Marcus Garvey

Black nationalist, writer and publisher Marcus Garvey was the founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) and a staunch advocate of Pan-Africanism, a movement and philosophy which seeks to unify and uplift native Africans and those of the African diaspora. Garvey is considered to be a hero in his native Jamaica.

Fast Facts

1. Born: August 17, 1887 in Jamaica
2. Founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association
3. Influenced by Booker T. Washington
4. Occupation: Publisher, Journalist
5. Died: June 10, 1940 in London

Timeline

• August 17, 1887: Born
• 1918: Distribution of Negro World newspaper began
• 1919: Shot by a contracted killer under hire of Assistant District Attorney Edwin P. Kilroe
• 1920: Begins a development program in Liberia
• 1923: Sentenced to five years in prison for mail fraud,
• 1927: Charges commuted by Calvin Coolidge; Garvey is released and deported
• June 10, 1940: Died

Assassination Attempt

In 1919, Garvey's UNIA, which promoted economic, as well as socio-political, freedom for people of economic descent, incorporated their Black Star Line and obtained their first ship. The S.S. Yarmouth was rechristened the S.S. Frederick Douglass. This drew the suspicious of Assistant District Attorney Edwin P. Kilgore who investigated UNIA for evidence of wrongdoing. Garvey printed an editorial in his publication Negro World documenting Kilgore's activities. Kilgore had Garvey arrested for libel, but the charges were dismissed. Kilgore then sent an assassin after Garvey. Garvey was only wounded in the shooting.

Garveyism

Garveyism is an an aspect of Black Nationalism that has inspired a wide-raning number of Afro-centric organizations and movements including the Nation of Islam and the Rastafari movement. The tenants of Garveyism are: race first; self-reliance; nationhood.

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