WASHINGTON, DC – Howard University School of Law professors and students helped to secure a posthumous pardon for civil rights leader Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr, ONH on the eve of the Martin Luther King, Jr. national holiday The first national hero of Jamaica and leader of the U.S. Back to Africa political movement of the 1920’s, Garvey founded the United Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA) to promote unity and pride amongst all Black people across the globe.

For the last 15 years, Howard University professor Justin Hansford  has been working with Garvey’s son, Julius Garvey, M.D., who has championed the push for his father, who died in 1940, to receive a posthumous presidential pardon with an acknowledgment that he was unjustly charged. Garvey was convicted on one count mail fraud in 1923 as president of the shipping and passenger company the Black Star Line, for using the mail to defraud someone into buying stock in the company. He received the maximum punishment under the law, five years imprisonment and a $1,000 fine. Hansford published Jailing a Rainbow: The Unjust Trial and Conviction of Marcus Garvey last year to outline his case for the pardon.

The effort to convince President Biden to pardon Garvey included letters from 21 members of Congress, mostly from the Congressional Black Caucus. The letter stating, “Exonerating Mr. Garvey would honor his work for the Black community, remove the shadow of an unjust conviction, and further your administration’s promise to advance racial justice.” The Black community has pushed for a presidential pardon for Garvey since the conviction. In 1987, Black Congress members John Conyers and Charlie Rangel held congressional hearings and introduced resolutions to exonerate Garvey.

“In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Marcus Garvey was ‘the first man of color in the history of the United States to lead and develop a mass movement. He was the first man on a mass scale and level to make the Negro feel he was somebody,” said Hansford. “He was convicted of mail fraud in a trial widely recognized as a miscarriage of justice. This pardon acknowledges the wrongful nature of his trial and conviction, affirms Garvey's innocence, and uplifts Garvey's unique contribution to the international cause of human rights, justice, and civil rights for all people worldwide.”

Born on August 17, 1887, Marcus Garvey was a pioneering advocate for human rights and Pan-Africanism in the United States and worldwide. His activism and push economic self-empowerment energized millions of people around the world, and his legacy of human rights advocacy before the League of Nations is being uplifted today by the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent.

Garvey was one of the most influential Black nationalist leaders of his time. The UNIA amassed a membership of 6 million people in 40 countries and was said to be "unquestionably, the most influential anticolonial organization in Jamaica prior to 1938," according to Jamaican actress Honor Ford-Smith. 

This exoneration marks the end of a 101-year fight to restore the legacy of Black pride and liberation to Garvey’s name.

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About Howard University

Howard University, established in 1867, is a leading private research university based in Washington, D.C. Howard’s 14 schools and colleges offer 140 undergraduate, graduate, and professional degree programs and lead the nation in awarding doctoral degrees to African American students. Howard is the top-ranked historically Black college or university (HBCU) according to Forbes and is the only HBCU ranked among U.S. News & World Report’s Top 100 National Universities. Renowned for its esteemed faculty, high achieving students, and commitment to excellence, leadership, truth and service, Howard produces distinguished alumni across all sectors, including the first Black U.S. Supreme Court justice and the first woman U.S. vice president; Schwarzman, Marshall, Rhodes and Truman Scholars; prestigious fellows; and over 165 Fulbright recipients. Learn more at www.howard.edu.