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, ONH (17 August 1887 ± 10 June 1940) was a Jamaican publisher,
journalist, entrepreneur, and orator who was a staunch proponent of the Black Nationalism and
Pan-Africanism movements, to which end he founded the Universal Negro Improvement
Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL).

Prior to the twentieth century, leaders such as Prince Hall, Martin Delany, Edward Wilmot
Blyden, and Henry Highland Garnet advocated the involvement of the African diaspora in
African affairs. Garvey was unique in advancing a Pan-African philosophy to inspire a global
mass movement and economic empowerment focusing on Africa known as Garveyism.
Promoted by the UNIA as a movement of ‘
 
 , Garveyism would eventually
inspire others, ranging from the Nation of Islam to the Rastafari movement (which proclaims
Garvey as a prophet). The intent of the movement was for those of African ancestry to "redeem"
Africa and for the European colonial powers to leave it. His essential ideas about Africa were
stated in an editorial in the 

 titled ³African Fundamentalism´ where he wrote:

Our union must know no clime, boundary, or nationality« let us hold together under
‰ all climes and in every country« 


 
EARLY YEAR

Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr. was born in St. Ann's Bay, Jamaica to Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Sr., a
mason, and Sarah Jane Richards, a domestic worker. Of eleven siblings, only Marcus and his
sister Indiana survived until maturity. Garvey's father was known to have a large library, and it
was from his father that Marcus gained his love for reading. Sometime in 1900, Garvey entered
into an apprenticeship with his uncle, Alfred Burrowes, who also had an extensive library, of
which young Marcus made good use.

Garvey attended elementary schools in St Ann's Bay and the Church of England high school in
Jamaica until he was about fourteen, he left St Ann's Bay for Kingston, where he found
employment as a compositor in the printing house of P. A. Benjamin, Limited. He was a master
printer and foreman at Benjamin when, in November 1907, he was elected vice-president of the
Kingston Union. However, he was fired when he joined a strike by printers in late 1908. Having
been blacklisted for his stance in the strike, he later found work at the Government Printing
Office. In 1909, his newspaper [ 
 began publication, but it only lasted for three
issues.

In 1910 Garvey left Jamaica and began traveling throughout the Central American region. He
lived in Costa Rica for several months, where he worked as a time-keeper on a banana
plantation. He began work as editor for a daily newspaper titled   in 1911. Later that
year, he moved to Colón, Panama, where he edited a biweekly newspaper before returning to
Jamaica in 1912. After years of working on the Caribbean, Garvey left Jamaica to live in London
from 1912 to 1914, where he attended Birkbeck College taking classes in Law and Philosophy,
worked for the ‘
[
 
, published by Dusé Mohamed Ali, and
sometimes spoke at Hyde Park's Speakers' Corner. It is said that Dusé Mohamed Ali influence
shaped Garvey's speeches, and led him to organize the Universal Negro Improvement
Association (UNIA) in Jamaica in 1914 (Vincent, 1971). It has been suggested that the UNIA
motto, "One God, One Aim, One Destiny", originated from Dusé Ali's Islamic influence on
Garvey (Rashid, 2002).

During his travels, Garvey became convinced that uniting Blacks was the only way to improve
their condition. Towards that end, he departed England on 14 June 1914 aboard the S.S. Trent,
reaching Jamaica on 15 July 1914. He founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association
(UNIA) in August 1914 as a means of uniting all of Africa and its diaspora into "one grand racial
hierarchy". Amy Ashwood, who would later be Garvey's first wife, was among the founders. As
the group's first President-General, Garvey's goal was "to unite all people of African ancestry of
the world to one great body to establish a country and absolute government of their own."
Garvey named the organization the  

 




  
 
 

  . At the National Conference of the Universal Negro
Improvement Association in 1921, a Los Angeles delegate named Noah Thompson spoke on the
floor complaining on the lack of transparency in the group's financial accounts. When accounts
were prepared Thompson highlighted several sections with what he felt were irregularities.]

After corresponding with Booker T. Washington, Garvey arrived in the U.S. on 23 March 1916
aboard the S.S. [ to give a lecture tour and to raise funds to establish a school in Jamaica
modeled after Washington's Tuskegee Institute. Garvey visited Tuskegee, and afterward, visited
with a number of Black leaders. After moving to New York, he found work as a printer by day.
He was influenced by Hubert Harrison. At night he would speak on street corners, much like he
did in London's Hyde Park. It was then that Garvey perceived a leadership vacuum among
people of African ancestry. On 9 May 1916, he held his first public lecture in New York City at
St Mark's Church in-the-Bowery and undertook a 38-state speaking tour. In May 1917, Garvey
and thirteen others formed the first UNIA division outside Jamaica and began advancing ideas to
promote social, political, and economic freedom for Blacks. On 2 July, the East St. Louis riots
broke out. On 8 July, Garvey delivered an address, titled "The Conspiracy of the East St. Louis
Riots", at Lafayette Hall in Harlem. During the speech, he declared the riot was "one of the
bloodiest outrages against mankind". By October, rancor within the UNIA had begun to set in. A
split occurred in the Harlem division, with Garvey enlisted to become its leader; although he
technically held the same position in Jamaica.

Garvey next set about the business of developing a program to improve the conditions of those of
African ancestry "at home and abroad" under UNIA auspices. On 17 August 1918, publication of
the widely distributed 

 newspaper began. Garvey worked as an editor without pay
until November 1920. By June 1919 the membership of the organization had grown to over two
million. On 27 June 1919, the Black Star Line of Delaware was incorporated by the members of
the UNIA, with Garvey as President. By September, it obtained its first ship. Much fanfare
surrounded the inspection of the S.S. 

 and its rechristening as the S.S.

 

  on 14 September 1919. Such a rapid accomplishment garnered attention from many.
Edwin P. Kilroe, Assistant District Attorney in the District Attorney's office of the County of
New York, began an investigation into the activities of the UNIA, but apparently didn't find any
evidence of wrongdoing or mismanagement. After being called to Kilroe's office numerous
times, Garvey wrote an editorial on Kilroe's activities for the 

 . Garvey was arrested
and indicted for criminal libel in relation to the article, but charges were dismissed after Garvey
published a retraction. While in his Harlem office at 56 West 156th Street on 14 October 1919,
Garvey received a visit from George Tyler, who told him that Kilroe "had sent him" to get
Garvey. Tyler then pulled a .38-caliber revolver and fired four shots, wounding Garvey in the
right leg and scalp. Garvey was taken to the hospital and Tyler arrested. The next day, it was let
out that Tyler had committed suicide by leaping from the third tier of the Harlem jail as he was
being taken to his arraignment. By August 1920, the UNIA claimed four million members. That
month, the International Convention of the UNIA was held. With delegates from all over the
world in attendance, over 25,000 people filled Madison Square Garden on 1 August 1920 to hear
Garvey speakAnother of Garvey's ventures was the Negro Factories Corporation. His plan called
for creating the infrastructure to manufacture every marketable commodity in every big U.S.
industrial center, as well as in Central America, the West Indies, and Africa. Related endeavors
included a grocery chain, restaurant, publishing house, and other businesses.