Notes on Slavery, Resistance, and Marcus Garvey

The instructor opens with the idea of calling certain societies “slave societies.”
Reminder that antiquity included slavery, and that Africans were present in antiquity; this context matters for understanding how movements arise.
The point to be clarified visually via PowerPoint: how movements occur over time.
Class activity setup: students will form groups; the instructor gives students the freedom to decide who the five people are for a future discussion activity.
Practical classroom logistics: groups are kept to turn their chairs to face one another; the activity involves selecting five individuals and naming them on a sheet to be returned at the end of the class.
The purpose of the activity is to prepare for subsequent weeks of the course where these five figures will be referenced.

The facilitator assigns a task of choosing five notable figures related to resistance and treatment of Black/African people in history.
The five figures will be named on a designated sheet and submitted back to the instructor by the end of the class.
Rationale: this exercise is tied to the course’s ongoing exploration over the coming weeks.

The discussion identifies Marcus Garvey as a central figure connected to resistance against how Black/African people were treated.
Garvey’s activism included protest and the establishment of multiple movements.
He founded and led the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and organized other organizations to speak out against exploitation.
Garvey was deported from the United States due to the impact of his movement and activism.
A central aim of Garvey’s work was to promote return to one’s homeland, encouraging people to go back to their homelands rather than remain in host countries to be exploited.

The instructor points out a temporal shift: Garvey’s efforts occur after slavery, moving into the 20th century.
The course includes a chapter about these “returns” and Garvey is discussed within that context.
Garvey’s efforts are described as not very successful in achieving mass repatriation, but they are framed as resistance to racism rather than to slavery itself.
In the 20th century, the period is characterized by the height of colonialism in Africa, providing a backdrop for Garvey’s calls for Africans to leave segregated societies and return to Africa.
The discussion highlights the distinction between resistance to slavery and resistance to racism (e.g., Jim Crow in the United States).

Slavery vs. slave societies: the lecture emphasizes understanding the difference between a society built on slavery and a society where slavery exists as part of the system.
Racism as a continued system of oppression in the 20th century, distinct from chattel slavery but deeply connected to it.
Jim Crow laws as the American framework of racial segregation during Garvey’s era.
Colonialism in Africa as the global backdrop against which Black resistance movements and calls for return to Africa emerged.
The concept of “returns” or “Back to Africa” as a political and ideological stance in Pan-African thought and Garveyism.
The session links these themes to broader questions about resistance, agency, and diaspora politics.

Ethical questions: the ethics of deportation and forced relocation versus the autonomy of self-determination and homeland return.
Practical implications: how resistance movements adapt to the structures of racism and colonialism, and how they inspire later civil rights and Pan-African movements.
Philosophical implications: what it means to resist oppression—through protest, organization, cultural assertion, and calls for a homeland—across different historical moments.

Direct link to earlier discussions about slavery in antiquity and the presence of Africans in those times.
Demonstrates continuity from slave economies to post-slavery racial regimes (Jim Crow) and to anti-colonial movements in Africa during the early 20th century.
Real-world relevance: helps students understand the lineage of Black empowerment movements, Pan-Africanism, and the ongoing struggle against racism and colonialism.

Slave society: a society in which slavery is a central institution underpinning the economy and social structure.
Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA): organization founded by Marcus Garvey focusing on Black empowerment.
Marcus Garvey: anti-racism activist, leader of UNIA, advocate for Black pride and return to Africa; deported from the U.S. due to his impact.
Back to Africa / Returns movement: Garvey’s goal of Africans returning to their homelands as a solution to racial oppression in host countries.
Jim Crow: system of racial segregation and disenfranchisement in the United States during much of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Colonialism in Africa: the period of European domination and control over African territories, shaping resistance movements and ideas about self-determination.
Diaspora (possible intended term in classroom discussion): movement of populations away from their ancestral homelands; note: transcript included a possible mishearing as “dyslexia.”

Antiquity: slavery exists; Africans present in antiquity.
19th–early 20th centuries: shift from slavery as a defining structure to racially structured oppression (Jim Crow in the U.S.).
Early to mid-20th century: height of European colonialism in Africa.
Garvey’s era: turn toward organized Black empowerment, calls for return to Africa, and transnational resistance beyond the abolition of slavery.
Ongoing link across periods: resistance takes multiple forms (protest, organization, diaspora movements) in response to both slavery and later racism and colonialism.

Marcus Garvey: early 20th century figure; deported from the United States due to his influence; led UNIA.
The 20th century: period referenced for the rise of anti-racist and anti-colonial movements; professional context for Garvey’s activities.
Jim Crow era: period of legal segregation in the United States concurrent with Garvey’s activity.
Height of colonialism in Africa: context for the calls to “return” to Africa and the broader anti-colonial movement.