Marcus Garvey

7 Pages 1629 Words

In 1914 Marcus Mosiah Garvey started the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in Jamaica. UNIA was started to help promote blacks in everyone’s eyes so that they wouldn’t have to be “at the mercy of white people.” (Kanet.org 7) Garvey wanted blacks to set up their own nation. In 1916, he moved the UNIA headquarters to Harlem, New York. Marcus Garvey was one of the most influential leaders of his time because he started the Universal Negro Improvement Association, advocated black unity, preached self-reliance, and was the black peoples’ spokesman.
Marcus Garvey started UNIA because he wanted blacks to have pride in themselves and to be treated fairly. UNIA’s aim was shown through its motto: “One God! One aim! One destiny!” (Kasnet.org 9) The motto basically meant that all the blacks were aiming at one goal and they were destined to get it. Weekly meetings and night classes were held by UNIA to help blacks that had no high school education. Garvey also tried prompting educated blacks to volunteer their time to teach others. Not many helped because they didn’t want to be labeled as “Negro.” (Kasnet.org 6) Many weren’t proud of who they were because of how society treated them. As a result, they tried to escape the discrimination by ignoring who they were and where they came from.
The main part of Garvey’s plan was to focus on self-reliance. Garvey didn’t want blacks to depend on whites; he wanted blacks to set up their own nation in Africa. Garvey developed a plan called the Liberia Plan. This plan was negotiated between UNIA and the government of Liberia to buy land and settle people from all around the U.S. The Liberian government first agreed, but before the settlers arrived they changed their minds. This sudden change was mainly done because the Liberian government became aware of the uproar that Garvey was causing in the U.S. with his preachings.
In 1920, UNIA held its First International Co...