garvey_biog

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MARCUS MOSIAH GARVEY is Jamaica's first National Hero. His remains were cremated from the Highgate cemetry in North London, England, and finally laid to rest in 1962 at the National Heroes Park in Kingaton, Jamaica.
Garvey had died in London England in June
1940 at the young age of 53.

Garvey was born on August 17, 1887 in St Anns Bay, a seaside town on the north coast of the island.
He was actually christened as Malcus but always used the name Marcus.
As a young man he was highly influenced by his father and his godfather, both men of learning, and soon developed certain positive attitudes which guided his life, like reading and public speaking.
Young Marcus actually carried a pocket dictionary with
him and made it a duty to learn at least three or four words every day, in the process building up a renowned vocabulary which shone during his years as a public speaker, writer and newspaper publisher.
His early exposure to his father's and godfather's collections
of books, developed his interest in reading and commenting
on social issues, and he himself owned one of the finest libraries in Jamaica.
Garvey also learned the trade of printing from his godfather and soon knew the power of the press which he used to mobilise people of African descent towards a clearer appreciation of their black heritage.
Garveys travels took him fom Jamaica to Panama and
Costa Rica where he championed the rights of black workers in the Panama canal onstruction and on the huge banana and sugar plantations of Central America including Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Columbia and Venezuela, before leaving for London in 1912 at the age of 25.
In London, Garvey was quickly influenced and inspired
by the cosmopoiltian atmosphere of the city and by his
contact with writers and academics from Africa even
while working on the docks in London.
What Garvey saw was summed up in his own words
" I saw before me , a new world of black men, not peons,
serfs or dogs and slaves, but a nation of sturdy men making
their impress upon civilization and causing a new light to
dawn upon the human race"
Marcus Garvey's legacies as the founder of the Pan African Movement and his creation of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) embody his cry
"Africa for Africans, at home and abroad".

Read about Marcus Garvey
and the story of Jamaica in
"The Story of the Jamaica People"
by Philip Sherlock & Hazel Bennett.

Published by Markus Weiener, Princeton USA, and IRP
Kingston, Jamaica
in collaboration with Creative Production and Training Centre Ltd (CPTC) Kingston Jamaica.

LEARN MORE ABOUT MARCUS GARVEY
CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW
for "Black Heroes in the Hall of Fame"

....

FAMOUS LAST WORDS
"Africa for the Africans,
at home and abroad"

MARCUS GARVEY

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BLACK HEROES.