Honourable prophet Marcus Mosiah Garvey, was born on 17th August, 1887, in St Ann’s Bay, Jamaica.
He first worked as a printer and in 1906 he was elected as Vice President of the printers union.
In 1911, he moved to England to study at Birbeck College, he later went on to set up the UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Association).
He was determined to help liberate black people around the world. In 1916, Garvey headed to the USA and the first branch of the UNIA was set up stateside.
The association published newspapers and the popular ‘Negro World’ journal. By 1919 the UNIA had grown in popularity with 30 branches around the world and millions of members.
In the same year Garvey had formed the Black cross navigation and trading company and had purchased 2 steamships.
These ships were to bring black people out of the west, back to the motherland Africa. In 1920, Marcus Garvey and his wife Amy, published the first volume of his ground breaking biography, the Philosophies and Opinions of Marcus Garvey.
Marcus Garvey was a great speaker, who gathered crowds where ever he went. At the height of his career he had 12 million followers worldwide.
He published a newspaper in Jamaica called ‘The Blackman’ and even formed his own political party to stand up for the black majority who were under minority white rule at the time.
Garvey’s blue print for civil rights and black nationalism helped to influence other black leaders, in fact Malcolm X’s parents were members of the UNIA.
Garvey died on 10 June 1940 and his final residence, was 53 Talgarth Road in Hammersmith, west London, United Kingdom.
Marcus Garvey remains one of the most important people in Black History. #Africa
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