Tribute to an Afrikan King: The Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey

1. The Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey
Companion documents to this
Learning Series:
Declaration of Rights of the Negro
Peoples of the World
Constitution of the Universal Negro
Improvement Association, ,1918 RBG Communiversity
“If you have no confidence in self you are twice defeated in
the race of life. With confidence you have won even before
you have started”

2. Jamaican born nationalist leader, Marcus Garvey, attended school until he was only 14.
In 1910, he traveled to Central America. He served as the editor for the daily
newspaper, La Nacion while living in Colon, Panama.
In 1912, he returned to Jamaica, but soon left for London to attend Birbeck College.

3. When he returned to Jamaica in 1914, Garvey and Amy Ashwood co-founded the
Universal Negro Improvement and Conservation Association and African Communities
League. The association became known as the Universal Negro Improvement
Association (UNIA).

4. Through this organization, Garvey sought to organize blacks throughout the
world and create societies in Africa. He also wanted to establish an
independent black economy based on capitalism.

6. In Jamaica, the UNIA failed to attract a substantial following so Garvey came to New
York in 1916. He established branches of the UNIA throughout the northern cities. He
also began publishing his newspaper, Negro World. His publication incited
considerable attention.
In Belize and other countries, it was considered seditious and was confiscated.

7. By 1919, his following had reached 4,000,000. That same year he established the
shipping company, the Black Star Line and the Negro Factories Corporation. He also
opened a chain of restaurants, grocery stores, laundries, a hotel, and a printing press.

8. Lessons from The Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey

10. The U.S. government began to notice Garvey’s activities.
In 1919, the Bureau of Investigation started to monitor
his actions.
With the intent to eventually deport him, the bureau
began to gather evidence of his actions that related to
the Black Star Line.

11. During his peak in popularity,
in 1920, he presided over the
UNIA’s first international
convention. The convention
included delegates from 25
countries. Among the actions
taken was the adoption of The
Declaration of Rights of the
Negro People of the World and
the election of Garvey as the
Provisional President of Africa.

12. The RED, BLACK and
GREEN
Flag was unveiled to the
world by the Honorable
Marcus Mosiah Garvey and
the members of the
Universal Negro
Improvement Association
and African Communities
League, of the World at it's
first international
convention on August 13,
1920. The UNIA-ACL knew
that Africans at home and
abroad needed there own
flag as other flags around
the world could not
represent the collective of
African people.

13. The Pledge
I commit my body mind and Spirit to the protection defense and security of the Red, Black
and Green. I dedicate my life to the redemption of Mother Africa and the Liberation of her
scattered Black children. I accept for myself and my descendants the teachings of Universal
African Nationalism and I promise that our children will be instilled with the purpose and
knowledge of themselves as African People in order that the cause of our struggle will
neither falter nor fail until all Black people are free and united…

14. Despite his following, Garvey’s ideology of racial purity and separatism
failed to gain the support of black leaders such as W.E.B. Du Bois.

15. In addition, in 1922, the Black Star Line was dissolved. Garvey’s other businesses
also failed. Garvey received an additional blow when he was indicted for mail fraud
for the sale of Black Star Line stock. In 1923, he was convicted and sentenced to
five years in prison. In 1925, he began serving his prison sentence.

16. After President Calvin Coolidge commuted his sentence in 1927, he was
deported to Jamaica.

17. Our King died in with a broken heart in London, England in 1940.
God and Nature first made us what we are, and then out of our own created
genius we make ourselves what we want to be. Follow always that great
law. Let the sky and God be our limit and Eternity our measurement.

18. Let it be your constant method to look into the design of people's actions,
and see what they would be at, as often as it is practicable; and to make
this custom the more significant,
practice it first upon yourself.

19. PDF e-Book and mp3 Downloads
RBG BHM Special Education
Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey

20. Afrikan-Centered Consciousness versus the New
World Order- Garveyism in the Age of Globalism

21. http://www.facebook.com/RBGCommuniversity