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Amy Jacques Garvey |
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Amy Jacques Garvey |
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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 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 fifth
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 1968-73, 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.
William Henry
Jackson-Bey
Late President
UNIA-ACL
Woodson-Banneker-Jackson-Bey Division 330
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