Marcus Garvey Biography

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Biography Part 2 - Travelling through Central America and Europe

Central America

Marcus Garvey's first port of call was Port Limon Cost Rica where he found employment as a time keeper on a banana plantation. By 1911, Garvey was reunited with the printing trade, obtaining the job of editor of "La Nacionale", a Costa Rican daily newspaper. Before the end of the year, Garvey had moved to Colon in Panama where he edited another local newspaper. Garvey's travels also took him to Nicaragua, Honduras, Venezuela and Ecuador. Whilst on his travels, Garvey witnessed the hardships that black people were suffering throughout the region. He returned to Jamaica in 1912 and appealed, unsuccessfully, to the government of Jamaica to intervene in Central America to improve the quality of life for black people. Later that year moved to England to find funding for his plans.

England

Garvey led an active life in London, attending Birbeck College and often speaking on black rights at Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park. He also worked for "The African Times and Oriental Review", a publication with was published by the Sudanese-Egyptian journalist, Duse Mohamed Ali. It was through this journal that his article "British West Indies in the Mirror of Civilization: History Making by Colonial Negroes" was published on 13 October 1913. Through working at this publication, Marcus Garvey was able to study the colonial history of Africa and met many other black people who had participated in the obtaining of independence of their countries from the British Empire. Garvey became aware of the global exploitation of black people and decided that uniting black people around the world was the best way to improve their standard of life.

Previous: Growing up in Jamaica

Next: Return to Jamaica and Establishment of the U.N.I.A.

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