Thursday, July 31, 2008
Saluting Amy Eupehmia Jacques Garvey
Greetings Fellow Garveyites:
On behalf of the Amy Jacques Garvey Institute, I'd like to pay tribute Honorable First Lady Amy Euphemia Jacques Garvey, who died July 25, 1973 after serving her God, her family and her race faithfully for over 50 years. As we acknowledge her transition from labor to her reward, we ask that everyone honor her legacy by continuing the work she readily sacrificed her life to complete. Mrs. Garvey's contribution to the Negro World, The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey Volumes I - III, Memorandum Correlative of Africa, West Indies and the Americas, African Study Circle of the World, 5th Pan African Congress, Garvey & Garveyism, Black Power In America and many other works, while raising two children alone warrants our most solemn gratitude and inestimable appreciation.
The Amy Jacques Garvey Institute will be hosting a Special Tribute in honor of our beloved Saint and Matriarch of the Garvey Movement, Saturday, July 26, 2008 in Banneker City, Anacostia (Wash, DC). For more information, please call (202) 543 - 6261
We encourage all others to share in the celebration of her life by reflecting upon her words, works and deeds. Recite This Flag of Mine, the UNIA-ACL's Official Ode to the Red, Black and Green Flag, penned by Mrs. Garvey. Fast during the day and break fast with the family at night while rededicating your commitment to practicing the principles of Universal Afrikan Nationalism.
I've included a brief bio on Mrs. Garvey, the Ode To The Flag and the opening page of her Memorandum Correlative of Africa, West Indies and the Americas.
Enjoy
Racially,
Mwariama Dhoruba Kamau,
Deputy Chancellor,
Amy Jacques Garvey Institute
(202) 256 - 6380
“As a stream can rise no higher than its source, a nation can rise no higher than its women."
Anna Julia Cooper
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Amy Jacques Garvey
(December 31, 1896 - July 25,1973)
Amy Jacques Garvey, wife of Marcus Garvey, did not derive her legitimacy from the status of her husband. She was a leading Pan-Africanist and Black Nationalist in her own right. Standing by her man through thick and thin, always advancing the cause of black liberation, she played influential roles in the movement as journalist, feminist and race activist. Born in Jamaica, she moved to the USA in 1917 where she encountered the charismatic Marcus Garvey, who was the driving force for the movement instilling race pride and seeking race redemption for people of African descent. The United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) galvanized and energized Black people from Harlem, USA, to Capetown, South Africa. At this time, Marcus Garvey was in his glory. and after 1922, when he married Amy Jacques, they both personified the movement. In 1919, she became the Secretary General of the UNIA, a post she held for over half a century proselytizing and propagating Garvey's philosophy of black consciousness, self-help and economic independence. From 1924 to 1927, she was the associate editor of the UNIA's newspaper, The Negro World, where she advanced her feminist/nationalist ideas with the inauguration of a new page entitled "Our Women and What They Think." Like Yaa Asantewaa, she chided the men to assert their manhood or else the women would have to pick up the struggle. She warned that " ... Negroes everywhere must be independent, God being our guide. Mr. Black man, watch your step! Ethiopia's queens will reign again, and her Amazons protect her shores and people. Strengthen your shaking knees, and move forward, or we will displace you and lead on to victory and glory." While her husband was in prison on charges of mail fraud in connection with Black Star Line (his shipping line), she acted as his personal representative, rallying to his defense, making speeches to the branches of the UNIA and lobbying for his release. In order to raise funds for his defense, she published two volumes of Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey, a collection of his speeches and writings. After his release from the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, he was taken to New Orleans and deported from the USA, never to return. She returned to Jamaica with him and they subsequently toured England, France and Germany, all the while continuing her writing as contributing editor of The Negro World. When Garvey moved to England, she remained in Jamaica with their one-year -old and four-year-old sons. After Garvey's death in 1940, she continued the struggle for Black Nationalism, becoming contributing editor to The African, a journal published in Harlem in the 1940s, and founding the African Study Circle of the World in Jamaica toward the end of the decade. In 1944, she wrote her outstanding piece, "A Memorandum Correlative of Africa, West Indies and the Americas", which she sent to representatives of the UN pressing them to adopt an African Freedom Charter. In 1963, she published her own book, Garvey and Garveyism, and later published two collections of essays, Black Power in America and The Impact of Garvey in Africa and Jamaica. On July 25, 1973, Amy Jacques Garvey died as she lived, active in the struggle for black empowerment and liberation.
http://blackhistorypages.net/pages/agarvey.php
THIS FLAG OF MINEby
Amy Jacques GarveyRegardless of what is told of it,Here's to this flag of mineThe Red, Black and GreenHopes in its future brightAfrica has seen.Here's to the Red of it,Great nations shall know of itIn time to come.Red blood shall flow of it,Historians shall write of it,Great flag of mine.Here's to the Black of itFour hundred millions back of it,Whose destiny depends on itThe RED, BLACK and GREEN of it,Oh, Flag of Mine.Here's to the Green of itYoung men shall dream of it,Face shot and shells of itWaving so high.Here's to the whole of itColors wrought and pole of itPleased is my soul with itRegardless of what is told of it,Thanks God for giving itGreat Flag of Mine.
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One God: Who reigns supreme.
One Aim: To contend for the freedom and equality of every member of our
race with our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.
One Destiny: Freedom or Death.
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