He taught us that “Black is Beautiful!” and his name is still heard in the hums and ha’s of reggae, jazz, and blues music. Lauryn Hills sings about “how they sold Marcus Garvey for rice” and one gets curious about his story. His legacy lives in the colors of the Black Liberation Flag, the Flag of Ghana, and he was named one of 100 Greatest African-Americans by black scholar Molefi Kete Asante. The story of Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr. deserves special attention during Black History Month. He was the man who is said to have inspired the greatest mass movement of people with African descent and his lasting legacy is evidence of that.
Who he was:
Marcus Garvey was born in St. Ann’s Bay Jamaica on August 17, of 1887. His father was a mason and his mother was a farmer. From his youth, Garvey’s love for reading was fed by his father and uncle’s vast book collection. Garvey worked as an apprentice while in Jamaica and later served as the vice-president of a Kingston Printing Union. At that time he was a master printer at P.A. Benjamin Limited. Garvey’s post as vice-president ended in termination because of his affiliation with a workers’ strike in 1908. At the age of 21, Garvey was partaking in strikes which was a foreshadowing of his future of strikes, rebellion, and organizing groups of the downtrodden. Garvey’s first newspaper The Watchman was published in 1910 but only successfully printed three issues. This small set-back was not enough to hinder Garvey. In surveying the details of his life, one may infer that Garvey was not so easily moved by oppression or setbacks. Rather, these obstacles set him on different courses to discover different destinies.
At the age of 23, Garvey began traveling Central America. In Costa Rica, Garvey served as a time keeper on a banana plantation. Garvey returned to working with the press when he began working for La Nacionale in 1911. He also worked for the press in Colon, Panama later in 1911 before returning to Jamaica. From the years of 1912-1914, Garvey lived in London and was educated at Birkbeck College where he worked for the African Times and Orient Review.
The travels of Marcus Garvey exposed him to the African diaspora in the Caribbean and in Europe. Because of his personal experience, Garvey was convinced that in order to secure the success of blacks, they would need to be unified. On this premise, Garvey founded the UNIA the Universal Negro Improvement Association. This association headlined a Pan-African movement with the intention of creating a mass movement of blacks returning to their homeland of Africa. This initiative, commonly known as Garvey-ism, tried to establish black institutions in Liberia to “redeem Africa and for European powers to leave it.”
Back to Africa
Garvey’s idea was needless to say incredibly lofty. It was supported and unsupported by various individuals. Although, by August of 1920, UNIA had four million registered members and supporters. On August 1, 1920, Madison Square Garden was packed with over 25,000 people to hear Garvey speak at his International Convention of the UNIA that hosted world-wide delegates. 1920 was also the year that Garvey’s Liberia program breathed its first breath. In Garvey’s sight, Liberia would provide a home for blacks complete with universities, factories, industrial plants and railroads. The Black Star Line was the convoy of ships that would usher blacks back to their homeland. The first ship was the S.S. Yarmouth which saw its first voyage in 1919. Garvey’s Black Star Line was far more than a collection of ships. Rather, it symbolized a promotion of black trade, black entrepreneurship and success. Unfortunately, due to corruption, dissatisfied workers, and accounting errors, the Black Star Line was not a successful endeavor of Garvey.
The Bureau of Investigation:
No story of greatness is complete without the element of back handed opposition and Dick Tracey-like investigations. Garvey was not the exception to this standard. Before the dawning of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Investigation was the general intelligence agency of the United States of America. The case of Garvey was the twinkle in the eye of future investigations into black leaders by federal agencies. J. Edgar Hoover was the special assistant of the Attorney General of the BOI. Hoover, who was the same culprit in the COINTELPRO operative who deemed the Black Panthers the most lethal threat to US internal security, wrote a memo on October 11, 1919 regarding Garvey. Because of this letter, an investigation into Garvey began in November of 1919, a month later.
Getting rid of Garvey:
The BOI wanted to deport Garvey as “an undesirable alien”. In order to achieve that, Garvey was charged of mail fraud involving his Black Star Line. The US Postal Service was in cahoots with the BOI in this investigation, and postal employees lied under oath and perjured themselves in this case against Garvey. The ground of the argument presented by the BOI was that the Black Star Line did not produce a ship named the Phillis Wheatley although that ship was portrayed on brochures and mailings to UNIA members. The ship possessed by the Black Star Line was still labeled the Orion. A misnomer sent Garvey to jail though he was not accompanied by the other four members of the Black Star Line who were also accused of mail fraud. This was a blatant demonstration that the BOI was after Garvey and Garvey alone.
Amongst his contemporaries:
Though Garvey inspired the greatest mass movement of blacks towards unity, he was not lauded amongst all of his black scholarly contemporaries. Specifically, W.E.B. Du Bois, a fellow Caribbean-American was not a Garvey fan. Du Bois accused Garvey of undermining his work with advancing blacks in America. Garvey labeled Du Bois a white man’s negro, a mulatto, a Dutch etc…Suffice it is to conclude that these two black leaders did not share a cohesive bond intellectually. This problem with Du Bois led to poor relations with N.A.A.C.P.
