February 16, 2026
New on TikTok: The Precondition for Success_ Marcus Garvey on Confidence You were told your whole life to wait for permission. Garvey said confidence is where freedom starts. Most people lose before they begin. Not because they lack talent. Because the system trained them to doubt themselves. When your mind, your purpose, and your action lock together, you stop surviving and start building. Save this. Send it to someone who is ready to stop waiting. Full episode on The Garvey Classroom — link in bio What did Marcus Garvey say about confidence and self-belief? Garvey taught that confidence is the precondition for action. Without it, you are defeated before you start. With it, you have already won. Self-belief is the foundation of every liberation movement he built. How do Black youth build confidence in a system designed to break it? You align three things: mind, purpose, and perseverance. Your thoughts shape your direction. Your direction drives consistent action. That closed loop transforms doubt into power and survivors into builders. Where can I learn more about Marcus Garvey's teachings on self-determination? The Garvey Classroom at thegarveyclassroom.com breaks down Garvey's philosophy of mental freedom, confidence, and collective empowerment through the Unstoppable Heroes podcast and weekly essays. #MarcusGarvey #BlackHistory #BlackExcellence #SelfWorth #Mindset
February 15, 2026
New on TikTok: Why You Stopped Dreaming Big_ The Crisis of Shrunken Imagination You were born with a blueprint for liberation. Then the world shrank your imagination. Doom scrolling. Rigged systems. The weight of systemic racism pressing down before you even start. This clip names the crisis nobody talks about. Mental slavery is real, and breaking free starts with seeing it. Save this. Send it to someone who needs to hear it. Full episode on The Garvey Classroom — link in bio What is mental slavery and how does it affect Black youth? Mental slavery is the internalized belief that your dreams, your community, and your future have limits imposed by systems designed to contain you. Marcus Garvey spent his life naming it and fighting it. Why do so many Black youth across the diaspora struggle with self-worth and purpose? From London to Kingston to Atlanta, Black young people inherit systems that reward assimilation and punish collective ambition. Doom scrolling deepens the wound. Without knowledge of self, the pressure to shrink becomes the default. Where can I learn more about Marcus Garvey and mental emancipation? The Garvey Classroom at thegarveyclassroom.com offers deep dives into Garvey's teachings on mental freedom, self-determination, and Black consciousness through the Unstoppable Heroes podcast and weekly essays. #MarcusGarvey #BlackHistory #Decolonize #DreamBig #MentalHealth
How The Garvey Blueprint Started
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A new post from The Garvey Classroom.
I wrote about how The Garvey Blueprint began. A simple idea that became a three-year Pan-African ELA curriculum for grades 6 through 8, covering 75 figures across the entire African diaspora.
You can read the full piece, query the curriculum in over 80 languages, and explore the architecture at The Garvey Classroom NotebookLM.
If this connects with you, share it with someone who needs to see it.
#TheGarveyBlueprint #TheGarveyClassroom #MarcusGarvey #PanAfricanEducation #BuildersAndTheirBlueprints
FAQs
What is The Garvey Blueprint?
A three-year Pan-African ELA curriculum for grades 6-8, founded on Marcus Garvey's philosophy and guided by the scholarship of Freire, Lewis, Duckworth, Bloom, and Maslow.
Who created The Garvey Blueprint?
Geoffrey Philp, through The Garvey Classroom LLC, draws on 30 years as a teacher, professor, and chair of developmental education.
What makes it different from typical Black history lessons?
Every figure is studied in the context of cost, opposition, and strategy, as a strategist and system-builder whose methods can be applied today.
How many historical figures does the curriculum cover?
75 unique figures from across the entire African diaspora over three years, 31 per grade.
Where can I learn more?
Visit The Garvey Classroom NotebookLM to query the full curriculum in over 80 languages.
New on TikTok: I started writing lesson plans about Marcus Garvey. Then I realized lesson plans were not enough. Three years later, The Garvey Blueprint covers 75 figures across the entire African diaspora. Grades 6-8. Original fiction every week. Query the full curriculum in 80+ languages at the link in bio. #TheGarveyBlueprint #TheGarveyClassroom #MarcusGarvey #PanAfricanEducation #BuildersAndTheirBlueprints FAQs What is The Garvey Blueprint?A three-year Pan-African ELA curriculum for grades 6-8 founded on Marcus Garvey's philosophy. Who created The Garvey Blueprint?Geoffrey Philp, through The Garvey Classroom LLC, drawing on 30 years as a teacher, professor, and chair of developmental education. What makes it different from typical Black history lessons?Every figure is studied with context, cost, and opposition as a strategist and system-builder whose methods can be applied today. How many historical figures does the curriculum cover?75 unique figures from across the entire African diaspora over three years, 31 per grade. Where can I learn more?Visit The Garvey Classroom NotebookLM at the link in bio to query the full curriculum in over 80 languages.
