Marcus Garvey

The economic boom of the twenties did very little to improve the lives of most black people in the United States. To counter the effects of grinding poverty and racism, West Indian immigrant Marcus Garvey started the United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City. Through his speeches and newspaper Negro World, Garvey taught black nationalism and black pride and urged African Americans to study their own culture and to find heroes among members of their own race.

Garvey was accused by the U.S. government of using illegal methods to raise funds for UNIA, and imprisoned for mail fraud in 1925. He was immediately deported to Jamaica upon his release in 1927. There he continued to speak out on the rights of black people. The following excerpts are typical of Garvey's speeches during the late 1920s...