Marcus Garvey

Leon McCollum

Marcus Garvey (1887-1940)

A Jamaican native who emigrated to the U.S. to help build “black racial pride, economic, and cultural nationalism, and global political independence from all forms of white racist oppression and exploitation”(Natambu), Marcus Garvey was an integral influence who helped paved the way for all subsequent prominent Black Nationalist movements.

Originally Garvey’s ambitious intentions were just for the Caribbean, but, about the time he arrived in the U.S. and with influence from American Booker T. Washington’s movement, his ideas grew to span the entire black world. “Garvey’s many organizations and programs galvanized black people everywhere, from Jamaica, Trinidad and Cuba to major American urban centers such as Harlem, Chicago, and Detroit, as well as west, central, and southern Africa”(Natambu).

Of those organizations, his Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) was a shining force of his movement, spreading much of his philosophy, which came to be known as “Garveyism”, a repatriation to African ideas, which proposed for all people of African descent to return to Africa and find “Independence, peace, and prosperity in all African societies”(Natambu).

The UNIA was “originally conceived as a benevolent and fraternal reform association dedicated to racial uplift, and the establishment of education and industrial opportunities for blacks” (PBS). It did just that with the Infamous “Black Star Line”, that ultimately failed as a business venture, but stood incredibly as a symbol of pride for Black People everywhere.

SOURCES

Natambu, Kofi. (2002) Critical Lives: Malcom X. Indianopolis,IN: Marie Butler-Knight. Pgs 1-2

"People & Events: Universal Negro Improvement Association." PBS. PBS, 1999. Web. 13 Feb. 2014.