WHO AND WHAT IS A NEGRO?
...by Marcus Garvey

The custom of anthropologists is: whenever a black man, whether he be Algerian, Ethiopian, Senegalese or what not, accomplishes anything of importance, he is no longer a Negro. The question, therefore, suggests itself, "Who and what is a Negro?" The answer is, "A Negro is a person of dark complexion or race, who has not accomplished anything and to whom others are not obligated for any useful service." Whether these professors desire to make these Africans other than Negroes we are satisfied that their propaganda before has made these people to understand that their destiny is linked up with all other men of color throughout the world, and now that the hundreds of millions of darker peoples are looking toward one common unity and destiny through the effort of universal cooperation, we have no fear...

Let us not be flattered by white anthropologists and statesmen who, from time to time, because of our success here, there or anywhere, try to make out that we are no longer members of the Negro race. If we were Negroes when we were down under the heel of oppression then we will be Negroes when we are up and liberated from such thraldom.

The white world has always tried to rob and discredit us of our history. They tell us that Tut-Ankh-Amen, a King of Egypt, who reigned about the year 1350 B.C. was not a Negro, that the ancient civilization of Egypt and the Pharaohs was not our race, but that does not make the truth unreal. Every student of history, of impartial mind, knows that the Negro once ruled the world, when white men were savages and barbarians living in caves; that thousands of Negro professors at that time taught in the universities in Alexandria, then the seat of learning; that ancient Egypt gave to the world civilization and that Greece and Rome have robbed Egypt/Ethiopia of her arts and letters, and taken all the credit to themsleves. It is not surprising, however, that white men should resort to every means to keep Negroes in ignorance of their history, it would be a great shock to their pride to admit to the world today that 3,000 years ago black mean excelled in government and were the founders and teachers of art, science and literature. The power and sway we once held passed away, but now in the twenty first century we are about to see a return of it in the rebuilding of Africa; yes, a new civilization, a new culture, shall spring up from among our people, and the Nile shall once more flow through the land of science, of art, and of literature, wherein will live black men of the highest learning and the highest accomplishments.

Prejudice against us as Negroes is not because of color, but because of our condition. If the black men throughout the world as a race will render themselves so independent and useful as to be sought out by other race groups it will simply mean that all the problems of race will be smashed to pieces and the Negro would be regarded like anybody else- a man to be respected and admired.

White people will seek every opportunity to fraternize with any race in the world, even the one despised yesterday, if by so doing they can strengthen their position, whether it be in Europe, Africa or elsewhere, but it is for the hundreds of millions of people who have been discriminated against throughout the world to take a decided stand and for once we will agree with the American white man, that ONE DROP of Negro blood makes a man a Negro! So that 100% Negroes and 1% Negroes will stand together as one mighty whole to strike a universal blow for liberty and recognition in Africa.

From the Philosophies & Opinions of Marcus Garvey. Printed in the Negro World April 16, 1923.

GARVEY SPEAKS Vol.3