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The American Experience - Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind

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My two major areas of criticism are (1) Factual inaccuracies and slanderous statements without even attempting to substantiate them and (2) The absence of any in-depth analysis of what Marcus Garvey stood for or was trying to do.

I will attempt to deal with some of the former that I consider to be of major importance.

(1) The early incident of Marcus Garvey being left in the grave is dramatized and the statement is made that his father was teaching him `Never to rely on anyone'. The incident is factual, but the reason given to me by my mother is that my grandfather was teaching Marcus not to be afraid of anything!

It may seem initially like a small difference, but it sets the stage for later gratuitous statements that Marcus Garvey was always alone, never confided in anyone, did not take advice and was dictatorial.

So right from the beginning we have psychodrama and psychohistory.

Incidentally the technique of leaving someone in a graveyard for an extended period of time is a well-known Tibetan Buddhist practice, used for centuries to test an initiate's fearlessness and stability of mind.

(2) Statements that Amy Ashwood was the cofounder of the UNIA is an exaggeration in that Marcus Garvey returned from England to Jamaica on July 15th 1914 and within 5 days founded the UNIA.

It is unlikely that a 17-year-old girl had the vision to be anything more than an early member.

It is said that Amy Ashwood's mother did not consider Marcus Garvey the right type of person for her daughter to date, as he did not have a solid income. Well at this point he was a world traveler, a master printer, a journalist and the founder of an organization that had her daughter as one of fifteen members of the "board of management". Incidentally, both Amy Ashwood's mother and brother were on the UNIA payroll.

Marcus Garvey was elected president and TRAVELLING COMMISSIONER of the UNIA at its founding.

I emphasize this latter with good reason. Incidentally both Amy Ashwood's mother and brother were on the UNIA payroll.

(3) Marcus Garvey grossly mismanaged the funds of the organization and used them for his own purposes.

Again, not only is there no proof of this, but the opposite is true in that Marcus Garvey gave a public accounting of how the funds were used. At this early stage the organization was mostly uplift and philanthropy. It was a literary and debating society, did charitable work such as feeding and entertaining hundreds of poor and sick people, especially on Emancipation Day and at Christmas.

Garvey never ran away from Jamaica or left in a hurry. This was carefully planned and there are letters to Booker T. Washington and his successor, Moton, to prove that Garvey's visit to the U.S. was to see Tuskegee Institute, which he viewed as a model industrial institute, and to raise funds for a similar institute and farm in Jamaica.

I think he was clearly carrying out his duties as TRAVELLING COMMISSIONER.

Also he never abandoned Amy Ashwood in Jamaica, as she had already left for Panama.

(4) Marcus Garvey is portrayed as being awed by the bright lights, richness and tall buildings of Harlem.

He had already had 4 years of world travel under his belt, 2 in the Caribbean (Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras, Guatemala, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and 2 in Europe (England, France, Spain, Germany and Italy).

I do not think he was overly impressed with Harlem, New York, U.S.A.

He is said to have been so nervous at an early speaking engagement that he shook like a leaf and LITERALLY fell on his face.

Marcus Garvey even prior to leaving Jamaica in 1910 took part in debates and elocution contests and he trained himself in this area. He studied the speaking style of many ministers in Kingston, he spoke in public on many occasions in Costa Rica and Panama. He studied the speakers in London's Hyde Park, at Speaker's Corner. He participated himself. He also sat in the gallery of the House of Commons and studied the speakers there engaged in parliamentary debate.

He did not have to go to the U.S. to copy the speaking style of someone named Billy Sunday and he certainly would not have "shaken like a leaf".

His topic, by the way was `Jamaica' and the audience was largely West Indian.

As to literally `falling flat on his face'. This is an outright lie, as to fall flat on one's face, one would have to be in an altered state of consciousness so that the normal defense mechanism of putting out one's hands to break the fall would not be operational.

The one fact in all this is that Marcus Garvey fell off the platform while speaking on May 9th, 1916 at St. Mark's Roman Catholic Church Hall at 57 West 138th Harlem, N.Y.

How one gets from this one fact to the tissue of lies and fevered mental projections is quite a leap.

By the way he got up and continued his speech. He needed no medical attention for a broken nose, busted lip or bruised head as he would have done if he `literally fell flat on his face' from the platform.

(5) Garvey is said to have been authoritarian, antidemocratic, naming himself and others with fancy titles, etc.

THE UNIA IS AN ORGANIZATION WITH A CONSTITUTION. Marcus Garvey was elected Provisional President of Africa by 25,000 delegates from all over the world at the first international convention of the Negro peoples of the world in N.Y. in 1920. He was opposed by Dr. Lewis from Nigeria, but he won the election.

