Happy Monday Everyone
Earlier this summer, when we had rain here in my corner of Texas, I took this photo of the birds wetting their whistles. Since we’ve been weeks now without moisture, and none forecast for this week or next, I thought I’d remind myself what a rain puddle looks like. 🙂
Today’s Quote
” Men who are in earnest are not afraid of consequences.” Marcus Garvey
When I saw the quote of the day from Inspiring Quotes and read the following blurb about the quote’s author, I was intrigued and did a Google search to find out more.
Jamaica-born Marcus Garvey (1887-1940) was a civil rights activist and Black nationalist whose views often incited backlash. A public speaker and advocate, he led the Pan-Africanism movement, connecting people of African descent worldwide. However, his activism made him a target of the Bureau of Investigation (later known as the FBI), resulting in his arrest and controversial 1923 conviction for mail fraud. Garvey continued to write papers even from prison, and after he was released, he went on to speak to the League of Nations about race. Garvey’s lifelong dedication shows us that committing to a cause can offset our fears and empower us beyond our imagination.
On the website Biography.com, I found a lot of information about Marcus Garvey, who had a lot of influence on those active in the Civil Rights Movement movement in the 50s and 60s, even though he died in 1940. But some of the work he did, laid a foundation for those to come after him like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.
The following are a few excerpts of the information to be found about this amazing activist from his biography:
Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr. was born on August 17, 1887, in St. Ann’s Bay, Jamaica. Self-educated, Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association, dedicated to promoting African Americans and resettlement in Africa. In the United States, he launched several businesses to promote a separate Black nation. After he was convicted of mail fraud and deported back to Jamaica, he continued his work for Black repatriation to Africa.
Garvey was the last of 11 children born to Marcus Garvey, Sr. and Sarah Jane Richards. His father was a stonemason, and his mother a domestic worker and farmer. Marcus Sr. was a great influence on Garvey, who once described him as “severe, firm, determined, bold, and strong, refusing to yield even to superior forces if he believed he was right.” His father was known to have a large library, where young Garvey learned to read.
Later, he attended Birkbeck College (University of London) and worked for the African Times and Orient Review, which advocated Pan-African nationalism.
Garvey returned to Jamaica in 1912 and founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (U.N.I.A.) with the goal of uniting all of African diaspora to “establish a country and absolute government of their own.”
By 1919, Garvey and U.N.I.A. had launched the Black Star Line, a shipping company that would establish trade and commerce between Africans in America, the Caribbean, South and Central America, Canada and Africa.
F.B.I. Director J. Edgar Hoover fixated on ruining Garvey for his radical ideas. Hoover felt threatened by the Black leader, fearing he was inciting Black people across the country to stand up in militant defiance.
Garvey died in London in 1940 after several strokes. Due to travel restrictions during World War II, his body was interred in London. In 1964, his remains were exhumed and taken to Jamaica, where the government proclaimed him Jamaica’s first national hero and re-interred him at a shrine in the National Heroes Park.
It’s a shame that Garvey’s name seldom comes up in history books, at least the ones that were used in my high school and college classes. There are so many other people, who are likewise not mentioned enough in history textbooks.
Too bad.
How was your weekend? I had a good time Saturday at the Arts Fest in Sherman, but boy did it sap my strength. Sunday, I rested in between some coloring sessions. Ready to start the new week off with some dedicated writing time. Whatever you’ll be doing, be happy. Be safe.