Liberty Hall

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Liberty Hall - 76 King Street, Kingston
Tel:- (1 876) 948-8639

The Liberty Hall building at 76 King Street, Kingston was (at one point) Marcus Garvey's headquarters. The site has been restored to serve as a museum of the life and work of Marcus Garvey, the first man to be declared an official national hero of Jamaica. Liberty Hall is currently home to:-

The Garvey Research / Reference Library - featuring a wide range of information about the life and times of Marcus Garvey as well as volumes on African culture. The library also has a section for children.
The Garvey Multimedia Museum - This features interactive and multimedia exhibits of the life and work of Marcus Garvey. It is believed to be the first museum in the world dedicated to Marcus Garvey and the only multi-media museum in the Caribbean.
The Garvey Multimedia Computer Centre - provides members of the local community with access to computer facilities
Garvey Educational Outreach Programme - provides after-school tuition to children and basic computer literacy tuition to adults.

The role of the Liberty Hall

The Kingston Liberty Hall at 76 King Street was first opened in 1923. During this time, each division of the United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) was constitutionally required to have a "Liberty Hall". These Liberty Halls served many functions, including:

Being the administrative centre of the UNIA division
A venue for political meetings
A co-operative bank
A place where employment opportunities were advertised
A venue for general cultural and social activities arranged by the UNIA

There were over 1,000 Liberty Halls worldwide in the 1930s

History of the Liberty Hall in Kingston

The Kingston Liberty Hall was opened in July 1923, it was one of many in Jamaica at the time. When Marcus Garvey was deported from the USA to Jamaica in 1927, the Kingston Liberty Hall became the worldwide headquarters of the UNIA. The activities of the UNIA soon outgrew the space of the Kingston Liberty Hall and in 1929, Garvey moved to a new headquarters at Edelwiess Park on Slipe Road in St Andrew.

The building on King Street was sold by the UNIA in 1929. It served several purposes in subsequent years including a boxing gym and a garage. However, over time, the building fell in to a state of disrepair. The building was purchased by the Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT) in 1987 and was carefully restored with the support of:

The Friends of Liberty Hall
The Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture and
The Institute of Jamaica

The Kingston Liberty Hall was reopened to the public in October 2003.

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