More than a century after mail fraud conviction, Marcus Garvey gets presidential pardon

For over a century, civil rights leader Marcus Mosiah Garvey was demonized, misunderstood and left to the interpretations of the history books after being convicted of mail fraud in 1923 and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment by a federal court in the United States.

Now, the Jamaican-born black nationalist who led the largest economic and social mass movement of Blacks in the U.S. and hailed as the “Negro Moses” has finally found justice.

It came Sunday in the last hours of President Joe Biden’s presidency. Biden posthumously pardoned Garvey, closing a chapter a decades-long campaign by civil rights activists, members of the Congressional Black Caucus, stewards of Black and Caribbean history and Garvey’s son, Dr. Julius Garvey, to properly reframe the legacy of the man who preached self-determination and economic empowerment among the African diaspora.

“America is a country,” Biden said in a statement announcing the pardon alongside four others, “built on the promise of second chances.”

In making his case, Biden mentioned Garvey’s contributions including his Black-owned shipping line, the Black Star Line and his founding of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, UNIA. He also quoted the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who described Garvey as “the first man of color in the history of the United States to lead and develop a mass movement.”

“Advocated and lawmakers alike praise his global advocacy and impact and highlight the injustice underlying his criminal conviction,” the statement from the White House said.

Dr. Julius Garvey, a retired surgeon and chairman of the board of The Marcus Garvey Institute for Human Development, was 7 years old when his father died. But he has spearheaded efforts to get history to do right by his dad, and on Saturday he attended the 2nd Annual Jamaica Brew Festival at the Miramar Cultural Center where he discussed his father’s life and legacy and his new book, Justice for Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind. The forward was written by Ta-Nehisi Coates.

Julius Garvey thanked President Biden after the decision was announced Sunday and said the granting of the posthumous pardon “will serve as the beginning of the process to completely clear my father’s name of any wrongdoing, which is important to our family and many millions of people across the world.’

“Marcus Mosiah Garvey was a leader dedicated to the unity and development of African people and his inspiring vision from over 100 years ago is still relevant today,” Julius Garvey said. “Now his meaningful message can be taught proudly to future generations.”

Ahead of Biden’s decision, 21 members of the U.S. Congress had signed a letter asking President Biden to grant a posthumous presidential pardon before he leaves office. The effort was led by Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke, D-NY.

“Exonerating Mr. Garvey would honor his work for the Black community, remove the shadow of an unjust conviction, and further this administration’s promise to advance racial justice,” the letter said. “At a time when Black history faces the existential threat of erasure by radical state legislatures, a presidential pardon for Mr. Garvey would correct the historical record and restore the legacy of an American hero. As we approach the conclusion of your administration, this moment provides a chance to leave an indelible mark on history.”

Garvey was born in 1887 in St. Ann’s Bay, Jamaica. The U.S. congressional campaign to clear his name coincided with the centennial of his birth. It was launched In 1987 when New York Democrat Congressman Charles Rangel introduced legislation asking for the exoneration.

Rangel retired from Congress in 2016 after 46 years in office. But he reintroduced his Garvey exoneration bill every year, telling members of the House in 2004 that the bill’s passage was long overdue.

“The injustice done to him reminded me every day of the injustice done to all Black people, including myself, during that time,” Rangel, a Democrat, said at the time.

Mia Mottley, the prime minister of Jamaica and current chairwoman of the 15-member Caribbean Community regional bloc known as CARICOM, called he pardon was “long-awaited” and expressed “extreme gratitude” for the removal of the stain on Garvey’s legacy.

Biden’s act, she said in a statement, “is a testament to the unwavering advocacy” of Caribbean leaders and members of its diaspora “for the rectification of the unjust conviction of an ardent advocate for the rights and liberties of individuals of African descent.”

Among those leaders who pressed U.S. presidents was Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller. During President Barack Obama’s historic 2015 visit to Jamaica, where he stopped at the National Heroes Park in Kingston, but did not stop at Garvey’s grave, Obama was pressed about clearing Garvey’s name.

Simpson Miller told Obama it was “the deep desire of the government and the people of Jamaica” to have Garvey’s record wiped clean.

“I asked the president to consider the matter and to offer any support within his authority during his tenure in the White House, and beyond,” Simpson Miller said at the time.

Obama left office without doing so.

Historians and ardent supporters of Garvey’s teachings, known as Garveyism, have long insisted that his U.S. conviction was politically motivated. The mail fraud charge stemmed from using the U.S. mail to sell stock for a new ship for Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association..

After his federal conviction, which was commuted by President Calvin Coolidge, Garvey was deported back to Jamaica in 1927. He eventually died in England in 1940 at age 52.

Garvey’s remains were brought back to Jamaica in 1964, and he was buried at National Heroes Park. Five years later, he became Jamaica’s first National Hero. His likeness has grace the country’s currency, and his teachings have inspired everything from the black-consciousness Rastafari movement to the Nation of Islam and Kwanzaa.