1910s

Marcus Garvey founds the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in Kingston, launching a global movement for Black liberation. UNIA's cultural pride and Pan-African vision helped lay intellectual groundwork for Rastafari and the conscious reggae tradition.

Louise Bennett-Coverley is born in Kingston. She becomes Jamaica's foremost folklorist and poet, preserving patois and mento traditions on stage and radio — giving voice to everyday Jamaican life long before reggae made patois a global language.