“Look for Me in the Whirlwind”: Marcus Garvey and His Legacy of Pan-Africanism

A devoted Pan-Africanist, Garvey aimed to unify African (black) people the world over and proposed a Back-to-Africa movement whereby Africans abroad would return to the Africa to reoccupy and redeem the continent.

Traveling to the United States in 1916, Marcus Garvey settled in Harlem, New York, where he founded the Harlem chapter of the U.N.I.A. Within a couple of years he began publishing and distributing the newspaper Negro World. Inspired by Booker T. Washington, Garvey advocated for economic development and self-sufficiency. By 1919, Marcus Garvey, Jr. established a shipping company called the Black Star Line Steamship Corporation to establish trade and commerce between Africans in North America, the Caribbean, South and Central America, Canada, and Africa. He also formed the Negroes Factories Association to manufacture marketable commodities.