Jamaica’s best-known link to National Hero Marcus Garvey, Queen Mother Marianne Samad, passed away on Thursday, September 5 — only three days after celebrating her 99th birthday.
Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia Grange has expressed her sadness at her death.
In a statement, she noted, “It with sadness that I learned of the passing of Queen Mother Marianne Samad.
She was well respected and admired by Garveyites, pan-Africanists, and Rastafarians in Jamaica and those in the African diaspora; and she will be missed by all who saw her as a shining example of and link to one of Jamaica’s most beloved sons.”
Sister Samad was born in New York, United States to staunch Garveyites who raised her in keeping with Garvey’s philosophy of black self-pride, African nationalism, and economic self-reliance.
When she married Clarence Thomas, a Jamaican who had moved to the United States, she was already a member of the Garvey Legion.
DISMAYED
In 1965, she came to visit her husband’s country and was dismayed to discover that blackness had no value in the land of Garvey’s birth. She became determined to change that.
For three decades, Sister Samad made Jamaica her home and became a noted raconteur of stories of Marcus Garvey’s life and his work. She taught and lived Garveyism all her life.
“Her passing leaves a void and I offer condolences to her family and friends across the world,” Grange said in her statement.
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