Topic > Marcus Garvey – a black Moses

Garveyism was a movement far ahead of its time. Born in Jamaica, Marcus Garvey was responsible for the American black nationalist and pan-African movement in the 1920s. Garvey's mother, Sarah Jane Richardson, was a major influence in Garvey's young life, wanting more for him than to be an ordinary working man. She had huge hopes for him and spoke of greatness in his life, calling him Moses, she knew he would do great things throughout his life. As a boy in Jamaica Garvey loved to read and imagined giving speeches to mass audiences. Young Garvey had ambition and constantly imagined himself to be a great leader in the world. But his great ambition was interrupted by reality. In the community of St. Ann's Bay, Jamaica, it was mixed with blacks and whites, so the children played as they should play, without regard to the color of their skin. One of Garvey's neighbors, a little white girl, was one of her closest friends, and when they became teenagers the girl's father ended the friendship. At the age of fourteen she was sent away and told, "Never talk to him because he was a nigger." That was the first time Garvey heard and became aware of the idea of ​​what being black meant to those who were not. This left Garvey feeling left out, different, and made to feel like he wasn't good enough, so for the rest of his life he attempted to prove the world wrong and that he was just as good as anyone else in the world. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In 1910, 23-year-old Garvey set sail for Central America. He saw black workers harvesting plantations, loading ships, and building the Panama Canal. You would think that seeing these workers would give a sense of empowerment, after all, they were the ones who built and maintained the economy. Unfortunately, the truth was that by being isolated from each other they were powerless. Garvey, like Thoreau, rebelled against the shameless acts of the government to create a society in which he wanted African Americans to live. Thoreau assumed that each individual was responsible for his own life. creating the society they want to live in. Both Thoreau and Garvey believed that organizing civil movements and demonstrating civil disobedience in refusing to abide by any unjust government laws would defeat the government's unjust behaviors. However, these two citizens needed to want to see a change in the system just as they had imagined. As Garvey said: “Before you have a government you must have the people. Without the people you cannot have a government. The government must be an expression of the people." As a young man he continued to help organize and stage protests for United Fruit Company workers in Panama against their unfair working conditions. All in all, despite his skin color, Garvey felt that there was a place for every living being and neither the white man nor the government had a fairer path. Garvey knew he had to create a movement for blacks to unite and believed that white society would never accept black Americans as equals. He called for self-development and pledged the belief that African Americans should be granted financial independence from white-dominated society. He led the largest mass movement of blacks in the world. The Garvey movement was focused on self-sufficiency and the redemption of Africa. Many people summarize his movement as "The Back to Africa Movement", however, his intention was not to bring all blacks back to Africa. His goal was to bring Africa into the modern era as a global contender for power by and for blacks in Africa and the world. Here, 1977.