The Rt. Excellent. Marcus Mosiah Garvey
Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jamaica’s first national hero and one of the greatest leaders African people have produced, was born August 17, 1887 in St. Ann's Bay, Jamaica. He spent his entire life in the service of his people. He was one of the most powerful orators on record who could literally bring his audiences to a state of mass hysteria. Garvey emphasized racial pride. His goal was the total redemption and liberation of African people all around the globe.
Marcus Garvey migrated to Kingston where he worked as a printer and later published a small paper “The Watchman”. He formed the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in 1914. Its motto was "One God, One Aim, One Destiny," and pledged itself to the redemption of Africa and to uplift Black people everywhere. He travelled throughout Central America and visited London and in 1916, Garvey was invited to the United States by Booker T. Washington to assist in establishing an industrial training school, but he arrived just after Washington died. In March 1916, shortly after landing in America, Garvey established a chapter of the Universal Negro Improvement Association.
Within a few years Marcus Garvey had become the best-known and most dynamic African leader in the Western Hemisphere and perhaps the entire world. In 1919 he created an international shipping company called the Black Star Line. By 1920 the UNIA had hundreds of divisions. It hosted elaborate international conventions and published a weekly newspaper entitled the Negro World. However, USA officials disapproved of his activities and he was imprisoned and then deported. No other organization in modern times has had the impact as the UNIA. During the 1920s UNIA divisions existed throughout North, South and Central America, the Caribbean, Africa, Europe and Australia.
