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This article is from the Reggae FAQ, by Mike Pawka eznoh@niceup.com with numerous contributions by others.

6]. Who was Marcus Garvey? (Reggae)

Excerpted from "Reggae International", Stephen Davis and Peter Simon.

Ethiopianism includes the appreciation of Ethiopia's ancient
civilization as well as its role in the Bible. To blacks, Africa
(interchangeable with Ethiopia) became a glorious, Biblical home-
land equated with Zion. The recognition of African roots and the
desire for repatriation has been a central theme in New World
black religion before and since emancipation. Ethiopianism became
a "black religious reaction to pro-slavey propaganda."

Marcus Garvey's "Back to Africa" movement developed the spirit of
Ethiopianism to its fullest extent.

....since the white people have seen their God through white
spectacles, we have only now started out (late though it be) to
see our God through our own spectacles. Tbe God of Isaac and the
God of Jacob let him exist for the race that believe in the God
of Isaac and the God of Jacob. We Negroes believe in the God of
Ethiopia, the everlasting God--God the Son, God the Holy Ghost,
tbe one God of all ages. That is the God in whom we believe, but
we sball worship him througb the spectacles of Ethiopia.

A. J. Garvey, The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey

Garvey's words planted the seeds for most "Black Cod" movements
in the US and Caribbean. Stressing the superiority of the ancient
Africans and the dignity of the black race, he inspired many
successful nationaiist movements and numerous African leaders
from Kenyatta to Nyerere.

Marcus Mosiah Garvey was born in St. Ann, Jamaica, in 1887,
descended from the fiercely proud Maroons. He founded the
newspaper The Negro World, which took as its motto his
nationalist cry, "One God, One Aim, One Destiny." In 1917, he
founded UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Association) in
Harlem. Its aims were described in a speech delivered by Garvey
in 1924 at Madison Square Garden, New York:

The Universal Improvement Association represents the hopes and
aspirations of tbe awakened Negro. Our desire is for a place in
tbe world, not to disturb the tranquility of other men, but to
lay down our burden and rest our weary backs and feet by the
banks of the Niger and sing our songs and chant our hymns to the
God of Ethiopia.

Garvey's goal of repatriation was expressed in his famous slogan
"Africa for the Africans." His well-known Black Star Line
steamship company was established to trade and eventually carry
New World blacks to Africa. This prophet of African redemption
was not always successfull in his countless business ventures,
but by the 1920s Garvey was the most powerful leader among the
black masses in the United States.

In 1916, before he left for his US campaign, Garvey's farewell
address to Jamaicans included the words "Look to Africa for the
crowning of a Black king; he shall be the Redeemer."

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