Portrait of Marcus Garvey
Artist
Charles Bible (American, b. 1937)
Date
1968Medium
Offset lithographDimensions
Sheet : 22 1/2 x 17 1/2 in. (57.15 x 44.45 cm)
Mat : 30 x 24 in. (76.2 x 60.96 cm)Credit Line
Purchased with funds donated by Roberta VanGilder (1953) KayeObject Number
2020.53
Label
Jamaican-born Marcus Garvey was the founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL). He was an ardent Black nationalist who opposed European colonialism in Africa and advocated for pan-African political unity. He also argued that Black people from the Americas should move to Africa to help rebuild the greatness of African civilization. Garvey lived in the United States from 1916 to 1926, and became an influential, if controversial figure in the American Civil Rights movement. His argument that African American communities should strive for financial independence by starting and supporting Black-owned businesses resonated strongly in the 1920s and again in the 1960s and 70s, as did his call for Black Americans to reconnect with their African roots. This image of Garvey wearing a military-style uniform is based on a photograph taken in 1922 when Garvey delivered a speech at the Second Convention of the Negro Peoples of the World in New York City. It was created by Charles Bible, an African American artist originally from Texas who studied art at the Pratt Institute in New York and later worked as a graphic artist and illustrator in the San Francisco Bay area.