Garvey and the KKK:
What seems most shocking about Garvey’s politics aside from his radical idea of taking people back to Africa, was his dealings with the Klu Klux Klan. Garvey attended a KKK conference in Atlanta, GA with Edward Young Clark. This camaraderie with a group clearly set on destroying blacks raised eyebrows in the black community. Garvey’s reasoning for this communication with the KKK was that he enjoyed their sincerity and honesty. He found their unquestionable loathing of blacks more acceptable than friendly acting double faced whites. Although his explanation seems logical, this collusion was indeed a major blow to his political clout with other black leaders at the time.
Garvey’s alignment with white supremacists did not stop with this meeting with the KKK. In 1937, the white supremacists and segregation supporting Mississippi senator Theodore Bilbo proposed to the US Congress a bill that was called the Greater Liberia Act. As part of Roosevelt’s New Deal, Bilbo proposed an amendment to the federal work relief program that would federally fund the shipping of blacks back to Africa in order to relive the unemployment rate that was haunting America at the time. Theodore Bilbo’s ideas were spelled out in his book: Take your choice Separation or Mongrelization. The Peace Movement of Ethiopia was a group of Garvey supporters that collaborated with Bilbo on this bill. Garvey’s response is jaunting as well as he notes that Bilbo had “done wonderfully for the Negro”.
Marcus Garvey’s influence amongst the black movement towards Pan-African philosophy has been somewhat lost but is now remembered. The colors of the black liberation flag are black for the people, red for the blood shed for freedom, and green for the natural wealth of Africa. This flag that flies in African-American homes is the official flag of Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association. Ghana’s country flag is graced with a black star in the middle of it. This star pays special tribute to Garvey’s Black Star Line. Kwame Nkrumal of Ghana named the national soccer team the Black Stars and named the national shipping company the Black Star Line.
Rastafarian’s are a particular group that recognize the influence of Garvey. To the Rastafarian’s, Garvey was prophet who prophesied the reign of Haile Salessi I of Ethiopia. Garvey is also recognized as a prophet by the Afro-Athlican pro-rasta movement. Correlations to Garvey as a religious deity or with some sort of religious calling are seen in his being labeled the Black Moses (like Harriet Tubman). Some even think Garvey is the reincarnation of St. John the Baptist.
Whether he is thought of in a religious rite or otherwise, Marcus Garvey is important to black history. The symbolic use of ships to take people back to Africa unties to the psychological rope that ensnares blacks as they recall being brought to America in chains aboard slave ships. His vision may have failed practically, but the germination of the ideas of liberation and mass organizing began with Garvey. Questions to consider while analyzing Garvey’s plans are how well would African-Americans have assimilated into African culture? After all, the language, culture, and custom of the motherland of Africa were lost by the 1920’s to the average black American. When brought to Africa, blacks would face an entirely new assimilation process. Would Liberians except blacks as true Africans? Or, would be blacks be considered American-Africans there? This curious existence of blacks as not quite African and not quite American have baffled intellectuals throughout the ages. If the Black Star Line was successful and Garvey was not eventually deported back to Jamaica, what would America look like now?
Other Posts by Eryn on Black History Month:
Black History’s Leading Literary Lady
The Black Panther Party For Self Defense
Intelligence of Interference? COINTELPRO and the Black Panther Party
“How they sold Marcus Garvey for rice”-LH
Yes you’re a woman…just a different kind
Vote to Discontinue Black History Month
Where’s my Forty Acres and a Mule
Too black to be white, too white to be black
I don’t date outside my species!
4 Comments
Liberian, Edward Wilmot Blyden has been called the Father of Pan-Africanism. So Garvey was late to the party and he arrived as a clown.
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Although Marcus Garvey may not have been the father of the Pan-Africanism idea, he certainly raised alot of money, support, and attempted to live out the idea in a major way. His vision was followed up by what some identify as “crazy or lunatic” actions. W.E.B. DuBois accused Garvey of either being part of the KKK or just crazy. But, Garvey inspired a movement of black people that wasn’t outdone by even the Civil Rights Movement. I think that the imporant thing to keep in mind while we study Marcus Garvey is the time in which his efforts took place. During the roaring 20’s of US history, abundance and wealth were to be had. (I.E. The Great Gatspy written by F.Scott Fitzgerald)
Even though in hindsight, we can criticize Garvey’s methods of dream fulfillment, the fact that he inspired so many blacks during the early 20th century is remarkable no matter how its done. He still got the ball rolling towards a movement towards liberation that was picked up by people like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcom X, and others.
One interesting element of Garvey’s story is how he inspired the masses. This is because he was a great orator. Blacks wanted to have a place of their own, where they could be prosperous without worries of race riots and flames. (See Burning Black Wall Street, 1921). It’s easy to examine the movement with disdain now, but I still think his endeavor was noteworthy. Obviously, plenty of others do as well since he’s a national hero in Jamaica and remembered worldwide.
Thank you for reading.
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Very enlightening article. Marcus Garvey was also a catlylist for Malcom X’s father Earl, who preached this idea of returning to Africa, which no doubt inspired Malcom X. While at the time, this might have seemed one logical response, to return to Africa. But is this still a popular response now?
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Kelly,
This depends on what group of people you ask. As an African-American, I would be interested in visiting Africa and potentially staying for a period of time, but the US is home to me. I think most African-Americans feel this way. Especially as I said in the article, the customs, culture, and language of the Mother Land have been lost for centuries now. We would have to re assimilate into an entirely new society which would in effect set us back a few steps once we got to a country like Liberia or elsewhere. However, Rastafarian’s have a stronger sense and tie to Africa.
See
http://www.earthcultureroots.com/rastafarism.html
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