Important matters relative to the objectives of the organization and how they should be carried out were discussed at convention and by the delegates in committee and the recommendations voted upon democratically by the delegates present. Not autocratically dictated by Marcus Garvey.

There were 8 such conventions. The first in 1920 and the last in 1938 in Toronto Canada. WWII started in 1939. Garvey died in 1940.

(6) He is said to have fired his lawyer and no reason is given for this except to say that Garvey wanted to impress the jury with his oratory.

The fact is that his lawyer wanted to plea bargain and Garvey refused, protesting his innocence and therefore fired him. Nevertheless he hired lawyers to advise him on court proceedings, as he pleaded his case.

He did this well enough to have a hung jury. At which time the presiding judge instructed the jury not to `turn the tiger loose'. They came back in 15 minutes with a guilty verdict.

The only piece of evidence was an empty envelope; the address was not in Marcus Garvey's handwriting.

(7) A handbill is shown advertising and seeking subscriptions to buy a boat called the `Phyllis Wheatley'. This is said to be a gross misrepresentation, as the ship did not exist.

Well the ship did exist, and $20,000 had been paid down on it and the organization was raising funds to complete the purchase and rename the ship the `S.S. Phillis Wheatley'. The fist ship of the Black Star Line was the `Yarmouth', renamed the `Frederick Douglas'. The third ship was the `Kenawha', renamed the `Antonio Maceo'. The fourth ship was to be named the `Phillis Wheatley' after Afro-Americas first female poet and one of its most celebrated.

How this can be called misrepresentation requires a wide stretch of the imagination.

(8) Finally, the last scene that was dramatized showing Garvey, `the failure, who had come down, in the world', being stoned by children and walking toward a hovel, presumably his home.

A despicable lie. We lived at 53 Lady Musgrave Rd., St. Andrew from 1927 to 1937. My brother and I were both born there. The house still stands and was lived in by the Hendricks family and subsequently housed the Indian High Commission.

I do not need to tell a Jamaican readership of the many accomplishments of Marcus Garvey between 1927 and 1935 in Jamaica.

To end a documentary on Our 1st National Hero, Hero of the Americas and a Hero to millions of Africans, those at home and those abroad, climaxes the many distortions of fact, lies and character assassinations that are so numerous that I cannot include them all here.

One can only ask, Why?

Perhaps it is a situation of `who pays the piper calls the tune'.

I prefer to be charitable and say, `My father forgive them for they know not what they do'.

Sincerely,
Julius W. Garvey, M.D.

Usually, American Experience can counted on to present intensely fact-based documentaries. This one does not fit the ususal mode of American Experience product. Apparently, Frankthek didn't read the other reviews. One is from Julius Garvey, MD son of Marcus Garvey. That review led me to realize that there was more to the story. I went and did my own research. It seems that there is a great deal of bias in the documentary. The documentary doesn't begin where Garvey's life begins and it doesn't end where it ends. But it seems to want to impress upon you that it does. Nowhere are there facts presented for the viewer to make their own determination. That's why i watch American experience so much. Normally they present the facts, without so much as a critique. In my own research I confirmed some of what Dr. Garvey says in his review. The fraud trial originally ended in a hung jury, a fact left out of the documentary. Garvey met up with an expert elocutionist in Henrietta Vinton Davis, who may have been more influential on him than Billy Sunday. Garvey's second wife, Amy Jacques Garvey was from a well-to-do Jamaican family. Garvey finished his days in London, England; a plaque marks the house where he lived. He was interred in a crypt in England; and his body was brought back to Jamaica in the 60's. This was a very significant time in world history. Africa was getting its independence, the civil rights movement was taking off. Martin Luther King even laid a wreath at Garvey's mausoleum during a vacation in Jamaica. I watched this with a few other people and the consensus was the same. It is not the usual standard for American Experience. So many contradictory statements and so little facts. If anything this documentary will inspire others to go do their own research to get the real facts like I did.

I am a historian by profession. I did my senior thesis on the Garvey movement during my college days.

Overall, I thought this was an excellent documentary. The DVD is particularly good as it expounds upon things like Malcolm X's parents' role in the Garvey movement, J. Edgar Hoover's vendetta against Garvey, and it contains two complete speeches from Garvey recorded in 1921, the latter of which states the goals of his UNIA.

As for the controversy, one should not expect a serious documentary aimed for adults to show a historical figure as an idealized, angelic being with no human flaws. Let's face it, Garvey had his faults and this documentary deals with that. But it also makes it clear that Garvey made a positive impact on many people from the testimonies of people who actually remembered the Garvey movement. Incidentally, in response to one of the previous posters, this DVD DID mention that Garvey created the Red, Black and Green flag.

