In the 1920s, Marcus Moziah Garvey was preaching black pride, racial separation, and the resurrection of a great black empire in Africa (Toppin 302). His doctrines attracted at least a million followers, mainly Northern ghetto blacks, making him the first black leader in America with a mass following.
To understand Garvey's philosophy, it is important to know his personal history. Garvey was born in the town of St. Ann's Bay in Jamaica, British West Indies. Garvey's parents had little formal schooling, but his father was a skilled mason and avid reader. Garvey attended school, but his schooling ended when he was 14 because of the family's financial setbacks. He was then apprenticed to a printer who was his godfather, and he continued his education by reading books from his godfather's library.
Though well-read, Garvey was sensitive about his lack of extensive higher education and became antagonistic toward intellectuals of his race. He also disliked and distrusted light-skinned blacks because they joined the whites in oppressing and holding down the black masses in Jamaica's rigid color-caste system (Toppin 303). Although slavery was abolished in the British Empire in 1833, the blacks of Jamaica became free but most did not own land and lived in poverty (Lawler 18).
When he was 17, Garvey moved to the capital city of Kingston to work as a printer. He developed an interest in politics and after mastering the art of public speaking, he became a great orator. What concerned him most was that British did not care about the plight of the peasants.
During this time Garvey became a master printer. However, after being blacklisted by employers because he had become a leader of a strike in 1907, he took a job in the government printing office. In 1910, he founded a periodical, Garvey's Watchman, which failed. He then formed the National Club, a political group.
Thereafter, in order to support his interest i...