Marcus Garvey: A Pioneer in the Empowerment of the Oppressed

Authors

  • Llewellyn Cornelius University of Georgia

Keywords:

African Americans, community organization, self-empowerment, community empowerment

Abstract

“Empowerment” has recently become a buzzword in the social sciences and has come to be connected with the notion of helping the disenfranchised find the resources to improve their circumstances. However, contemporary discussions of empowerment understate the early empowerment pioneer Marcus Garvey and his Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). At a time when African Americans were defined as second-class citizens, the UNIA succeeded in fostering positive self-esteem and self-determination among over 2,000,000 individuals through the world. This reflection essay documents these achievements both during the height of the UNIA movements as well as in the decades that followed.

Author Biography

Llewellyn Cornelius, University of Georgia

Llewellyn J. Cornelius, PhD, LCSW is Donald L. Hollowell Distinguished Professor and Director, Center for Social Justice, Human and Civil Rights, School of Social Work, University of Georgia, Athens, GA (lcornel@uga.edu).

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Published

2026-07-30

How to Cite

Cornelius, L. (2026). Marcus Garvey: A Pioneer in the Empowerment of the Oppressed. Reflections: Narratives of Professional Helping, 32(2), 56–75. Retrieved from https://reflectionsnarrativesofprofessionalhelping.org/index.php/Reflections/article/view/2271