The RBG Quest for Black Power Reader a The RBG Quest for Black Power Reader: A Luta Continua, A...
262
THE QUEST FOR BLACK POWER: ALUTA CONTINUIA Compiled and Edited by Marc Imhotep Cray, M.D. (aka RBG Street Scholar) Essays on the History of Black Nationalism / Pan-Afrikanism
The RBG Quest for Black Power Reader a The RBG Quest for Black Power Reader: A Luta Continua, A Frolinan Primer, By RBG Street Scholar
1. THEQUEST FORBLACK POWER:ALUTA CONTINUIA Compiled and Edited
by Marc Imhotep Cray, M.D. (aka RBG Street Scholar)Essays on the
History of Black Nationalism / Pan-Afrikanism
2. PrefaceIt is quite clear that Afrikan people in America
continue to be miseducated. This problem is discussed in avariety
of ways in conversations every day in our communities throughout
America. The time is ripe to heed the long-standing, and most often
overlooked, calls for Afrikan Unity, CulturalDevelopment, Education
and Social Transformation. Such is what this book most
fundamentallyrepresents. Contrary to the prevailing, misinformed
assumptions, RBG (Black Nationalism / Pan-Afrikanism) as an
ideology, interaction and academic process is not a rabid assertion
of Black supremacy.Unlike white Nationalism and American
patriotism, RBG (Black Nationalism / Pan-Afrikanism) and
itsproponents do not seek to humiliate, exploit, or oppress any
person or people. Rather, RBG / (BlackNationalism / Pan-Afrikanism)
is a positive affirmation of the cultural, political, social,
economic andmoral identity and concerns of African people. In its
most rudimentary forms, it reacts to the brutallyviolent and
repressive conditions under which African people have and continue
to live. White supremacy/ racism create an environment where whites
are necessarily viewed with suspicion, but we are not anti-white.
We are Afrikan/ Black on purpose and Black folks must first and
foremost be beholden to eachother. The most basic expression of RBG
(Black Nationalism/ Pan-Afrikanism ) thought is that Black /Afrikan
people in America and throughout the diaspora are bound by the
common history and experienceof historical chattel and present day
mental slavery, suffering and death under the boot heel of
whitesupremacy / racism. Most importantly, RBG is about
self-reliance, self-respect and self-defense towardthe total
liberation and unification of all Afrikan people that desire to
defend, define and develop in ourown image and interest.In keeping
with the spirit of Sankofa ("return and get it" a West African
Symbol of Adinkra Wisdomrepresenting the importance of our learning
from the past) you should keep in mind that in the societies ofour
Afrikan ancestors and current kinsman the oral tradition was / is
the method of choice in whichhistory, stories, folktales and
spiritual beliefs were /are passed on from generation to
generation.Websters dictionary defines "oral" as, "spoken rather
than written," and it defines the word "tradition" as,"transmittal
of elements of a culture from one generation to another especially
by oral communication." Itis the power of the Afrikan oral
tradition integrated with written documentation that sits at the
core of thiscompilation.We believe that the ultimate end of
intellectual growth and development for students of Afrikan decent
in21st America should first and foremost be a deeper overstanding
and a fuller appreciation of Afrikan
3. peoples rich history and continuing struggle for individual
and collective self-definition and politicaleconomic development as
a Nation within a Nation. Reading, thinking and reflecting with
close attentionto this books scholastic guidance you learn to see
more, understand more and uncover more, thus prepareyourself for a
richer, more selfless and more meaningful contributions to self and
kind.As you read / study these essays please keep in mind,
education is not eternal and timelessly written instone, but should
be situated historically, socially, intellectually, written and
read at particular times, withparticular intents, under particular
historical conditions, with particular cultural, personal, gender,
racial,class and perspectives at center. Through multimedia
learning we can see ideology in operation. Thus,this compilation is
provided to encourage and enhance critical reading, thinking and
writing based in theAfrin IdeaA CAPSULE OF WHATS INSIDE/ Black
Nationalism/ Pan-AfrikanismBlack Nationalism (BN) advocates a
racial definition (or redefinition) of black national identity,
asopposed to multiculturalism. There are different Black
Nationalist philosophies but the principles of allBlack Nationalist
ideologies are 1) Black unity, and 2) Black
self-determination/political, social andeconomic independence from
White society.Martin Delany is considered to be the grandfather of
Black Nationalism.Inspired by the apparent success of the Haitian
Revolution, the origins of Black Nationalism in politicalthought
lie in the 19th century with people like Marcus Garvey, Elijah
Muhammad, Henry McNealTurner, Martin Delany, David Walker, Henry
Highland Garnet, Edward Wilmot Blyden, Paul Cuffe toname a few..The
repatriation of black American slaves to Liberia or Sierra Leone
was a common Black Nationalisttheme in the 19th century. Marcus
Garveys Universal Negro Improvement Association of the 1910s
and1920s was the most powerful Black Nationalist movement to date,
claiming 11 million members.Although the future of Africa is seen
as being central to black nationalist ambitions, some adherents
toblack nationalism are intent on the eventual creation of a
separate black American nation in the U.S. or
4. Western hemisphere.According to Wilson Jeremiah Moses in his
famous work Classical Black Nationalism, BlackNationalism as a
philosophy can be examined from three different periods giving rise
to variousideological perspectives for what we can today consider
what Black Nationalism really is.The first being pre-Classical
Black Nationalism beginning from the time the Africans were
broughtashore in the Americas to the Revolutionary period. After
the Revolutionary War, a sizable number ofAfricans in the colonies,
particularly in New England and Pennsylvania, were literate and had
becomedisgusted with their social conditions that had spawned from
Enlightenment ideas. We find in suchhistorical personalities as
Prince Hall, Richard Allen, and Absalom Jones a need to found
certainorganizations as the Free African Society, African Masonic
lodges and Church Institutions. Theseinstitutions would serve as
early foundations to developing independent and separate
organizations. Bythe time of Post-Reconstruction Era a new form of
Black Nationalism was emerging among variousAfrican-American clergy
circles. Separate circles had already been established and were
accepted byAfrican-Americans because of the overt oppression that
had been in existence since the inception of theUnited States. This
phenomenon led to the birth of modern Black Nationalism which
stressed the need toseparate and build separate communities that
promote strong racial pride and also to collectivizeresources. This
ideology had become the philosophy of groups like the Moorish
Science Temple and theNation of Islam. Although, the Sixties
brought on a heightened period of religious, cultural and
politicalnationalism, Black Nationalism would later influence
afrocentricityMarcus GarveyMarcus Garvey encouraged black people
around the world to be proud of their race and to see beauty
intheir own kind. A central idea to Garveyism was that black people
in every part of the world were onepeople and they would never
advance if they did not put aside their cultural and ethnic
differences andunite. Black people, Garvey felt, should love and
take care of other black people.The principles of Garveyism are
race first, self-reliance and nationhood. Race first is the idea
that blackpeople should support other black people first and
foremost, self-reliance is the idea that black peopleshould be
politically and economically self-reliant (it was important to
Garvey that black people developbusinesses owned and operated by
black people and that they patronize these businesses) and
nationhood
5. is the idea that black people should create a United States
of Africa which would safeguard the interestsof black people
worldwide.To disseminate the UNIAs program, Garvey founded the
Negro World newspaper and to encourage blackeconomic independence,
he founded the Black Star Line in 1919 as well as the Negro
FactoriesCorporation. The UNIA also initiated the Universal African
Legion, a paramilitary group, the Black CrossNurses, the African
Black Cross Society and the Black Cross Trading and Navigation
Corporation.Garvey attracted millions of supporters and claimed
eleven million members for the UNIA. MarcusGarvey, however, did not
advocate that all black people should leave the United States to
emigrate toAfrica (a strong United States of Africa would protect
the interests of all black people everywhere in theworld so a
physical migration of all black people in the West was unnecessary
and, in some cases,undesirable).Although Marcus Garvey was an
ardent supporter of racial separatism (he encouraged black people
toseparate themselves from whites residentially, develop their own
all black businesses and schools, andpreached against inter-racial
marriage as race suicide), he made it clear that he held no
hostility towardswhites and believed in the equality of all human
beings. Garvey set the precedent for subsequent blacknationalist
and pan-Africanist thought including that of Kwame Nkrumah (and
several other Africanleaders) the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X and
most notably, Carlos Cooks (who is considered theideological son of
Marcus Garvey) and his African Nationalist Pioneer Movement. Marcus
Garveysbeliefs are articulated in The Philosophy and Opinions of
Marcus Garvey.Malcolm XBetween 1953 and 1965, while most black
leaders worked in the civil rights movement integrate blackpeople
into mainstream American life, Malcolm X preached independence. He
maintained that Westernculture, and the Judeo-Christian religious
traditions on which it is based, was inherently racist.
