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