Analyzing Marcus Garvey's Worldview, UNIA, and Black Nationalism

This essay delves into the worldview of Marcus Garvey, a prominent black leader and founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), exploring his doctrine of racial purity and the 'Africa for Africans' slogan. It examines his mission to achieve political and economic independence for Africans and black control over religious, cultural, and educational institutions, connecting the destinies of the African diaspora and Africa. The essay analyzes the influences of European colonialism and the Atlantic Slave Trade on Garvey's ideology, highlighting his focus on racial identity and the desire to restore Africa from foreign occupation. It also discusses the controversial aspects of his racial views, his advocacy for separatism, and the differing opinions of other black leaders, providing a comprehensive overview of Garvey's impact on black nationalism and the African American community.

Running head: MARCUS GARVEY'S WORLDVIEW
MARCUS GARVEY'S WORLDVIEW
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Marcus Garvey was called the Black Moses as he was a charismatic black leader who
organized the first and most important American black nationalist movement from 1919 to 1926.
His worldview was based on the doctrine of racial purity which can be perceived through his
slogan ‘Africa for the Africans’ (Pierce 2015). The primary mission of his black led political
movement were to achieve political and economic independence of the Africans and black
control in the religious, cultural and educational organizations. His worldview connected the
destinies of the African diasporas as well as Africa.
The chief influence of Garveyism is the issue of exploitation of the Africans in their own
country by the European colonialists as well as in the other arts of the world. The depravity,
corruption and decadence that the negro people had been suffering at that time, had completely
shaken Marcus Garvey. Moreover, his stay in the London for study, the racial gap was more
trapping his perception about the sufferings of the black people in Europe. Atlantic Slave Trade
that has an important part in the African history, moved him to think about ending this
mistreatment of the Africans in all over the world. To Wintz (2015), in his worldview, the
African was the central to the identity of the diasporic blacks especially the African Americans.
Therefore, they must not remain to be the inferior and second-class citizens in their own
homeland but restore their Africa from the other occupiers. This view manipulated thousands of
Africans in the European country and created path for the mass movement.
Marcus Garvey’s worldview was mainly racial as he was focused on the movement of the
blacks of Africa. This perception, ideology and speeches are seen to have flavors of racism.
Despite the fact that he himself faced racist comments or treatment many times, he thought
racism will be the best way to revive the Africa spirit among his followers (Lewis 2018). He
founded the association named Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), that chiefly

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sought to build Africa as a black governed nation. Garvey visited the United States in 1916 and
successfully convinced the afro Americans to support his movement. He spoke of ‘new negro’
who has no shame to live like a black human being. In his newspaper he also discussed
elaborately about the heroes of his race and how they struggled to established their thoughts.
According to Treat (2016), the main motive of this particular movement was to elaborate the
splendors of African cultures to the blacks of America who do not get proper and equal treatment
from the government and feel inferior for their own culture. The ideology of Marcus Garvey was
totally racist as this was based on the doctrine of separatism and racial purity. In this regard he
supported the white racism as this also supports the separatism. This racial view point however
was not supported by his followers and other contemporary black leaders such as Philip
Randolph and Du Bois, as this ideology was creating path for violence and division among the
citizens of America (Wintz 2015).

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References:
Lewis, R., 2018. Marcus Garvey (p. 435781151). University of the West Indies Press.
Pierce, K.A., 2015. Mobilization Lessons from Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro
Improvement Association (Doctoral dissertation, The Graduate School, Stony Brook University:
Stony Brook, NY.).
Treat, J.D., 2016. Initiating Race: Fraternal Organizations, Racial Identity, and Public Discourse
in American Culture, 1865-1917.
Wintz, C.D., 2015. African American Political Thought, 1890-1930: Washington, Du Bois,
Garvey and Randolph. Routledge.