Marcus Mosiah Garvey - File

In the customary course of events the text of a book comes before the illustrations but it was different for 'The Illustrated Biography of Marcus Garvey', which was officially presented by Ian Randle Publishers at Kings House last Thursday.

In this case, managing director of Ian Randle Publishers Christine Randle said, illustrator Jean-Jacques Vayssieres' work came before author Suzanne Francis-Brown's words. And there were chuckles when Ian Randle related briefly losing the original illustrations in a Miami airport bathroom en route to Jamaica from England.

'The Illustrated Biography of Marcus Garvey' is in English, French and Spanish, all three of which were presented to Prime Minister Bruce Golding, who officially launched the publications by Ian Randle at the end of the evening.

"It is an important work. We have for many years been hearing the cries from people who call for Garvey's philosophy to be taught in school. It is not that these calls have fallen on deaf ears; neither was it a shortage of material on Garvey," Golding said.

Appropriate material

"The problem was we did not have anything appropriate to teach about Garvey at the primary level," he said. "There has always been this void. That is why I am so pleased that this book has been published," he said.

He noted that it was appropriate that English, Spanish and French should have been chosen for the publication as those are "the languages around which people of African descent congregate".

"Garvey does not belong to us; he belongs to the entire universe," Golding said.

As such, he said he will tell Education Minister Andrew Holness that 'The Illustrated Biography of Marcus Garvey' must be in schools.

That will be yet another sales marker for a book which Ian Randle said is already assured of commercial success, as there are orders from South Africa and Barbados. It will also be launched in Costa Rica and London, England.

Enid Courtney, lady president of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) Jamaica, said that with the book being translated into Spanish and English "other races can have no excuse to say they did not know anything about Garvey", closing her address with 'One God, One Aim, One Destiny'.

Translating to Spanish

Shirley Campbell Barr (of Jamaican descent) from Costa Rica, who did the Spanish translation, made the connection with the Jamaicans who went to Central America to work between the 1870s and 1930s.

"This story is about my great-grandparents, grandparents, my parents, who 100 years after still speak Spanish with a Jamaican accent," Campbell Barr said, to laughter.

She said that while the Jamaicans who went to work in Central America intended to return home many did not make it back. As such, her work on 'The Illustrated Biography of Marcus Garvey' was her way of honouring "the ones who did not make it back".

In addition she said that "It is for my children, the children of my brothers and sisters, and a new generation".

She noted that when Garvey came to Central America, "most importantly he brought a word of hope ... Garvey brought a new dream and vision". And she said that in Costa Rica Jamaicans are the most successful minority in terms of taking advantage of available opportunities.

- MC