Leicester PhD researcher speaking in New York
Marcus Garvey in 1924 (image: Wikipedia/Library of Congress)
Donna received her Masters Degree, which she studied by distance learning, in 2002, after which she was invited to be the first curator/director of a museum dedicated to the Jamaican national hero Marcus Garvey. She already had extensive experience working for organisations such as the World Bank and the Jamaican Ministry of Tourism and Sports.
She is currently researching, in our School of Museum Studies via distance learning, for a PhD. Her thesis is entitled ‘Before and after full-free – representation of black narratives of transatlantic slavery and European colonialism in African and African Diaspora museums.’
Marcus Garvey (1887-1940) was a Jamaican writer, businessman and orator who founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in 1916, which sought to unite all people of African descent around the globe into a single community. By 1920 the UNIA had four million members, Garvey also founded Jamaica’s first modern political party and established a shipping line, the Black Star Line, as well as working towards the development of Liberia as a modern state.
His former home in Kingston, declared a national monument in 1987, was reopened in 2003 under Donna McFarlane’s directorship as Liberty Hall: The Legacy of Marcus Garvey. Not only is it the only museum devoted to Garvey, it was also the first museum anywhere in the Caribbean to fully integrate multimedia technology into its role.
JAMPACT is a non-profit organisation of young Jamaican professionals, students and friends of Jamaica which aims to influence and improve socio-economic conditions affecting Jamaica and the Jamaican Diaspora.
Donna’s talk on Wednesday 26 January is entitled ‘The Diaspora Gives Back: How International Funding Led to the Restoration and Reopening of Liberty Hall: The Legacy of Marcus Garvey’. It will be held at the offices of Ruder Finn Public Relations, 301 East 57th Street, New York starting at 6.30pm.
