1915 - Marcus Garvey Arrives in the United States to Begin Global Black Nationalist Movement

On June 15, 1915, Jamaican-born Marcus Mosiah Garvey arrived in the United States for what was initially planned as a brief lecture tour. Instead, this date marked the beginning of one of the most influential Black international movements of the 20th century. Within a year, Garvey established the New York branch of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), which quickly grew into a global organization advocating for Black pride, economic independence, and Pan-African unity. While Garvey\’s later mass rallies and the Black Star Line shipping project are more widely remembered, the significance of his quiet arrival on U.S. soil in 1915 is often overlooked. It was this moment that seeded a transnational movement connecting the struggles of African-descended peoples across the Americas, Caribbean, and Africa. His vision laid the groundwork for future Pan-Africanist and Black nationalist leaders worldwide, from Kwame Nkrumah to Malcolm X.