Next to reading "Black Moses" or "The Philosophy of Marcus Garvey," this is a good introduction for anyone who wants to learn about Marcus Garvey. See this, read Garvey's own writings, and judge for yourself.

I wish folks would use these pages to REVIEW material and not to further their apparent agendas. 'A Viewer', who is very clear in his/her agenda, saw fit to post five separate diatribes against this film. Apparently 'A Viewer felt that there were some relationships and/or situations which were not adequately covered by the documentary. 'A Viewer', however, makes no reference to any substantiation to any of his/her claims, and so one can do no more than dismiss them.

PBS has always been pretty clear in its political leanings and if they were going to slant this film, and I don't claim in this review that they do, they would certainly have slanted it in the direction opposite that to which 'A Viewer' claims they have slanted it. And I believe they deserve credit for the fact that they chose 'American Experience' to shine a light on someone other than Malcolm X, Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks.

The bottom line is, if you're interested in one of history's lesser known black figures, you will find this documentary fascinating. Normally, I would have only given it 3 or 4 stars, but I feel compelled to counteract the damage 'A Viewer' has done by posting 5 reviews - each with only 1 star.

I was impressed with this documentary. Not much is known about Marcus Garvey and what he did for the Black people in the 1920's. It was a wonderful documentary and I learnd a few interesting facts. I recommend it for anyone who wants to learn more about the history of Black people, other than Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X.

This DVD produced by PBC is an excellent treasure for those who are interested in understanding the historical events in the development of Black American culture. This documentary of the American experience exemplifies the best of investigation of the birth of movements which affected Black life and provides answers for questions still being raised today. E.g., when White America wonder why Blacks and law enforcement doesn't appear to be successful in developing a positive relationship, this documentary provides insight when it discusses the thoughts of the late FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover, antagonist attitude toward Blacks and their selective leadership. Hoover's hatred of Martin King is seen in his hatred of Marcus Garvey. Hoover's personal belief toward Blacks was discussed and his attitude is reflected in law enforcement across the Nation to this day. This video is quite valuable as an edition to an individual's search for the truth of why things are the way they are. I highly recommend without reservation this PBS series for anyone's library who is interested in learning the historical movements in Black American Culture.

I knew little of this incredibly fascinating man until I saw this film. It should be required viewing, I don't understand how one person could post so many negative reviews all on the same day.

Marcus Garvey was a black immigrant from Jamaica who was very much a child of his times, yet was very much ahead of his time. In only a few years, (1916 - 1921), he built the largest black mass movement in history. International in scope, his Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) organization gave black people a sense of pride, as one who witnessed it says on the tape, "I felt like I owned half the world and didn't want the other half." He modeled his movement on the structure of a nation, with their own flag, anthem and governmental officials, including a foreign minister.
His policies of aggressively competing with whites and not being passive when blacks were slighted brought him to the attention of J. Edgar Hoover and the animosity of other black leaders. However, two things fundamentally destroyed him. The first was his autocratic style of leadership, he tolerated no dissent or opinions contrary to his own. The second was his inability to manage money or even hire others who could. He sought and received an enormous amount of investment money from blacks, but time and time again most of it was wasted.
Marcus Garvey is arguably the most interesting person of the twentieth century that few people learn about. He raised millions of dollars and had hundreds of thousands of followers, and yet his movement expired in only a few years. I have studied history for years and had only a superficial knowledge of his name and his movement. In hearing the testimony of the people who were part of the movement, it was clear that Garvey was truly an accomplished leader. The people still speak of him with reverence and respect, even decades after witnessing the events. This tape should be required viewing in any class that covers black history.

As a thinking person, this video left me with some questions in need of answers. At the end of this video I began to realize:

Garvey was controversial among a small but vocal group of black elitists and not among the masses of Black people worldwide.

Why was the US government seeking to destroy a law-abiding black man? Why did this happen during a time when lynching was rampant in the US and the same government could not find it in their hearts and minds to implement an anti-lynching law? Why are they continuing to do the same with this outlandish misrepresentation of Garvey through PBS?

What suggested Marcus Garvey was using Billy Sunday as a role model? There is no evidence Sunday was a role model for Garvey. PBS ignores the fact that Garvey was an orator before he left Jamaica. He spoke in London's Hyde Park before founding the UNIA in Jamaica.

Maybe PBS needs to revisit the letter from Atlanta Penetentiary where it got the title for this documentary:

Look for me in the whirlwind or the storm, look for me all around you, for, with God's grace, I shall come and bring with me countless millions of black slaves who have died in America and the West Indies and the millions in Africa to aid you in the fight for Liberty, Freedom and Life. The civilization of today is gone drunk and crazy with its power and by such it seeks through injustice, [evil] and lies to crush the unfortunate. But if I am apparently crushed by the system of influence and misdirected power, my cause shall rise again to plague the conscience of the[evil]. For this I am satisfied, and for you, I repeat, I am glad to suffer and even die.

