St. Ann marks 83rd anniversary of national hero Marcus Garvey

National hero, The Rt Excellent Marcus Garvey, was honoured by his hometown and home parish on Friday, June 9, with a memorial lecture presented at the St Ann Parish Library, St Ann’s Bay, to mark the 83rd anniversary of his death on June 10,1940.

Tributes to Garvey were led by the Custos of St Ann Norma Walters, Mayor of St Ann Councillor Sydney Stewart, and Vice President and Country Manager of Discovery Bauxite Delroy Dell.

Custos Walters described Garvey as a hero who has been an inspiration to succeeding generations in Jamaica and across the world for his messages which encouraged black people to be proud of their heritage and to regard themselves as first-class citizens in any environment.

Her tribute was echoed by the Mayor Sydney Stewart, who congratulated organisers of the function, the St Ann Homecoming & Heritage Foundation, and the St Ann Library Service, for ensuring that the celebration of Garvey’s life work and achievements be commemorated especially in his hometown, St Ann’s Bay.

The annual Garvey Lecture was delivered by Dell, who themed Garvey as a game-changer who “never once stepped back from his determination to make a difference, to right what he perceived to be wrong, and to fight for the advancement of black pride and the upward mobility of black people”.

He reminded his audience of Garvey’s impact as the founder of the first political party in Jamaica in 1929, as well as the abiding influence he has had on the civil rights movement in the USA which prompted Martin Luther King to describe him as “the first man of colour to give millions of negroes a sense of dignity and destiny”.

“His political party manifesto in Jamaica,” said Dell, “was noted by Rupert Lewis, political scientist and University lecturer, as ‘the first practical and realistic anti-imperialist political programme in this country’.”

“It championed the major economic, political, legal and educational demands of the working people as a whole.”

The public lecture was the 12th in a series which takes place literally at the feet of Garvey’s statue mounted in the library’s courtyard, and several chains away from his birthplace on Marcus Garvey Way.

Previous lecturers at this event include Professor Ralston ‘Rex’ Nettleford, former Governor General Sir Kenneth Hall, University lecturers Dr Kadamawe K’Nife and Dr Maurice Smith, barrister-at-law, Lord Anthony Gifford, historian Arnold Bertram, and educator James Walsh.