African Redemption: The Life and Legacy of Marcus Garvey

The ‘Negro Moses’ arrived on the scene on August 17, 1887 in the tiny seaside town of St. Ann’s Bay on the northern coast of Jamaica, fifty-three years after slavery was abolished in that country. In his short life Marcus Mosiah Garvey, would go on to become the world’s foremost Pan-Africanist and, in some eyes, the greatest civil-rights leader of the twentieth century. He dedicated his life to the project of redeeming Africa, which he saw as the home to civilization.

While his brand of talk appealed to millions of ardent followers, it also earned him some powerful enemies around the world, such as W.E.B. Du Bois of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and J. Edgar Hoover, a young government attorney fresh out of law school and working with the United States Bureau of Investigation (later the Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]).

Award-winning director Roy T. Anderson peels back all the layers in his presentation of this oft- misunderstood and controversial figure in "African Redemption: The Life and Legacy of Marcus Garvey", a 85-minute feature-length documentary-film. Emmy-award winning actor Keith David (Greenleaf, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Crash) lends his voice as narrator on the film.

As a young man Marcus Garvey was well traveled. While touring several countries in Europe in 1913, and after witnessing the poor treatment of black workers in all the countries he worked and visited, Marcus Garvey got the idea to form an international organization to fight for the rights of Black people worldwide. Influenced greatly by Booker T. Washington, he formed the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) and launched it fittingly on Emancipation Day August 1, 1914 in Kingston, Jamaica.

Garvey took his message to the United States during the height of the Harlem Renaissance, arriving at a time when there was a vacuum in Black leadership. He soared to prominence for his message of Black pride. Through the UNIA-ACL, Garvey importantly stressed the goal of self-reliance, and encouraged nationhood or political self-determination. He was determined to upset the status quo. And as one writer puts it; “Marcus Garvey awaked a race consciousness that made Harlem felt around the world.”

Garvey launched several business ventures, including The Negro Factories Corporations, Black Cross Nurses, and most notably a steamship venture known as the Black Star Line. It was the formation of the latter that drew the ire of the black elite, and J. Edgar Hoover, who sought any opportunity to remove Garvey from the United States. Marcus Garvey was eventually charged with mail fraud in 1922, convicted and imprisoned in 1923, and deported to Jamaica in 1927.

While Garvey’s followers numbered more than four million, there were over one thousand UNIA-ACL branches around the world, with its international headquarters alternating between Harlem, New York, Kingston, Jamaica, and London, England, where he passed away in 1940.

Even after his death Garvey’s philosophy has impacted many social and political movements in Jamaica and around the world. United States’ civil rights leader Malcolm X, once said, “Every time you see another nation on the African continent become independent you know that Marcus Garvey is alive.” Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya, stated, “His achievement remains one of the propagandistic miracles of this century.”

Filmed in Jamaica, Ghana, Canada, the United States, United Kingdom, and Central America over the course of three years, the film features interviews and conversations with world-renowned leaders, scholars, and personalities, as well as present-day followers of Marcus Garvey teachings, such as the group known as Rastafari, perhaps the most ardent disciples of this iconic figure.

As we seek to uncover the history and legacy of the world’s most famous Pan-Africanist, his intriguing story is also told through songs, poetry, narration, and a mix of photographs, illustrations, archival footage, and dramatizations.

Following on the heels of "Queen Nanny: Legendary Maroon Chieftainess", (Action 4 Reel Flimworks, 2015), Anderson’s award-winning film on Jamaica’s only national heroine, comes "African Redemption: The Life and Legacy of Marcus Garvey", chronicling the story of an unparalled civil-rights leader.