The Great Marcus Garvey and His Scandalous Tale of Two Wives

We know Marcus Garvey as a powerful figure in Black history who dedicated much of his life to promoting self-love among Black people and encouraging an eventual return to their ancestral homeland of Africa. An outspoken Black nationalist who is said to have influenced other civil rights leaders including Malcolm X, many of Garvey’s supporters believe his 1923 conviction on mail fraud charges was politically motivated. However, former President Joe Biden issued a posthumous pardon to Garvey on his way out of the White House in January.

But as the saying goes, behind every great man is a great woman, and in Garvey’s case, there were two and a complicated love story that could be ripped from a storyline from your favorite soap opera. In honor of Black History Month and Valentine’s Day, we’re looking at Marcus Garvey and his tale of two Amys.

Marcus Garvey met Amy Ashwood Garvey, the woman who would become his first wife, during a trip to Jamaica in 1914. He was attending a debate at a local high school, where she gave what he called a “powerful political speech on Pan-Africanism,” according to “Aisle Tell You What.”

Although they were ten years apart, Garvey and Ashwood were both passionate about making things better for Black people across the diaspora. They worked together to create the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). Miss Ashwood was the organization’s first secretary and board member, while Garvey went out as the face of UNIA.

Two years after they started dating, Garvey and Ashwood got engaged in 1916. But they would be forced apart by Ashwood’s parents, who didn’t approve of the relationship and sent her to Panama. But Garvey and Ashwood kept in touch through letters and Amy eventually joined Marcus in New York in 1918. She worked by his side at UNIA and even saved him from an assassination attempt in October 1919, according to PBS. The pair eventually married on Christmas 1919.

Garvey and Ashwood’s love story didn’t last long. In fact, it ended just a few years later, when Ashwood learned Garvey was having an affair with her best friend and maid of honor – who also happened to be Garvey’s personal secretary and travel companion at UNIA. And if all of that wasn’t bad enough, the woman’s name was, you guessed it, Amy. Convenient, right?

Jamaican-born Amy Jacques got involved with Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association in 1917 after hearing him speak. Starting off as his personal secretary she eventually became the office manager of the UNIA headquarters, according to PBS.

Amy Jacques and Garvey got married in July 2022, just a short time after he divorced Amy Ashwood. Amy 2.0 became a strong supporter of her husband’s work, speaking out in defense of his reputation after his 1923 arrest, working to raise money for his legal defense and to secure a pardon on his behalf.

Jacques was the mother of Garvey’s two sons, Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr., and Julius Winston Garvey. Even after her husband’s death in 1940, she continued his work, becoming a contributing editor at a black nationalist journal called the African. In 1963, she wrote “Garvey and Garveyism,” the story of his life and his work to support Black nationalism.