Caribbean-American congresswoman introduces ‘Marcus Garvey Legacy Package’ to exonerate, commemorate Jamaica’s first national hero

WASHINGTON, CMC – Caribbean-American Democratic Congresswoman Yvette D Clarke says she has introduced the Marcus Garvey Legacy Package in the United States House of Representatives that comprises two pieces of legislation that honour “one of history’s most influential leaders in the global struggle for Black self-determination, human rights, and economic empowerment: Marcus Mosiah Garvey.”

Marcus Mosiah Garvey is Jamaica’s first national hero.

Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, who represents the 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn, New York, on Wednesday said the legislative package includes H.Res. 655, the Marcus Garvey Recognition Day Resolution, and H.Res. 654, the Marcus Garvey Exoneration Resolution.

“Like every daughter of Jamaican immigrants, the singular and inspiring story of The Most Honourable Marcus Garvey has been with me since my earliest memories,” Clarke, who also chairs the Congressional Black Caucus, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).

“As a Pan-Africanist leader who led one of the earliest Black Civil Rights movements in the Americas, founded one of America’s earliest Black-owned shipping companies in the Black Star Line, and established a legacy that has persisted to this day, Garvey’s advocacy for civil rights and the economic advancement of the Black community is known to all who celebrate his name,” he added.

“However, the stain of a false, racially motivated conviction has influenced the opinions of detractors and critics for far too long.”

Clarke said while President Joe Biden’s pardon of Garvey just before he left office in early January “represented tremendous progress towards righting this wrong, we cannot rest until this injustice is expunged in its entirety.

“Mr Garvey’s family, myself, and countless others across our nation and around the world will continue to push towards his full and unambiguous exoneration,” she said. “We know that Mr Garvey was falsely convicted of a crime he did not commit. We know the path forward must include Congressional action to completely exonerate the Honourable Marcus Garvey.

“And so, I will continue to take all necessary action to clear his name, restore and protect his rightful place in history, celebrate his lasting impact on African-American and Caribbean communities, secure long overdue recognition from Congress, and deliver the closure his descendants rightfully deserve,” the congresswoman added.

“Our battle for truth and justice has taken a remarkable step forward with the introduction of the Marcus Garvey Legacy Package,” Clarke added. “I look forward to seeing both these bills become law, so all Americans might celebrate Marcus Garvey as the hero that he is.”

H.Res. 654, Marcus Garvey Exoneration Resolution, declares that Marcus Garvey was innocent of the politically motivated charges brought against him and calls on the President of the United States to “take all appropriate measures to fully exonerate him and clear his name.”

H.Res. 655, Marcus Garvey Recognition Day Resolution, designates August 17, 2025, as “Marcus Garvey Recognition Day” and calls on the President to “issue a proclamation encouraging national observance through ceremonies, educational programmes, and cultural events.”

Clarke had welcomed the posthumous pardon of Garvey by President Biden on the birthday of slain American civil rights leader, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, and a day before the next President of the United States, Donald Trump, was inaugurated, on January 20, in Washington.

Biden said he was exercising his clemency power by pardoning five individuals, including Garvey, and commuting the sentences of two individuals “who have demonstrated remorse, rehabilitation and redemption.

“These clemency recipients have each made significant contributions to improving their communities,” Biden said.

Clarke, who, over the years, has been in the vanguard in seeking Garvey’s exoneration for a 1923 conviction for mail fraud, expressed delight and gratitude with Biden’s pardon.

In December 2024, Clarke and several of her congressional colleagues wrote a letter to Biden urging Garvey’s exoneration.

The congressional representatives noted that, as the founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League, Garvey inspired nearly six million people across 40 countries with a message of social progress through economic prosperity.

In the United States, Garvey was a noted civil rights activist, who founded the Negro World newspaper, a shipping company called Black Star Line, and the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA).

In 1922, Garvey and three other UNIA officials were charged with mail fraud involving the Black Star Line.

On June 23, 1923, he was convicted and sentenced to prison for five years.

He appealed his conviction, claiming to be a victim of a politically-motivated miscarriage of justice, but it was denied.

In 1927, Garvey was released from prison and deported to Jamaica, where he continued his political activism.

Eight years later, he moved to London, where he died, in 1940, after several strokes.

Garvey’s body was interred in London in view of travel restrictions imposed during World War II.

However, in 1964, his remains were exhumed and taken back to Jamaica, where the government proclaimed him Jamaica’s first national hero and re-interred him at a shrine in the National Heroes Park.

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