Marcus Garvey
Garvey was a journalist, publisher, entrepreneur and, eventually, a political leader and major force behind the earliest elements of the Pan-African movement. Regarded as a prophet in the Rastafarian movement and a major inspiration for the creation of the Nation of Islam, Garvey was the first to preach Africa for Africans in a positive way, so as to encourage black allegiance to Africa for the welfare and benefits of black people around the world. Traveling the world and promoting his Universal Negro Improvement Association, Garvey’s works and philosophy influenced people like Malcolm X, Elijah Muhammad, Martin Luther King Jr., Kwame Nkrumah and Bob Marley. He was Jamaica’s first national hero. —Sherman Escoffery