How Did Marcus Garvey Influence The Black Community

Not only was there a thread of a racial solidarity and racial empowerment during the enslavement of blacks, but this sense of unity and determination to connect to Africa is even seen in periods following slavery. While the 1865 Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution had finally and officially abolished slavery in the United States, America was still a nation convinced of white supremacy and black inferiority. Blacks were marginalized, and their new lives were in fact very similar to the conditions that they faced during slavery, if not worse.
In response to the harsh conditions that African Americans were expected to submit it, there was a surplus of leadership seen in the black community that advocated for the advancement of black
Garvey believed that, “A race that is solely dependent upon others for its economic existence sooner or later dies,” and thus advocated for the expansion of black-owned businesses. As a means of creating affluence in the black community, Garvey founded the Black Star Line. Garvey hoped that this company would create wide-reaching trade among black communities. In Garvey’s vision, the ships would transport goods in North America, the Caribbean, and Africa – and essentially be the kingpin in a worldwide black community. As Elwood Watson states in Marcus Garvey and the Rise of Black Nationalism, “Garveyism gained wide acceptance among many African Americans because it stood for economic independence and self-sufficiency, yet avoided endorsing either capitalism or socialism” (64). Although Garvey had many ideas that he hoped would mitigate the plight of African and people of African descent, this business was not prosperous. However, blacks still worked to liberate and support one another economically even when their efforts were not always a