e will be sections of the Garvey Movement and UNIA's involvement with Communism and the contributions to African liberation. Garvey's support of and help with the social and political advancement of Jamaica will be discussed, as will a basic overview of Garvey's major philosophical and political writings. Finally, the paper will conclude with an analysis of the Garvey Movement and the legacy of Garvey and Garveyism.
Marcus Mosiah Garvey was born on August 17, 1887 in the northern seaport of St. Ann's Bay, Jamaica. Marcus' father had at least ten children from this and previous marriages, but Marcus' mother, Sarah Jane Richards, was Marcus' father's last wife. The father, Garvey Sr., was a stone and brick mason by trade and also a deacon of the local Methodist Church and the so-called "village lawyer" for the poor in St. Ann's. Marcus' father was a rather learned man, and some of Marcus' love of reading and persistence in the face of adversity seen to have come from his father.3
Marcus' parents were of quite different personalities; his mother a devout Christian with more empathy than her station and circumstances would permit, and his father, a stern taskmaster who believed in determination of beliefs who insisted his wife refer to him as "Mr. Garvey."4 By the time Marcus was in his teens, his father had quarreled with several townspeople and lost, and had become increasingly morose and withdrawn. His mother focused her energies on the children, and baked cakes and boiled confectionery for sale in order to make the household expenses.
Garvey attended elementary school in St. Ann's at the local Methodist church. He apparently was always an exemplary student and placed high in reading. His first major lesson in racism came at the age of fourteen, when a friend's parents forcibly separated them because of a difference in color. In fact, one of the characteristics of colonialism was the separation of the races. Both ...