WASHINGTON — 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.

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

President Joe Biden posthumously pardoned Marcus Garvey, the influential Black nationalist who inspired leaders like Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Civil rights advocates and lawmakers have long said that Mr. Garvey’s 1923 conviction for mail fraud was unjust, arguing that he was targeted for his work.

Also receiving pardons were advocates for immigrant rights, criminal justice reform and gun violence prevention.

KINGSTON, Jamaica - Former Prime Minister P.J. Patterson has congratulated outgoing United States President Joe Biden for his decision to grant a posthumous pardon to Jamaica's National Hero and Pan-African visionary Marcus Mosiah Garvey.

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

President Biden issued a handful of pardons in his final full day in office, granting clemency to individuals who he said have “made significant contributions to improving their communities” as the sun sets on his presidency.