Just days away from another anniversary of the birth of Marcus Garvey, the legendary jamaican artist, Burning Spear, keep strongly promoting a campaign which launched years ago calling on the Government of Jamaica to declare the 17 August national holiday.
He also proposes establishing a subject on Marcus Garvey in the educational system, Jamaica's first hero, from childhood to university. Sign the petition here.
“There are important things that need to be done in Jamaica when it comes to Marcus Garvey: A subject on Marcus Garvey from childhood in all schools and through university; and an island-wide holiday”, the artist published a video on his networks.
51 years 51 ago, in 1975, Burning Spear released their third album “Marcus Garvey” dedicated exclusively to the figure of the leader of Pan-Africanism. The album is an essential reggae album, of the most distinguished and prominent of Spear, and whose first single is his most iconic song “Marcus Garvey“ which became an anthem of resistance and memory about a man who until then had been forgotten.
Other artists have also joined the initiative, such as Kumar Fyah, Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter and representative of the new generation of roots reggae, who has been actively posting on their social media about the story, legacy and importance of Marcus Garvey.
In conversation with Reggae Chalice Magazine, the artist said that “It is important to teach the works and words of Marcus Garvey, especially in Jamaican schools; He founded Jamaica's first political party after colonial rule but has been erased from history by supporters of the empire. A national holiday would mean dedicating an entire day to Marcus Garvey's legacy, which has an extraordinary global impact“.
Kumar explained that he has joined the Burning Spear campaign “because he has been fighting for it for years and, as a young man deeply influenced by Burning Spear and Marcus Garvey, I felt the need to build a bridge between my elders and my generation. The holiday topic is the starting point for a larger conversation”.
The singer, who just launched his new single “Public Holiday” in collaboration with Black Uhuru, added that “Marcus Garvey is very well known (on the island) and most Jamaicans know who he is, But his teachings and philosophy are not taught or presented with the same historical relevance as the stories of figures such as Martin Luther King or Nelson Mandela.“.
Who is Marcus Garvey?
born 17 August 1887 in Saint Ann’s Bay, in the north of the island of Jamaica, at that time british colony, was a preacher, journalist, businessman and prophet of the Rastafari movement, a iconic figure in the defense of the civil rights of people of African descent on this continent, becoming the first leader in that fight that others such as Martin Luther King or Malcom.
In 1914 founded the Universal Negro Improvement Asociation (Universal Negro Male Improvement Association, UNIA by its acronym in English) which aimed to “unite all the people of African origin in the world in a single body to establish a country and a government absolutely their own”, also creating its flag with red colors, black and green, and which became the symbol of Pan-Africanism.
After that he traveled to the United States where he created the newspaper Negro World and in 1917 formed the first section of the UNIA outside Jamaica. He founded the Black Star Line steamship company that sought to repatriate all Africans from the American continent. At the height of his influence, He was imprisoned in that country and deported to Jamaica in 1927.
Garvey died in London in 1940. Years later, in 1964, His remains were repatriated to Jamaica where he was officially proclaimed as the island's first national hero.
symbolically, in the year 2012 the Government of Jamaica declared the 17 of August like “Marcus Garvey Day” but he didn't make it a holiday. Just in the year 2025, Marcus Garvey received a posthumous pardon by the United States Government, more of 100 years after his conviction for alleged mail fraud in 1923.
