On the occasion of his 129th birthday, a petition started on the whitehouse.gov website to grant a posthumous pardon to Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr., ONH (August 17, 1887 – June 10, 1940). Garvey was a Jamaican political leader, publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator who was a proponent of the Pan-Africanism movement. The petition states Garvey should be posthumously pardoned for his wrongful conviction for his alleged use of the U.S. mail system in furtherance of a scheme to defraud.
During a time when Blacks were seen as second class citizens, Garvey led a mass movement to elevate the Black community through economic empowerment and independence. He was convicted after being targeted by J. Edgar Hoover and deprived of a fair trial. His sentence was later commuted by President Calvin Coolidge on recommendation by the U.S. Attorney General and with the support of 9 of the 12 jurors who voted to convict. Garvey never abandoned his movement to empower people of the African Diaspora. Garvey was recognized as a forebearer of the Civil Rights Movement by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X. Today, his legacy is celebrated the world over.
SIGN YOUR NAME TO THE PETITION HERE: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov//petition/grant-marcus-mosiah-garvey-posthumous-presidential-pardon-his-wrongful-1923-conviction