Constantlyridiculing mainstream civil rights leader Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X declared thatnonviolence was the
"philosophy of the fool". In response to Reverend Kings famous "I
Have a Dream"speech, Malcolm X quipped, "While King was having a
dream, the rest of us Negroes are having anightmare."Malcolm X
believed that black people must develop their own society and
ethical values, including theself-help, community-based enterprises
that the black Muslims supported. He also thought that
AfricanAmericans should reject integration or cooperation with
European Americans until they could achieve
6. cooperation among themselves. Malcolm called for a "black
revolution." He declared there "would bebloodshed" if the racism
problem in America remained ignored, and he renounced any sort
of"compromise" with whites. After taking part in a Hajj (pilgrimage
to Mecca), he recanted extremistopinions in favor of mainstream
Islam and ["true brotherhood"], and was soon after assassinated
during aspeech held at The Audubon Ballroom, NYC.Upon his return
from Mecca, Malcolm X abandoned his commitment to racial
separatism; however, hewas still in favor of Black Nationalism and
advocated that black people in the U.S. be self-reliant. Thebeliefs
of post-Mecca Malcolm X are articulated in the charter of his
Organization of Afro-AmericanUnity (a Black Nationalist group
patterned after the Organization of African Unity).Frantz
FanonWhile in France Frantz Fanon wrote his first book, Black Skin,
White Mask, an analysis of the impact ofcolonial subjugation on the
black psyche. This book was a very personal account of Fanons
experiencebeing black: as a man, an intellectual, and a party to a
French education. Although Fanon wrote the bookwhile still in
France, most of his other work was written while in North Africa
(in particular Algeria). Itwas during this time that he produced
his greatest works, A Dying Colonialism and perhaps the
mostimportant work on decolonization yet written, The Wretched of
the Earth.. In it, Fanon lucidly analyzesthe role of class, race,
national culture and violence in the struggle for national
liberation. In this seminalwork Fanon expounded his views on the
liberating role of violence for the colonized, as well as
thegeneral necessity of violence in the anti-colonial struggle.
Both books firmly established Fanon in theeyes of much of the Third
World as the leading anti-colonial thinker of the 20th century. In
1959 hecompiled his essays on Algeria in a book called LAn Cinq: De
la Rvolution Algrienne.Black PowerBlack Power was a political
movement expressing a new racial consciousness among black people
in theUnited States in the 1960s and 1970s. Black Power represented
both a conclusion to the decades civilrights movement and an
alternative means of combating the racism that persisted despite
the efforts ofblack activists during the early 1960s. The meaning
of Black Power was debated vigorously while themovement was in
progress. To some it represented African-Americans insistence on
racial dignity andself-reliance, which was usually interpreted as
economic and political independence, as well as freedomfrom
European American authority. These themes had been advanced most
forcefully in the early 1960s
7. by Malcolm X. He argued that black people should focus on
improving their own communities, ratherthan striving for complete
integration, and that black people had a duty to retaliate against
violentassaults. The publication of The Autobiography of Malcolm X
(1965) created further support for the ideaof African-American
self-determination and had a strong influence on the emerging
leaders of the BlackPower movement. Other interpreters of Black
Power emphasized the cultural heritage of black people,especially
the African roots of their identity. This view encouraged study and
celebration of black historyand culture. In the late 1960s black
college students requested curricula in African-American studies
thatexplored their distinctive culture and history. Still another
view of black Power called for a revolutionarypolitical struggle to
reject racism and economic exploitation in the United States and
abroad, as well ascolonialism. This interpretation encouraged the
alliance of non-whites, including Hispanics and Asians, toimprove
the quality of their lives.Uhuru MovementThe Uhuru Movement is the
largest contemporary black movement advocating black nationalism
and wasfounded in the 1980s in St. Petersburg, Florida. Composed
mainly of the African Peoples Socialist Party,the Uhuru Movement
also includes other organizations based in both Africa and the
United States. Theseorganizations are in the process of
establishing a broader organization called the African
SocialistInternational. "Uhuru" is the Swahili word for freedom.The
Republic of New Afrika (RNA)A was a social movement organization
that proposed three objectives. First, the creation of
anindependent Black-majority country situated in the southeastern
region of the United States. The visionfor this country was first
promulgated on March 31, 1968, at a Black Government Conference
held inDetroit, Michigan, United States. Proponents of this vision
lay claim to five Southern states (Louisiana,Mississippi, Alabama,
Georgia, and South Carolina) and the Black-majority counties
adjacent to this areain Arkansas, Tennessee and Florida. A similar
claim is made for all the Black-majority counties and
citiesthroughout the United States. Second, they demanded several
billion dollars in reparations from the USgovernment for the
damages inflicted on Black people by chattel enslavement, Jim Crow
segregation, andpersistent modern-day forms of racism. Third, they
demanded a referendum of all African Americans inorder to decide
what should be done with their citizenry. Regarding the latter, it
was claimed that Blackpeople were not given the choice to decide in
regard to what they wanted to do after emancipation.
8. History of the RNAThe Black Government Conference was
convened by the Malcolm X Society and the Group on
AdvancedLeadership (GOAL), two influential Detroit-based
organizations with broad followings. This weekendmeeting produced a
Declaration of Independence (signed by 100 conferees out of
approximately 500), aconstitution, and the framework for a
provisional government. Robert F. Williams, a controversial
humanrights advocate then living in exile in China, was chosen as
the first President of the provisionalgovernment; attorney Milton
Henry was named First Vice President (a student of Malcolm Xs
teachings);and Betty Shabazz, widow of Malcolm X, served as Second
Vice President.The Provisional Government of the Republic of New
Afrika (PG-RNA) advocated/advocates a form ofcooperative economics
through the building of New Communitiesnamed after the Ujamaa
conceptpromoted by Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere; militant
self-defense through the building of localPeoples Militias and an
aboveground standing army called the Black Legion; and respect for
internationallaw through the building of organizations that
champion the right of self-determination for people ofAfrican
descent.During its existence, the organization was involved in
numerous controversial issues. For example, itattempted to assist
Oceanhill-Brownsville in seceding from the United States during the
conflict that tookplace there. Additionally, it was involved with
shootouts at New Bethel Baptist Church in 1969 (duringthe one-year
anniversary of the founding) and another in Jackson, Mississippi,
in 1971 (where it hadbegun to start its occupation of the South on
a single farm). Within both events, law-enforcement officialswere
killed as well as injured and harsh legal action was imposed
against organizational members.The US Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) believed the Republic of New Afrika to be a
seditiousgroup and conducted raids on its meetings, which led to
violent confrontations, and the arrest andrepeated imprisonment of
RNA leaders noted above. The group was a target of the
COINTELPROoperation by the federal authorities but was also subject
to diverse Red Squad activities of Michigan StatePolice and Detroit
Police Departmentamong other cities.There is a new era for "The
Republic". It is the party of THE BLACK PATRIOTS-a
moderatelyconservative group of New Africans that believe in
demonstrating compassion and prosperity for allpeople (most
especially, NEW AFRICANS (former African-Americans). To form a more
perfect union,the Republic of New Africa is the foundation to
create change politically, economically, socially and
9. culturally among the descendants of slaves in America.The
critical difference in "The Republic" is the collective effort to
strategically purchase land incentralized regions of the United
States of America.Marcus Garveys lessons in learning/ How to read
this BookFrom time to time we should consult the wisdom of those
who have addressed this problem whom wemay have forgotten. One such
person who addressed this problem is the Honorable Marcus
MosiahGarvey, when he presented his formula for learning in his
courses on African Philosophy in the 1930s. Ithink it is most
appropriate to preface this series of essays with a review of Mr.
Garveys formula forlearning as we continue to build our Knowledge
of Self and seek specific guideposts to our developmentas a
people.These lessons and guideposts in learning can be found in
Marcus Garvey, Message to the People, TheCourse of African
Philosophy, edited by Dr. Tony Martin.Lesson 1: One must never stop
reading. Read everything that you can read, that is of standard
knowledge.Dont waste time reading trashy literature. The idea is
that personal experience is not enough for a humanto get all the
useful knowledge of life, because the individual life it too short,
so we must feed on theexperience of others.Lesson 2: Read history
incessantly until you master it. This means your own national
history, the historyof the world, social history, industrial
history, and the history of the different sciences; but primarily,
thehistory of man. If you do not know what went on before you came
here and what is happening at the timeyou live, but away from you,
you will not know the world and will be ignorant of the world and
mankind.Lesson 3: To be able to read intelligently, you must first
be able to master the language of your country.To do this, you must
be well acquainted with its grammar and the science of it. People
judge you by yourwriting and your speech. If you write badly and
incorrectly they become prejudiced towards yourintelligence, and if
you speak badly and incorrectly, those who hear you become
disgusted and will notpay much attention to you, but in their
hearts laugh after you.
10. Lesson 4: A leader who is to teach men and present any fact
of truth to man must first be taught in hissubject.Lesson 5: Never
write or speak on a subject you know nothing about, for there is
always somebody whoknows that particular subject to laugh at you or
to ask you embarrassing questions that may make otherslaugh at
you.Lesson 6: You should read four hours a day. The best time to
read is in the evening after you have retiredfrom your work and
after you have rested and before sleeping hours, but do so before
morning, so thatduring your sleeping hours what you read may become
subconscious, that is to say, planted in yourmemory.Lesson 7: Never
keep the constant company of anybody who doesnt know as much as you
or (is) aseducated as you, and from whom you cannot learn something
from or reciprocate your learning.Lesson 8: Continue always in the
application of the things you desire educationally, culturally,
orotherwise, and never give up until you reach your
objective.Lesson 9: Try never to repeat yourself in any one
discourse in saying the same thing over and over againexcept when
you are making new points, because repetition is tiresome and it
annoys those who hear therepetition.Lesson 10: Knowledge is power.
When you know a thing and can hold your ground on that thing and
winover your opponents on that thing, those who hear you learn to
have confidence in you and will trust yourability.Lesson 11: In
reading books written by white authors, of whatever kind, be aware
of the fact that they arenot written for your particular benefit of
your race. They always write from their own point of view andonly
in the interest of their own race.From: Message to the People: The
Course of African by Marcus Garvey, Tony Martin(Editor), September
1986This book was originally written as a primer for RBG Street
Scholars Think TanksFROLINAN. Thus, to talk about its purpose is to
preface it within the context of the Think Tank.
