Marcus Mosiah Garvey was the leader of the largest and most populous Black Nationalist movement of the early twentieth century. The movement began in Colonial Jamaica in 1914 but became a transnational phenomenon having its greatest success in the United States and a rather variegated existence throughout the rest of the globe. The difference in trajectories of the Garvey movement has created a localized approach to the study of the movement. American historians have been at the forefront of this approach. To that end, this thesis attempts to unite the localized histories of the Garvey movement in order to emphasize the ideological continuities and discontinuities of this movement, a creation of colonial disaffection. / History of Garveyism in Jamaica, North America and West Africa

Elma Lewis, founder of the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts, National Center of Afro-American Artists, and Museum of the National Center of Artists, was the subject of this historical case study. Focused attention was directed at Lewis’ philosophy, her School of Fine Arts, and her use of arts education as a tool for achieving racial pride and equity for mid-century Black Bostonians. Objectives of this study included recording Lewis’ philosophy and its relationship to Garveyism as well as cataloguing the means by which Lewis’ ideals advanced African Americans in their pursuit of racial pride and equity. Data for the study was assembled from primary and secondary sources. Primary source materials preserved in the archives of Elma Lewis, her School of Fine Arts (ELSFA), the National Center of Afro-American Artists (NCAAA), and the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists (MNCAAA) were mined for relevant data as were third party interviews and the NCAAA website. Interviews of former ELSFA faculty, students, parents, and community members conducted by this researcher breathed renewed life into dormant archival materials while simultaneously triangulating all data. Findings identify Lewis’ philosophy of arts education as cultural emancipation (AECE) as an artistic relative of Garveyism and related yet distinct from music education philosophies centering aesthetic education and participatory action. Recommendations for future research identify topics within music/arts education’s burgeoning domain of African American arts education.

This thesis examines the class appeal of Marcus Garvey's propaganda and his relationship with the black American left through the end of his movement's formative years to reveal aspects of his political thought that are not entirely represented in the historiography. Although several historians have addressed Garvey's affiliation with the black American left there has not yet been a consummate study on the nature of that relationship. This study examines the class element of Garvey's propaganda from his formative years through his radical phase, tracing the evolution of his ideas and attributing factors to those changes. Garvey influenced and was influenced by the labor movement and the class appeal of his propaganda was much stronger than historians have allowed. Garvey ultimately distanced himself and his program from the left for a number of reasons. The United States Justice Department's campaign to infiltrate his organization and remove him at the height of the Red Scare caused him to distance his program from the left. Since Garvey was pragmatic, not ideologically driven, and economic theory was secondary to black autonomy in his philosophy, increased criticism from former associates in the black American left, coupled with his exclusion from African-American intelligentsia, impacted his decision to embrace an alternative program. During the final years of his radical phase Garvey's ideas, program and relationships were impacted by a collision of the personal and political in his world. Understanding the complexity of Garvey's evolving ideology, and looking at the causes for those changes, are crucial to the study of the movement and its impact.