Carty Publishes Garvey Genealogy Book
Cultural genealogist Selena Carty releases a 412-page hardback tracing the family history of Marcus Moziah Garvey.
Updated on Nov. 3, 2026 in Reggae
Cultural genealogist Selena Carty has published Legacy & Lineage of Marcus Moziah Garvey, a 412-page full-colour hardback drawing on archival records from Jamaica, Britain, the United States, and Canada. The book includes family trees, letters, writings, and marriage, birth, and death records relating to Marcus Garvey, Amy Ashwood Garvey, and Amy Jacques Garvey.
Why it matters
The book brings together documentary records on the family of a central figure in Pan-African and Caribbean political history, many of which have rarely been published. Carty's work began after meeting Dr. Julius W. Garvey inside Liberty Hall in Kingston, Jamaica.
The book's content rests on archival records of marriage, birth, and death certificates, including Marcus Garvey's death certificate, which Carty showed to his son in 2023 for the first time. The 104-year-old New York annulment records relating to Marcus Garvey and Amy Ashwood Garvey are among the rarer materials included, though the extraction does not state whether additional archives remain unsearched.
The players
Selena Carty
Selena Carty is a cultural genealogist who researched and authored Legacy & Lineage of Marcus Moziah Garvey.
Marcus Moziah Garvey
Marcus Garvey was a Jamaican-born political leader and Pan-Africanist who founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and died in London in 1940.
Tavares Strachan
Tavares Strachan is a Bahamian contemporary artist whose 2023 work The First Supper (Galaxy Black) is featured on the book's limited edition.
The details
The limited edition features The First Supper (Galaxy Black), a 2023 work by Bahamian artist Tavares Strachan. Carty's research spanned archives in Jamaica, Britain, the United States, and Canada to assemble the book's genealogical content.
Timeline
1940: Marcus Garvey dies in London.
2023: Carty shows Garvey's death certificate to his son, who had never seen it.
November 3, 2026: Legacy & Lineage of Marcus Moziah Garvey is published.
Roadmap
The book extends documentary attention beyond the public political legacy of Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association into his personal and family history. It places reggae's Jamaican and diaspora roots within a longer archival record of Pan-African thought.
Readers interested in Garvey's family history can access the 412-page hardback, which includes a limited edition with Tavares Strachan's artwork. The archival records offer a documented resource for those researching Caribbean and Pan-African genealogy.
The takeaway
Archival documents such as death and annulment certificates can reshape how a historical figure's private life is understood. Readers researching family history may find that original records often reveal details absent from published biographies.
Further reading
Explore more on Reggae for the broader Jamaican and diaspora roots connected to Garvey's legacy.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Voice Online.
