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

Pan-Africanist Pan-Africanism is a nationalist movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all indigenous peoples and diasporas of African ancestry. Based on a common goal dating back to the Atlantic slave trade, the Trans-Sa ...

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

Marcus Garvey Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr. (17 August 188710 June 1940) was a Jamaican political activist. He was the founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) (commonly known a ...

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, and distributed int ...

'' newspaper.

Early years

Amy Ashwood was born in

Port Antonio, Jamaica Port Antonio () is the capital of the parish of Portland, Jamaica, Portland on the northeastern coast of Jamaica, about from Kingston, Jamaica, Kingston. It had a population of 12,285 in 1982 and 13,246 in 1991. It is the island's third largest ...

, 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: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

descent. Taken to

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

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 (1998)
''West Africans in Britain: 1900–1960: Nationalism, Pan-Africanism and Communism''
London:

Lawrence & Wishart Lawrence & Wishart is a British publishing company formerly associated with the Communist Party of Great Britain. It was formed in 1936 through the merger of Martin Lawrence, the Communist Party's press, and Wishart Ltd, a family-owned left-wing ...

. (/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 his then-wife Amy Ashwood Garvey. ...

(UNIA) in 1914. The UNIA was the most influential anti-colonial organization in Jamaica up until 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 The City of Westminster is a London borough with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in Greater London, England. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It contains a large par ...

, 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 transportat ...

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 (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

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 Ladipo Solanke (c. 1886 – 2 September 1958) was a political activist born in Nigeria who campaigned on West African issues. Biography Birth and education Born in Abeokuta, Nigeria, as Oladipo Felix Solanke, he studied at the Fourah Bay Col ...

. 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

chieftaincy A tribal chief, chieftain, or headman is a leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies There is no definition for "tribe". The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of western Af ...

title "

Iyalode The Ìyálóde is a high-ranking female chieftain in most of the Yoruba traditional states. The title is currently within the gift of the obas, although Njoku asserted in 2002 that the process of choosing an Ìyálóde in pre-colonial Nigeria ...

" (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 Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, and singer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz piano. A widely popular star ...

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 Pedestrian zone, 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 ...

, 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 The International African Friends of Abyssinia (IAFA), also known as the International African Friends of Ethiopia, was an organisation established in 1935 in London, England, to protest against Italian aggression against Abyssinia (see Second Ital ...

with

C. L. R. James Cyril Lionel Robert James (4 January 1901 – 31 May 1989), Fraser, C. Gerald (2 June 1989)"C. L. R. James, Historian, Critic And Pan-Africanist, Is Dead at 88" ''The New York Times''. . who sometimes wrote under the pen-name J. R. Johnson ...

, 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 ...

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 C ...

Chris Braithwaite Chris Braithwaite, also known as Chris Jones (1885 – 9 September 1944), was a black Barbadian who was leader of the Colonial Seamen's Association in the 1930s. Life Born in Barbados, Braithwaite went to sea with the British merchant navy a ...

and

Jomo Kenyatta Jomo Kenyatta (22 August 1978) was a Kenyan anti-colonial activist and politician who governed Kenya as its Prime Minister from 1963 to 1964 and then as its first President from 1964 to his death in 1978. He played a significant role in the ...

, 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 The Council on African Affairs (CAA), until 1941 called the International Committee on African Affairs (ICAA), was a volunteer organization founded in 1937 in the United States. It emerged as the leading voice of anti-colonialism and Pan-Africanis ...

, 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 the control of another territory, natural resources and people by a foreign group. Colonizers control the political and tribal power of the colonised territory. While frequently an imperialist project, colonialism can also take ...

. 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 Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

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 dea ...

. 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 a road in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, which passes through Kensal Green and Notting Hill, running north–south between Harrow Road and Holland Park Avenue. It is also the name of the sur ...

in 1953. She was a friend of

Claudia Jones Claudia Vera Jones (; 21 February 1915 – 24 December 1964) was a Trinidad and Tobago-born journalist and activist. As a child, she migrated with her family to the United States, where she became a Communist political activist, feminist and bla ...

, and was on the editorial board of the

Brixton Brixton is an area of South London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th century ...

-based newspaper ''

West Indian Gazette ''West Indian Gazette'' (''WIG'') was a newspaper founded in March 1958 in Brixton, London, England, by Trinidadian communist & black nationalist activist Claudia Jones (1915–1964). The title as displayed on its masthead was subsequently expand ...

'', 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, a district of London, between 29 August and 5 September 1958. Background Following the end of the Second World War, and as a result of the l ...

, 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 th ...

following the murder of

Kelso Cochrane Kelso may refer to: Places Australia * Kelso, New South Wales * Kelso, Tasmania * Kelso, Queensland Canada * Kelso Conservation Area, Ontario, containing Lake Kelso ** Kelso, a village in Regional Municipality of Halton, Ontario New Zealand * Ke ...

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 Joseph Kwame Kyeretwie Boakye Danquah (18 December 1895 – 4 February 1965) was a Ghanaian politician, scholar, anglophile, lawyer and statesman. He was a politician in pre and post-colonial Ghana, which was formerly the Gold Coast. Durin ...

in London and told him her grandmother's story and Danquah confirmed to her that Dwaben is in fact an

Asante Asante may refer to: *Asante people, an ethnic group in Ghana *Asante Empire *Asante (name) *Asante dialect, a dialect of the Akan languages * Asante Kotoko S.C., a Ghanaian professional association football club *Asante (album), 1974 jazz album b ...

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 Nanny of the Maroons Order of National Hero (Jamaica), ONH (c. 1686 – c. 1760), also known as Queen Nanny and Granny Nanny, was a Jamaican revolutionary and leader of the Jamaican Maroons. She led a community of formerly-enslaved escapees, the ...

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 History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...

'', 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.