Trace the career of Marcus Garvey and show how his philosophy divided the African American

community in the 1920s.

The celebration of black culture found much different expression in what came to be called
black nationalism. Black nationalism promoted black separatism from mainstream American life. The
leader of the black nationalism movement was Marcus Garvey, who claimed he spoke for all 400 million
blacks worldwide. In 1916, Garvey brought to Harlem the headquarters of the Universal Negro
Improvement Association (UNIA), which he started two years prior in his native Jamaica.

Garvey further divided the African American community by insisting that blacks had nothing in
common with whites and called for racial separation. “The black skin is not a badge of shame, but rather
a glorious symbol of national greatness.” He urged African Americans to cultivate black solidarity and
“black power.” Garvey had good intentions with defending people of color, but it further drove a wedge
between whites and blacks.

The UNIA became the largest black political organization in U.S. history. By 1923, Garvey claimed
the UNIA had 4 million members served by 800 offices. Garvey’s goal was to build an all-black empire in
Africa. He called himself the “Provisional President of Africa” and he also raised funds to send Americans
to Africa. Any UNIA member who married someone that was white was expelled.

Garvey’s message appealed mostly to poor blacks in northern cities, but he had some
supporters across the rural South. Garveyism was appalling to some of the other black leaders and was
labeled “the most dangerous enemy of the Negro race… He is either a lunatic or a traitor.” An African
American newspaper pledged to help bring down Garvey and his Garveyism.

Garvey’s crusade collapsed in 1923 due to him being convicted of fraud for overselling shares of
stock in a steamship, the Black Star Line, which he founded to transport American blacks to Africa. He
was sentenced to five years in prison but ended up being pardoned by President Calvin Coolidge in 1927
on the condition that he be deported to Jamaica. When he arrived back to Jamaica, he received a hero’s
welcome. Garvey died in obscurity in 1940, but his memory of his movement was kept alive by an
undercurrent that would re-emerge in the 1960s under the slogan “black power.”