Jamaica has announced plans to transform the St. Ann’s Bay Library into the Marcus Garvey Library and Museum, a project intended to honour the country’s first National Hero in the town where he was born.
The announcement was reported by the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) on October 13, 2026, following remarks attributed to Matthew Samuda, Minister of Water, Environment and Climate Change and Member of Parliament for St. Ann North Eastern. The JIS report connects the proposal to Samuda’s State of the Constituency Debate contribution in Parliament on October 6.
A cultural landmark in Garvey’s hometown
The existing St. Ann Parish Library is at 2 Windsor Road, St. Ann’s Bay, according to the Jamaica Library Service. The library is already connected to Garvey’s legacy: a statue of him stands on the grounds, and a Marcus Garvey Resource Centre opened at the library in 2012, with books, historical material and copies of the Negro World newspaper.
The newly announced library-and-museum proposal would give that association a more prominent institutional form. No opening date, final construction budget or completed design has been verified in the sources reviewed. The proposal should not be described as an operating museum or a completed conversion.
An existing history of heritage proposals
Efforts to develop Garvey-related heritage attractions in St. Ann are not new. The JIS reported plans in 2015 to restore his boyhood home and described a 2017 museum proposal linked to the site where he grew up. Those earlier announcements concerned heritage plans in St. Ann and should not be confused with the newly reported proposal to transform the parish library.
The latest proposal is therefore newsworthy as a specific plan involving the existing library, not as Jamaica’s first-ever discussion of a Garvey museum. Details of how it would relate to existing Garvey heritage facilities have not yet been confirmed.
What remains to be clarified
Residents, researchers and visitors will need further information about whether library services will continue during any conversion, what exhibitions are planned, who will manage the facility, and how it will be funded. Madd A Road Media has not independently confirmed any implementation schedule or formal opening.
Garvey was born in St. Ann’s Bay in 1887 and remains a central figure in Jamaican and international discussions of self-determination, publishing and diaspora history. A library-and-museum project in his hometown could become a significant place to study that legacy, provided the announced plans move forward.
