Who is Marcus Garvey

Marcus Garvey is a philosopher. His philosophy is central to the independence movement of Black nations of the past millennium. Pan Africanism started in recognition of people like Marcus Garvey, Kwame Nkrumah, Nelson Mandela, Edward Wilmot Blyden, Sylvester Williams as these people taught the world the importance of being Black and learning the history of Africa. Africa had 5 civilisations before the advent of the white man. It is not surprising therefore that Marcus Garvey taught in his philosophy that as Black people we should feel a sense of responsibility for teaching the world about African history.

Marcus Garvey taught self-reliance. This meant that for him people of African ancestry should educate themselves so that they could create their own Universities, schools, businesses, whatever it would take to become self-reliant and not have ever again to suffer the indignity of slavery. Marcus Garvey’s philosophy lives on today not only in the hearts of many but more importantly in the thinking and ideologies of people and governments all over the world.

This is a picture of Amy Ashwood his wife and Marcus. Take a look at ‘Marcus Teaches Us’ a book of Garvey’s philosophy written for children 4-7 years old by myself and illustrated by Lukasz Poduch