Garvey was also a cultural activist

KNOWN THE world over as a race leader, black pride activist, and civil rights campaigner, Marcus Mosiah Garvey was an eloquent orator, whose booming, rapid-pace voice was greatly admired by his supporters and detractors alike.

He was a politician, whose messages of unity and equality resonated among his millions of followers and supporters. Yet, Garvey was more than a great speaker; he was a patron and promoter of the literary and performing arts. His arrival in Kingston from St Ann, where he was born in 1883, to seek work,heightened his interest in politics, and eventually the arts.

The trained printer soon joined a fledgling political group, The National Club, and helped to produce its fortnightly newspaper, called Our Own. He later became the editor of The Watchman, a newspaper he established about 1909. The Watchman did not last beyond three publications, but there were more newspapers to come.

Because he was interested in elocution and debates, Garvey would attempt to join the conversations of elder people, who would tell him to shut up, the story is told. But, Garvey could not keep his mouth shut. He had so much to say, and made sure he knew how to say it.

He would visit churches on Sunday, and watched and listened to the preachers intently. The way they carried themselves and their styles of dressing were also observed. At home, alone in his room, he practised with poems and Bible passages. And, in 1910, representing the parish of St Ann, he was placed third in an island-wide elocution contest. Yet, he did not keep what he had learnt to himself, as he went on to organise public speaking contests among the youths of West Kingston.

After a two-year sojourn in England, Garvey returned to Jamaica in 1914 to establish the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) whose aim was to better the lot and living of black people the world over. Though alleviating the economic conditions of black people was a major thrust of the UNIA, the cultural needs were also a factor in the activities carried out by the UNIA. One of the objectives was “to improve the elocutionary and literary tastes of the youth of the community”. Thus, weekly meetings included debates, and there were regular literary and musical activities.

The Daily Gleaner of October 3, 1914 says, “A debate on the ‘Press or the Platform’, which has the greater influence?’ followed by a finely read dialogue between Miss A. Ashwood and Mr A Daily, entitled ‘Sixteen’. Mr. Garvey led for the press supported by Mr. Daily and Miss Ashwood whilst Mr. L Small led for the platform supported by Mr. Fraser and members of the audience. When the issue was put to hold, Mr. Small’s side won with a large majority. Next Tuesday, October 6 at 7:30 the association holds its next musical and literary evening to which members of the public are cordially invited.”

At one of the meetings a unanimous resolution was passed for the UNIA to establish a band to play free music for the people of Kingston, playing three times a week in Victoria Park. There were also fundraising concerts, lectures, elocution contests (one of which was won by Garvey himself), a library and reading room.

When Garvey went to the US in 1916, he had no intention to stay for 11 years. But, he found a massive throng of followers who had never seen anybody like him. There, he established the UNIA headquarters at Liberty Hall in Harlem, New York. The members and the branches of the UNIA grew, and affiliate commercial organisations and societies were also established.

It was not all about politics and economics for the UNIA in America. The headquarters had a band and an orchestra. The musical director, Rabbi Arnold Ford, born in Barbados, composed the ‘Ethiopian Universal Anthem’ and the UNIA anthem. Liberty Hall in New York had a choir, likewise other branches, which had choirs, bands, orchestras, drama clubs and literary circles.

“It is now being revealed that the Harlem Renaissance was influenced to some extent by the Garvey Movement,” Beverly Hamilton writes in Jamaica Journal Vol. 20 No. 3, August-October 1987, 60 years after Garvey was deported to Jamaica after serving time in jail in Atlanta.

While he was incarcerated, Garvey still continued to write. His most famous song, Keep Cool, was written behind bars. His poems were published by Amy Jacques Garvey in two volumes, Selections from the Poetic Meditations and The Tragedy of White Injustice.

Back in Jamaica, Garvey’s artistic zeal took over Edelweis Park, the then headquarters of the UNIA at 67 Slipe Road, in Kingston.