91³Ô¹ÏÍø

Bust

Marcus Garvey - Willesden Library

Erection date: 17/8/2016

Inscription

{Nameplate on the base of the bust:}
Marcus Mosiah Garvey 1887 - 1940

{Panel next to the bust:}
"Are you an African or a Jamaican?"
"I will not give up a continent for an island!"
Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr. 17th August 1887 - 10th June 1940

Marcus Garvey was a prominent pan-African politician, entrepreneur and orator. Pan-Africanism is a movement which promotes solidarity between people of African heritage. Garvey dedicated his life to promoting the empowerment of African people everywhere in a form of Pan-African philosophy that became known as 'Garveyism'.

Garvey lived in London between 1912 and 1914. During that time he studied at Birkbeck College, spoke at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park, and engaged with other pan-Africanists. On his return to Jamaica in 1914, he established the UNIA or Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League.

In 1935, Garvey relocated to London, where he died in 1940. He was buried in Kensal Green. In 1964, his remains were moved to the National Heroes Park in Kingston, Jamaica. He was posthumously awarded Jamaica's Order of National Heroes in 1969. Garvey has been an inspiration to Martin Luther King Jr., Kwame Nkrumah, the Nation of Islam, the Rastafari faith, and numerous civil rights movements. Garvey has continued to have an important influence on African and African-Caribbean communities in Brent, many of whom consider him to be a "Pan-African Hero".

The bust was unveiled on Garvey's 129th birthday, and is now inside a glass case in the museum at the library, but we cannot discover who sculpted it.

Site: Willesden Library (3 memorials)

NW10, High Road, 95, Willesden Green Old Library Building

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in to see them

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Marcus Garvey - Willesden Library

Subjects commemorated i

Marcus Garvey

Pan-African nationalist leader. Born Marcus Mosiah Garvey in St Ann's Bay, Ja...

91³Ô¹ÏÍø

This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Marcus Garvey - Willesden Library

Also at this site i

Willesden Library - 1894

Willesden Library - 1894

Willesden Green Library was established in 1894 following a poll of the ratep...

91³Ô¹ÏÍø

Willesden Library - Shakespeare

Willesden Library - Shakespeare

We think that hiding below hundreds of layers of whitewash is a fine relief b...

91³Ô¹ÏÍø

Nearby Memorials

Italian Garden - Victoria

Italian Garden - Victoria

W2, Kensisngton Gardens

Our photo shows the south-west corner of the garden presided over by Victoria. Albert watches over the south-east corner. Each profile is...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Tot Ct Road Head 2

Tot Ct Road Head 2

W1, Tottenham Court Road, 220 - 224 (Next Home)

The spaces between the first and second floor windows carry carved brick panels, one in each of the seven bays. Purely decorative panels ...

Bloomsbury House - Friedrich Froebel

Bloomsbury House - Friedrich Froebel

WC1, Bloomsbury Square, 2-3

Bloomsbury House was built in 1887 for the College of Preceptors.  Designed by by F. Pinches it is Listed Grade 1.  The College, now call...

1 subject commemorated
Charles Darwin bust

Charles Darwin bust

WC1, Gower Street, UCL Biological Sciences Building

This website gives more detailed information about the creation of the bust. In 2011, the Grant Museum moved from its previous location ...

2 subjects commemorated, 1 creator
Grosvenor Hotel - head 07 - Queen Victoria

Grosvenor Hotel - head 07 - Queen Victoria

SW1, Buckingham Palace Road, Grosvenor Hotel

This 1860 building, by architect James Knowles Snr, is studded with many portrait busts of which we believe only these 14 are representat...

1 subject commemorated