Garveyism is an aspect of Black Nationalism which takes its source from the works, words and deeds of UNIA-ACL founder Marcus Garvey. The fundamental focus of Garveyism is the complete, total and never ending redemption of the continent of Africa by people of African ancestry, at home and abroad^{[citation needed]}. It is rooted in one basic idea: "whatsoever things common to man that man has done, man can do"^{[citation needed]}. Therefore, Africa can become as glorious and profoundly advanced in the scientific and technological realm as any, when Africans will it to be^{[citation needed]}.

The tenets of Garveyism are 1) race first 2) self-reliance and 3) nationhood^{[citation needed]}. The ultimate goal of Garveyism is a United States of Africa which will protect the interests of black people worldwide^{[citation needed]}.

Garveyism and African Methodism were very similar in their own ways. The main goals of both movements were to empower African individuals through attaining a sense of self-worth, as well as the unification of the African diaspora worldwide^{[citation needed]}. When Garveyism started to die down in America^[when?], it continued to be a major tool of maintaining African interest in black America^{[citation needed]}. The movement started in ports, especially in Cape Town, and by the end of the year, a Garveyite newspaper, The Black Man started to surface^{[citation needed]}. The newspaper written by Garvey, The Negro World surfaced on the Witwatersrand, and word of mouth helped spread Garveyism and also the notion that black fleets and armies were coming. To Africans, Garveyism brought a vision of liberation and an outlet for African's disillusion with existing authorities (Colonial officials, European missionaries, chiefs, etc.)^{[according to whom?]}.

Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr., ONH (17 August 1887 – 10 June 1940) was a Jamaican political leader, publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator who was a staunch proponent of the Black nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements, to which end he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL). He founded the Black Star Line, part of the Back-to-Africa movement, which promoted the return of the African diaspora to their ancestral lands.

Prior to the twentieth century, leaders such as Prince Hall, Martin Delany, Edward Wilmot Blyden, and Henry Highland Garnet advocated the involvement of the African diaspora in African affairs. Garvey was unique in advancing a Pan-African philosophy to inspire a global mass movement and economic empowerment focusing on Africa known as Garveyism. Promoted by the UNIA as a movement of African Redemption, Garveyism would eventually inspire others, ranging from the Nation of Islam to the Rastafari movement (which proclaims Garvey as a prophet). The intent of the movement was for those of African ancestry to "redeem" Africa and for the European colonial powers to leave it. His essential ideas about Africa were stated in an editorial in the Negro World titled "African Fundamentalism" where he wrote:

Malcolm X ( /ˈmælkəm ˈɛks/; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965), born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Arabic: الحاجّ مالك الشباز‎), was an African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers, he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans. Detractors accused him of preaching racism, black supremacy, antisemitism, and violence. He has been called one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history.

Malcolm X's father died—killed by white supremacists, it was rumored—when he was young, and at least one of his uncles was lynched. When he was thirteen, his mother was placed in a mental hospital, and he was placed in a series of foster homes. In 1946, at age 20, he went to prison for breaking and entering.

In prison, Malcolm X became a member of the Nation of Islam and after his parole in 1952 he quickly rose to become one of its leaders. For a dozen years Malcolm X was the public face of the controversial group, but disillusionment with Nation of Islam head Elijah Muhammad led him to leave the Nation in March 1964. After a period of travel in Africa and the Middle East, he returned to the United States, where he founded Muslim Mosque, Inc. and the Organization of Afro-American Unity. In February 1965, less than a year after leaving the Nation of Islam, he was assassinated by three members of the group.