Shortly after returning form a long tour of the Caribbean and Central America in July 1921, Marcus Garvey recorded two brief speeches on a 78 rpm record. The first speech, "Hon. Marcus Garvey on His Return to the U.S.A.," comments on his problems obtaining a re-entry visa. The second, "Explanation of the Objects of the Universal Negro Improvement Association," is an extract from a much longer UNIA membership appeal. Although Garvey was famous for his oratory, these speeches are the only known recordings of his voice.
In Garvey’s 1921 speech, “If You Believe the Negro Has a Soul,” he emphasized the inevitability of racial antagonism and the hopelessness of interracial coexistence.