ondon to learn about the plight of the blacks elsewhere in the British Empire. He was hoping to find people who could help the West Indians. In London, he met blacks from all over the world. Although he supported himself as a dockworker, he found time to attend classes in law and philosophy at Birkbeck College, a school for working class people in London. A black Egyptian editor and author, Duse Mohammed Ali, awakened his interest in Africa and its history of exploitation by European colonialists.
Garvey worked for Duse Mohammed Ali, who published the African Times and Orient Review, as a messenger for the journal. This allowed Garvey to continue his education and meet the leading spokesmen of the international black community, many of whom wrote for the paper.
A year before the outbreak of World War I, Garvey took a break from his work and traveled all over Europe. He finally decided his life's mission after reading the autobiography of Booker T. Washington, Up From Slavery.
A former slave, Washington espoused the philosophy that black people s
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