant, she will live on forever
for Black people the world over in memory of love and self-determination.
by William Henry Jackson-Bey
