The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey: Or, Africa for the Africans

By Marcus Garvey

A collection of speeches and essays from the acclaimed Jamaican political activist, publisher, journalist, and orator hailed as “Black Moses.”

A selection of Marcus Garvey’s addresses and writings, The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey was originally compiled by his widow, Amy Jacques Garvey, to keep track of her husband’s opinions and sayings over his career. However, in 1923, she decided to publish the collection and give the public the opportunity to form their own judgments about Garvey, rather than merely go along with what was being said by the media at the time.

Marcus Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League and supported a Pan-African philosophy that became known as Garveyism. Among his aspirations, he hoped to create a unified, self-sufficient Black nation. Although Garvey was ultimately unable to achieve all his goals, the ideas presented in his book are still relevant today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Media
• Release date: Aug 31, 2021
• ISBN: 9781504067850

Marcus Garvey

Marcus Garvey (1887 – 1940) was a controversial yet influential political activist, entrepreneur and journalist. Born in Saint Ann’s Bay, Jamaica, Garvey experienced first hand the ills of colonialism, colorism and racism during his upbringing, ultimately shaping his view of the world. His early adult years were spent learning trades and involving himself in political organizations such as The National Club and going onto create the United Negro Improvement Association and the African Communities League in 1914. Three years after this, he would go onto the United States, with the hopes of further expanding the U.N.I.A and spreading his message of Black brotherhood in an “Africa for Africans,” spilling into the creation of a weekly newspaper, The Negro World in 1918. As Garveyism began to take hold in Black communities in the United States and abroad, Garvey faced increased government surveillance and strife as he attempted to branch out into other ventures like The Black Star Line. Between 1922 – 1925, Garvey was arrested and tried on accusations of mail fraud before his eventual deportation from the United States in 1927. Never one to become settled, Garvey lived out the rest of his life attempting to travel the world and continue to spread his ideology; while often clashing with other Black leaders and organizations of the time. A very complicated and complex figure, Garvey was nevertheless an important piece to the foundation of Black nationalism as it is known today.

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The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey

Or, Africa for the Africans

Marcus Garvey

Dedicated to the true and loyal members of the Universal Negro Improvement Association in the cause of African redemption.

Preface

This volume is compiled from the speeches and articles delivered and written by Marcus Garvey from time to time.

My purpose for compiling same primarily, was not for publication, but rather to keep as a personal record of the opinions and sayings of my husband during his career as the leader of that portion of the human family known as the Negro race. However, on second thought, I decided to publish this volume in order to give to the public an opportunity of studying and forming an opinion of him; not from inflated and misleading newspaper and magazine articles, but from expressions of thoughts enunciated by him in defense of his oppressed and struggling race; so that by his own words he may be judged, and Negroes the world over may be informed and inspired, for truth, brought to light, forces conviction, and a state of conviction inspires action. The history of contact between the white and Black races for the last three hundred years or more, records only a series of pillages, wholesale murders, atrocious brutalities, industrial exploitation, disfranchisement of the one on the other; the strong against the weak; but the sun of evolution is gradually rising, shedding its light between the clouds of misery and oppression, and quickening and animating to racial consciousness and eventual national independence Black men and women the world over.

It is human, therefore, that few of us within the Negro race can comprehend this transcendent period. We all suffer in a more or less degree; we all feel this awakened spirit of true manhood and womanhood; but it is given to few the vision of leadership; it is an inspiration; it is a quality born in man. Therefore in the course of leadership it is natural that one should meet opposition because of ignorance, lack of knowledge and sympathy of the opposition in understanding fully the spirit of leadership.

With the dawn of this new era, which precedes the day of national independence for Negroes, it is well for all members of the race to understand their leadership; know what its essentials, its principles are, and help it to attain its goal and liberate a race in the truest sense of the word.

In Chapter 1 of this volume I have endeavored to place before my reader’s gems of expression convincing in their truths. Chapter 2 deals with definitions and expositions of various interesting themes. Chapters 3 and 4 contain a collection of brief essays on subjects affecting world conditions generally and Negroes in particular. In Chapter 5 I have reproduced what I consider two of the best speeches of my husband. It is my sincere hope and desire that this small volume will help to disseminate among the members of my race everywhere the true knowledge of their past history, the struggles and strivings of the present leadership, and the glorious future of national independence in a free and redeemed Africa, achieved through organized purpose and organized action.

