Marcus Garvey

Good Morning Mr Williams, Mrs. Evans, honorable staff, notable guest, and the dynamic Class of 2016. The Great Muhammad Ali once declared “I am America. I am the part you won't recognize. But get used to me. Black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own; get used to me.” Ali was an African American boxer and activist who fought against social injustice toward the black people. At the time, of Muhammad Ali’s words, the law permitted segregated schools where…

Malcolm grew up watching his father deliver violent sermons at Baptist churches. His father preached, but he also had time to spread the ideas of Marcus Garvey, the man who founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association, which promoted returning to Africa among other things for African Americans. Malcolm X claims that Marcus Garvey's teachings "emphasized becoming independent of the white man." In 1965, Alex Haley Malcolm benefited greatly from Garvey's thinking, as seen by his later…

Afrocentricity is the having African interests, values, and perspectives at the center of your thoughts and actions. It challenges all oppression and while tying blackness to ethical action. Coming to this way of thinking requires transformation of thought and requires awareness. These transformations are categorized as: skin recognition, environmental recognition, personality awareness, interest concern, and Afrocentric awareness. Every single person of African descent in the diaspora is in one…

Invisible Man: The Life of a Black American in Harlem What is in a life? Do we exist as merely a conglomerate of memories and experiences, or are we also defined by the views of others? In The Invisible Man, our narrator finds that all of his experiences - everything that defines him - are informed by the views and manipulations of others. This is obviously a very troubling conclusion, so troubling in fact that the narrator must hide underground with nothing but dim lights and sad music for…

to adventure began when he witnessed a murder as a young boy and was sent to the United States by his father in an attempt to protect him. Howell spent most of his adult years traveling all over the world while working on boats. Later he would join Marcus Garvey’s organization UNIA to help his fellow black people who…

Most of African American history has been overshadowed by pain, suffering and a terrible sense of dehumanization. From the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, to Jim Crowe and on, black people in America have been subject to injustice for hundreds of years. However, throughout the years there has been figure after figure that stood up for African Americans. From Nat Turner to W.E.B. DuBois, to Malcolm X to Rosa Parks, these individuals took a stand for what they believed in. What they believed in was a…

The Black movement was influenced by a number of factors including Malcolm X’s disagreements of Martin Luther King’s peaceful methods. Naturally, if they were not going the route of peace it meant that their activism would be mainly violent, and it was. Though it was peaceful in some sense, African Americans still decided that violence was a way to get what they wanted which is why Malcolm X appealed to them so much. However, The Black Power Movement did become popular in other countries, one of…

Black Nationalism is a political and social movement that originated in the 1850's. Black Nationalism was made most popular by Marcus Garvey in the 1920's among African Americans in the United States. Black Nationalism is defined as, "The belief that black people share a common destiny, and have had a common experience: slavery, oppression, colonialism, and exploitation." Racial unity is the most basic form of Black Nationalism. It is simply a feeling that black people, because of their…

During the 60’s African Americans were faced with hardships unlike no other, having to deal with racism, educational disparities, and segregation during the Jim Crowe era of the deep south. Fixing to fight the status quo of the segregationist American south, African American students from historically Black Institutions had demonstrated that education should “serve as a tool to enlighten a people relative to their civil rights and social justice.” With African Americans leaders of the time…

“Everywhere Is War: Peace and Violence in the life and Songs of Bob Marley” is written by Brent Hagerman, a professor in the Religion Department at Wilfrid Laurier University. In this article, Hagerman attempts to discuss the ambiguity present in Bob Marley’s songs. Knowing that Marley’s songs do suggest both peace and violence, Hagerman analyzes his songs to conclude if Marley was a pacifist or revolutionary. Although most of his analysis was based on “War”, he also evaluates others including…