As we continue our celebration of Caribbean American Heritage Month in a political climate where Black history is censored and under attack, today we explore a key figure in the struggle to establish solidarity between and among the Black peoples of the United States, the Caribbean, and the African continent: Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr.
Garvey was an adherent of Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism, and his movement challenged white supremacist views of Black racial inferiority. Garvey’s movement would influence the entire “Black is Beautiful” movement, the Rastafari movement, and inspire a cross-section of Black leaders like the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, Shirley Chisholm, and Kwame Ture (also known as Stokely Carmichael).
Garvey is a national hero in Jamaica, and his adherents and descendants here in the U.S. are lobbying President Joe Biden—as they did unsuccessfully with President Barack Obama—for Garvey to be granted a posthumous pardon for his 1923 conviction for mail fraud. The conviction was engineered by a young J. Edgar Hoover, who was at that time the director of the Justice Department’s General Intelligence Division.
Caribbean Matters is a weekly series from Daily Kos. If you are unfamiliar with the region, check out Caribbean Matters: Getting to know the countries of the Caribbean.