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.

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.

This historic pardon culminates a decades-long fight by Marcus Garvey’s descendants and supporters to right the wrongs of a what many regarded as a politically motivated conviction.

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

Congressional leaders had pushed for Biden to pardon Garvey, with supporters arguing that Garvey’s conviction was politically motivated and an effort to silence the increasingly popular leader who spoke of racial pride.

It's not clear whether Biden, who leaves office Monday, will pardon people who have been criticized or threatened by President-elect Donald Trump.

Garvey, one of the earliest internationally-known Black civil rights leaders, was convicted of mail fraud in 1923.