Friday Feature
MARCUS GARVEY-
Jamaica
Civil rights
activist
( 17 August 1887-
10 June 1940 )
Born in
Jamaica, Marcus Garvey was an orator for the Black Nationalism and
Pan-Africanism movements, to which end he founded the Universal Negro
Improvement Association and African Communities League. Garvey advanced a
Pan-African philosophy which inspired a global mass movement, known as
Garveyism. Garveyism would eventually inspire others, from the Nation of Islam
to the Rastafari movement.
Early Life
Social activist Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr.
was born on August 17, 1887, in St. Ann's Bay, Jamaica. Self-educated, Garvey
founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association, dedicated to promoting
African-Americans and resettlement in Africa. In the United States he launched
several businesses to promote a separate black nation. After he was convicted
of mail fraud and deported back to Jamaica, he continued his work for black
repatriation to Africa.
Marcus Mosiah Garvey was the last of 11
children born to Marcus Garvey, Sr. and Sarah Jane Richards. His father was a
stone mason, and his mother a domestic worker and farmer. Garvey, Sr. was a
great influence on Marcus, who once described him as "severe, firm,
determined, bold, and strong, refusing to yield even to superior forces if he
believed he was right." His father was known to have a large library,
where young Garvey learned to read.
At age 14, Marcus became a printer's
apprentice. In 1903, he traveled to Kingston, Jamaica, and soon became involved
in union activities. In 1907, he took part in an unsuccessful printer's strike
and the experience kindled in him a passion for political activism. Three years
later, he traveled throughout Central America working as an newspaper editor
and writing about the exploitation of migrant workers in the plantations. He
later traveled to London where he attended Birkbeck College (University of
London) and worked for the African Times and Orient Review, which
advocated Pan-African
Founding the United Negro Improvement
Association
Inspired by these
experiences, Marcus Garvey returned to Jamaica in 1912 and founded the
Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) with the goal of uniting all of
African diaspora to "establish a country and absolute government of their
own." After corresponding with Booker T. Washington, the American educator
who founded Tuskegee Institute, Garvey traveled to the United States in 1916 to
raise funds for a similar venture in Jamaica. He settled in New York City and
formed a UNIA chapter in Harlem to promote a separatist philosophy of social,
political, and economic freedom for blacks. In 1918, Garvey began publishing
the widely distributed newspaper Negro World to convey his
message.
By 1919, Marcus Garvey
and UNIA had launched the Black Star Line, a shipping company that would
establish trade and commerce between Africans in America, the Caribbean, South
and Central America, Canada and Africa. At the same time, Garvey started the
Negros Factories Association, a series of companies that would manufacture
marketable commodities in every big industrial center in the Western hemisphere
and Africa.
In August 1920, UNIA
claimed 4 million members and held its first International Convention at
Madison Square Garden in New York City. Before a crowd of 25,000 people from
all over world, Marcus Garvey spoke of having pride in African history and
culture. Many found his words inspiring, but not all. Some established black
leaders found his separatist philosophy ill-conceived. W.E.B. Du Bois, a
prominent black leader and officer of the N.A.A.C.P. called Garvey, "the
most dangerous enemy of the Negro race in America." Garvey felt Du Bois
was an agent of the white elite.
Article sourced
from: http://www.biography.com/people/marcus-garvey-9307319
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