The civil rights leader, most famous for advocating that African-Americans return to Africa in the early 1900s, was an early fighter against colonialism and is seen as a national hero in his native Jamaica.
Garvey arrived in New York on a ship from Kingston in 1916. He toured the country and became a political organizer in Harlem, where he gave street corner speeches advocating for economic independence for black Americans. He started a steamship company, the Black Star Line, which was intended to facilitate trade and travel between African-Americans and African countries, and raised more than a million dollars from around the country.