Amy Jacques Garvey

Amy Euphemia Jacques Garvey (December 31, 1895–July 25, 1973), born to George Samuel and Charlotte Henrietta (South) Jacques, in Kingston, Jamaica.

Amy Jacques Garvey was one of the pioneer Black women journalists and publishers of the 20th century, a fact that is often overlooked by historians. She came to New York in 1917 and soon after became involved with publishing of The "Negro World" newspaper in Harlem from its inception in August 1918. She became the second wife of "Negro World" publisher, Pan-Africanist and UNIA-ACL President General Marcus Garvey when they married on July 27, 1922, having been Amy Ashwood's bridesmaid at Marcus' first wedding. During her tenure from 1924 to 1927 as a Negro World Associate Editor, Amy Jacques Garvey added a page called "Our Women and What They Think". She is mother to Garvey's two sons, Marcus Jr. and Julius.

Amy Jacques was primarily responsible for the publication in the 1920s of both volumes of the "Philosophy & Opinions of Marcus Garvey". After her husband's death in 1940, she became a contributing editor to a journal, the "African", published in Harlem in the 1940s. Even after Garvey's death, Amy Jacques persevered and remained true to the on-going quest for African liberation championed by her husband, writing countless articles and letters.

In November 1963 Amy Jacques Garvey visited Nigeria as a guest of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe who was being installed as that nation's first Governor-General. She published her own book, "Garvey and Garveyism" in 1963, as well as a booklet, "Black Power in America: The Power of the Human Spirit" in 1968. Her final work was the "Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey volume III", written in conjunction with E.U. Essien-Udom.

Amy Jacques Garvey died on July 25, 1973, in the city of her birth, Kingston.

External links

* [http://www.unia-acl.org Amy Jacques Garvey at UNIA-ACL.org]
* [http://uncpress.unc.edu/chapters/taylor_veiled.html Chapter 1 of biography,] "The Veiled Garvey: The Life and Times of Amy Jacques Garvey"