Shoulders of Giants - Marcus Garvey

January 8, 2014
From the Inkwell of: Bartholomew J. Worthington III
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Born - August 17, 1887
Died - June 10, 1940

Marcus Moziah Garvey, the man who would become one of the foremost authorities on Pan Africanism was born in  St. Ann's Bay Jamaica, the youngest of 11 children. From a young age, Garvey would exhibit his spirit of activism, when, at 14, he led a strike at one of Jamaica's largest printing presses. Though the strike was unsuccessful, the effort sparked young Garvey to advocate for the rights of the working man.

At only 17, Garvey left Jamaica and traveled extensively throughout Central and South America for a few years. He worked as a newspaper editor and chronicled the struggles of West Indian migrant plantation workers. In 1911, Garvey traveled to England, where he studied at Birbeck College for a short time. It is in London that Garvey connected with other Blacks who were working towards obtaining independence from the British Empire. It was from these Black intellectuals that Garvey learned anti-colonialism and African unity.

In 1914, Garvey brought these concepts with him back to Jamaica, where he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). The stated goal of the UNIA was to unite all of African diaspora to "establish a country and absolute government of their own."

Garvey was influenced by the American educator Booker T. Washington early on, and in 1916, Garvey traveled to America to expand his work. Garvey's arrival in America coincidentally coincided with the end of World War I. This era was marked by Black soldiers returning home after fighting to "defend" a nation that they would soon discover, was still resistant to the concept of Black equality.

By 1919, Garvey and the UNIA had established the Black Star Line to transport African Americans back to Africa. The UNIA had also formed the Uegro Factories Corporation, opened a chain of restaurants, a laundry service, a hotel and a printing press. They built a chain of grocery stores, organized their own trucking company, built schools and restaurants, and had numerous real estate holdings across the nation.

From his base in Harlem, Garvey's UNIA would grow to a peak of 30 branches nationwide and boasted a membership of over 2 million members.

Garvey's fall from grace was as rapid as his rise. In 1922, after the Black Star Line ran out of money, Garvey and some of UNIA's leaders were charged with and convicted of mail fraud. Garvey would serve 2 years of his five year sentence. In 1927, his sentence was commuted by President Calvin Coolidge, and he was deported back to Jamaica as an "undesirable alien."

While Garvey would continue his work in Jamaica, he would never again achieve his earlier success. He moved to London in 1037 and continued to be  fervent advocate for Black nationalism. He died in 1940 after suffering several strokes and was buried in London. In 1964, his remains were uncovered and taken to Jamaica, where he was honored as Jamaica's first national hero.

While Garvey's UNIA and Pan African movement were short lived, it is impossible to overstate his legacy and impact. Garvey's philosophies and teachings would inspire numerous Civil Rights leaders, and serve as the catalyst for the Nation of Islam and Rastafarian movements.

3 Lessons

  1. The importance of Vision: Garvey was a visionary thinker. His mind conceived of concepts on a grand scale rarely matched since. At its height, the UNIA was the largest self-organized mass movement of African Americans. With the right vision, anything can be achieved.
  2. A moment is only as solid as its inner circle: It was ultimately the questionable business practices of Garvey's partners, inadvertent or with malice, that derailed the UNIA movement. Keep the circle solid.
  3. Build your legacy from today to last generations: One's legacy will never truly be realized in one's lifetime. Thought Garvey's best work only spanned a 3-4 year period, his accomplishments and cultural impact are still relevant to this day, 75 years after the man took his last breath.

Marcus Garvey was one of the greatest black leaders we ever had. He organized more black people than any other black leader in the world. Marcus Garvey said that black people will never become successful depending on whites or other races of people, he said that as black people we must come together and do for self. I'm going to list some of Marcus Garvey's achievements.

1. Marcus Garvey built factories, and his factories made clothes and they also made black dolls for black kids to play with.

2. He built a hotel.

3. He built a chain of grocery stores.

4. His organization had their own trucking company.

5. He built schools.

6. He built restaurants.

7. His organization had their own printing press.

8. He started 3 newspapers.

9. His main newspaper was called the Negro World, and that newspaper was published in English, Spanish and French.

10. His organization bought 3 ships and they started practicing international trade and commerce.

11. Marcus Garvey's organization owned office buildings.

12. His organization also bought an auditorium in New York, and that's where Garvey did most of his speaking and that place was called Liberty Hall.

13. By 1922 Marcus Garvey organization had 6 million members.

14. His organization had over 900 branches in 40 different countries.

15. Marcus Garvey also started his own political party, and he named it The Peoples Political Party.

16. Marcus Garvey was the first black leader to teach black people to love themselves, and be proud of their heritage.

17. Kwame Nkrumah became the first president of Ghana, and he said that Marcus Garvey was his hero and his biggest influence. Nkrumah named Ghana's shipping line the Black Star Shipping line in honor of Marcus Garvey. He also named Ghana's soccer team the Black Stars.

18. Jomo Kenyatta became the first president of Kenya, and he also said that Marcus Garvey was a major influence on him.

19. Nnamdi Azikiwe became the first president of Nigeria, and said that Marcus Garvey was a major influence on him. He said that reading Garvey's Negro World shaped his view.

20. Julius Nyerere became the first president of Tanzania, and he also said that Garvey's teachings was a major influence on him.

21. Malcolm X parents were members of Marcus Garvey organization.

22. The honorable Elijah Muhammad the leader of the Nation of Islam praised Marcus Garvey. He said that Garvey was the forerunner and laid the foundation for what the Nation of Islam is doing. He said that they are carrying on the work of Garvey.

23. Marcus Garvey said that his organization employed 1000's of people through the businesses that they created.

Marcus Garvey did all of that without any help from white people or the Government, and he did it with an 8th grade education. He did this during a time when there were no televisions or computers.

Lessons Learned

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