Marcus Garvey Film in the Making – Winston Duke to Play Lead Role

Many have been excited about the long-awaited first big-screen film about Marcus Garvey, and the question in everyone’s mind was centered around who would be taking on the role of the nation’s first national hero.

The question was answered when it was revealed that Winston Duke is set to play the role of the black nationalist leader. A lot of black people, Jamaicans especially, have taken to the internet to state how surprising it was that it had taken this long for a major film about one of the greatest black leaders of all time.

As declared by the late leader, “A people without knowledge of their past history, origin, and culture is like a tree without roots”.

It has been confirmed that Black Panther star Winston Duke will play Marcus Garvey in the film entitled Marked Man, a title which usually refers to someone who is singled out as a target for hostility or attack.

Throughout the 20th century, Garvey was an important figure in the advancement of black nationalism as a political activist all across the globe. It is expected that Andrew Dosunmu will be directing the feature film with Grey’s Anatomy’s Jesse Williams and DeWanda Wise also slated to star in the movie.

The Tobagonian actor Winston Duke is better known for his role in Marvel’s Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War. One cannot help but note the significance of this, not only for those who already know his contributions to the Black liberation landscape but also for those who have yet to embrace his work and what he stood for.

The story of the upcoming film Marked Man describes a young black man who joins J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI and infiltrates Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), a union of black nationalists. Taking inspiration from the Colin Grant biography Negro with A Hat: The Rise and Fall of Marcus Garvey, the film depicts Marcus Garvey as a key figure in the movement for black nationalism.