February 14, 2026
The Textbooks Will Leave Her Out. We Didn't.
Three days ago, Mia Mottley won a historic third consecutive term as Prime Minister of Barbados. Her party swept all 30 seats in Parliament. For the third time. She is the longest-serving female head of state in the world.
Most students will never hear her name.
Mottley stood at COP26 and told world leaders that two degrees of warming was a death sentence for island nations. She launched the Bridgetown Initiative to restructure how wealthy nations loan money to disaster-hit countries. She led Barbados from a constitutional monarchy to a republic. She is now being discussed as a candidate for the next Secretary-General of the United Nations.
On January 25, three weeks before the election, I created a Women's History Month lesson plan about Mia Mottley for grades 6 through 8. I built it because she is exactly the kind of leader textbooks skip. A Black Caribbean woman is reshaping global policy from an island of 283,000 people.
History confirmed what the lesson already taught.
The Mia Mottley lesson is part of our Women's History Month curriculum at The Garvey Classroom. Nine women. Nine lessons. From Harriet Tubman to Shirley Chisholm to Mia Mottley. SEL-integrated. Evidence-based. Ready to teach.
Women's History Month starts in two weeks. You will be ready!
See the full curriculum and get the lesson plans here: https://thegarveyclassroom.com/womens-history-month/
February 13, 2026
New on TikTok: Marcus Garvey wrestled with a practical problem: How can a scattered people organize themselves and act together? He built the answer around three movements: Mindset — liberation begins in the mind Purpose — a clear shared objective Discipline — organized effort over time This is not only Black history. It is a model for leadership, community building, and self-development. Where are you in the process right now? What did Marcus Garvey believe about education? How do you build unity in a community? What does “free the mind” actually mean? Can a movement succeed without organization? #MarcusGarvey #BlackEducation #Leadership #TheGarveyClassroom
February 12, 2026
Before You Teach Marcus Garvey, Read This First
Teachers often want to introduce Marcus Garvey but hesitate because the historical conversation around him feels scattered. Students hear the name, sometimes a quote, and occasionally the Black Star Line, but not the movement's structure or why it mattered.
The difficulty is not the material.
The difficulty is context.
Garvey was not simply a speaker or activist. He organized one of the largest mass movements of African-descended people in the early twentieth century. Schools, businesses, newspapers, conventions, and international chapters existed together as part of a single project: developing institutional capacity and historical consciousness at the same time.
Without that framework, lessons turn into fragments.
Teachers planning Marcus Garvey lesson plans usually ask the same questions:
Was he a separatist?
Why the Black Star Line?
Why meet controversial groups?
Did people really move to Africa?
Was the movement successful or a failure?
Instead of answering each question in isolation, I assembled a single classroom reference that teachers can consult before teaching.
Read the classroom reference here:
https://thegarveyclassroom.com/marcus-garvey-faq-teachers/
The page explains the UNIA, the Negro World newspaper, major events, common misconceptions, and the Pan-African background students need before discussing or using primary sources.
After reading, teachers can also use the Marcus Garvey GPT companion to interpret specific questions or student reactions:
https://chatgpt.com/g/g-6840376e2f9c819191d9416d4a2a96c3-marcus-garvey-gpt
The GPT does not replace the reference.
It helps clarify it.
When teachers understand the structure of the movement, classroom discussion changes. Students stop asking isolated fact questions and begin asking interpretive historical questions.
That is usually when the lesson begins to work.
Free Marcus Garvey Lesson Plans at Teachers Pay Teachers
Black History Month is the season when educators scramble for resources that go beyond the same recycled figures and safe narratives. Garvey rarely makes the rotation. He should.
I created a free lesson plan, Marcus
Garvey and the Power of the Mind, designed to introduce students to
Garvey’s philosophy of mental emancipation through the framework of a growth
mindset. The plan is ready to download, adapt, and use in your classroom today.
Get
the free lesson plan here.
While you are in the store, check out our best sellers at The
Garvey Classroom store:
•
Black
History Month Bell Ringers: Voices of Power (Grades 6–8)
•
Marcus
Garvey and Pan-Africanism (Grades 9–12)
•
Garvey,
Grit, and the Growth Mindset – SEL & Literacy Mini-Unit (Grades
5–8)
•
Marcus
Garvey High School Bundle | Black History Month (Grades 9–12)
•
Marcus
Garvey and the Black Star Line – Mini-Unit (Grades 9–12)
Several Pan-African heroes
lesson plans are on sale for Black History Month.
