Marcus Garvey and His Legacy of Pan-Africanism

Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr. was the last of 11 children born to Marcus Garvey, Sr. and Sarah Jane Richards in Jamaica. In 1914, Garvey and Amy Ashwood (who later became his wife for a brief period of time) formed the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (U.N.I.A.) with the goal of unifying “all the Negro peoples of the world into one great body and to establish a country and government absolutely on their own.” The U.N.I.A. is the largest Pan-African movement ever. At its height, the association had between one and eleven million members worldwide, with existence in nearly 40 U.S. states domestically and over 40 countries internationally.

A devoted Pan-Africanist, Garvey aimed to unify African (black) people the world over and proposed a Back-to-Africa movement whereby Africans abroad would return to the Africa to reoccupy and redeem the continent.

Traveling to the United States in 1916, Marcus Garvey settled in Harlem, New York, where he founded the Harlem chapter of the U.N.I.A. Within a couple of years he began publishing and distributing the newspaper Negro World. Inspired by Booker T. Washington, Garvey advocated for economic development and self-sufficiency. By 1919, Marcus Garvey, Jr. established a shipping company called the Black Star Line Steamship Corporation to establish trade and commerce between Africans in North America, the Caribbean, South and Central America, Canada, and Africa. He also formed the Negroes Factories Association to manufacture marketable commodities.

In 1922, Garvey married Amy Jacques. She edited “Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey – Africa for the Africans, Volume One,” and in 1925, the second volume. The couple had two sons, Marcus Garvey, Jr., born 1931, and Julius Garvey, born 1933.

In the United States and abroad, Garvey is honored with streets, parks, and libraries named after him. In Ghana, the shipping line the Black Star Line is named in honor of Garvey, as well as the country’s national team the Black Stars. Garvey’s likeness also appears on the Jamaican 25 and 50 cent coins and 20 dollar coin. In 1980, a bust of Garvey was unveiled at the Organization of American States’ Hall of Heroes, in Washington, DC.

Garvey, who died in London June 10, 1940, was eventually re-interred at a shrine dedicated to him in the National Heroes Park in Jamaica, where he is considered a national hero.
The U.N.I.A. red, black, and green flag has been adopted as the Black Liberation Flag. The iconic flag is known under such names as the Pan-African flag, the Marcus Garvey flag, the Universal African flag, and New Afrikan Liberation flag.