GARVEY, MARCUS. Marcus Mosiah Garvey (August 17, 1887–June 10, 1940), the founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), led the largest mass movement among African Americans and can be regarded as one of the founding fathers of Pan-Africanism and the Black Consciousness movement.

Garvey was born in Saint Ann's Bay, Jamaica. During the first decade of the twentieth century, he was involved in the labor movement and advocated for labor reforms in his paper, the Watchman. But he quickly became disillusioned and grew skeptical about the ability of unions to bring about meaningful improvements in the lives of blacks, and about the willingness of whites to cooperate in achieving such a goal. After a brief stint working for the United Fruit banana plantation in Costa Rica, he moved to London, where he came under the influence of Duse Muhammad Ali and wrote articles for his paper, Africa Times...