If these resources speak to you, share them with a colleague, a department chair, a homeschooling parent, or anyone building a classroom where Black children see themselves as thinkers and builders. Forward this post. Send the link. The work grows when we pass it on.
Garvey taught that liberation begins in the mind. A lesson plan is a small thing. What students do with the ideas inside it is not.
February 9, 2026
Black History Lesson Plans About Marcus Garvey at Teachers Pay Teachers
Most Marcus Garvey lesson plans on Teachers Pay Teachers ask students to memorize a name, recall a date, and move on. That is the lowest level of Bloom’s taxonomy. Remembering without understanding. Facts without meaning.
I spent twenty years studying Garvey and six years teaching middle school English before I understood what was missing. Garvey was a thinker. His writings contain arguments, strategies, and frameworks that twelve-year-olds can analyze, debate, and apply. The lesson plans I found treated him as a monument. I needed materials that treated him as a mind.
So I built them.
The Garvey Classroom on Teachers Pay Teachers now has 37 resources spanning Pre-K through 12th grade. Every lesson begins with either a story or an informational text grounded in primary sources. Students read, then they think. They write, then they revise. Social-emotional learning is embedded in the academic work itself. Here is what teachers find when they visit the store.
For middle school (grades 5 through 8), the collection includes individual lessons on Marcus Garvey, Frederick Douglass, Ella Baker, Harriet Tubman, Fannie Lou Hamer, Miriam Makeba, Ida B. Wells, Shirley Chisholm, Septima Clark, Sojourner Truth, Mia Mottley, and Claudia Jones. Each lesson integrates reading comprehension, vocabulary, text-based questions, reflective writing, and SEL. The Marcus Garvey Speech Analysis lesson uses his 1925 speech “A Word Before My Incarceration” as the anchor text. Students analyze Garvey’s rhetorical choices in real time. They hear a man speaking with authority and study how he constructs his argument. The
Marcus Garvey Middle School Bundle collects five resources, forty-two bell ringers, and thirty wisdom cards into a complete Black History Month toolkit for $14.99.
For Black History Month, the 42 Pan-African Heroes Bell Ringers give teachers six weeks of daily openers. Each page features a verified quote, three historical facts, and a reflective SEL prompt. Forty-two figures from across the African diaspora: Jamaica, South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Trinidad, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, and the United States.
For Women’s History Month, the 8-lesson bundle covers Ella Baker, Harriet Tubman, Fannie Lou Hamer, Miriam Makeba, Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells, Shirley Chisholm, and Septima Clark. Students study women who built movements through organizing, investigation, and collective action. The Women’s History Month Bundle is $35.99.
For high school (grades 9 through 12), the collection includes Marcus Garvey and Pan-Africanism, Marcus Garvey and Rastafari, Marcus Garvey and the Harlem Renaissance, Marcus Garvey and the Black Star Line, Haile Selassie’s “Until” speech, Rosa Parks, and Mapping Marcus Garvey’s Hero’s Journey using Joseph Campbell’s twelve-stage structure. The Marcus Garvey High School Bundle brings all seven lessons together for $19.99. This bundle has been the top seller this year, with teachers purchasing it for Black History Month instruction and year-round Pan-African studies.
For Pre-K through 2nd grade, The Marcus Garvey Coloring Book comes with 78 fully scripted lesson plans. Three lesson options per letter, A through Z. Identity and observation. Character and habit formation. Early literacy and vocabulary. Every word is written for the teacher. Print, read the script, teach.
For elementary (K through 5), the Marcus Garvey Elementary Bundle includes Marcus Believes, Stand Firm, Claudia Brings Us Together, Young Marcus Garvey and His Big Dream, and The Power of Trying. Five lessons blending literacy, SEL, and culturally grounded instruction for $9.99.
For the full K-12 arc, the Marcus Garvey Complete Collection brings together all 20 core resources into a single curriculum sequence for $39.99. Students begin with identity and confidence in the early grades, develop structure and discipline in middle school, and engage primary sources and critical historical analysis in high school.
A free lesson is available. Marcus Garvey and the
Power of the Mind teaches a growth mindset through Garvey’s philosophy for
grades 5-8. No purchase required. Download it from The Garvey Classroom store and see how the
approach works.
Dr. Julius W. Garvey endorsed this work. Professor Rupert Lewis supported this work. That validation matters because the standard is Garvey’s own.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where can I find Marcus Garvey lesson plans on Teachers Pay Teachers?
