Marcus Mosiah Garvey, a national hero, and his wife Amy Euphemia Garvey, neé Jacques, exhorted Jamaicans to carry on the battle for independence and peace in the same ways they had.
This challenge was issued by Reverend Father Bertram Gayle, who used the homily at Amy Garvey’s burial service on Saturday at St Andrew Parish Church in Half-Way Tree to cast doubt on the advancement of black people in Jamaica after 60 years of political independence.
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“It’s all good to talk about Jesus. It’s all good to talk about Amy. Words are cheap, aren’t they? But it’s even better to talk about how we will live our lives in light of theirs; it’s even better to walk the talk.
“How do we, therefore, live in a world in which Africa and her children continue to be exploited and brutalized by colonial and neocolonial powers? How do we live in a world in which in our region, our country, black hair, black skin, black culture, black religion, black philosophy, black art, black knowledge, black language and life continue to be seen and treated as less than their white or European counterparts?”
The reality of living in a nation where black men and women still struggle to define themselves and come to terms with their African identity, despite an estimated 90% of the population is descended from former slaves, was questioned by Reverend Gayle.
Parliamentarians came next in his attention-grabbing turn. “How do we live in a country in a world in which our black leaders shudder in the face of white economic, political and military might? How do we live in communities, in a country, in a world in which those who wield power in the form of guns, in the form of their connections, in the form of their jobs, in their political offices, etc? How do we live in these spaces where they use the power at their disposal to wreak havoc among us?”
The preacher continued by reminding his audience of the cost they would have to bear to experience genuine freedom. “To bring liberation and freedom requires sacrifice. It requires blood, it requires tears, it requires that we give up comfort and it requires our very lives,” he stated.
Amy Garvey, who was born on December 31, 1896, and passed away on July 25, 1973, had her memorial ceremony scheduled to fall on her birthday. The St. Andrew Parish Church cemetery is where she was laid to rest.
After the funeral, a brief celebration was performed at the cemetery that included drumming and a commemoration of the Garveys’ contributions to global history and pan-Africanism as well as their tenacious efforts to promote cultural awareness and black pride across the world.
Although Amy Garvey played a remarkable part in continuing the conversation about her husband after his passing in England in 1940, it had really begun much earlier. After graduating from Wolmer’s High School for Girls, Jacques spent a brief period of time working for a Kingston legal company before relocating to the United States in 1917. In 1920, she joined the United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) as Marcus Garvey’s companion and personal secretary after they had met there.
In July 1922, after Garvey’s divorce from Amy Ashwood, Jacques vowed to become his second wife. Like her husband, she was committed to spreading the ideas and values of race, independence, and nationalism. Volume One of The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey, which she edited and published in 1923, was followed by Volume Two in 1925. The Negro World, the newspaper of the UNIA, was also edited by her.
After Garvey’s release from prison and expulsion from the United States on accusations of mail fraud in connection with the Black Star Line, she migrated back to Jamaica with him and their two children, Marcus Garvey, Junior, and Julius Garvey.
Following Garvey’s passing in 1940, Jacques carried on the fight for African independence and black nationalism. In order to persuade UN officials to approve an African Freedom Charter, she published “A Memorandum Correlative of Africa, West Indies, and the Americas” in 1944. By 1963, she had released her own book, Garvey and Garveyism. Later, she also released two collections of essays, Black Power in America and The Impact of Garvey in Africa and Jamaica. In Kingston, Amy Garvey passed away on July 25, 1973.
