Marcus Garvey (1887–1940) was a Jamaican political leader, publisher, orator, and activist who founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL). He was a major figure in the Pan-African movement and is best known for promoting Black self-reliance, economic independence, and the return of African descendants to their ancestral homeland.
Garvey’s “Back to Africa” movement aimed to unite people of African descent worldwide and encouraged Black economic empowerment through businesses like the Black Star Line, a shipping company meant to facilitate trade and migration between Africa and the diaspora. His influence extended globally, inspiring later civil rights leaders, despite facing opposition from both U.S. and Caribbean authorities. He was convicted of mail fraud in 1923, deported from the U.S. in 1927, and spent his final years in London.
