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Reclaiming the values of African culture and revitalizing African American culture were fundamental aspects of Garvey's Black nationalist philosophy. "Africa has produced countless numbers of men and women, in war and in peace, whose luster and bravery outshine that of any other people," he argued in the UNIA newspaper, published in 1925. "Then why not see good and perfection in ourselves? We must aspire to a literature and promulgate a doctrine of our own without any apologies to the powers that be ...Negroes the world over must practice one faith, that of Confidence in ourselves, with One God! One Aim! One Destiny! (Marcus Garvey, p. 156, 158).Garvey based his conclusions on the suffering he observed among Africans and those of African descent in both in the Caribbean, and the United States. It was a period just following War World I in which African Americans fought for their country and worked in war time industries. When the war ended, African Americans found themselves competing for jobs with whites and as a result, were subjected to countless lynchings and other forms of white supremacist violence. A month after launching the Black Star Shipping Line in November of 1919, Garvey's UNIA organization purchased a former church at 120 West 138th Street and renamed it Liberty Hall. Thousands attended his frequent rallies and an anthem was eventually created by Rabbi Arnold Ford, a black Jew associated with the Commandment Keepers, a Black Hebrew organization in Harlem. (Black New Yorkers, p. 164). Other cultural components included, the demand that African American children be taught African history in schools. A flag of red, black and green became the symbol of the movement and the establishment of the African Orthodox Church as an auxiliary arm the UNIA promoted the idea that Jesus was a Black man.Garvey's creative use of Black culture was also tied to economic self-help. In 1920 he created a Negro Factories Corporation to provide loans that helped establish black-owned businesses. As a result, numerous grocery stores, a restaurant, a laundry, tailor and dressmaking ship, millinery store and publishing house was established. Garvey even created a doll factory that emphasized the beauty of black features. Women played prominent and meaningful roles in the UNIA. Garvey held that "What the night is to the day, is woman to man. The period of change that brings us light out of darkness, darkness out of light, and semi-light out of darkness are like the changes we find in woman day by day." (Philosophy pp. 7). In a letter written while in prison, he expressed "implicit confidence" in her abilities to carry on and The Black Cross Nurses represented an auxiliary of the UNIA. They administered to the medical needs of African Americans in various communities but also spread the values of the UNIA in their image. The women had a unified look consisting of white dresses and headgear. There were also a group of women who marched in the motorcades, providing a powerful visible presence to onlookers.Garvey's organization was one of the largest and most successful in the world, but encountered many setbacks that culminated in Garvey's imprisonment and eventual deportment from the United States. Amy Jacques Garvey remained a potent force in keeping the organization running, publishing work as a means of raising funds. Explaining the demise of the organization, John Henrik Clarke commented "The conviction of Marcus Garvey and the fragmenting of his great movement during his imprisonment at Atlanta, Georgia, were events of great sadness in Black America...Many critics...including W.E.B. DuBois, began to have second and somewhat more reasonable thoughts about him after he was behind prison bars." (p.163).
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