America is a country,” Pres. Joe Biden said in a statement announcing the pardon alongside four others, “built on the promise of second chances.”

Pedestrians walks through falling snow, in the New York City borough of Queens, NY, January 19, 2025. The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning with 3 to 5 inches of snow expected to fall in the city.

As his presidency winds to a close, President Biden issued a posthumous pardon for Marcus Garvey, a notable Black nationalist who inspired figures like Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, and later generations of Black Panther Party activists.

President Biden on Sunday pardoned Marcus Garvey, one of the first Black civil rights leaders, more than 80 years after Garvey’s death.

President Joe Biden on Sunday posthumously pardoned Black nationalist Marcus Garvey, who influenced Malcolm X and other civil rights leaders and was convicted of mail fraud in the 1920s. Also receiving pardons were a top Virginia lawmaker and advocates for immigrant rights,

Human rights organizations credit Garvey, who was convicted of mail fraud in 1923, as the first man to organize a mass movement among African-Americans

Marcus Garvey is viewed by many as a civil rights icon who was ostracized by his own government. Advocates are again pressing Joe Biden to rewrite history.

President Joe Biden pardons five people and commutes the sentence of two others who "made significant contributions to improving their communities."