{Born Today} Amy Jacques Garvey (1896-1973) Amy Jacques Garvey, wife of Marcus Garvey, did not derive her legitimacy from the status of her husband. She was a leading Pan-Africanist and Black Nationalist in her own right. Standing by her man through thick and thin, always advancing the cause of black liberation, she played influential roles in the movement as journalist, feminist and race activist. Born in Jamaica, she moved to the USA in 1917 where she encountered the charismatic Marcus Garvey, who was the driving force for the movement instilling race pride and seeking race redemption for people of African descent. The United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) galvanized and energized Black people from Harlem, USA, to Capetown, South Africa. People & Events: Amy Jacques, 1896-1973 Amy Jacques, editor, feminist, and race activist, was Marcus Garveys second wife and his principal lieutenant during his incarceration in an Atlanta penitentiary from 1925 to 1927. Born in Jamaica, Jacques moved to the United States in 1917 and became involved in theUniversal Negro Improvement Association the following year, after hearing Garvey speak. She became Garveys personal secretary and traveling companion, as well as the office manager at U.N.I.A. headquarters and secretary of the Negro Factories Corporation, in 1920. Jacques and Garvey married in July 1922, shortly after his divorce from his first wife, Amy Ashwood. During the period of Garveys trial, conviction, and imprisonment on mail fraud charges (1923-1927), Jacques emerged as a major propagandist for him. In an effort to improve Garveys reputation and raise funds to pay for his defense, Jacques published two volumes of his speeches and writings as Garveys Philosophy and Opinions. She acted as his personal representative while he was in prison, traveling to speak at local U.N.I.A. divisions throughout the country, meeting with public officials and U.N.I.A. officers to carry out his directions, and organizing U.N.I.A. conferences and affairs. She became the associate editor of The Negro World (1924-1927), and introduced a new page, called Our Women and What They Think, which carried international news about the status of women, poetry, profiles of leading black women and black female historical figures, and columns by and about members of the womens auxiliaries. After Garveys deportation, Amy Jacques Garvey returned with him to Jamaica, and continued as a contributing editor of the U.N.I.A. paper in 1927-1928. She and Garvey toured England, France, and Germany in the spring and summer of 1928, and she wrote articles for The Negro World about her impressions. pbs.org/wgbh/amex/garvey/peopleevents/p_jacques.html
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 19:24:03 +0000
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