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Marcus Garvey 1887 - 1940

Marcus Garvey was a Jamaican immigrant in the US and became a key thinker behind black nationalism.

Garvey's key ideas

Garvey's key ideas

  • Garvey placed particular emphasis on the betterment of the economic, social, and political condition of blacks in America when they were still treated as inferior.
  • The prominence of national black leaders like Martin Luther King and Malcolm-X helped to develop black nationalism by giving rise to a sense of national pride.
  • In particular, the cultural links to Africa became the centrepiece for the development of a distinct black nationalism. Africa came to occupy the place as the cultural and spiritual homeland.
  • Garvey went further with 'Pan-Africanism'.
Pan-Africanism

Pan-Africanism

  • Garvey considered that the African people, and especially those of African descent like African-Americans, were one people and should unify.
  • Cultural and ethnic differences between blacks must be overcome to ensure unity.
  • Pan-Africanism in its most extreme sense meant unity into a single nation; however, it is most commonly understood to mean unity in achieving common economic, political and social objectives.
Garvey's 'Black Star Line'

Garvey's 'Black Star Line'

  • In 1919, Garvey began the ‘Black Star Line;’ a black owned and operated shipping line to travel between the USA and Africa.
  • It was envisaged as a way to develop a pan-African economy through the shipment of goods between African and the US. It was also seen as a way to establish a black nation-state in Africa.
  • Ultimately, the venture failed but its core ideas of economic and political self-sufficiency continued long after Garvey’s death in 1940.
Black nationalism

Black nationalism

  • In the late 1960s, black nationalism became wrapped up in the black power movement.
  • The term black power became a slogan for those who sought political control of majority black areas; particularly in the south. The Black Panther Party became the main vehicle for this objective.
  • In the contemporary era, black organisations like Black Lives Matters (BLM) have rejected nationalism.
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