Marcus Garvey ignited one of the most phenomenal social movements in modern history and was admired around the world. Yet few today understand his quest to promote the economic and cultural advancement of Black people.

In January, former President Biden’s posthumous pardon of Garvey created a moment to resurface the vision of the pan-African pioneer. President Trump’s efforts to dismantle inclusive policies in federal and corporate workplaces may provide new impetus for applying Garvey’s vision today.

Garvey came to the U.S. in 1916 during a period of reactionary politics in opposition to a growing Black urban migration. It was a time of mob lynching in the South, campaigns to deny housing and jobs in the North and hooligan riots to eliminate Black settlements in cities across the country. President Woodrow Wilson took steps to resegregate the federal workplace and erode the Black civil service even as he called on Black men to enlist during World War I.

In the midst of despair, Garvey found a way to lift the spirits of the urban folk by nurturing an affirming statement of Black pride and achievement. His organization, the Universal Negro Improvement Association (U.N.I.A.), advocated for Pan-African awareness with the slogan “One God, One Aim, One Destiny.”

U.N.I.A. was centered in Harlem with branches across the country and overseas, growing by 1920 to become the largest Black organization ever developed. It was not a civil rights group seeking integration — members viewed that agenda as impractical and potentially fatal — but an omnibus syndicate for self-help in the Black urban community.

U.N.I.A. provided laborers, cooks, porters, messengers and other common folk with the confidence of belonging to an organization with a global reach. Garvey was a master of the symbolic gesture and developed popular imagery, such as the red, black and green Pan-African........

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