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Marcus Mosiah Garvey ( August 17, 1887 - June 10, 1940) was a publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and international crusader for black nationalism. Garvey led the largest organized mass movement of people of African ancestry of all time. Garvey has come to be best remembered as a champion of the (so-called) "back-to-Africa" movement. In reality he built what was actually a movement seeking to inspire all people of African ancestry to "redeem" Africa, and for the European colonial powers to leave Africa. In his own words, "I have no desire to take all black people back to Africa, there are blacks who are no good here and will likewise be no good there". Although Garvey was raised Methodist, he was himself a Roman Catholic Christian.
He was elected Provisional President of Africa during a convention of the organization he founded, the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League. The convention of 1920 was a watershed event for both Garvey and the UNIA-ACL. Garvey was unanimously elected by the conventioneers as "Provisional President of Africa" on August 18th. It was primarily a ceremonial position. It was so mainly because of the fact that his could only be a " government-in-exile" for several reasons. First, that the colonial powers of Africa did not recognise his authority. Second, although a citizen of Jamaica, which was a British colony at the time, he was not granted a visa to go to any part of Africa, not even the other British colonies. Third, even after embarking upon the Liberia Program , the colonial governments saw his presence in Liberia as a threat to colonial rule. France, Britain, and the other participants of the Berlin ConferenceFor the Cold War conference see Berlin Conference of 1954. The Berlin Conference of 1884- 85 regulated European colonisation and trade in Africa. Its outcome, the General Act of the Berlin Conference is often seen as the formalisation of the Scramble for pressured Liberia to sever all ties to the efforts of Garvey in that country.
Marcus Mosiah Garvey was born in St. Ann's Bay , the capital of St. Ann, JamaicaSaint Ann Jamaica (2001 population 168,726), is a parish located in the northern part of Jamaica and is north west of Kingston. Its total land area is 1,212. 6 square kilometers. Ann is one of the 14 parishes of Jamaica. Its capital is Saint Ann's Bay.. He was the youngest of his father's 11 children, nine of whom died in childhood. Garvey attended infant and elementary schools in St. Ann's Bay and was a bright student. He also received private tuition from his godfather Mr. Alfred Burrowes , who ran a printery. At 14, Garvey was apprenticed to Mr. Burrowes to learn the printing trade.
Young Garvey inherited a love of books from his father, a skilled mason, who was widely read and had a private library. This love was further encouraged during his apprenticeship as Mr. Burrowes also had an extensive book collection of which Marcus, by now an avid reader, made full use. He also came into contact with the many persons who stopped at the printery to discuss politics and social affairs with Mr. Burrowes. Thus began his lifelong interest in politics and social affairs.
Although born in Jamaica, he lived for years in New York CitySkyline, with Statue of Liberty New York, New York" redirects here. For alternate meanings, see New York, New York (disambiguation). New York — officially named City of New York and often called New York City to distinguish it from the state of New York,, the CaribbeanThe Caribbean or the West Indies is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. These islands curve southward from the bottom tip of Florida to the Northwest of Venezuela in South America. There are at least 7000 islands, islets, reefs and cayes in the regio and LondonLondon is the capital of the United Kingdom and of England, and with over seven million inhabitants in the Greater London area, is the second-most populous conurbation in Europe (after Moscow). From being Londinium the capital of the Roman province of Bri. Around 1906Events January 8 Landslide in Haverstraw, New York kills 20 January 31 Earthquake in Ecuador (8. 6 in Richter scale) February 11 Pope Pius X publishes the encyclical Vehementer nos''. February 15 Representatives of the Labour Representation Committee in t Garvey left St. Ann's Bay for KingstonKingston (population 600,000) is the capital of Jamaica, in the southeast of the country, settled in a natural harbour, protected by the Palisadoes, a long sandspit which connects Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the i in search of brighter prospects. He worked at first with a maternal uncle, then moved on to P.A. Benjamin Limited where he worked as a compositor in the printing section. By the age of 20, in 1907Events January events January 6 Maria Montessori opens her first school and daycare center for working class children in Rome Casa dei Bambini in San Lorenzo). January 14 An earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica kills more than a 1,000 January 23 Charles Curtis, he had become an excellent printer and foreman at this company. His first experience in labour organization came with a strike in late 1908 when printers, represented by the Typographical Union, went on strike for better wages. Garvey joined the strike in spite of his being offered increased wages. The strike was unsuccessful and Garvey lost his job. As he was blacklisted he was unable to find a job in a private printery but found employment at the Government Printing Office.
Garvey left Jamaica to work in Costa Rica as a time-keeper on a banana plantation, in about 1910. As he observed the conditions under which his fellow blacks worked, Garvey became determined to change the lives of his people. He left Costa Rica and travelled throughout Central America, working and observing the working conditions of blacks throughout the region.
He visited the Panama Canal Zone and saw the conditions under which the West Indians lived and worked. He went to Ecuador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Colombia and Venezuela. Everywhere, blacks were experiencing great hardships.
Garvey returned to Jamaica, distressed at the situation in Central America, and appealed to Jamaica's colonial government to help improve the plight of West Indian workers in Central America. His appeal fell on deaf ears.
In 1912, Garvey went to London, again working and observing the conditions of blacks in other parts of the British Empire. There, he learnt a lot about African culture and also became interested in the conditions of blacks in the United States.
Garvey's journalistic experience began with a newspaper called The Watchman which he started in 1910 while still employed at P.A. Benjamin Limited. This newspaper was short-lived and was succeeded by others, also of short life spans, which Garvey published during his early Central American travels:
The most successful and important paper was the weekly Negro World , which ran from 1918 to 1933, in Harlem. The paper promoted Garvey's nationalist ideals and was an avenue of expression for blacks during the years of the Harlem Renaissance. French and Spanish language sections were included in the paper which in August 1920, claimed a circulation of 50,000. It may have been the world's most widely distributed newspaper of its time as copies were known to have reached black people across every continent.
Garvey was also associated with other publications: The Daily Negro Times, Harlem, 1922-1924; The Blackman, Kingston, Jamaica, 1929-1931; The New Jamaican, Kingston, 1932-33; The Black Man Magazine , which was started in Kingston in 1933 and continued in England until 1939.
Garvey returned to Jamaica in 1914, stirred and ready for action. Convinced that Unity was the only way to improvement for blacks, Garvey launched, on August 1, 1914, the Universal Negro Improvement and Conservation Association and African Communities League. He was President of the association . With the motto " One God! One Aim! One Destiny! ", the association sought to unite "all the people of African ancestry of the world into one great body to establish a country and Government absolutely their own."
Among the objectives of the association, which became known as the UNIA, were:
The first headquarters of the association was located at 30 Charles Street in Kingston. Later, the association operated from the St. Mark's School, West Street until premises at 76 King Street were brought to house Kingston's Liberty Hall. UNIA offices worldwide were known as Liberty Hall.
After corresponding with Booker T. Washington during 1915, Garvey left for the United States in 1916. Unfortunately when he eventually reached the U.S., Washington had passed on. Nevertheless, Garvey went on to undertake a lecture tour of that country. However, as it turned out he resided there until 1927 when he was deported. During this period, he worked assiduously to build and consolidate the UNIA into a truly international organization.
His efforts were successful, and by 1920, the association boasted over 1,100 branches in more than 40 countries. Most of these branches were located in the United States, which had become the UNIA's base of operations. There were, however, offices in several Caribbean countries, Cuba having the most. Branches also existed in places such as Panama, Costa Rica,
Ecuador, Venezuela, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Namibia and Azania/South Africa .