Marcus Mosiah Garvey returns to Jamaica
By: Cerone White
On this day in history, July 14, 1914 Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr. returned in Jamaica after a long tour which had taken him through Central America and Europe. The youngest of eleven children, Garvey was born in St. Ann’s Bay Jamaica to Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Sr., a mason, and Sarah Jane Richards, a domestic worker. After working for a number of years in the Caribbean Garvey lived in London from 1912-1914.
After he returned to Jamaica, he launched the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), which was intended to be a voice for black women, men and children all over the world. Garvey held an international convention in 1921 at Madison Square Garden, NY.with representation from different groups such as the Universal Black Cross Nurses, the Black Eagle Flying Corps, and the Universal African Legion. Over 50,000 people came out to support Garvey and the UNIA.
Garvey was married at the age of 32 in 1919 to Amy Ashwood, the marriage only lasting four months. He then remarried in1922 to Amy Jacques Garvey who was working as his secretary general, they had two sons together. Marcus Mosiah Garvey, III, who was born 17 September 1930, and Julius Winston (born 1933 on the same date). Garvey died in London on 10 June 1940, at the age of 52, having suffered two strokes.
