Congress members urge Biden to exonerate Black civil rights leader Marcus Garvey

(WASHINGTON) -- A group of 21 House Democrats signed a letter urging the president to exonerate former civil rights leader Marcus Garvey, according to a statement sent by the lawmakers to ABC News on Monday.

Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke (D-NY) led the panel of lawmakers -- mostly from the Congressional Black Caucus -- to exonerate Garvey on the heels of President Joe Biden's commutation of 37 sentences from federal death row on Monday.

Garvey, one of the earliest internationally-known Black civil rights leaders, was convicted of mail fraud in 1923 and was given a five-year sentence, according to a letter sent to Biden from the Congress members, obtained by ABC News. President Calvin Coolidge pardoned Garvey two years into his sentence. Garvey was immediately deported to his birth country of Jamaica.

"Exonerating Mr. Garvey would honor his work for the Black community, remove the shadow of an unjust conviction, and further this administration's promise to advance racial justice," the lawmakers said in the letter to the president. "At a time when Black history faces the existential threat of erasure by radical state legislatures, a presidential pardon for Mr. Garvey would correct the historical record and restore the legacy of an American hero."

Congress members have been trying for decades to clear Garvey's name, according to the congress members. Congressman John Conyers led hearings in 1987 for the House Judiciary Committee on Garvey's exoneration. Congressman Charles Rangel introduced resolutions, highlighting alleged injustices against the former civil rights leader in 2004.

"Exactly 101 years ago, Mr. Garvey was convicted of mail fraud in a case that was marred by prosecutorial and governmental misconduct," The congress members said in the letter. "The evidence paints an abundantly clear narrative that the charges against Mr. Garvey were not only fabricated but also targeted to criminalize, discredit, and silence him as a civil rights leader."

The White House did not immediately reply to ABC News' request for a response.

Garvey, who was born in Jamaica in 1887, was a notable Pan-Africanist, believing that people of African descent around the world should be unified because of their alleged common interests.

Garvey was the founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) which was created to challenge racial inequality, according to the lawmakers. The organization championed self-determination and economic independence for Black people at a time when Jim Crow laws oppressed African Americans and colonization subjugated Africans on their own continent.

Garvey also established the Black Star Line, one of the first Black-owned shipping companies in the Western Hemisphere, connecting Black businesses across the Americas, according to the lawmakers. The civil rights leader eventually wanted to route the vessels to Africa for a redemption program, according to the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. He wanted to establish a nation for those who were born into slavery or were the descendants of enslaved people, according to The Washington Post.

Garvey also created the Negro World Newspaper which, at its peak, reached a circulation of 200,000 readers weekly, according to the congressmembers.

Garvey shared the segregationist views of the Ku Klux Klan as he sought a separate state for those of the African diaspora, according to The Washington Post.

"I regard the Klan the Anglo Saxon clubs and white American societies as far as the Negro is concerned, as better friends of the race than all other groups of hypocritical whites put together," Garvey said according to The New York Times.

Other Black civil rights activists were outraged. W. E. B. Du Bois said Garvey was the most dangerous enemy of the Negro race and was either "a lunatic or a traitor," according to PBS. Du Bois also said Garvey "suffered from serious defects of temperament and training."

The newly formed Bureau of Investigation, later becoming the FBI, and the director of its intelligence division, a-young J. Edgar Hoover, brought mail fraud proceedings against Garvey in connection to the sale of Black Star Line shipping stock, according to The Washington Post. He was sentenced to five years in prison and served two years before his pardon and eventual deportation by Coolidge.

The FBI declined ABC News' request for a comment.

Garvey never returned to the U.S. again, according to the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.

"As we approach the conclusion of your administration, this moment provides a chance to leave an indelible mark on history," the lawmakers told Biden in their letter.

ABC News' John Parkinson contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.