11. RBG STREET SCHOLARS THINK TANK IS AN ONLINE EDUCATIONAL
PROGRAM ANDRESEARCH PROJECT DEDICATED TO FURTHER BUILDING THE HIP
HOP--BLACKLIBERATION MOVEMENT CONNECTION BYINTEGRATING CONSCIOUS
DIGITALEDUTAINMENT WITH A SCHOLARLY SELF DIRECTED LEARNING
ENVIRONMENT.With strict attention to developing our students basic
education skills in the context of the higheststandards of academic
excellence, suitable for one to confidently sit for high stake
exams(i.e. SAT/ACTand MCATs, LSATs), we simultaneously advance the
psycho-emotional healing and spiritual upliftmentof our people by
providing KNOWLEDGE, WISDOM AND OVERSTANDING of the
historo-cultural,socio-political and psycho-educational experiences
of Africans in America in a way that RADICALLYREAPPRAISES EDUCATION
from the pained and angry perspective of the oppressed black
community.OVERALL GOALS OF THIS SEQUENCE OF ESSAYS1. To familiarize
and expose learners to a wide variety of 19th and 20th century
African-American leadersand our rich history of struggles for human
and civil rights, national liberation and self-determination.4.To
draw lessons from the rich legacy of struggle and resistance to
oppression within the AfricanAmerican community through critical
analysis of videos, photo-stories, multimedia essays andPowerPoint
shows and scholarly charts, tables, graphs and PDF documents; thus
fostering socio-politicalactivism in the learners own lives.1. To
develop, encourage and diversify strategies for learning about and
responding to social, political,cultural and moral issues impacting
Afrikans in America, thus increasing comprehension
andinterpretation skills.2. To synthesize serious community issues
using multi-faceted content and learning objects whichrepresent the
perspective of those who are in an American minority group; and
apply said principlesand generalizations in investigation of
societal issues and problems from an
Afrikan-Centeredperspective.THE TEACHERS RESPONSIBILITY TO THE
LEARNER1. To help learners identify the proper starting points for
their personalized learning program and todiscern relevant modes of
examination and reporting back on their progress.2. To encourage
learners to view Afirkan-centered knowledge and truth as both
historical and
12. contextual. To enable the learner to see value-system
conceptual frameworks as cultural constructs,and to appreciate that
they can act on their world individually and collectively to
transform saidconstructs.3. To create a partnership with learners
by negotiating individualized learning contracts for
goals,strategies, and evaluation criteria.4. To be an inspirer and
manager of the RBG learning experience rather than just an
informationprovider.5. To help learners acquire the needs
assessment techniques necessary to discover what objectives
theyshould set for themselves.6. To encourage the setting of
objectives that can be met in several learning domains, ie.
cognitive,psychomotor and affective, and offer a variety of options
for evidence of successful performance.7. To provide self-directed
learners (SDL) with objectives, learning strategies, resources, and
evaluationcriteria to guide their study, and academic growth.8. To
teach inquiry skills, time management, problem solving, critical
thinking, decision making,personal development, and
self-evaluation.9. To act as an advocate for educationally
undeserved and mis-educated New Afrikan populations byfacilitating
their access to proper knowledge and objectively reliable study
tools and resources.10. To help learners navigate, locate and
negotiate RBG learning resources.11. To help learners develop
positive attitudes and feelings of independence relative to
learning, thusbuilding self-esteem, self-image and self-concept as
Afrikan people.12. To offer resources and methods that take into
account learner personality types and learning styles.13. To design
and develop high-quality teaching / learning tools and resources
according to Web 2.0academic and technology trends, standards and
learner responses / feedback.RBGStreetScholar, 2012
13. Contents Articles Marcus Garvey1 Universal Negro
Improvement Association and African Communities League 12
Organization of Afro-American Unity19 Robert F. Williams 21
Republic of New Afrika 27 Queen Mother Moore 30 Pan-Africanism 32
Kwame Nkrumah39 Frantz Fanon 47 Elijah Muhammad55 Nation of Islam61
Malcolm X70 Black nationalism93 Student Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee96 Black Power 104 Stokely Carmichael112 H. Rap Brown120
Huey P. Newton123 Black Panther Party 129 Mumia Abu-Jamal 144 Black
Liberation Army 156 Dhoruba al-Mujahid bin Wahad159 Geronimo
Pratt162 Assata Shakur 165 Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party188
Fannie Lou Hamer191 1968 Olympics Black Power salute194 Deacons for
Defense and Justice 197 Omali Yeshitela 202 African independence
movements205 Black Arts Movement 214 Black Consciousness
Movement220 Black Power Revolution228 Reparations for slavery
230The RBG Quest for Black Power ReaderA Luta Continua A Frolinan
Primer
14. References Article Sources and Contributors239 Image
Sources, Licenses and Contributors246 Article Licenses License
248The RBG Quest for Black Power ReaderA Luta Continua A Frolinan
Primer
15. Marcus Garvey1Marcus GarveyMarcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr., ONH
(17 August 1887 10 June 1940)[1] was a Jamaican publisher,
journalist,entrepreneur, and orator who was a staunch proponent of
the Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements, towhich end he
founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African
Communities League(UNIA-ACL).[2] He founded the Black Star Line,
part of the Back-to-Africa movement, which promoted the returnof
the African diaspora to their ancestral lands.Prior to the
twentieth century, leaders such as Prince Hall, Martin Delany,
Edward Wilmot Blyden, and HenryHighland Garnet advocated the
involvement of the African diaspora in African affairs. Garvey was
unique inadvancing a Pan-African philosophy to inspire a global
mass movement and economic empowerment focusing onAfrica known as
Garveyism.[2] Promoted by the UNIA as a movement of African
Redemption, Garveyism wouldeventually inspire others, ranging from
the Nation of Islam to the Rastafari movement (which proclaims
Garvey as aprophet). The intent of the movement was for those of
African ancestry to "redeem" Africa and for the Europeancolonial
powers to leave it. His essential ideas about Africa were stated in
an editorial in the Negro World titledAfrican Fundamentalism where
he wrote:[3] Our union must know no clime, boundary, or nationality
let us hold together under all climes and in every country Early
yearsMarcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr. was born in St. Anns Bay, Jamaica to
Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Sr., a mason, and Sarah[4]Jane Richards, a
domestic worker. Of eleven siblings, only Marcus and his sister
Indiana survived until maturity.Garveys father was known to have a
large library, and it was from his father that Marcus gained his
love forreading.[2] [5] Sometime in 1900, Garvey entered into an
apprenticeship with his uncle, Alfred Burrowes, who alsohad an
extensive library, of which young Marcus made good use.[6] [7]The
RBG Quest for Black Power Reader A Luta Continua A Frolinan
Primer
16. Marcus Garvey 2In 1910 Garvey left Jamaica and began
traveling throughout the Central American region. He lived in Costa
Rica forseveral months, where he worked as a time-keeper on a
banana plantation. He began work as editor for a dailynewspaper
titled La Nacionale in 1911. Later that year, he moved to Coln,
Panama, where he edited a biweeklynewspaper before returning to
Jamaica in 1912. After years of working on the Caribbean, Garvey
left Jamaica to livein London from 1912 to 1914, where he attended
Birkbeck College taking classes in Law and Philosophy, workedfor
the African Times and Orient Review, published by Dus Mohamed Ali,
and sometimes spoke at Hyde ParksSpeakers Corner. It is said that
Dus Mohamed Ali influence shaped Garveys speeches, and led him to
organize theUniversal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in
Jamaica in 1914 (Vincent, 1971). It has been suggested thatthe UNIA
motto, "One God, One Aim, One Destiny", originated from Dus Alis
Islamic influence on Garvey(Rashid, 2002).[8] [9] Garvey named the
organization the Universal Negro Improvement Association and
AfricanCommunities (Imperial) League.[10] At the National
Conference of the Universal Negro Improvement Associationin 1921, a
Los Angeles delegate named Noah Thompson spoke on the floor
complaining on the lack of transparencyin the groups financial
accounts. When accounts were prepared Thompson highlighted several
sections with what hefelt were irregularities.After corresponding
with Booker T. Washington, Garvey arrived in the U.S. on 23 March
1916 aboard the S.S.Tallac to give a lecture tour and to raise
funds to establish a school in Jamaica modeled after Washingtons
TuskegeeInstitute. Garvey visited Tuskegee, and afterward, visited
with a number of black leaders. After moving to NewYork, he found
work as a printer by day. He was influenced by Hubert Harrison. At
night he would speak on streetcorners, much like he did in Londons
Hyde Park. It was then that Garvey perceived a leadership vacuum
amongpeople of African ancestry. On 9 May 1916, he held his first
public lecture in New York City at St Marks Churchin-the-Bowery and
undertook a 38-state speaking tour. In May 1917, Garvey and
thirteen others formed the firstUNIA division outside Jamaica and
began advancing ideas to promote social, political, and economic
freedom forblacks. On 2 July, the East St. Louis riots broke out.
On 8 July, Garvey delivered an address, titled "The Conspiracyof
the East St. Louis Riots", at Lafayette Hall in Harlem. During the
speech, he declared the riot was "one of thebloodiest outrages
against mankind". By October, rancor within the UNIA had begun to
set in. A split occurred inthe Harlem division, with Garvey
enlisted to become its leader; although he technically held the
same position inJamaica.Garvey next set about the business of
developing a program to improve the conditions of those of African
ancestry"at home and abroad" under UNIA auspices. On 17 August
1918, publication of the widely distributed Negro Worldnewspaper
began. Garvey worked as an editor without pay until November 1920.
By June 1919 the membership ofthe organization had grown to over
two million. On 27 June 1919, the Black Star Line of Delaware was
incorporatedby the members of the UNIA, with Garvey as President.
