Amy Ashwood Garvey (''née'' Ashwood; 10 January 1897 – 3 May 1969) was a Jamaican

Pan-Africanist Pan-Africanism is a worldwide movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all Indigenous and diaspora peoples of African ancestry. Based on a common goal dating back to the Atlantic slave trade, the movement ext ...

activist. She was a director of the Black Star Line Steamship Corporation, and along with her former husband

Marcus Garvey Marcus Mosiah Garvey Sr. (17 August 188710 June 1940) was a Jamaican political activist, publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator. He was the founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African ...

she founded the ''

Negro World ''Negro World'' was the newspaper of the Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA). Founded by Garvey and Amy Ashwood Garvey, the newspaper was published weekly in Harlem, New York, and distr ...

'' newspaper.

Early years

Amy Ashwood was born in

Port Antonio, Jamaica Port Antonio is the capital of the parish of Portland on the northeastern coast of Jamaica, about from Kingston. It had a population of 12,285 in 1982 and 13,246 in 1991. It is the island's third largest port, famous as a shipping point for b ...

, on 10 January 1897, the only daughter of the three children of businessman Michael Delbert Ashwood and his wife, Maudriana Thompson. As a child, Amy was told by her grandmother that she was of Ashanti descent. She was also of

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

descent. Taken to

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

as an infant, she returned in 1904 to Jamaica, and attended the Westwood High School for Girls in Trelawny, where she met Marcus Garvey, Adi, Hakim
''West Africans in Britain: 1900–1960: Nationalism, Pan-Africanism and Communism''
London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1998. (/0-85315-848-7). with whom she founded the

Universal Negro Improvement Association The Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) is a black nationalist fraternal organization founded by Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican immigrant to the United States, and Amy Ashwood Garvey. The Pan-Africa ...

(UNIA) in 1914. The UNIA was the most influential anti-colonial organization in Jamaica up to 1938. Its legacy lies in giving women an opportunity to be leaders and influence in the public sphere. At the age of 17, while in UNIA, Amy Ashwood wrote romantic letters to Marcus, in which she said: "Our joint love for Africa and our concern for the welfare of our race urged us to immediate action." She organized a women's section of the UNIA, and in 1918, she moved to the United States, where she worked as Garvey's aide and as Secretary of the UNIA's New York City branch.''Black History in Westminster''
City of Westminster, October 2006. In 1919, she was made secretary of the

Black Star Line The Black Star Line (1919−1922) was a shipping line incorporated by Marcus Garvey, the organizer of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), and other members of the UNIA. The shipping line was created to facilitate the transportation ...

and became one of its first directors.

Marriage to Marcus Garvey

She met Marcus Garvey in 1914 and they married on 25 December 1919, but the marriage quickly broke down (there were accusations of infidelity on both sides), ending in divorce in 1922. There followed lawsuits and counter-suits for annulment, divorce, alimony and bigamy. Garvey divorced Ashwood in

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

in 1922 and quickly married Amy Jacques, Ashwood's former roommate and maid of honour. Marcus Garvey accused Ashwood of theft, alcoholism and laziness. Amy Ashwood reportedly never accepted the divorce and contended to the end of her days that she was the "real" Mrs. Garvey. Amy continued her work as a pan-Africanist, politician, and cultural feminist in the US, Jamaica and England throughout the rest of her life.

Move to London

Ashwood arrived in London 1932 and continued her endeavors as a Pan-African heroine. Decades earlier, in 1914, Ashwood assisted her husband Marcus Garvey with founding the ''

'', its purpose being to connect African-American people across continents, and founded a popular local night club. She moved to Great Britain, where she struck up a friendship with Ladipo Solanke. Together, they founded the Nigerian Progress Union (NPU), which at its formation consisted of 13 students. At the very first meeting, she was honoured with the

Yoruba The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute ...

chieftaincy A tribal chief or chieftain is the leader of a tribe, tribal society or chiefdom. Tribe The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of western Afroeurasia. Tribal societies are sometimes categori ...

title " Iyalode" (meaning "Mother of the Community"). She later supported Solanke's

West African Students' Union The West African Students' Union (WASU), founded in London, England, in 1925 and active into the 1960s,"History o ...

, but in 1924 she returned to New York, where she produced comedies with her companion, Sam Manning, a Trinidadian calypso singer who was one of the world's pioneering black recording artists. Among the productions was ''Brown Sugar'', a jazz musical production at the Lafayette Theater, which featured Manning and Fats Waller and his band.

1934–44: London, Jamaica, and New York

In 1934, she returned to London, and with Manning, opened the Florence Mills Social Club a jazz club on

Carnaby Street Carnaby Street is a pedestrianised shopping street in Soho in the City of Westminster, Central London. Close to Oxford Street and Regent Street, it is home to fashion and lifestyle retailers, including many independent fashion boutiques. S ...

, which became a gathering spot for supporters of Pan-Africanism. Although early pan-Africanists used to have patriarchal characteristics, they awakened women's consciousness for social justice. She helped to establish the International African Friends of Abyssinia with

C. L. R. James Cyril Lionel Robert James (4 January 1901 – 31 May 1989),Fraser, C. Gerald, '' The New York Times'', 2 June 1989. who sometimes wrote under the pen-name J. R. Johnson, was a Trinidadian historian, journalist and Marxist. His works are i ...

, the

International African Service Bureau The International African Service Bureau (IASB) was a pan-African organisation founded in London in 1937 by West Indians George Padmore, C. L. R. James, Amy Ashwood Garvey, T. Ras Makonnen and Kenyan nationalist Jomo Kenyatta and Sierra Leonean l ...

with figures like

George Padmore George Padmore (28 June 1903 – 23 September 1959), born Malcolm Ivan Meredith Nurse, was a leading Pan-Africanist, journalist, and author. He left his native Trinidad in 1924 to study medicine in the United States, where he also joined the Com ...

