The Honorable Marcus Mossiah Garvey and his Historical Administration ratified the “Constitution of the “Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League” in 1914. The Motto of the organization’ is “One God, One Aim, One Destiny.”  The dream and Goal of the Organization is dedicated to doing the work that will bring about the Freedom and Redemption of Africa through the Philosophy of the Honorable Marcus Mossiah Garvey.       - Cleophas T. Jacobs

Citizens of Jamaica, Greetings!

I am happy that it is my good fortune to visit this Island of Jamaica, and the great City of Kingston. We have been deeply impressed with your kindness and hospitality, and the courtesies shown our delegation. We congratulate you on the progress you are making in commerce, industry and the great strides toward self-government. We bring with us the best wishes of Negro America for success in your advance toward the goal of Statehood.

We have come to Jamaica at the invitation of His Worship, the Mayor, to share with you the commemoration of a great Jamaican – Marcus Garvey. One whose greatness and achievements extend far beyond the boundaries of this island. Though he is a son of Jamaica’s soil, he belongs, not alone to the people of Jamaica, but to those millions of the world’s population that struggle for freedom and independence in the United States of America and Africa. He belongs not only to our times, but to the ages. His memory is written, not alone in bronze and stone standing in your Public Park, but in the hearts of the world’s millions, who fight to emancipate themselves from economic and political bondage.

We commend you for the honor you give him today, yet our hearts are grieved when we realize how little we appreciated him in life. It appears however to be a weakness of mankind that he never appreciates his great benefactors at the time they serve and make their great contributions. It is only after they have passed and time gives us greater perspective, that we are able to evaluate their work and greatness.

Garvey was indeed a great man. And, when we say great, we are not simply making a play on words. His greatness is proven by the standard which measure greatness. Greatness is determined by the impact a man’s work and teaching has on his times. When viewing the individual and his work, we ask ourselves: Was the world different because he lived? The answer to this question as it relates to Marcus Garvey places him in the company of the Great.

Because Garvey lived, Jamaica is different; Because Garvey lived, Negro America is different; Because Garvey lived, Africa is different. His work and teaching gave birth to a New Negro, a New Africa and this impact went a long way in shaping a New World. For his cry was not alone, “Africa for the Africans,” “but Asia for the Asiatic’” and “Europe for the Europeans.” He did more to crystallize national sentiment in so-called backward countries than any single individual of our times. Measured by the standard of change Garvey and his teachings have wrought in the world, Garvey rises to the heights of greatness. 

So great were the goals he set for his Race that small minds criticized and little minds laughed, Laughed as they always have at every new idea or venture. Some called him a fool. Others branded him a charlatan and buffoon; while the more charitable called him a dreamer.

Too blind and short-sighted to realize the possibility of black men building for themselves, they sought to belittle his work by terming it a dream. Little did they realize that in calling Garvey a dreamer, they instantly placed him in the ranks of the “Great.”

Dreamer! Do you know who dreamers are? They are the architects of greatness. Their vision lies within their souls. They peer through the clouds of doubt and darkness and pierce the walls of unknown time.

Dreamers! They sail seas that have never been charted, because they are the makers of the charts. They scale mountains that have never been scaled, because they are blazers of the way. They travel paths that have never been beaten, because they are beaters of the paths.

Dreamers! The Great British Empire was first conceived and given birth to by the mind of a dreamer. The Great American Commonwealth was founded by dreamers; the world reforms that now benefit mankind were born in the hearts and minds of dreamers. Yes, Garvey was a dreamer, and because he dared dream of an emancipated Negro Race and Nationhood, Negroes of Jamaica are marching, Negroes of America are marching and Negroes of Africa are marching. The torch of freedom has been lighted in their breasts and all the forces of hell cannot blow it out.

We from America consider it a privilege and great honor to participate with the people of Jamaica in paying tribute to Marcus Garvey. His contribution to Negro America was no less than he made to his Native land. I wish it were possible for me to do justice to the greatness of this son of Africa, but we cannot-words are inadequate; bronze and stone too frail to convey a true picture of the man. For Marcus Garvey was one of history’s providential Geniuses. He came to his Race endowed with an extraordinary ability for organization and leadership, as Shakespeare had for poetry, Mozart for music or Angelo for art. His undaunted faith in the possibilities of his people; his courage to come forward and plead their cause, under any condition and circumstances, uniquely fitted him for leadership of the Universal Negro Improvement Association - an Organization which has been an eternal blessing to his Race and given immortal fame to his name.

You, the people of Jamaica, knew him; you worked with him; some of you fought with him; you knew his strength and his weaknesses. But no man is perfect. Whatever Garvey’s faults, whatever Garvey’s mistakes, let us now cover them with the pure mantle of love and tolerance for an otherwise great and noble character. 

Nothing we say can add or take away from the stature of Marcus Garvey. The world will soon forget what we say today, but it will long remember what he did. His name has a fixed place in history. As long as black men cherish the ideals of freedom and independence, Marcus Garvey’s name will live in the hearts of his people everywhere.

Great Garvey Day all.

By William LeVan Sherrill at the Unveiling of the Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey’s Bust in Heroes Park, Kingston, Jamaica, November 4, 1956 

Eulogy Researched and presented by Mariama  Kamau, International Organizer of Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA & ACL)