By September, it obtained its first ship. Much fanfaresurrounded
the inspection of the S.S. Yarmouth and its rechristening as the
S.S. Frederick Douglass on 14 September1919. Such a rapid
accomplishment garnered attention from many.Edwin P. Kilroe,
Assistant District Attorney in the District Attorneys office of the
County of New York, began aninvestigation into the activities of
the UNIA, but apparently didnt find any evidence of wrongdoing
ormismanagement. After being called to Kilroes office numerous
times, Garvey wrote an editorial on Kilroesactivities for the Negro
World. Garvey was arrested and indicted for criminal libel in
relation to the article, butcharges were dismissed after Garvey
published a retraction. While in his Harlem office at 56 West 156th
Street on14 October 1919, Garvey received a visit from George
Tyler, who told him that Kilroe "had sent him" to get Garvey.Tyler
then pulled a .38-caliber revolver and fired four shots, wounding
Garvey in the right leg and scalp. Garvey wastaken to the hospital
and Tyler arrested. The next day, it was let out that Tyler had
committed suicide by leapingfrom the third tier of the Harlem jail
as he was being taken to his arraignment. By August 1920, the UNIA
claimedfour million members. That month, the International
Convention of the UNIA was held. With delegates from all overthe
world in attendance, over 25,000 people filled Madison Square
Garden on 1 August 1920 to hear Garvey speak.The RBG Quest for
Black Power Reader A Luta Continua A Frolinan Primer
17. Marcus Garvey3Another of Garveys ventures was the Negro
Factories Corporation. His plan called for creating the
infrastructure tomanufacture every marketable commodity in every
big U.S. industrial center, as well as in Central America, theWest
Indies, and Africa. Related endeavors included a grocery chain,
restaurant, publishing house, and otherbusinesses.Convinced that
blacks should have a permanent homeland in Africa, Garvey sought to
develop Liberia. The Liberiaprogram, launched in 1920, was intended
to build colleges, universities, industrial plants, and railroads
as part of anindustrial base from which to operate. However, it was
abandoned in the mid-1920s after much opposition fromEuropean
powers with interests in Liberia. In response to suggestions that
he wanted to take all Africans of theDiaspora back to Africa, he
wrote, "We do not want all the Negroes in Africa. Some are no good
here, and naturallywill be no good there."[11]Charge of mail
fraudIn a memorandum dated 11 October 1919,[12] J. Edgar Hoover,
special assistant to the Attorney General and head ofthe General
Intelligence Division (or "anti-radical division") [13] of The
Bureau of Investigation or BOI (after 1935,the Federal Bureau of
Investigation),[14] wrote a memorandum to Special Agent Ridgely
regarding Marcus Garvey.In the memo, Hoover wrote that:
Unfortunately, however, he [Garvey] has not as yet violated any
federal law whereby he could be proceeded against on the grounds of
being an undesirable alien, from the point of view of
deportation.[15] [16] Sometime around November 1919 an
investigation by the BOI was begun into the activities of Garvey
and theUNIA. Toward this end, the BOI hired James Edward Amos,
Arthur Lowell Brent, Thomas Leon Jefferson, JamesWormley Jones and
Earl E. Titus as its first five African-American agents. Although
initial efforts by the BOI wereto find grounds upon which to deport
Garvey as "an undesirable alien", a charge of mail fraud was
brought againstGarvey in connection with stock sales of the Black
Star Line after the U.S. Post Office and the Attorney Generaljoined
the investigation.[16]The accusation centered on the fact that the
corporation had not yet purchased a ship with the name
"PhyllisWheatley". Although one was pictured with that name
emblazoned on its bow on one of the companys stockbrochures, it had
not actually been purchased by the BSL and still had the name
"Orion". The prosecution producedas evidence a single empty
envelope which it claimed contained the brochure. During the trial,
a man known asBenny Dancy testified that he didnt remember what was
in the envelope, although he regularly received brochures [17]from
the Black Star Line. Another witness for the prosecution, Schuyler
Cargill, perjured himself after admittingto having been told to
mention certain dates in his testimony by Chief Prosecutor Maxwell
S. Mattuck. Furthermore,he admitted that he could not remember the
names of any coworkers in the office, including the timekeeper
whopunched employees time cards. Ultimately, he acknowledged being
told to lie by Postal Inspector F.E. Shea.[18] Hesaid Shea told him
to state that he mailed letters containing the purportedly
fraudulent brochures. The Black StarLine did own and operate
several ships over the course of its history and was in the process
of negotiating for thedisputed ship at the time the charges were
brought. Assistant District Attorney, Leo Healy, who had been,
beforebecoming District Attorney, an attorney with Harris McGill
and Co., the sellers of the first ship, the S.S. Yarmouth,to the
Black Star Line Inc., was also a key witness for the government
during the trial. Of the four Black Star Lineofficers charged in
connection with the enterprise, only Garvey was found guilty of
using the mail service to defraud.His supporters called the trial
fraudulent. While there were serious accounting irregularities
within the Black StarLine and the claims he used to sell Black Star
Line stock could be considered misleading, Garveys
supporterscontest that the prosecution was a politically motivated
miscarriage of justice.[19]When the trial ended on 23 June 1923,
Garvey had been sentenced to five years in prison. Garvey blamed
Jewish andRoman Catholic jurors and a Jewish federal judge, Julian
Mack, for his conviction.[20] He felt they had been biasedbecause
of their political objections to his meeting with the acting
imperial wizard of the Ku Klux Klan the yearThe RBG Quest for Black
Power Reader A Luta ContinuaA Frolinan Primer
18. Marcus Garvey4before.[20] In 1928, Garvey told a
journalist: "When they wanted to get me they had a Jewish judge try
me, and aJewish prosecutor. I would have been freed but two Jews on
the jury held out against me ten hours and succeeded inconvicting
me, whereupon the Jewish judge gave me the maximum penalty."[20]He
initially spent three months in the Tombs Jail awaiting approval of
bail. While on bail, he continued to maintainhis innocence, travel,
speak and organize the UNIA. After numerous attempts at appeal were
unsuccessful, he wastaken into custody and began serving his
sentence at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary on 8 February
1925.[21] Twodays later, he penned his well known "First Message to
the Negroes of the World From Atlanta Prison", wherein hemade his
famous proclamation: Look for me in the whirlwind or the storm,
look for me all around you, for, with Gods grace, I shall come and
bring with me countless millions of black slaves who have died in
America and the West Indies and the millions in Africa to aid you
in the fight for Liberty, Freedom and Life.[22] [23]Professor
Judith Stein has stated, his politics were on trial.Garveys
sentence was eventually commuted byPresident Calvin Coolidge. Upon
his release in November 1927, Garvey was deported via New Orleans
to Jamaica,where a large crowd met him at Orretts Wharf in
Kingston.CriticismOn 4 October 1916, the Daily Gleaner newspaper in
Kingston published a letter written by the Very Rev. Fr.Raphael
Morgan, a Jamaican-American priest of the Ecumenical Patriarchate,
together with over a dozen other[24]like-minded Jamaican-Americans,
who wrote in to protest Garveys lectures.Garveys views on Jamaica,
theyfelt, were damaging to both the reputation of their homeland
and its people, enumerating several objections toGarveys stated
preference for the prejudice of the American whites over that of
English whites.[25] Garveysresponse was published a month later, in
which he called the letter a conspiratorial fabrication meant to
underminethe success and favour he had gained while in Jamaica and
in the United States.[26]While W. E. B. Du Bois felt that the Black
Star Line was original and promising,[27] he added that Marcus
Garveyis, without doubt, the most dangerous enemy of the Negro race
in America and in the world. He is either a lunatic ora
traitor.[28] Du Bois feared that Garveys activities would undermine
his efforts toward black rights.Garvey suspected Du Bois was
prejudiced against him because he was a Caribbean native with
darker skin. Du Boisonce described Marcus Garvey as "a little, fat
black man; ugly, but with intelligent eyes and a big head."[29]
Garveycalled Du Bois purely and simply a white mans nigger" and "a
little Dutch, a little French, a little Negro amulatto a
monstrosity. This led to an acrimonious relationship between Garvey
and the NAACP.[30] Garveyaccused Du Bois of paying conspirators to
sabotage the Black Star Line to destroy his reputation.[31]Garvey
recognized the influence of the Ku Klux Klan, and in early 1922, he
went to Atlanta, Georgia, for aconference with KKK imperial giant
Edward Young Clarke. According to Garvey, I regard the Klan,
theAnglo-Saxon clubs and White American societies, as far as the
Negro is concerned, as better friends of the race thanall other
groups of hypocritical whites put together. I like honesty and fair
play. You may call me a Klansman if youwill, but, potentially,
every white man is a Klansman, as far as the Negro in competition
with whites socially,economically and politically is concerned, and
there is no use lying.[32] Leo H. Healy publicly accused Garvey
ofbeing a member of the Ku Klux Klan in his testimony during the
mail fraud trial.[19]After Garveys entente with the Klan, a number
of African-American leaders appealed to U.S. Attorney GeneralHarry
M. Daugherty to have Garvey incarcerated.[33]The RBG Quest for
Black Power Reader A Luta Continua A Frolinan Primer
19. Marcus Garvey 5Later yearsIn 1928, Garvey travelled to
Geneva to present the Petition of the Negro Race. This petition
outlined the worldwideabuse of Africans to the League of Nations.
