In this essay, award-winning poet and novelist Geoffrey Philp reflects on his recent experiences on the “Read Across Jamaica” tour with Winsome Wishes for Kids. He visited schools across the island, sharing his graphic novel My Name Is Marcus with students. Philp writes about what he witnessed in the schools, the children that he and the “Read Across Jamaica” team met, and “Marcus Garvey’s living legacy in Jamaican classrooms.” Our warmest congratulations and appreciation for the “Read Across Jamaica” project, Winsome Wishes for Kids, and most of all, for Geoffrey and his inspiring words.
Lessons from Read Across Jamaica
Some trips leave you rested. This one to Jamaica left me more committed to my work. Now that I’m back in Miami, I’ve had a few days to breathe, unpack, and sit still, letting the experience settle into my spirit. And while I’m still carrying the joy of Read Across Jamaica, where I traveled with Simone Sobers of Winsome’s Wishes for Kids and Hopeton Brown of Give Back Jamaica, to fourteen schools in seven days, I’m also holding something heavier—a renewed sense of urgency.
We visited schools all across the island. Not just the ones near town, but schools deep in Clarendon and Manchester—places like May Pen, John Austin, Bellfield, and New Green—where the roads turn rocky and the welcomes are warm. In St. Catherine, we read in Jubilee Town and Guys Hill. We stood before students in Portland, at Norwich, and Gideon, where the sea breeze met us at the gate and the classrooms pulsed with potential.
And then there was Denham Town Primary. It was the only school where we had to walk through metal detectors before entering. The contrast was sharp, but the children—everywhere—were the same: bright-eyed, hopeful, waiting for someone to remind them that they matter. Yet they also shared a similar issue. This urgency springs from a pervasive reading crisis in Jamaica, where national assessments consistently show boys trailing girls in literacy proficiency. That gender gap only widens as students advance, underscoring how urgently we need targeted support for young male readers.
In every school, before I read from my comic book, My Name Is Marcus, I asked the same question: “What do you know about Marcus Garvey?” Sometimes there was a pause, and sometimes a few brave hands went up. They’d mention the $20 coin. Or say he was one of our heroes. But most couldn’t tell me what he believed. And that silence wasn’t their fault — it was ours.
After I read from My Name Is Marcus, everything shifted. The energy in the room changed. Heads lifted. Eyes locked in. Because now, they weren’t just reading about Marcus Garvey — they were meeting him. Not the name in a quiz, not the face on a coin, but a real boy with questions, fears, and fire. A boy who made mistakes stood back up, and kept going.
Then I asked them the question I ask everywhere I go: “You studied hard for a test, and you failed. Are you going to give up?” And without hesitation, their voices rose in unison: “Never!”
That one word is where it begins. That’s the growth mindset. That’s Garvey’s legacy, planted like a seed in the hearts of children who are too often told to sit down, be quiet, and expect less.
Because here’s what I tell them: Marcus Garvey was not handed success. His father abandoned him and his mother. He was betrayed by men he fed and called friends. He faced bankruptcy, was arrested and imprisoned in the U.S., and was nearly assassinated by someone sent to silence him. And when they were done trying to destroy him, they exiled him. Alone. In London. Far from the people he fought for.
But Garvey never gave up. Not once.
That’s why we must teach Garvey—not just as a hero, but as a human being. Because if our children can see what he endured and still rose from, they’ll begin to see the same fire within themselves.
But here’s the part that weighs on me: In nearly every school I visited, the materials about Marcus Garvey were either missing or shallow. A name, a photo, a sentence or two in a classroom chart, sometimes a comic strip, or a multiple-choice question. But nothing about his speeches. Nothing about the effects of mental slavery—what it does to a child’s sense of self, their vision, their worth. Nothing about how to break free from it. Nothing in depth about the Black Star Line, the UNIA, or the global movement Garvey built from the ground up. All superficial information—about a substantial man. A hero who gave his life to lift up ours.
We must take this seriously. Because the paucity of materials about Garvey in our schools is not just an academic gap—it’s a spiritual one. It leaves our children without a mirror. It leaves them without language for greatness. And it leaves them without the confidence to rise.
If we want our children to walk with purpose, to speak with pride, and to endure with strength, we must give them the full story. Not the sanitized version. The real Marcus Garvey. With all his fire, flaws, and faith in the Black race.
This is why I write. This is why I read aloud. And this is why I return to the classroom again and again—not just with books, but with belief.
The result of my work is confident children—rooted in the teachings of Marcus Garvey—who believe in the power of their minds, live with purpose, persevere with grit, and embody a growth mindset that refuses to give up.
They do not come by this confidence by accident. It must be taught, modeled, and repeated, like rhythm in a drumline, until it becomes second nature.
So, I am building the library our children deserve. One book at a time. Books that do more than inform—they affirm. Books that do more than test; they teach the child how to think, how to lead, how to rise.
But I cannot do it alone.
We need parents, teachers, authors, and elders to join this work. Read to your children. Ask them the hard questions. Give them the tools: our proverbs, our affirmations, our truth.
And most of all, live what we teach.
Because confidence is not inherited. It’s built. And Marcus Garvey left us the blueprint.
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Geoffrey Philp, author ofMy Name is Marcus and Unstoppable You: 50 Quotes from Marcus Garvey to Inspire Greatness,is a recipient of a Silver Musgrave Medal in Literature from the Institute of Jamaica. He has also published two short story collections, two novels, three children’s books, and eight books of poetry, including his most recent collection from Peepal Tree Press, Archipelagos, about climate change. Philp’s other awards include a Marcus Garvey Award for Excellence in Education (2022) and a Luminary Award from the Consulate of Jamaica (2015). One of Philp’s poems, “A Prayer for my Children,” is featured on The Poetry Rail at The Betsy—an homage to 12 writers who have shaped Miami culture.
For more information, see https://linktr.ee/geoffreyphilp and TikTok: @mynameismarcusgarvey
In this essay, award-winning poet and novelist Geoffrey Philp reflects on his recent experiences on the “Read Across Jamaica” tour with Winsome Wishes for Kids. He visited schools across the island, sharing his graphic novel My Name Is Marcus with students. Philp writes about what he witnessed in the schools, the children that he and the “Read Across
