The other day, I was on the promenade in San Fernando (Trinidad) by the taxi stand. I cannot count the number of times I have waited for transportation in this area. This particular day I walked past the waiting area when I bumped into a statue and monument to Marcus Garvey. Somehow, I’ve never noticed the sculpture before and I’m not sure that many people do. When I told a friend of mine that the man in the white suit was Garvey, he said, “All de time I passing this thing and I thought it was some calypsonian or something.” At least he had some thought about it because the monument was apparently in my blind-spot.
According to Dr. Kim Johnson (writing in 1998), Garvey is only “vaguely known in Trinidad today mainly through the influence of reggae music” However, Johnson notes that by the 1920s there were 30 branches of Garvey’s United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in Trinidad; 20 more branches than there were in Garvey’s homeland Jamaica. There were many UNIA leaders from Trinidad who also operated in other parts of the Diaspora. And although he has been interpreted as a racial separatist, the UNIA also included “…one Hucheshwar Mudgal, who was born in India and grew up in Trinidad before moving to the US, became editor of the Negro World and was foreign affairs columnist for Garvey’s Daily Negro Times” (Johnson).
Two years after Johnson’s article was written, the monument was dedicated to Alfred Graham, who donated large sums to its creation. In 2006, the Southern Emancipation Committee set up a booth around the statue to give details of his life and legacy as part of their Emancipation festival and here’s an interesting article on his life: Marcus Garvey: Millenium Afrikan Hero
Two years after Johnson’s article was written, the monument was dedicated to Alfred Graham, who donated large sums to its creation. In 2006, the Southern Emancipation Committee set up a booth around the statue to give details of his life and legacy as part of their Emancipation festival and here’s an interesting article on his life: Marcus Garvey: Millenium Afrikan Hero
Zahra Gordon 
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