Past Events
Each year, Garvey Day features powerful voices from across the African diaspora to honor the legacy of Marcus Garvey and celebrate the richness of Afrikan communities, culture, and history. Our esteemed keynote speakers challenge, inspire, and teach us towards self-determination.
Professor James Small
2023 (Our Inaugural Year)
Professor James Small is a world renowned scholar-activist, historian, and educator whose work bridges African spirituality, history, and liberation movements. A dynamic speaker and committed Pan-Africanist, Professor Small has spent decades teaching, organizing, and mentoring across the African diaspora. He is a former professor of Black Studies at the City College of New York, where he taught courses on Pan-Africanism, Malcolm X, and African traditional religions.
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Prof. Small is a longtime spiritual leader in the Ifa tradition and a former Imam of the Muslim Mosque Inc., founded by Malcolm X. His activism dates back to the 1960s, when he worked alongside historic figures such as Kwame Ture, H. Rap Brown, and members of the Black Panther Party. He was also the principal bodyguard to Ella Collins, sister of Malcolm X and then-President of the Organization of Afro-American Unity (O.A.A.U.).
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As the inaugural keynote speaker for Garvey Day in 2023, Professor Small set the tone for what would become a powerful annual tradition of honoring Afrikan consciousness, history, and unity. He continues to share his inestimable knowledge through a potent YouTube presence, lectures, online courses, and cultural tours throughout Africa, the Caribbean, and the U.S.
2024 Keynote
Chairman Omali Yeshitela
Chairman Omali Yeshitela is a revolutionary leader, theorist, and the founder of the African People’s Socialist Party and the African Socialist International. A tireless advocate for African liberation, Chairman Yeshitela first gained national attention in 1966 when he tore down a racist mural in St. Petersburg, Florida’s City Hall, an act that marked the beginning of his lifelong commitment to African self-determination.
He is the architect of African Internationalism, a political theory grounded in the perspective of the African working class. Over the decades, he has organized countless campaigns for justice—including the fight to free political prisoner Dessie Woods and the historic 1982 International Tribunal on Reparations, which demanded $4.1 trillion in reparations for stolen African labor.
Chairman Yeshitela is the founder and editor of The Burning Spear newspaper and the visionary behind institutions like the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement and Black Star Industries, respectively. In 2022, he and members of the Uhuru Movement faced federal raids, prompting the launch of the "Hands Off Uhuru! Hands Off Africa! Defense Committee" to defend Afrikan political organizing. On September 12, 2024 the Uhuru 3, including the Chairman along with Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel, were found "not guilty" on trumped up charges, which stemmed from the raid, of being agents of the Russian government.
As the second annual Garvey Day keynote speaker in 2024, Chairman Omali moved attendees with his unwavering call for Afrikan unity and unapologetic Pan-African movements for economic and political independence, even in the face of state sabotage, subversion, or surveillance.
