Marcus Garvey

Marcus Garvey was a civil rights activist who lead the "back to Africa" movement in the U.S. during the early 1920s. Garvey was born on August 17, 1887 in Jamaica where he grew up as the youngest of 11 siblings. Growing up he was very interested in reading books, and left school early to be a printers apprentice. He lead a big strike for higher wages while he worked there and later decided to travel South and Central America for the next few years. After his travels he returned to Jamaica and founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association in 1914. Two years later he moved to Harlem New York where the UNIA grew and he became a public speaker. In Garvey's biggest movement, "Back to Africa," he tried to persuade African Americans to take pride in their race and go back to there homeland in Africa. In 1919 he founded the Black Star Line that provided transportation from America to Africa, as well as the Negro Factories Corporation to improve the economy in Africa. Later in 1922 Garvey was arrested and deported back to Jamaica for mail fraud with the Black Star Line stocks. In 1935, he moved to London where he lived until he died in 1940. His body was brought back to Jamaica in 1964, where he became the first national hero of Jamaica.

Source:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/garvey_marcus.shtml

Soldier Letter

Dear Family,

These last six months of the war have been rough. Life in the war is extremely hard. Luckily we have an advantage over the Germans with are supplies and are soldiers. We are winning this war. However with Russia withdrawing from the war, the Germans now are able to send all there forces to the western front. There are still days that we spend endless hours fighting in the trenches. Everyday I see countless number of people die. I see the brutality of the attacks, such as the way the poison gas slowly kills the soldiers, or how a shot to the leg could mean it must be amputated. Everyday I hope to survive until the next day. I don't know how long I will be able to keep this up. How are things back home? I hope you all are doing well. Hopefully I will be able to come home soon.