Illuminating the global impact of Marcus Garvey's Black nationalist philosophy
Arguing
that the accomplishments of Jamaican activist Marcus Garvey and his
followers have been marginalized in narratives of the Black freedom
struggle, this volume builds on decades of overlooked research to reveal
the profound impact of Garvey’s post–World War I Black nationalist
philosophy around the globe and across the twentieth century.
These
essays point to the breadth of Garveyism’s spread and its reception in
communities across the African diaspora, examining the influence of
Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in Africa,
Australia, North America, and the Caribbean. They highlight the
underrecognized work of many Garveyite women and show how the UNIA
played a key role in shaping labor unions, political organizations,
churches, and schools. In addition, contributors describe the importance
of grassroots efforts for expanding the global movement—the UNIA
trained leaders to organize local centers of power, whose political
activism outside the movement helped Garvey’s message escape its
organizational bounds during the 1920s. They trace the imprint of the
movement on long-term developments such as decolonization in Africa and
the Caribbean, the pan-Aboriginal fight for land rights in Australia,
the civil rights and Black Power movements in the United States, and the
radical pan-African movement.
Rejecting the idea that
Garveyism was a brief and misguided phenomenon, this volume exposes its
scope, significance, and endurance. Together, contributors assert that
Garvey initiated the most important mass movement in the history of the
African diaspora, and they urge readers to rethink the emergence of
modern Black politics with Garveyism at the center.
Contributors: Ronald
J. Stephens | Adam Ewing | Keisha N. Blain | Nicole Bourbonnais | José
Andrés Fernández Montes de Oca | John Maynard | Erik S. McDuffie |
Frances Peace Sullivan | Robert Trent Vinson | Michael O. West
