Imani Tafari-Ama | Decolonising monuments: Proposal for Amy Jacques Garvey Road

Monuments are sacred. They remind persons in a cultural space of the actions of significant people. Monuments also provide intergenerational inspiration for young and old alike to follow. Shining examples of success stories provided by the significant person who was memorialised often give hope to fellow citizens and strangers alike.

This almost sacred role of monuments and the significant relationships that they influence may transcend time and space. They also create consciousness and provide a template for deriving meaning from the object in question. This is especially true when icons represent the people in whose communities the monument resides.

However, in several locations around the world, many monuments that were created to celebrate the colonial era remain prominent on the landscape of supposedly independent countries. The Black Lives Matter movement that erupted in the United States of America (USA) in the wake of the police’s public lynching of George Floyd in 2020 drew attention to the contradiction of having images of people who were known racists remain as publicly supported icons.

The influence that monuments have on how we think and see ourselves makes the persistence of colonial landmarks in the spaces that they once violently occupied an existential travesty. Activists around the world have linked emancipation, equality, peace and justice to critical reflection on colonial monuments and the enduring legacy of their influence.

Questioning colonial monuments is not a particularly popular pastime in Jamaica today. This is not seen as a bread and butter issue. The notion of changing obvious references to the British monarchy may rankle with anti-colonial critics. The Queen’s Way for example, remains the entrenched moniker for the main avenue that takes you into The University of the West Indies (The UWI), formerly an enslavement plantation.

RACIST CIRCUMSTANCES

Speaking of street names, Lady Musgrave Road, which was named under really racist circumstances, is an eminent candidate for decolonisation. This road came into existence because Governor Sir Anthony Musgrave wanted to please his wife. Lady Jeanie Musgrave could not abide passing Devon House on Hope Road. Why? Because this fabulous piece of real estate was built and owned by George Stiebel, Jamaica’s first black millionaire. He earned his wealth as a gold miner in South America.

To appease his wife and save the day, Sir Anthony designed Lady Musgrave Road as an alternative route to get to Half Way Tree. The fact that he did this also declared his complicity with a racist approach to real estate. When Stiebel bought the 51-acre plot, including the Rectory, he acquired a section of the Golden Triangle that bordered the St Andrew Parish Church in Half Way Tree, the area that now houses King’s House on Hope Road and the British High Commission, on Trafalgar Road.

Governor Musgrave has been immortalised by the transgenerational Musgrave Medal award for Excellence in the Areas of Literature, Science and Art. This is one case when the memory of a colonial icon is endorsed because it is associated with the production of national excellence.

In light of all of this wrangled history, it would be social justice to consider renaming Lady Musgrave Road in honour of someone of more relevance to the struggle of Jamaican people for self-identity assertion and liberation.

Looking through the annals of national historical figures, Amy Jacques Garvey fits this bill. Amy Jacques and her husband, Marcus Garvey, resided at 38 Lady Musgrave Road. This was verified in an interview with activist Mrs Ruth Prescott, who lived across the road from the famous couple. The interview is located at the Institute of Jamaica, also founded by Governor Musgrave.

It is not that Jacques was always the radical pro-liberation defender. On the contrary, she acknowledged that as someone of mixed race, she benefited from advantages enjoyed by brown people in colonial Jamaica. As a result, she felt ashamed when her father, George Samuel Jacques, who was a black-complexioned African, visited her at school. Her mother, Charlotte Henrietta, was biracial. From colonial times until now, colour and class have defined social identity in Jamaica.

Amy completed her education at the institution that is now St Hugh’s High School for Girls and learned to play the piano and music appreciation. She spent four years as an administrator in a law office, a skill that would later influence her work with Marcus Garvey’s global organisation.

POLITICAL AWAKENING

Ms Jacques’ political awakening came when she left Jamaica in 1917 at the age of 20 to live in the USA. Her migration initiative coincided with the rise of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), the black nationalist movement founded by Marcus Garvey. After attending a UNIA rally and meeting Garvey, she had her road to Damascus revelation.

Despite the complication of Garvey being married at the time to Amy Ashwood, Amy Jacques and Marcus were irrevocably attracted to each other. Jacques worked as Garvey’s private secretary, and as a talented journalist, was responsible for editing The Negro World, the UNIA’s newspaper.

Two of the most significant contributions that Amy Jacques made to Pan African activism was compiling and publishing The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey and writing a book on Garvey and Garveyism. These texts have been invaluable resources in the struggle pinpointed by Marcus Garvey to “emancipate yourselves from mental slavery”. Amy Jacques deserves her place in history, especially in the rethinking of colonial monuments. Renaming Lady Musgrave Road Amy Jacques Garvey Road would be a step in the right direction.

Policymakers should intentionally seize opportunities to reinforce positive messages to inspire Jamaicans to be critical thinkers and problem solvers. Continuing to celebrate Lady Musgrave challenges the integrity of African people and their accomplishments. Kudos to Prime Minister Edward Seaga, who prevented the demolition of Devon House and its preservation as a National Heritage site.

Continuing to support the de facto racism of the past undermines de jure efforts to emancipate the African majority in Jamaica. The political firestorm ignited by the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica’s recent proposal to combine emancipation and independence celebrations shows that an impetus to decolonisation is as desperately needed now as when the Garveys gave their lives for this cause.

Imani Tafari-Ama, PhD, is a Pan-African advocate and gender and development specialist. Send feedback to i.tafariama@gmail.com and columns@gleanerjm.com.