House Resolution 1896
By: Representatives McClain of the 109th, Prince of the 132nd, Okoye of the 102nd, Mitchell
of the 88th, and Beckles of the 96th
A RESOLUTION
Honoring the life and memory of Marcus Mosiah Garvey; and for other purposes.
WHEREAS, the United Nations International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the
Transatlantic Slave Trade, observed annually on March 25, calls upon the global community
to remember the millions of African men, women, and children who endured the horrors of
the Middle Passage and whose forced labor helped build the economic foundations of the
modern world; and
WHEREAS, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, founded in 1816, emerged as a
spiritual and institutional response to the injustice of slavery and racial exclusion, nurturing
generations of ministers, educators, and civic leaders committed to freedom, dignity, and the
uplift of people of African descent; and
WHEREAS, institutions established by the AME Church—including Morris Brown College,
founded in 1881—embodied the principle that the descendants of enslaved Africans must
build and sustain their own institutions of learning, faith, and community leadership in
pursuit of intellectual liberation and economic self-determination; and
WHEREAS, these ideals of racial pride, self-reliance, and global unity were powerfully
amplified by Marcus Mosiah Garvey, founder of the Universal Negro Improvement
Association and African Communities League, who mobilized millions throughout the
African Diaspora around the vision of Pan-African solidarity and the restoration of African
dignity; and
WHEREAS, Garvey's message resonated deeply within Black churches and educational
institutions across the United States, including in Atlanta, where he addressed the community
on March 25, 1917, at the historic Big Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, one of
the most influential spiritual and intellectual centers of the Black South; and
WHEREAS, the convergence of these histories—the remembrance of the Transatlantic Slave
Trade recognized by the United Nations, the liberating witness of the African Methodist
Episcopal Church, and the global vision articulated by Marcus Mosiah Garvey—reflects a
shared moral commitment to remembrance, justice, and the restoration of dignity to the
descendants of enslaved Africans.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES that
the members of this body honor the life and memory of Marcus Mosiah Garvey, a visionary
leader, global organizer, and champion of Black dignity whose philosophy of Pan-African
unity transformed the consciousness of people of African descent throughout the world.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Clerk of the House of Representatives is authorized
and directed to make appropriate copies of this resolution available for distribution to the
public and the press.