The Garvey Classroom store on Teachers Pay Teachers has 37 resources covering Pre-K through 12th grade. Individual lessons cover Marcus Garvey, Frederick Douglass, Ella Baker, Harriet Tubman, Fannie Lou Hamer, Miriam Makeba, Ida B. Wells, Shirley Chisholm, Septima Clark, Sojourner Truth, Mia Mottley, Claudia Jones, Rosa Parks, and Haile Selassie. Every lesson integrates ELA, SEL, and culturally responsive instruction.
Are there free Marcus Garvey lesson plans available?
Yes. Marcus Garvey and the Power of the Mind is a free growth-mindset lesson for grades 5-8. It teaches self-awareness and perseverance through Garvey’s philosophy. No purchase required. Download it from The Garvey Classroom store.
What grade levels do these lesson plans cover?
The Marcus Garvey Coloring Book with 78 scripted lesson plans covers Pre-K through 2nd grade. The elementary bundle covers K through 5. The core collection of SEL and ELA lessons covers grades 5 through 8. The high school bundle covers grades 9 through 12 with primary source analysis, the Black Star Line, Pan-Africanism, Rastafari, and the Harlem Renaissance. The Complete Collection spans K-12.
Do these lesson plans align with Common Core standards?
Every lesson aligns with the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts, including the Reading Informational Text, Writing, and Speaking and Listening strands. Lessons also align with CASEL SEL competencies. International alignment includes UK Key Stage frameworks and Caribbean national curriculum standards.
Can I use these for Black History Month?
Yes. The 42 Pan-African Heroes Bell Ringers provide six weeks of daily openers. Individual lessons on Marcus Garvey, Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells, and other figures work as standalone Black History Month resources. Bundles are available for elementary, middle school, and high school. The full curriculum is designed for year-round use beyond February.
Are there Women’s History Month lesson plans?
The Women’s History Month Bundle includes eight lessons on Ella Baker, Harriet Tubman, Fannie Lou Hamer, Miriam Makeba, Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells, Shirley Chisholm, and Septima Clark. A standalone Mia Mottley lesson on climate justice and Caribbean leadership is also available. All lessons integrate SEL with rigorous ELA standards for grades 6 through 8.
Are these lesson plans culturally responsive?
Every lesson is grounded in Pan-African history and primary sources. Students study figures from Jamaica, South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, and the United States. The curriculum addresses the systematic exclusion of African, Caribbean, and African American intellectual history from mainstream education.
Who created the Garvey Classroom lesson plans?
Geoffrey Philp is a Jamaican-born author, poet, and educator with 27 years of college teaching, six years as a middle school English teacher, and two decades of published Garvey scholarship. He is a Silver Musgrave Medal recipient and winner of the 2022 Marcus Garvey Award for Excellence in Education. He gathered more than 11,000 signatures supporting Marcus Garvey’s posthumous pardon. President Biden granted the pardon in January 2025. Dr. Julius W. Garvey and Professor Rupert Lewis endorse the curriculum.
Are primary sources used in these lessons?
Every quote is verified against sources, including The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey and Message to the People. No paraphrased or unverified attributions appear in any Garvey Classroom material. The scholarly foundation draws on the work of Robert Hill, Rupert Lewis, Tony Martin, and Carter G. Woodson.
Is there a full-year Marcus Garvey curriculum available?
Yes. The Garvey Classroom offers a complete 39-week ELA and SEL curriculum for grades 6 through 8 called The Garvey Blueprint. It is organized around four quarterly themes: Clarity of Mind, Purpose and Obligation, Strength Through Discipline, and Legacy and Inheritance. Schools and districts can visit thegarveyclassroom.com or contact info@thegarveyclassroom.com for licensing and implementation details.
Do these lesson plans work for homeschool families?
Yes. Every lesson is designed for immediate use with minimal preparation. The scripted Pre-K through 2nd-grade plans require no planning. The classes for grades 5 through 8 include all reading passages, vocabulary, discussion prompts, and writing activities. Homeschool parents and co-ops use these resources for Black history instruction, culturally responsive ELA, and character development.
Visit The Garvey Classroom on Teachers Pay Teachers.
For the complete guide to year-round lesson plans: Marcus Garvey Lesson Plans for Teachers: Grades 6–8
For schools exploring curriculum adoption: Culturally Responsive ELA Curriculum for Middle School
For parents: The Garvey Classroom: What Parents Need to Know
Confidence is our birthright. Education is the medium.
Posts about Marcus Garvey: Geoffrey Philp: Search results for Marcus Garvey