Garvey, Marcus

Extract

Garvey, Marcus (17 August 1887–10 June 1940), black nationalist, was born Marcus Moziah Garvey in St. Ann’s Bay, Jamaica, the son of Marcus Moziah Garvey, a stonemason, and Sarah Jane Richards. He attended the local elementary school and read widely on his own. Difficult family finances forced him into employment at age fourteen as a printer’s apprentice. Three years later he moved to Kingston, found work as a printer, and became involved in local union activities. In 1907 he took part in an unsuccessful printers’ strike. These early experiences honed his journalistic skills and raised his consciousness about the bleak conditions of the black working class in his native land....