Marcus Mosiah Garvey stands out in History as one who was greatly committed to the concept of the Emancipation of minds. Garvey who was born in the parish of St. Ann, Jamaica, became famous worldwide as a leader who was courageous and eloquent in his call for improvement for Blacks.
Martin Luther King on his visit to Jamaica June 20, 1965 visited the grave of Marcus Garvey to lay a wreath out of respect for a man he said, gave N***** in the US “a sense of dignity, a “sense of person-hood, a sense of manhood, a sense of somebodiness.”
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| Martin Luther King visits Garvey’s Grave |
Marcus Garvey and his organization, the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), represent the largest mass movement in African-American history. Jamaica’s first National Hero, Garvey became a loyal leader of the Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements.
To facillitate the return to Africa that he advocated, in 1919 Garvey founded the Black Star Line, to provide transportation to Africa, and the Negro Factories Corporation to encourage black economic independence. Garvey also unsuccessfully tried to persuade the government of Liberia in West Africa to grant land on which black people from America could settle.
In 1922, Garvey was arrested for mail fraud in connection with the sale of stock in the Black Star Line, which had now failed. Although there were irregularities connected to the business, the prosecution was probably politically motivated, as Garvey’s activities had attracted considerable government attention. Garvey was sent to prison and later deported to Jamaica. In 1935, he moved permanently to London where he died on June 10, 1940. In 1964, his body was returned to Jamaica.
Excerpts
1) CaribbeanHeroesDotCom
2) GleanerJamaica
3) BBC History
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