This religion traces its inception to Marcus Garvey (born in 1887), whose philosophical ideologies were the catalyst that would eventually grow into the Rastafarian movement in 1930. Rastafarianism is often associated with the black impoverished population of Jamaica. It is not just a religion to them but a way of life, a struggle for their rights and freedom.
In the early 1920's, Garvey an influential black spokesman was founder of the "back-to-Africa" movement. He spoke of the redemption of the black people through a future black African king .
"No race has the last word on culture and on civilization. You do not know what the black man is capable of; you do not know what he is thinking and therefore you do not know what the oppressed and suppressed Negro, by virtue of his condition and circumstance, may give to the world as a surprise."( Speech, June 6, 1928, Royal Albert Hall, London. Quoted in Adolph Edwards, Marcus Garvey) While Garvey tried to give blacks their rightful place he reversed the roles of the races. Garvey called the white religion a rejection of black culture, insisting that blacks must leave "Babylon" (the Western world) and return to their homeland of Africa. The first Universal Negro Improvement Association international convention (UNIA) opened at Liberty Hall in New York's Harlem under the leadership of Marcus Garvey . 25,000 delegates from 25 nations attended. Garvey began to exalt African beauty and promote a "back to Africa" campaign with a plan for resettlement in Liberia (Liberia was first African colony to gain independence) He promoted a steamship company that would provide transportation for blacks to return to Africa. In 1920 Liberia rejected Marcus Garvey's plan for resettlement of U.S. blacks, fearing that his moti ...