Busy New York Square Named for Marcus Garvey

Jamaica’s Consul General to New York, Mrs. Geneive Brown-Metzger, says the naming of the four corners of White Plains Road and Gun Hill Road in Bronx, New York, as Marcus Garvey Square, will ensure that future generations of Jamaicans remember the outstanding legacy of Jamaica’s first National Hero, the Rt. Excellent Marcus Garvey.
The Consul General was speaking at the renaming ceremony, held on Saturday, August 22.
Mrs. Brown Metzger lauded New York Councilman, Larry B. Seabrook, Chairman of the city’s Civil Rights Committee, for spearheading the drive to rename the bustling four-way intersection in downtown Bronx, where hundreds of Jamaicans live and work.

4 Dr. Julius Garvey (fifth left), son of National Hero, the Rt. Excellent Marcus Garvey, displays the street sign that was placed at the intersection of White Plains Road and Gun Hill Road, in the Bronx, New York, at a renaming ceremony, held on Saturday, August 22. At third left is Rev. Dr. Rabbi Keith Elijah Thompson and at third right is Councilman, Larry B. Seabrook, who chairs the city’s Civil Rights Committee, which spearheaded the drive to rename the busy intersection in downtown Bronx.

“In naming this the Marcus Garvey Square, Councilman Seabrook has ensured that our children will know who Marcus Garvey was and recognise the significance of his contribution to our history,” she said.
Mrs. Brown-Metzger told the gathering that “the National Hero’s legacy can be summed up in the philosophy he taught – race, pride, the need for African unity, self reliance, the need for black people to be organised and for rules to govern on behalf of the working class.”
Delivering the keynote address, Dr. Julius Garvey, son of Marcus Garvey, described his father as “a 20th Century leader who dedicated his life to educating and uniting African people across the globe.”
“As we advance into the 21st Century, we must work together and develop and grow as one united people,” he added.
In his remarks, Councilman Seabrook said the ceremony was historic for the Jamaican Diaspora and for African Americans.
“Marcus Garvey went beyond the boundaries of his native Jamaica to become a hero and inspiration to all whose lives he touched. He made a tremendous impact on the progress of Africans, African Americans and Africans in the Diaspora. He built the foundation for the movement to empower people of African heritage and it is on his shoulders that many of today’s civil rights leaders stand,” he said.
Among those attending were Chairman of the Jamaica Diaspora US-Northeast Region, Patrick Beckford; New York Assemblyman, Carl Heastie; President, Institute of the Black World 21st Century, Dr. Ron Daniels; Gordon Tapper of the United Nations and the Give Them A Hand Foundation; Dermoth Brown of the Foundation for the Exoneration of Marcus Garvey; representatives from the Jamaica Progressive League and the Jamaica Ex-Soldiers Association, New York.