Marcus Garvey

Marcus Garvey

Marcus Garvey, known as the ‘Negro Moses’, was a leading Pan-African figure, famous for his role in establishing the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). During the 1920s the UNIA’s international conventions in New York City, characterised by elaborate ceremonial displays and marches, attracted over 100,000 people. Through a politics of dress and comportment, Garvey utilised the space of the body to project his own distinctive vision of black internationalism, most associated with the Back-to-Africa movement. The striking dark blue military uniforms of the UNIA’s Universal African Legion, and Garvey’s own purple and gold uniform with a feathered helmet, may to contemporary eyes seem flamboyant but encapsulated a global vision of racial pride, dignity and distinction which were largely absent in popular representations in black life.