5th annual Marcus Garvey Groundings set for South Florida today

The Marcus Garvey Groundings, the Black History Month cultural celebration of Jamaica’s National Hero Marcus Mosiah Garvey and the country’s reggae music that’s presented by the Consulate General of Jamaica in Miami, will have its historic 5th annual event at the Island Space Museum today, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., in commemoration of Garvey’s only visit to South Florida in 1921.

Garvey, 105 years ago, arrived by train in Miami and paid his only visit to South Florida, February 25 – 28, 1921, holding a two-day lecture series in Key West to promote the Black Star Line, before sailing for Cuba on February 28. The shipping company Black Star Line was set up by Garvey and associates in 1919 under the auspices of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), which by then had grown to include more than four million members. He was the founder and first president-general of the UNIA and African Communities League. Shortly after the acquisition of the Black Star Line, the company began its ‘African Redemption’ Liberia programme, with the idea of establishing a nation on the west coast of Africa for Black Americans who were born into slavery or who were the descendants of enslaved people.

Steven Golding, president of the UNIA and African Communities League, the keynote speaker of the event, will again be delivering Garvey’s advocacy of black pride, worth and self-sufficiency, and will continue to highlight that February 25 should be decreed as South Florida Garvey Day.

This year’s event combines the Garvey and reggae celebration with the consul general’s lecture series.

“It’s the consulate’s way of celebrating Black History and Reggae Month,” Mair said, “and we know the significance Garvey has played for Jamaica, the diaspora and people of colour around the world. We are ensuring that the world will not forget about Garvey.”

Given Garvey’s stance on self-reliance, Farrah Blake, chief executive officer of the Cannabis Licensing Authority Jamaica, will be one of the main presenters at the event. Commenting on the combined cultural celebration and the lecture series with its particular highlight on investment opportunities, she believes that they’re ideally complimentary.

“The marriage is apt,” she said, “and in the 196 licences granted over the last 10 years, 51 per cent of the directorship of the licensed businesses must be owned by Jamaicans. We are locally driven and our medical cannabis industry merges herb with healing – as we have always seen it. Cannabis is synonymous with Jamaica and its music – and there’s synergy as well with the teaching of Garvey to fend for ourselves.”

The event will also headline the Visions Band and the Tallawah Mento Band to chart the course of the rich heritage of our music.

“The event sustains the progressive education of Garvey’s teaching,’ said Mair, “and pays tribute to the powerful messages of reggae music to the world.”