Amy Jacques Garvey (1895-1973)
Amy Jacques Garvey was the force behind Marcus Garvey and in a leader in the Pan-African/Black Nationalist Movement.
She was a journalist, feminist, and activist, who assumed several important roles within United Negro Improvement Association that was very active during the 1920s, but started to decline after 1949. Amy Jacques Garvey not only made a number of contributions to the UNIA, but to Black political thought in general. She believed that women’s special traits could be used as a “purifying effect on politics.”
Advocating that Blacks learn to protect themselves and acquire weapons, Amy calls to mind the “By any means necessary” philosophy of Malcolm X.
Words were Amy Jacques Garvey’s tools for inspiring people to action. She published several books, a number in service to her husband. After Marcus Garvey was arrested, she stepped up to steer the expansive and ever-growing UNIA.
Popular historical narratives tend to focus heavily on the male leaders of social movements, but in the case of Amy Jacques Garvey and Marcus Garvey, the legacy of UNIA was equally established by both of these radical and daring Black leaders.
