“Look for me in the Whirlwind”

Black Nationalism originated in the 1850’s. While the origins of the movement are most commonly associated with Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) of the 1920s, Garvey was preceded and influenced by Martin Delany, Henry Sylvestre-Williams, Dr. Robert Love and Edward Wilmot Blyden. Even though the future of Africa is seen as being central to Black Nationalist ambitions, some adherents to Black Nationalism are intent on the eventual creation of a separate black nation by Africans in American.
Born in St. Ann’s Bay, Jamaica, on August 17, 1887, Marcus Garvey was the youngest of 11 children. Garvey moved to Kingston at the age of 14, found work in a printshop, and became acquainted with the abysmal living conditions of the laboring class. He quickly involved himself in social reform, participating in the first Printers’ Union strike in Jamaica in 1907 and in setting…