In September 1929, he founded the Peoples Political Party
(PPP),Jamaicas first modern political party, which focused on
workers rights, education, and aid to the poor. Also in 1929,Garvey
was elected councilor for the Allman Town Division of the Kingston
and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC).However, he lost his seat because
of having to serve a prison sentence for contempt of court. But, in
1930, Garveywas re-elected, unopposed, along with two other PPP
candidates.In April 1931, Garvey launched the Edelweiss Amusement
Company. He set the company up to help artists earntheir livelihood
from their craft. Several Jamaican entertainers Kidd Harold, Ernest
Cupidon, Bim & Bam, andRanny Williams went on to become popular
after receiving initial exposure that the company gave them. In
1935,Garvey left Jamaica for London. He lived and worked in London
until his death in 1940. During these last five years,Garvey
remained active and in touch with events in war-torn Ethiopia (then
known as Abyssinia) and in the WestIndies. In 1937, he wrote the
poem Ras Nasibu Of Ogaden[34] in honor of Ethiopian Army Commander
(Ras) NasibuEmmanual. In 1938, he gave evidence before the West
Indian Royal Commission on conditions there. Also in 1938he set up
the School of African Philosophy in Toronto to train UNIA leaders.
He continued to work on the magazineThe Black Man.In 1937, a group
of Garveys rivals called the Peace Movement of Ethiopia openly
collaborated with the UnitedStates Senator from Mississippi,
Theodore Bilbo, in the promotion of a repatriation scheme
introduced in the USCongress as the Greater Liberia Act. In the
Senate, Bilbo was a supporter of Franklin Roosevelts New Deal.
Bilbowas an outspoken supporter of segregation and white supremacy
and, attracted by the ideas of black separatists likeGarvey, Bilbo
proposed an amendment to the federal work-relief bill on 6 June
1938, proposing to deport 12 millionblack Americans to Liberia at
federal expense to relieve unemployment.[35] He took the time to
write a book titledTake Your Choice, Separation or Mongrelization,
advocating the idea. Garvey praised him in return, saying thatBilbo
had "done wonderfully well for the Negro".[36] During this period,
Evangeline Rondon Paterson, the futuregrandmother of the 55th
Governor of New York State, David Paterson, served as his
secretary.DeathOn 10 June 1940, Garvey died after two strokes,
putatively after reading a mistaken, and negative, obituary
ofhimself in the Chicago Defender which stated, in part, that
Garvey died "broke, alone and unpopular".[37] Because oftravel
restrictions during World War II, he was buried at Kensal Green
Cemetery in London.Rumours claimed that Garvey was in fact poisoned
on a boat on which he was travelling and that was where andhow he
actually died. In 1964, his remains were exhumed and taken to
Jamaica. On 15 November 1964, thegovernment of Jamaica, having
proclaimed him Jamaicas first national hero, re-interred him at a
shrine in NationalHeroes Park.The RBG Quest for Black Power ReaderA
Luta Continua A Frolinan Primer
20. Marcus Garvey6Personal lifeMarcus Garvey was married twice:
to Jamaican Pan-African activist Amy Ashwood (married 1919,
divorced 1922),who worked with him in the early years of UNIA; then
to the Jamaican journalist and publisher Amy Jacques(married 1922).
The latter was mother to his two sons, Marcus III (born 17
September 1930) and Julius.InfluenceSchools, colleges, highways,
and buildings in Africa, Europe, theCaribbean, and the United
States have been named in his honor. TheUNIA red, black, and green
flag has been adopted as the BlackLiberation Flag. Since 1980,
Garveys bust has been housed in theOrganization of American States
Hall of Heroes in Washington, D.C.Malcolm Xs parents, Earl and
Louise Little, met at a UNIA conventionin Montreal. Earl was the
president of the UNIA division in Omaha,Nebraska and sold the Negro
World newspaper, for which Louise The UNIA flag uses three colors:
red, black andcovered UNIA activities.[38]green.Kwame Nkrumah named
the national shipping line of Ghana the BlackStar Line in honor of
Garvey and the UNIA. Nkrumah also named the national soccer team
the Black Stars as well.The black star at the center of Ghanas flag
is also inspired by the Black Star.During a trip to Jamaica, Martin
Luther King and his wife CorettaScott King visited the shrine of
Marcus Garvey on 20 June 1965 andlaid a wreath.[39] In a speech he
told the audience that Garvey "was thefirst man of color to lead
and develop a mass movement. He was thefirst man on a mass scale
and level to give millions of Negroes a senseof dignity and
destiny. And make the Negro feel he wassomebody."[40] Dr. King was
a posthumous recipient of the first Marcus Garvey Prize Flag of
Ghana for Human Rights on 10 December 1968 issued by the Jamaican
Government and presented to Kings widow. In 2002, scholar
MolefiKete Asante listed Marcus Garvey on his list of 100 Greatest
African Americans.[41]Rastafari and GarveyRastafarians consider
Garvey a religious prophet, and sometimes even the reincarnation of
Saint John the Baptist.This is partly because of his frequent
statements uttered in speeches throughout the 1920s, usually along
the lines of"Look to Africa, when a black king shall be crowned for
the day of deliverance is at hand!"[42]His beliefs deeply
influenced the Rastafari, who took his statements as a prophecy of
the crowning of Haile SelassieI of Ethiopia. Early Rastas were
associated with his Back-to-Africa movement in Jamaica. This early
Rastafarimovement was also influenced by a separate, proto-Rasta
movement known as the Afro-Athlican Church that wasoutlined in a
religious text known as the Holy Piby where Garvey was proclaimed
to be a prophet as well. Garveyhimself never identified with the
Rastafari movement,[43] and was, in fact, raised as a Methodist who
went on tobecome a Roman Catholic.The RBG Quest for Black Power
Reader A Luta ContinuaA Frolinan Primer
21. Marcus Garvey7MemorialsThere are a number of memorials
worldwide which honor Marcus Garvey. Most are in Jamaica and the
UnitedStates.Jamaica A marker in front of the house of his birth at
32 Market Street, St.Anns Bay, Jamaica.[44] A statue on the grounds
of St. Anns Bay Parish Library. A major highway in his name in
Kingston. Likeness on the Jamaican 50 cent coin, 20 dollar coin and
25 centcoin. A building in his name housing the Jamaican Ministry
of ForeignA Jamaican 20 dollar coin shows Garvey on its
face.Affairs located in New Kingston. A Marcus Garvey statue at
National Heroes Park in Kingston, JA. The album "Marcus Garvey" and
"Garveys Ghost" (a dub version of the "Marcus Garvey" album by
reggaelegend Burning Spear. A deejay version by reggae legend Big
Youth, based on an instrumental mix of the original Burning
Spearrecording of "Marcus Garvey". A cover version of Burning
Spears "Marcus Garvey", recorded by reggae singer Spectacular (as
BurningSpectacular), was released in 2002 on a 12" vinyl record on
the Jamaican label Human Race Records. Producedby Bruno Blum, it
features an original recording of a live Marcus Garvey speech in
which several key slogans ofthe Rastafari movement, founded in the
1930s, can be heard. The flip-side includes another recording by
BigYouth of the "Marcus Garvey" composition mentioned above. In the
Bob Marley song "So Much Things to Say", Marley sings "Ill never
forget, no way, they crucify JesusChrist, Ill never forget, no way,
they stole Marcus Garvey for rights. Reggae band The Gladiators
recorded the song "Marcus Garvey Time", proclaiming him as a
prophet with lyricslike, "Every thing he has said has come to
pass". Deejay/Producer Mikey Dread acknowledges him as an
inspiration and calls him a national hero on the 1982track "In
Memory (Jacob, Marcus & Marley)". Song by Reggae artist Anthony
B titled "Honour to Marcus".Trinidad and Tobago A statue on Harris
Promenade, San Fernando, TrinidadUnited States Marcus Garvey
Festival every year on the third weekend of August at Basu Natural
Farms, in PembrokeTownship, Illinois. Park in his name and a New
York Public Library branch dedicated to him in New York Citys
Harlem. A major street in his name in the historically African
American Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford Stuyvesant,Brooklyn, New
York. Marcus Garvey Elementary School, Bedford Stuyvesant,
Brooklyn, New York. The Universal Hip Hop Parade held annually in
Brooklyn on the Saturday before his birthday to carry on his useof
popular culture as a tool of empowerment and to encourage the
growth of Black institutions. A park in his name in the Tenderloin
District of San Francisco, California. A Marcus Garvey Cultural
Center, University of Northern Colorado (Greeley, Colorado).The RBG
Quest for Black Power ReaderA Luta ContinuaA Frolinan Primer
22. Marcus Garvey 8 A secondary school in Trenton, New Jersey.
A Community Center and Senior Housing Community in the Roxbury
neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. Marcus Garvey school. A K
through 8 grade private school in Los Angeles, California. Marcus
Garvey school. A Pre-K through 8 grade public magnet school for
math and science in Chicago, Illinois. Marcus Books stores are
named after him in San Francisco and Oakland. Boston indie band
Piebald wrote a song, "If Marcus Garvey Dies, Then Marcus Garvey
Lives", for their 1999release "If It Werent For Venetian Blinds, It
Would Be Curtains for us All" Ska band Hepcat recorded the song
"Marcus Garvey" on their album Scientific. Sinad OConnors reggae
album, released in 2008, has a track named "Marcus Garvey" that is
a remake of anearlier song by the same name from the Jamaican
reggae artist Burning SpearCanada Marcus Garvey Centre for Unity,
Edmonton, Alberta Marcus Garvey Day, held annually 17 August in
Toronto United Negro Improvement Association Hall located in Glace
Bay, Nova Scotia Marcus Garvey Bar & Grill, Toronto Marcus
Garvey Centre for Leadership and Education in the Jane-Finch area
of TorontoAfrica A major street in his name in Nairobi, Kenya. A
street named after him in Enugu, Nigeria. A neighborhood bearing
his name in the township of Khayelitsha, Cape Town, South Africa. A
library named after him in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Nigeria. A bust
was created and is on display at a park in the central region in
Ghana, along with one of Dr. Martin LutherKing.United Kingdom A
small park in his name in West Kensington, London Marcus Garvey
Centre in Lenton, Nottingham, England A Marcus Garvey Library
inside the Tottenham Green Leisure Centre building in North London
Marcus Garvey Way in Brixton, London Blue plaque at 53 Talgarth
Road, Hammersmith, LondonGARVEY, Marcus (1887-1940) Pan-Africanist
Leader, lived and died here, 53 Talgarth Road, W14.[Hammersmith and
Fulham 2005] Marcus Garvey statue in Willesden Green Library,
Brent, LondonReferences[1] Encyclopedia Britannica Online Marcus
Garvey profile (http:/ / www. britannica. com/ eb/ article-9036129/
Marcus-Garvey). Retrieved 20February 2008.[2] "The "Back to Africa"
Myth" (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20061230195707/ http:/ /
www. unia-acl. org/ archive/ themyth. htm).UNIA-ACL website.
