Marcus Garvey Analysis

Born in Jamaica in 1887, Marcus Garvey grew up to be a leader in Jamaican politics and worldwide civil rights activist for Africans. Garvey played a large role in the Harlem Renaissance in America, and he spread his philosophy and ideas through his numerous publish works, including many newspaper articles throughout many countries. Garvey had a very universal message that reappeared throughout many of his works that African Americans should unite and power together to enrich their race and heritage. This philosophy would eventually become known as Garveyism, named after the leading philosopher Marcus Garvey. In his book, Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey, Garvey promotes his ideas and tries to unite the African American community under a sense of ancestral pride. Through the second chapter of the novel, Garvey discusses how slavery, education, and evolution of the African culture played roles in African lives not only in America, but worldwide. Although Garvey himself never experienced slavery firsthand, he still had strong opinions on the subject, just as
Garvey viewed education as more than just a mental capacity of book knowledge. According to Garvey, a person could “be educated in soul, vision and feeling, as well as in mind” (Garvey 15). Garvey saw that education gave a man more in life, and allowed a man to achieve more. The education also ties in with slavery for the African Americans. If a slave could see his “enemy and know him is a part of the complete education of man,” he could free himself and gain liberty much easier than an uneducated man (Garvey 15). Though many Africans of the time did not have access to a formal education, they did have the ability to develop what God had naturally given to them. Garvey urged the African American community to embrace their culture and farther their education not just as individuals, but as a united