Amy Jacques-Garvey

New York City

February, 23, 1923

Chapter I

History is the landmark by which we are directed into the true course of life. The history of a movement, the history of a nation, the history of a race is the guide-post of that movement’s destiny, that nation’s destiny, that race’s destiny. What you do today that is worthwhile, inspires others to act at some future time.

Chance has never yet satisfied the hope of a suffering people. Action, self-reliance, the vision of self and the future have been the only means by which the oppressed have seen and realized the light of their own freedom.

Life is that existence that is given to man to live for a purpose, to live to his own satisfaction and pleasure, providing he forgets not the God who created him and who expects a spiritual obedience and observation of the moral laws that He has inspired.

There is nothing in the world common to man, that man cannot do.

The ends you serve that are selfish will take you no further than yourself; but the ends you serve that are for all, in common, will take you even into eternity.

It is only the belief and the confidence we have in a God why man is able to understand his own social institutions, and move and live like a rational human being. Take away the highest ideal: faith and confidence in a God, and mankind at large is reduced to savagery and the race destroyed.

A race without authority and power, is a race without respect.

Criticism is an opinion for good or ill, generally indulged in by the fellow who knows more than anyone else, yet the biggest fool. There is no criticism that calls not forth yet another. The last critic is the biggest fool of all, for the world starts and ends with him. He is the source of all knowledge, yet knows nothing, for there is not a word one finds to use that there is not another that hath the same meaning, then wherefore do we criticize?

Fear is a state of nervousness fit for children and not men. When man fears a creature like himself he offends God, in whose image and likeness he is created. Man being created equal fears not man but God. To fear is to lose control of one’s nerves; one’s will, to flutter, like a dying fowl, losing consciousness, yet alive.

Ambition is the desire to go forward and improve one’s condition. It is a burning flame that lights up the life of the individual and makes him see himself in another state. To be ambitious is to be great in mind and soul; to want that which is worthwhile and strive for it; and to go on without looking back, reaching to that which gives satisfaction. To be humanly ambitious is to take in the world which is the province of man; to be divinely ambitious is to offend God by rivaling him in His infinite majesty.

Admiration is a form of appreciation that is sometimes mistaken for something else. There may be something about you that suggests good fellowship when kept at a distance, but in closer contact would not be tolerated, otherwise it would be love.

Religion is one’s opinion and belief in some ethical truth. To be a Christian is to have the religion of Christ, and so to be a believer of Mohammed is to be a Mohammedan but there are so many religions that every man seems to be a religion unto himself. No two persons think alike, even if they outwardly profess the same faith, so we have as many religions in Christianity as we have believers.

Death is the end of all life in the individual or the thing; if physical, the crumbling of the body into dust from whence it came. He, who lives not uprightly, dies completely in the crumbling of the physical body, but he who lives well, transforms himself from that which is mortal, to immortal.

Faithfulness is actuated by a state of heart and mind in the individual that changes not. No one is wholly faithful to a cause or an object, except his heart and mind remain firm without change or doubt. If one’s attitude or conduct changes toward an object, then one has lost in one’s faithfulness. It is a wholeness of belief overshadowing all suspicion, all doubt, admitting of no question; to serve without regret or disgust, to obligate one’s self to that which is promised Or expected, to keep to our word and do our duty well. There are but few faithful people now-a- days.

Prohibition is to abstain from intoxicating liquor, as it makes us morbid and sometimes drunk. But we get drunk every day, nevertheless, not so much by the strength of what we sip from the cup, but that which we eat, the water we drink, and the air we inhale, which at fermentation conspire at eventide to make us so drunk and tired that we lose control of ourselves and fall asleep. Everybody is a drunkard, and if we were to enforce real prohibition we should all be dead.