2005-07-14. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. unia-acl.
org/ archive/ themyth. htm) on 30 December 2006. .Retrieved
2007-04-01.[3] Garvey, Marcus; Jacques-Garvey, Amy (ed.) (1986).
The philosophy and opinions of Marcus Garvey or Africa for the
Africans. Dover(Mass.): Majority Press. p.163.
ISBN0-912469-24-2.[4] Crowder, Ralph L. (1 January 2003). Grand old
man of the movement: "John Edward Bruce, Marcus Garvey, and the
UNIA". (http:/ / www.thefreelibrary. com/ "Grand+ old+ man+ of+
the+ movement:"+ John+ Edward+ Bruce,+ Marcus+ Garvey,. . .
-a0128705776)African-Americans in New York Life and History.
Retrieved through freelibrary.com on 2008-02-17.The RBG Quest for
Black Power Reader A Luta ContinuaA Frolinan Primer
23. Marcus Garvey9[5] UNIA-ACL website from Archive.org, The
"Back to Africa" Myth. (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/
20050210185836/ http:/ / www. unia-acl.org/ archive/ themyth. htm),
Accessed 19 November 2007.[6] UNIA ACL Website Historical Facts
about Marcus Garvey and the UNIA (http:/ / www. unia-acl. org/
info/ historic. htm). Published 28January 2005 by UNIA-ACL.
Accessed 2007-04-01.[7] Historical Facts about Marcus Garvey and
the UNIA From Archive.org (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/
20050325170035/ http:/ / www.unia-acl. org/ info/ historic. htm).
Accessed 19 November 2007.[8] http:/ / www. africanholocaust. net/
africanlegends. htm#garvey Garvey and Dus[9] "The Economics of
Marcus Garvey" (http:/ / www. africanholocaust. net/ news_ah/
garvey. html)[10] "The Negros Greatest Enemy" by Marcus Garvey
(http:/ / www. cwo. com/ ~lucumi/ garvey3. html), Posted/Revised:
28 May 2002, LastAccessed 31 October 2007[11] Philosophy and
Opinions of Marcus Garvey Or, Africa for the Africans By Marcus
Garvey, p. 122 (http:/ / books. google.
com/books?id=TiCoYtBtJEsC& pg=RA1-PA122& vq=no+ good+
here& dq=philosophy+ and+ opinions+ of+ marcus+
garvey&sig=18WRd23cpEI2WiTN2VcdWpqo8VQ), Majority Press.
Fitchburg, Mass: 1986 Centennial Edition. Retrieved on 1 December
2007.[12] Memorandum to Special Agent Ridgely on wikisource (http:/
/ en. wikisource. org/ w/
index.php?title=Memorandum_to_Special_Agent_Ridgely&
oldid=470428)[13] Reel 12 Department of Justice-Bureau of
Investigation Surveillance of Black Americans, 1916-1925 cont.
National Archives and ResearchAdministration, RG 65 Federal Bureau
of Investigation cont: 0703 Casefile OG 374217: "Memorandum upon
Work of the Radical Division,August 1, 1919 to October 15, 1919,
Prepared by J. Edgar Hoover; and Other Memoranda. 1919-1920."
263pp. (http:/ / www. lexisnexis.com/ documents/ academic/ upa_cis/
1359_FedSurveillAfroAms. pdf) p. 19[14] Reel 13 Department of
Justice-Bureau of Investigation Surveillance of Black Americans,
1916-1925 cont. National Archives and RecordsAdministration, RG 65
Federal Bureau of Investigation cont.: 0626 Casefile OG 391465:
Confidential Informants, Memoranda of J. EdgarHoover, Compensation,
Policy, Washington, D.C. 1920. 3pp. p. 22 (http:/ / www.
lexisnexis. com/ documents/ academic/
upa_cis/1359_FedSurveillAfroAms. pdf) p. xxi[15] "J. Edgar Hoover
to Special Agent Ridgely Washington, D.C., October 11, 1919
MEMORANDUM FOR MR. RIDGELY." (http:/ / www.pbs. org/ wgbh/ amex/
garvey/ filmmore/ ps_fbi. html)[16] Theodore Kornweibel (Ed.)
Federal Surveillance of Afro-Americans (1917-1925): The First World
War, the Red Scare, and the GarveyMovement (http:/ / www.
lexisnexis. com/ documents/ academic/ upa_cis/
1359_FedSurveillAfroAms. pdf) p. x. Retrieved on 1
December2007.[17] The Trial Part 1 (http:/ / www. marcusgarvey.
com/ wmview. php?ArtID=404& page=2) Page 2. Marcusgarvey.com.
Retrieved on 1December 2007.[18] The Trial Part 1, p. 3 (http:/ /
www. marcusgarvey. com/ wmview. php?ArtID=404& page=3)
Marcusgarvey.com. Retrieved on 1 December2007.[19] Application for
Executive Clemency by Marcus Garvey (http:/ / www. marcusgarvey.
com/ wmprint. php?ArtID=272) Marcusgarvey.com.Retrieved on 6 March
2009.[20] Hill, Robert A., ed (1987). Marcus Garvey: Life and
Lessons (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=chR4mGJNCS0C&
lpg=PR57&ots=6O-7d73RQ5& dq="marcus garvey" "they had a
Jewish judge try me, and a Jewish prosecutor. "&
pg=PR57#v=onepage& q& f=false).University of California
Press. pp.lvii. . Retrieved 2010-05-10.[21] Online Forum: Marcus
Garvey vs. United States (http:/ / www. pbs. org/ wgbh/ amex/
garvey/ sfeature/ sf_forum_13. html)[22] First Message to the
Negroes of the World from Atlanta Prison" (http:/ / www. unia-acl.
org/ archive/ whrlwind. htm)[23] New York Times, "Pardon Marcus
Garvey", 5 November 1983, p. 5[24] Robert A. Hill, Marcus Garvey,
Universal Negro Improvement Association. Letter Denouncing Marcus
Garvey. In: "The Marcus Garveyand Universal Negro Improvement
Association Papers: 1826-August 1919" (http:/ / books. google. ca/
books?id=CKJrUKdSZwkC&printsec=frontcover&
source=gbs_navlinks_s). University of California Press, 1983. pp.
196-197.[25] Fr. Oliver Herbel. The African American National
Biography by Raphael Morgan (http:/ / www. mywire. com/
a/African-American-National-Biography/ Morgan-Raphael/
9463563?& pbl=27) at mywire.com. Accessed 1 January 2008.[26]
Daily Gleaner, 14 November 1916. p. 13. At: Lumsden, Joy, MA
(Cantab), PhD (UWI). Father Raphael (http:/ / www. joyousjam.
com/fatherraphael/ id9. html). Accessed 23 July 2010.[27] The
Collapse of the Only Thing in the Garvey Movement Which Was
Original or Promising (http:/ / historymatters. gmu. edu/ d/ 5121/
),Last accessed 2 November 2007.[28] Dubois, "The Crisis", Vol 28,
May 1924, pp. 8-9[29] Hill, Robert A.; Garvey, Marcus; Forczek,
Deborah; Universal Negro Improvement Association (1987). The Marcus
Garvey and UniversalNegro Improvement Association papers (http:/ /
books. google. com/ books?id=6y4hbFXFtv8C& pg=PA233).
University of California Press.p.233. ISBN9780520058170. .
Retrieved 2009-07-09.[30] Grant, Colin (2008). Negro with a Hat:
The Rise and Fall of Marcus Garvey and His Dream of Mother Africa.
New York: OxfordUniversity Press. ISBN978-0-19-536794-2.[31]
American Series Introduction Volume I: 1826--August 1919 (http:/ /
www. isop. ucla. edu/ africa/ mgpp/ intro01. asp) Accessed 1
April2007.[32] Spartucus Educational website, Ku Klux Klan (http:/
/ www. spartacus. schoolnet. co. uk/ USAkkk. htm), quoting from
Negro World(September 1923). Accessed December 3, 2007.The RBG
Quest for Black Power Reader A Luta Continua A Frolinan Primer
24. Marcus Garvey10[33] Richard B. Moore, "The Critics and
Opponents of Marcus Garvey", in Marcus Garvey and the Vision of
Africa, ed. John Henrik Clarke withAmy Jacques Garvey (New York,
1974), p. 228.[34] Poem - Ras Nasibu of the Ogaden (http:/ / www.
africawithin. com/ garvey/ ras_nasibu. htm)[35] Current Biography,
1943, p. 50[36] Brothers and Strangers: Black Zion, Black Slavery,
1914-1940, Ibrahim K. Sundiata, Duke University Press 2003. ISBN
0-8223-3247-7, p.313[37] Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the
Whirlwind (http:/ / www. pbs. org/ wgbh/ amex/ garvey/ filmmore/
pt. html), PBS documentary(transcript). Last accessed on December
3, 2007.[38] "People & Events: Earl and Louise Little" (http:/
/ www. pbs. org/ wgbh/ amex/ garvey/ peopleevents/ p_little. html).
