For this research project, I was assigned to find out about Marcus Garvey. At first I could not associate the man with the WWI era but when i dug deeper, I found out that he was the founder and the leader of the United Negro Improvement Association (UNIS) which is considered to be the broadest mas movement in African American history. After finding out about that, I became more interested in the topic and my mindset changed from having to write about a boring topic into writing something about someone that means so much to a group of people and wondered what would life be like if it weren't for brave men like Marcus Garvey.
To understand a man, we need to understand his past. So let's start with who Marcus Garvey really is and where he came from. In the
BBC article, I found out about Marcus's early life. He was born on August 17th, 1887. The youngest of 11 kids! he quickly picked up a passion for books in his dads library. Being born in Jamaica, Garvey had to start working by the age of 14 and this is where his leadership skills first kicked in. He was working for a Printer and led the strike for higher wages. The next few years, Garvey traveled all over South America along with England and came across much violence and hatred against the blacks! This is why, after he got back to Jamaica, he started out on his project.
According to this
AVL source, when Garvey finally started his UNIS, it got the attention of all blacks around the world and it was an instant success. This association was the indirect voice of mistreated blacks and it was helping the black man to be treated better. In no time, Garvey moved his activities into the United States. He stationed himself in Harlem and continued to work on his project from there. He was defending the men and women who went to WWI hoping to serve their country and also hoping to getting treated better once they came back from the wars assuming people would be nicer to them since they served alongside the whites. When that did not happen, Garvey stepped in and did all he could to find rights for these men and women.
After digging around for a good primary source, I came across
this letter that Garvey wrote to all black men about the black star line which helped all blacks to safely travel to Africa and back with no problems. Not only that this letter is a primary source, it shows us what kind of a person Garvey was and how he expressed his personal thoughts with everyone. His way of writing defines the man he was and shows me that he truly loved what he was doing.
Even though what Garvey did was a great thing, all good things must come to an end. in 1925 Garvey received a 5 year prison sentence for mail fraud. The US government was watching Garvey very closely according to
this source but to his luck, president Coolidge was in good terms with him and dropped the charges but had to send Garvey back to Jamaica. Without its leader, the UNIS quickly disbanded and the great depression that was around the corner did not help his cause either. He tried to reestablish the organization in 1935 but failed once more and died a forgotten man in 1940. Even though his cause finally failed, his body was moved back to Jamaica and he was declared the country's first national hero.
In conclusion, What Marcus Garvey did was a remarkable thing and inspired many blacks to pick up where he left off. It proved to me that the will of one man is all that matters if you want to change something for the good. All you have to do is believe in your cause and do what comes naturally and you will get results like Garvey did.
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