Thoughts on Robert Hill: Making Noise/Marcus Garvey

Jessica Wildman

I definitely agree with Hill when he says, “the camera is not neutral” (p 187). In my opinion the camera is an interpretive instrument where realities are edited to cater to the vision of the photographer and the needs of a client. In some cases, those needs and desires may be propagandistic. The cropping, composition, and depth of field of a photo are all choices and there are usually reasons behind those choices. In regard to the image of Marcus Garvey in Making Noise the image, Hill explains, has become a, “visual language in which the visual doubles as a voice” (p 202).  

What I knew of Marcus Garvey before reading Robert Hill’s Making Noise was that he was an active figure during the Harlem Renaissance. It would be advantageous for me to read more about Garvey to more fully understand his politics, which, according to Hill, are powerfully symbolic in his costumery worn in various processions as pictured in Making Noise (p 180). Hill explains Garvey’s mimicry of royal procession as, “rested on something more substantial than mere fascination with gaudy pageantry” (p 182). The military attire worn by Garvey in this procession assumes him a position of power, similar to those uniforms worn by officials with rank. I see the military uniform as something worn by a people who fight for a cause. The use of this costumery as a source of symbolism is artful and theatrical. Hill says that Garvey was, “convinced that the solution to the problem of black inferiority lay in establishing a powerful black government” (p 182).

Further on in the article it is noted that women were not equal amongst men in The Universal Negro Improvement Association, led by Garvey. Even his wife, Amy Jacques Garvey, who served as Garvey’s de facto chief of staff was not permitted to ride by his side in these processions, instead riding behind him (p 192). Discriminating gender seems counter intuitive to an organization claiming Universal Improvement, and Hill explains that, “the procession was, fundamentally, a celebration of black manhood” (p 192).