, Chris Braithwaite and Jomo Kenyatta, and the London Afro-Women's Centre. She spent some time in 1939 in New York, then went to Jamaica, where she and other prominent people formed the short-lived J. A. G. Smith Political Party. She became active in politics upon her return to Jamaica. She became eligible for a candidacy for legislature and was actively engaged in the movement for self-government. She planned to use her position in legislature to push for women's rights. During World War II Ashwood founded a domestic science institute for girls in Jamaica. In 1944, she again returned to New York, where she joined the West Indies National Council and the Council on African Affairs, and also campaigned for

Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Adam Clayton Powell Jr. (November 29, 1908 – April 4, 1972) was an American Baptist pastor and politician who represented the Harlem neighborhood of New York City in the United States House of Representatives from 1945 until 1971. He was t ...

5th Pan-African Congress, 1945, and later years

Ashwood was involved in organizing the first session of the 5th Pan-African Congress in Manchester in 1945. During the opening session, she chaired for independence from

colonial rule Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colony, colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose the ...

. Ashwood and Alma La Badie were the only two women presenters. Eventually, on 19 October, the two women were able to speak of issues that Jamaican women dealt with. In 1946, Ashwood moved to Liberia for three years, where she began a relationship with the country's president,

William Tubman William Vacanarat Shadrach Tubman (29 November 1895 – 23 July 1971) was a Liberian politician. He was the 19th president of Liberia and the longest-serving president in the country's history, serving from his election in 1944 until his death ...

. While there she researched the conditions for women in Nigeria and she gave talks to women's groups. She then returned to London, helping to set up the "Afro Peoples Centre" in

Ladbroke Grove Ladbroke Grove () is an area and a road in West London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, passing through Kensal Green and Notting Hill, running north–south between Harrow Road and Holland Park Avenue. It is also a name given ...

in 1953. She was a friend of Claudia Jones, and was on the editorial board of the Brixton-based newspaper '' West Indian Gazette'', founded by Jones in 1958. In the wake of the

1958 Notting Hill race riots The Notting Hill race riots were a series of racially motivated riots that took place in Notting Hill, England, between 29 August and 5 September 1958. Background Following the end of the Second World War, as a result of the losses during the wa ...

, Ashwood co-founded the Association for the Advancement of Coloured People. In 1959, she chaired an enquiry into

race relations Race relations is a sociological concept that emerged in Chicago in connection with the work of sociologist Robert E. Park and the Chicago race riot of 1919. Race relations designates a paradigm or field in sociology and a legal concept in the ...

following the murder of Kelso Cochrane in London in May that year.

Travels in Dwaben, Ashanti, Ghana, 1946, and other African countries

According to Mrs Garvey, her grandmother told her that she descended from Dwaben (pronounced "Juaben") and that her grandmother (known as "Granny Dabas") was a captive from Juaben. Granny Dabas's name was ''Boahemaa''. In 1924 she met J. B. Danquah in London and told him her grandmother's story and Danquah confirmed to her that Dwaben is in fact an Asante city-state. Fifteen years later she also met another Ghanaian Barrister Kwabena Kese. In 1946, Barrister Kese took Mrs Garvey to Juaben leading to the verification of her Granny Dabas' account and would later adopt the name ''Akosua Boahemaa''. She would also meet

Osei Tutu Agyeman Prempeh II Prempeh II (Otumfuo Nana Sir Osei Tutu Agyeman Prempeh II, KBE, – 27 May 1970), was the 14th Asantehene, or king of the Ashanti (Ruler of the Asante), reigning from 22 June 1931 to 27 May 1970. Biography Asantehene Prempeh II of the Ash ...

. The Asante people are commonly known to Jamaicans as the freedom fighters that fought against slavery and oppression. The national heroine

Nanny of the Maroons Queen Nanny, Granny Nanny, or Nanny of the Maroons ONH (c. 1686 – c. 1733), was an 18th century leader of the Jamaican Maroons. She led a community of formerly enslaved Africans called the Windward Maroons. In the early 18th century, under ...

is also an Asante queen. Many Jamaicans, even non-maroons, can also make accounts of having family of Asante descent. Ashwood then embarked on a Caribbean tour in 1953. She visited Antigua, Aruba, Barbados, British Guiana, Dominica, Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname.Reddock (2014)
"The first Mrs Garvey"
, ''Feminist African'' 19, p. 70. In Barbados, she presided over the formation of the Barbados Women's Alliance. During her tour, Garvey provided multiple lectures throughout the Caribbean. In 1954 Garvey opened The Afro Woman's Centre and Residential Club, in Ladbroke Grove, London. She returned to Liberia in 1960, but was back in London four years later, and spent the next three years mostly in Jamaica and Trinidad. In 1967–68 she toured the United States. With failing health, she returned to Jamaica in 1968, and died in Kingston on 3 May the following year, aged 72.Tony Martin
"Garvey, Amy Ashwood (1895/1897–1969)"
''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2006. Accessed 22 July 2015."Amy Ashwood Garvey"
, All Woman – ''Jamaica Observer'', 1 January 2007.Though some sources cite 11 May 1969 as her date of death, according to her biographer Tony Martin that was the date of her funeral. She was buried on Sunday, 11 May 1969, in Kingston's Calvary cemetery.

References

Sources

*Darlene Clark Hine (ed.), ''Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia'', Volumes 1 and 2, Brooklyn, New York: Carlson Publishing Inc., 1993.