On this date in 1916, strategist, political leader, Black activist Marcus Mosiah Garvey arrived in the US from Jamaica. Thank God he liked to travel... He created the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in Jamaica and launched the first division in New York in May, 1917. Within a month the organization had over 2 million members in the U.S. By 1926, the membership of the UNIA had grown to over 11 million members worldwide. Marcus Garvey built the largest Black organization in history.. let that marinate for a second. Garvey launched the UNIAs first major commercial venture, the Black Star Line Steamship Corporation in New York in 1919. The goals of the corporation were to establish an efficient mode of transportation, communication and trade among Black people worldwide and to enhance the stature, self-image and pride of these communities. They purchased the first ship, the SS Yarmouth, in September 1919. It was later unofficially renamed the SS Frederick Douglass after the Black abolitionist. The Yarmouth proceeded to sail for three years between the U.S. and the West Indies as the first Black Star Line ship with an all-Black crew and a Black captain. In New York City alone, Garvey owned several buildings, owned a fleet of trucks and had over 1,000 Black people working in his businesses. My question today is, why have we not picked up his torch Black people??? What can we do, today, to continue in his legacy and all of the other brothas & sistas who have come before us? We stand on their shoulders but are we just standing or are we helping others to stand on ours? On this date in 1916, strategist, political leader, Black activist Marcus Mosiah Garvey arrived in the US from Jamaica. Thank God he liked to travel... He created the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in Jamaica and launched the first division in New York in May, 1917. Within a month the organization had over 2 million members in the U.S. By 1926, the membership of the UNIA had grown to over 11 million members worldwide. Marcus Garvey built the largest Black organization in history.. let that marinate for a second. Garvey launched the UNIAs first major commercial venture, the Black Star Line Steamship Corporation in New York in 1919. The goals of the corporation were to establish an efficient mode of transportation, communication and trade among Black people worldwide and to enhance the stature, self-image and pride of these communities. They purchased the first ship, the SS Yarmouth, in September 1919. It was later unofficially renamed the SS Frederick Douglass after the Black abolitionist. The Yarmouth proceeded to sail for three years between the U.S. and the West Indies as the first Black Star Line ship with an all-Black crew and a Black captain. In New York City alone, Garvey owned several buildings, owned a fleet of trucks and had over 1,000 Black people working in his businesses. My question today is, why have we not picked up his torch Black people??? What can we do, today, to continue in his legacy and all of the other brothas & sistas who have come before us? We stand on their shoulders but are we just standing or are we helping others to stand on ours?
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 07:00:00 +0000
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