PBS Online. 1999. .Retrieved 2010-06-15.[39] "Martin Luther King
Jr. visits Jamaica", 20 June 1965 (http:/ / www. jamaica-gleaner.
com/ pages/ history/ story003. html)[40] "The Black 100: A Ranking
of the Most Influential African-Americans, Past and Present" by
Columbus Salley (http:/ / books. google.
com/books?id=g3GW-VNyfNYC& printsec=frontcover& dq=The+
Black+ 100:+ A+ Ranking+ of+ the+ Most+ Influential+
African-Americans,+Past+ and+ Present+ By+ Columbus+ Salley&
ei=hm8oR_m1AZyY7wLnlYGBDQ&
sig=VSqmV4eO98z_akaw76hSIxqeCZM#PPA82,M1),p. 82, 1999, Citadel
Press.[41] Asante, Molefi Kete (2002). 100 Greatest African
Americans: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Amherst, New York:
Prometheus Books; ISBN1-57392-963-8[42] M.G. Smith, Roy Augier and
Rex Nettleford, The Rastafari Movement in Kingston, Jamaica,
Kingston: 1960, p. 5[43] Martin, Tony (21 October 2009). "Marcus
Garvey" (http:/ / www. bbc. co. uk/ religion/ religions/ rastafari/
people/ marcusgarvey. shtml).BBC. . Retrieved 18 October 2010.[44]
32 Market Street (http:/ / www. jnht. com/ heritage_site.
php?id=279), 25 January 2008Further readingWorks by Marcus Garvey
The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey. Edited by Amy Jacques
Garvey. 412 pages. Majority Press;Centennial edition, 1 November
1986. ISBN 0-912469-24-2. Avery edition. ISBN 0-405-01873-8.
Message to the People: The Course of African Philosophy by Marcus
Garvey. Edited by Tony Martin. Forewordby Hon. Charles L. James,
president- general, Universal Negro Improvement Association. 212
pages. MajorityPress, 1 March 1986. ISBN 0-912469-19-6. The
Poetical Works of Marcus Garvey. Compiled and edited by Tony
Martin. 123 pages. Majority Press, 1 June1983. ISBN 0-912469-02-1.
Hill, Robert A., editor. The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro
Improvement Association Papers. Vols. I-VII,IX. University of
California Press, ca. 1983- (ongoing). 1146 pages. University of
California Press, 1 May 1991.ISBN 0-520-07208-1. Hill, Robert A.,
editor. The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement
Association Papers: Africa for theAfricans 1921-1922. 740 pages.
University of California Press, 1 February 1996. ISBN
0-520-20211-2.Books Burkett, Randall K. Garveyism as a Religious
Movement: The Institutionalization of a Black Civil
Religion.Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press and American Theological
Library Association, 1978. Campbell, Horace. Rasta and Resistance:
From Marcus Garvey to Walter Rodney. Trenton, N.J.: Africa
WorldPress, 1987. Clarke, John Henrik, editor. Marcus Garvey and
the Vision of Africa. With assistance from Amy Jacques Garvey.New
York: Vintage Books, 1974. Cronon, Edmund David. Black Moses: The
Story of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro
ImprovementAssociation. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press,
1955, reprinted 1969 and 2007. Garvey, Amy Jacques, Garvey and
Garveyism. London: Collier-MacMillan, 1963, 1968. Grant, Colin.
Negro with a Hat, The Rise and Fall of Marcus Garvey and his Dream
of Mother Africa., London:Jonathan Cape, 2008.The RBG Quest for
Black Power ReaderA Luta Continua A Frolinan Primer
25. Marcus Garvey 11 Hill, Robert A., editor. Marcus Garvey,
Life and Lessons: A Centennial Companion to the Marcus Garvey
andUniversal Negro Improvement Association Papers. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1987. Hill, Robert A. The Marcus
Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers. Vols.
IVII, IX.University of California Press, ca. 1983 (ongoing). James,
Winston. Holding Aloft the Banner of Ethiopia: Caribbean Radicalism
in Early Twentieth-CenturyAmerica. London: Verso, 1998. Kornweibel
Jr., Theodore. Seeing Red: Federal Campaigns Against Black
Militancy 1919-1925. Bloomington andIndianapolis: Indiana
University Press, 1998. Lemelle, Sidney, and Robin D. G. Kelley.
Imagining Home: Class, Culture, and Nationalism in the
AfricanDiaspora. London: Verso, 1994. Lewis, Rupert. Marcus Garvey:
Anti-Colonial Champion. Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press, 1988.
Lewis, Rupert, and Bryan, Patrick, eds. Garvey: His Work and
Impact. Mona, Jamaica: Institute of Social andEconomic Research,
1988. Lewis, Rupert, and Maureen Warner-Lewis. Garvey: Africa,
Europe, The Americas. Trenton, N.J.: Africa WorldPress, 1986, 1994.
Manoedi, M. Korete. Garvey and Africa. New York: New York Age
Press, 1922. Martin, Tony. Race First: The Ideological and
Organizational Struggle of Marcus Garvey and the UniversalNegro
Improvement Association. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1976.
Martin, Tony. Literary Garveyism: Garvey, Black Arts, and the
Harlem Renaissance. Dover, Mass.: MajorityPress, 1983. Martin,
Tony. African Fundamentalism: A Literary and Cultural Anthology of
Garveys Harlem Renaissance.Dover, Mass.: Majority Press, 1983,
1991. Martin, Tony. Marcus Garvey: Hero. Dover, Mass.: Majority
Press, 1983. Martin, Tony. The Pan-African Connection: From Slavery
to Garvey and Beyond. Dover, Mass.: Majority Press,1983. Martin,
Tony. The Poetical Works of Marcus Garvey. Dover, Mass.: Majority
Press, 1983. Smith-Irvin, Jeannette. Marcus Garveys Footsoldiers of
the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Trenton,N.J.: Africa
World Press, 1989. Solomon, Mark. The Cry Was Unity: Communists and
African-Americans, 19171936. Jackson, MS: UniversityPress of
Mississippi, 1998. Stein, Judith. The World of Marcus Garvey: Race
and Class in Modern Society. Baton Rouge: Louisiana StateUniversity
Press, 1986. Tolbert, Emory J. The UNIA and Black Los Angeles. Los
Angeles: Center of Afro-American Studies, Universityof California,
1980. Vincent, Theodore. Black Power and the Garvey Movement.
Berkeley, Calif.: Ramparts Press, 1971. Marcus Garvey: A
Controversial Figure in the History of Pan-Africanism by Jrmie
Kroubo Dagnini for theJournal of Pan African Studies
(http://www.jpanafrican.com/docs/vol2no3/MarcusGarveyAControversialFigureInTheHistoryOfPanAfricanism.pdf)The
RBG Quest for Black Power ReaderA Luta Continua A Frolinan
Primer
26. Marcus Garvey12External links Garveys Legacy in Context:
Colourism, Black Movements and African Nationalism
(http://www.raceandhistory.com/historicalviews/2005/1708.html)
"Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind." [[PBS
(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/garvey/index.html)] documentary
film]. Marcus Garvey web site (http://www.marcusgarvey.com/). UNIA
web site (http://www.unia-acl.org/). Marcus Garvey Economic
Principles (http://www.africanholocaust.net/news_ah/garvey.html)
Marcus Garvey Speaks -Text & Audio-
(http://www.black-king.net/library marcus garvey.htm) Poem - Ras
Nasibu of the Ogaden
(http://www.africawithin.com/garvey/ras_nasibu.htm)Universal Negro
Improvement Association andAfrican Communities LeagueThe Universal
Negro Improvement Association and African Communities (Imperial)
League (UNIA-ACL) is ablack nationalist fraternal organization
founded by Marcus Garvey. The organization enjoyed its greatest
strength inthe 1920s, prior to Garveys deportation from the United
States of America, after which its prestige and influencedeclined.