There is no strength but that which is

Reviews for The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey

[susanbooks · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I'm reviewing the Mint Editions version of this book, which contains all of the original material, i.e., about 550 pages of Garvey's essays. The book in any edition is phenomenal for anyone researching Garvey's life & thought but this edition is a beautifully bound hardback with a one-page introduction warning readers that Garvey's writings may not always be the easiest pill for some to swallow. I'll let you find out why -- it's all about context & the fact that we live in a different one. So, while Garvey's work is thrilling, it can also be disturbing for some. Highly recommended for anyone studying Garvey.

[christinasbookshelf · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I received this book through the Early Reviewers program not knowing what the book is about, really. I picked it because I saw Africa in the title & Africa is a place that I don't know enough about. Well, the book is only marginally about Africa and mostly about how African-Americans and their struggle for equality. I had never heard of Marcus Garvey or the Universal Negro Improvement Association before reading the book and that is a shame.Marcus Garvey was a Black Jamaican who founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and they were "competitors" (for lack of a better word) with W.E.B. Du Bois and the National Association for Advancement of Colored People. I knew about Du Bois and that he has fallen out of favor with historians for reasons that I wasn't clear on before reading the book, and you have to live under a rock to live in the USA and not know about the NAACP.Personally, I would classify Garvey and Du Bois as both racist/colorist by modern standards. Garvey disdained light-skinned blacks and advocated segregation and racial purity laws to keep Black people black. Du Bois actively discriminated against dark-skinned Blacks and the NAACP in the early 1900s had only people who could pass as white as their public representatives.In this book, Garvey advocates for Black people to immigrate to Africa and to improve the standard of living in Africa to better than Europe/America. He doesn't see any way for true equality to happen without Africa becoming THE world power or at least equivalent to the white world. He was writing this in the 1920s and it's debatable whether it is true. I think that he would have been shocked to find out that Obama became the president before Africa became either an economic or military powerhouse. Colonialism was thrown off....but replaced with corruption. Garvey talks about the corruption during his time and not much has changed. I'm hopeful that the internet and the free exchange of information about who's corrupt will eventually bring about a more just society in Africa. Africa has truly immense potential that is just being wasted; the natural and human resources of Africa are being squandered currently.What has aged well is his opinion that the Great War (World War I) was going to lead to World War II because of the punitive nature of the "peace" deal. Garvey really understands that revenge doesn't take you to good places.I didn't read the entire book; half of it is a transcript of the trial where he was framed for a crime he didn't commit. The US government now acknowledges that he was innocent and that the forces of racism and politics combined to send him to jail and then deported. The first half of the book is a series of short sermons, speeches, letters, and essays that I found quite enlightening, even though I disagree with him on many points.His anti-miscegenation screeds sound entirely too much like the racist BS that white supremacists write, though he writes from a Black supremacist view. Black is beautiful, brown is beautiful, and white is beautiful. The very dark skin of a South Sudanese person is stunning and I appreciate it very much. However, it is not better or worse than any other shade of skin and one should celebrate and enjoy the color of skin that God chooses for them. It is my hope that racism will slowly die out due to so many mixed-race couples and children and the inability to determine through appearances what race a person is. (After all, the idea of different races is extremely unscientific. We have no race categories for Arabic people, Sri Lankans, indigenous Australians, Nepalese, Hispanic people, etc., etc. Lumping an Inuit with a Waodani is hardly scientific. The most "scientific" we can get is different ethnicities, though that is a very fluid category with most white Americans and Brits/French/Germans being quite the mutts.)I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the civil rights movement and Black history from a primary source. I don't agree with his philosophy and opinions fully, but I believe that it is very useful for scholars and philosophers and historians to understand that era.Since this book is now out of copyright and the book publisher is a new one, I should probably also provide a review of the Mint Editions binding. Mint Editions is printing books on demand. What I received was a POD hardcover. When you look at the book closely, you can tell that a softcover book was glued into a hardcover jacket. There is no fabric on the spine of the book and it is not sewn together. I don't think that the binding will hold up as well as a sewn binding. The hardcover itself feels very nice & sturdy. It's most certainly better than a softcover, but probably not as durable as a hardcover if you are going to be frequently using the book.