This documentary shows that the conscience of the [evil] is still plagued by the potential inherent in the cause of African Redemption.

a malicious attempt to discredit the legacy of the Rt. Ex. Marcus Mosiah Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association - African Communities League. The "mockumentary" was laden with outright lies, false rumors, and misrepresentations of Marcus Garvey the man, and the UNIA-ACL. I would like to dispel at least some of these ridiculous lies and give an accurate account of Garvey and the works of the UNIA-ACL, past and present.

The film begins at a cemetery, telling us that Garvey's father, a brick mason, once dug a grave in the middle of the night, tricked little Marcus into the hole and left him there to teach him to trust no one. What the producers refuse to tell you is that none of Garvey's friends or family ever validated the story and the source and accuracy of the story is still questionable. Besides, brick masons build headstones. Gravediggers dig graves and they do not dig them at night.

Next, Robert Hill, the Executive Consultant, claims that Garvey tremored, shook like a leaf and fell off the stage when he first spoke in Harlem and had to learn oratory from a white man. They also imply that Garvey, at age 14, was motivated to succeed due to rejection by a white girl. What they neglect to mention is the fact that Garvey was an exceptionally gifted student and had been winning oratory awards since 1910 and was a printer at age 14.

Additionally, there were slanderous remarks about Garvey's mental health, allegations of financial improprieties, and one "historian" called Garvey a "grandiose megalomaniac" who "only hired loyal people despite their competence." Yet, a few seconds later, they admit that Garvey's most competent colleagues (i.e. lawyer, ship captain, business partner, etc) were FBI cooperatives who purposely sabotaged his business ventures. All of these lies, fabricated stories and contradictions were based on rumors, reports of FBI informants and speculative information from unnamed sources.

The film implies that the movement died with the deportation of its leader. They reduce the size of UNIA membership from the documented 11+ million to roughly 3/4 million. The Liberian Project was barely mentioned. They did not mention Garvey's contribution to the Harlem Renaissance. Nor did they mention the government's admission, during Garvey's Exoneration Hearing, that he was "wrongfully convicted" of mail fraud. Also, interpretive commentary was given by unknown historians whose ignorance and disdain for the Garvey movement evident.

Dr. Tony Martin, leading scholar and authorized historian on Marcus Garvey considers this special a "barrage of negative commentary...They dug up every off the wall bit of rumor and uncorroborated innuendo they could find and elevated them to central events...The film started with Garvey abandoned in a grave and ended with kids stoning him as he approached a hovel which bore no resemblance to anywhere he lived at that period -- a hell of a way to begin and end a documentary on Marcus Garvey."

In a recent interview on WOL, the eldest son of Garvey, current President/General and 7th Successor to his father, Marcus Garvey Jr., blasted the film for its "hostile and distorted" depiction of his father and the UNIA-ACL. "The film was a misrepresentation of the Marcus Garvey Movement," he said.

All in all, this was just another example of character assassination of the heroes and sheroes of the black race who truly exemplified the philosophy or "race first." The "mockumentary" did not tell you that there are countless numbers around the globe who stand today as living examples of the whirlwind. It did not tell you that we, the UNIA-ACL have not lost faith in African Redemption or of our level of commitment to the cause. Why? Because they want to leave you hopeless and as long as we remain hopeless, we will remain as compliant and complacent subjects of others rather than the masters of our own destiny.

Dr. Julius W. Garvey, M.D., son of Marcus Garvey, has also written a commentary in response to the PBS special. Links to other accurate information on the Right Excellent Marcus Mosiah Garvey and/or the UNIA-ACL include: The Black World Today and the UNIA.

Marcus Garvey once said:
"The campaign of abuse and imprisonment against your leaders is but a part of the plan to harass and discourage you on the way towards destiny. But no sober-minded Negro will allow himself to be fooled by the design of the wicked. The wicked we have always had and will ever have. The wicked and unjust have opposed reforms in every age and under all circumstances. They crucified a Christ and drove His apostles from pillar to post. They made, by their wicked acts, martyrs of those who have lived and died for a principle and an idea; so let them go on. They, too, in this age shall drink the bitter dregs of sorrow and remorse, even as succeeding generations of those who crucified Christ and persecuted His disciples have become the cursed creatures of righteousness. Let our traitors sell themselves to the propaganda of the enemy who seeks to destroy the race! They, too, like the character of old, will find no use for the bits of silver."

UP YOU MIGHTY RACE, YOU CAN ACCOMPLISH WHAT YOU WILL!

ONE GOD - ONE AIM - ONE DESTINY