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 Hon. 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 see the path forward must include Congressional action to exonerate the Hon. Marcus Garvey completely.
“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 exonerate him and clear his name fully.”
H.Res. 655, Marcus Garvey Recognition Day Resolution, designates Aug. 17, 2025, as “Marcus Garvey Recognition Day” and calls on the President to “issue a proclamation encouraging national observance through ceremonies, educational programs, and cultural events.”
Clarke had welcomed the posthumous pardon of Garvey by President Biden on the birthday of slain American civil rights leader, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and a day before the next President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, was inaugurated, on Jan. 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 for Biden’s pardon.
In December 2024, Clarke and several of her congressional colleagues wrote a letter to Biden urging Garvey’s exoneration.
“As we approach our nation’s observance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I’m extraordinarily grateful for President Biden’s action today to posthumously grant clemency to a true national hero of Jamaica, the Most Hon. Marcus Garvey,” Clarke told CMC then.
She noted that Garvey was a Jamaican-born, Pan-Africanist leader who led one of the earliest Black Civil Rights movements in the Americas and founded one of America’s first Black-owned shipping companies in the Black Star Line.
The congresswoman said Garvey had “established a legacy that has persisted to this day.
“His advocacy for civil rights and the economic advancement of the Black community built the foundation of our modern civil rights movement and influenced many of our civil rights leaders, including Dr. King, who described Garvey as ‘the first on a mass scale and level to…make the Negro feel he was somebody…the first man of color in the history of the United States to lead and develop a mass movement,’” Clarke said.
She noted that, in 1923, US President Calvin Coolidge had commuted Garvey’s sentence for mail fraud.
“However, it is no secret that Black people in America have always been subjected to a different standard of justice,” Clarke said. “Although granting Mr. Garvey’s clemency will help remove the shadow of an unjust conviction and further the Biden administration’s promise to advance racial justice, Mr. Garvey’s family, I, and countless others across our nation and around the world will continue to push towards his complete and unambiguous exoneration.
“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 exonerate the Hon. Marcus Garvey completely,” she added.
“And so, I will continue to take all necessary action to clear his name, and to deliver the justice and closure his descendants rightfully deserve,” Clarke continued. “Today was a very significant step towards victory, but the fight for equity and justice goes on.”
Nzinga Garvey also told CMC: “In the words of my grandfather, Marcus Garvey, ‘The ends you serve that are selfish will take you no further than yourself, but the ends you serve for all, in common, will take you to eternity’.
“These words are more than a call to action; they are a moral compass, pointing us toward the kind of justice that dignifies not just the individual, but a people, a nation, and humanity itself,” she said. “My grandfather’s conviction was not only a miscarriage of justice but a reminder of how the overreach of power can be weaponized to silence the voices that seek fairness, equity, and accountability.”
Nzinga Garvey said her grandfather’s life was dedicated to “uplifting humanity, urging us all to embrace a vision of justice that is larger than any single race or nation.
“His wrongful conviction is not just a story of the past; it is a reflection of the work that remains before us,” she said. “It underscores the deep need for a justice system that protects, not prosecutes, those who dare to inspire and empower.
“This posthumous pardon of Marcus Garvey is about more than his name; it is about reclaiming the soul of a nation that believes in fairness over fear, in dignity over division, in righting the wrongs of history so we can face the future with integrity,” she added. “Let us prove that we are a nation not afraid to confront our past, because we believe so deeply in building a better future for every one of us.”
In leading 20 of her congressional colleagues in a letter to Biden in December 2024, urging Garvey’s exoneration, Clarke wrote that “exactly 101 years ago, Mr. Garvey was convicted of mail fraud in a case that was marred by prosecutorial and governmental misconduct.
“The evidence paints an abundantly clear narrative that the charges against Mr. Garvey were not only fabricated but also targeted to criminalize, discredit, and silence him as a civil rights leader,” the letter says.
“In response to this blatant injustice, President Calvin Coolidge commuted Mr. Garvey’s sentence upon eligibility,” the letter adds. “Efforts to clear Garvey’s name have persisted for decades.”
In 1987, under Congressman John Conyers’ leadership, the US House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee held hearings on Garvey’s exoneration.
In 2004, Congressman Charles Rangel introduced a series of resolutions calling attention to the injustice, followed by Clarke’s efforts to continue these strides.
“Despite these efforts, Garvey’s name has not yet been cleared,” the congressional representatives write. “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.”
In May 2023, Clarke, along with 22 of her congressional colleagues, led a similar letter to Biden calling for 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 Jun. 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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