Since a schism in 1949, there have been two organizations claiming
the name.According to the preamble of the 1929 constitution as
amended, the UNIA is a "social, friendly, humanitarian,charitable,
educational, institutional, constructive and expansive society, and
is founded by persons desiring to do theutmost to work for the
general uplift of the people of African ancestry of the world. And
the members pledgethemselves to do all in their power to conserve
the rights of their noble race and to respect the rights of all
mankind,believing always in the Brotherhood of Man and the
Fatherhood of God. The motto of the organization is One God!One
Aim! One Destiny! Therefore, let justice be done to all mankind,
realizing that if the strong oppresses the weak,confusion and
discontent will ever mark the path of man but with love, faith and
charity towards all the reign ofpeace and plenty will be heralded
into the world and the generations of men shall be called
Blessed."The broad mission of the UNIA-ACL led to the establishment
of numerous auxiliary components, among them theUniversal African
Legion, a paramilitary group; the African Black Cross Nurses;
African Black Cross Society; theUniversal African Motor Corps; the
Black Eagle Flying Corps; the Black Star Steamship Line; the Black
CrossTrading and Navigation Corporation; as well as the Negro
Factories Corporation.The RBG Quest for Black Power ReaderA Luta
ContinuaA Frolinan Primer
27. Universal Negro Improvement Association and African
Communities League13NameIn an article entitled "The Negros Greatest
Enemy [1]", published in Current History (September 1923)
Garveyexplained the origin of the organizations name:"Where did the
name of the organization come from? It was while speaking to a West
Indian Negro who was apassenger with me from Southampton, who was
returning home to the West Indies from Basutoland with hisBasuto
wife, I further learned of the horrors of native life in Africa. He
related to me in conversation suchhorrible and pitiable tales that
my heart bled within me. Retiring from the conversation to my
cabin, all dayand the following night I pondered over the subject
matter of that conversation, and at midnight, lying flat onmy back,
the vision and thought came to me that I should name the
organization the Universal NegroImprovement Association and African
Communities (Imperial) League. Such a name I thought would
embracethe purpose of all black humanity. Thus to the world a name
was born, a movement created, and a manbecame known."Early
historyOriginally from Jamaica, at 23 Garvey left and traveled
throughout Central America and moved for a time toEngland. During
his travels he became convinced that uniting Blacks was the only
way to improve their condition.Towards that end, he departed
England on 14 June 1914 aboard the S.S. Trent, reaching Jamaica on
15 July 1914. Hefounded the Universal Negro Improvement Association
(UNIA) in August 1914 as a means of uniting all of Africaand its
diaspora into "one grand racial hierarchy." After traveling through
the United States beginning in March1916, Garvey inaugurated the
New York Division of the UNIA in 1917 with 13 members. After only
three months,the organizations dues-paying membership reached
3500.The Negro World was founded August 17, 1918 as a weekly
newspaper to express the ideas of the organization.Garvey
contributed a front-page editorial each week in which he developed
the organizations position on differentissues related to people of
African ancestry around the world, in general, and the UNIA, in
particular. Eventuallyclaiming a circulation of five hundred
thousand, the newspaper was printed in several languages. It
contained a pagespecifically for women readers, documented
international events related to people of African ancestry, and
wasdistributed throughout the African diaspora until publication
ceased in 1933.In 1919 the UNIA purchased the first of what would
be numerous Liberty Halls. Located at 114 West 138th Street,New
York City the building had a seating capacity of six thousand. It
was dedicated on July 27, 1919. Later that yearthe Association
organized the first of its two steamship companies and a separate
business corporation.Incorporated in Delaware as a domestic
corporation on June 27, 1919, the Black Star Line, Inc. (BSL)
wascapitalized at ten million dollars. It sold shares individually
valued at five dollars to both UNIA members andnon-members alike.
Proceeds from stock sales were used to purchase first the S.S.
Yarmouth and then the S.S.Shadyside. The Shadyside was used by the
Association for summer outings and excursions, as well as rented
out oncharter to other organizations. The BSL later purchased the
Kanawha as its third vessel. This small yacht wasintended for
inter-island transportation in the West Indies and was rechristened
the S.S. Antonio Maceo.Also established in 1919 was the Negro
Factories Corporation, with a capitalization of one million
dollars. Itgenerated income and provided jobs by its numerous
enterprises, including a chain of grocery stores and
restaurants,steam laundry, tailor shop, dress making shop,
millinery store, publishing house and doll factory.With the growth
of its membership from 1918 through 1924, as well as, income from
its various economicenterprises, UNIA purchased additional Liberty
Halls in the USA, Canada, Costa Rica, Belize, Panama, Jamaica,
andother countries. Furthermore, UNIA purchased farms in Ohio and
other states. It purchased land in Claremont,Virginia with the
intention of founding Liberty University.The RBG Quest for Black
Power Reader A Luta Continua A Frolinan Primer
28. Universal Negro Improvement Association and African
Communities League14First international conventionBy 1920 the
association had over 1,100 divisions in more than 40 countries.
Most of the divisions were located in theUnited States, which had
become the UNIAs base of operations. There were, however, offices
in several Caribbeancountries, with Cuba having the most. Divisions
also existed in such diverse countries as Panama, Costa
Rica,Ecuador, Venezuela, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia, India,
Australia, Nigeria, Namibia, and South Africa.For the entire month
of August 1920, the UNIA-ACL held its firstinternational convention
at Madison Square Garden in New York City.The 20,000 members in
attendance promulgated The Declaration ofRights of the Negro
Peoples of the World[2] on August 13, 1920, andelected the leaders
of the UNIA as "leaders for the Negro people of theworld".The
organization put forth a program based on "The Declaration ofRights
of the Negro Peoples of the World", marking the evolution ofthe
movement into a black nationalist one. It sought to uplift of
theblack race and encouraged self-reliance and nationhood. Amongst
thedeclarations was one proclaiming the red, black and green flag
theofficial banner of the African race. (Beginning in the 1960s,
blacknationalists and Pan-Africanists adopted the same flag as the
BlackLiberation Flag.) UNIA-ACL officially designated the song
"Ethiopiathe land of our fathers" as the official anthem of "Africa
and theAfricans, at home and Abroad". Under the provisions of the
UNIA constitution, Gabriel Johnson wasMarcus Garvey chairing
session of the UNIA inconvention.elected Supreme Potentate; G. O.
Marke, Supreme Deputy Potentate; J. W. [H]. Eason, leader of the
fifteen million "Negroes" of the UnitedStates of America; and
Henrietta Vinton Davis, International Organizer. Garvey was elected
"Provisional Presidentof Africa", a mostly ceremonial
title.Liberian programAlthough UNIA was not solely a "Back to
Africa" movement, the organization did work to arrange for
migration forAfrican Americans who wanted to go there. In late
1923, an official UNIA delegation which included RobertLincoln
Poston and Henrietta Vinton Davis travelled to Liberia to survey
potential landsites. They also assessed thegeneral condition of the
country from the standpoint of UNIA members interested in living in
Africa.By 1924 the Chief Justice J.J. Dossen of Liberia wrote to
UNIA conveying the governments support: "The Presidentdirects me to
say in reply to your letter of June 8 setting forth the objects and
purposes of the Universal NegroImprovement Association, that the
Government of Liberia, appreciating as they do the aims of your
organization asoutlined by you, have no hesitancy in assuring you
that they will afford the Association every facility
legallypossible in effectuating in Liberia its industrial,
agricultural and business projects."About two months later,
however, the Liberian President unexpectedly ordered all Liberian
ports to refuse entry toany member of the "Garvey Movement". This
action closely followed the Firestone Rubber Companys agreementwith
Liberia for a 99-year lease of one million acres (4,000km) of land.
The land deal had been assisted byAmerican and European
governments. Originally Liberia had intended to lease the land to
UNIA at anunprecedented dollar an acre ($247/km). The commercial
agreement with Firestone Tire dealt a severe blow to theUNIAs
African repatriation program and inspired speculation that the
actions were linked.[3]The RBG Quest for Black Power Reader A Luta
Continua A Frolinan Primer
29. Universal Negro Improvement Association and African
Communities League 15Post-Garvey eraAfter Garveys conviction and
imprisonment on mail fraud charges in1925 and deportation to
Jamaica in 1927, the organization began totake on a different
character. In 1926, George Weston succeededGarvey in a UNIA
Convention Election, becoming the next 2nd electedPresident-General
of the UNIA, Inc. This angered many Garveysupporters and as a
result spawned many rival entities such as the"Garvey Clubs" and
other organizations based on members differing The UNIA flag (also
known as the Blackinterpretation of the original aims and objects
of the UNIA. Nationalist Flag) uses three colors: red, black and
green.As a result, the UNIA continued to be officially recognized
as theUniversal Negro Improvement Association and African
CommunitiesLeague, and a rival "UNIA-ACL August 1929 of the World"
emerged, headed by Marcus Garvey after hisdeportation to
Jamaica.The UNIA, IncThe UNIA, Inc., after Garveys departure,
continued to operate out of New York until 1941. After Westons
1926election to President-General, he was succeeded by Frederick
Augustus Toote (1929), Clifford Bourne (1930),Lionel Antonio
Francis (19311934), Henrietta Vinton Davis (19341940), Lionel
Antonio Francis (19401961),Captain A L King (19611981) and Milton
Kelly, Jr. (19812007).In a historic 1939 British Supreme Court
decision, President-General Francis was recognized as the
rightfuladministrative heir to the huge Sir Isaiah Emmanuel Morter
(DSOE) Estate in Belize. The organizationsadministrative
headquarters were then shifted to Belize in 1941 when the
President-General relocated there fromNew York.Upon his death in
1961 during Hurricane Hattie, the presidency shifted back to New
York under the leadership ofKing, formerly president of the Central
Division of the UNIA in New York. After his death in the early
1980s,longtime Garveyite organizer Kelly assumed the administrative
reigns and continued to head the association until2007.The UNIA-ACL
1929 of the WorldThe UNIA 1929 headed by Garvey continued operating
in Jamaica until he moved to England in 1935. There he setup office
for the parent body of the UNIA 1929 and maintained contact with
all its divisions. UNIA 1929conventions were held in Canada in
1936, 1937 and 1938; the 1937 sessions were highlighted by the
introduction ofthe first course of African philosophy conducted by
Garvey.Garvey became ill in January 1940, and died on June 10,
1940. UNIA members worldwide participated in eulogies,memorial
services and processions in his honor. Secretary-General Ethel
Collins briefly managed the affairs of theUNIA from New York until
a successor to Garvey could be formally installed to complete his
term asPresident-General.During an emergency commissioners
conference in June 1940, James R. Stewart, a commissioner from Ohio
andgraduate of the course of African philosophy, was named the
successor. In the months to follow, the Parent Body ofthe UNIA was
moved from its temporary headquarters in New York to Cleveland. In
October 1940 the New NegroWorld started publishing out of
Cleveland. After the 1942 International Convention in Cleveland, a
rehabilitatingcommittee of disgruntled members was held in New York
during September.The RBG Quest for Black Power ReaderA Luta
ContinuaA Frolinan Primer
30. Universal Negro Improvement Association and African
Communities League 16Parent Body in MonroviaStewart moved to
Monrovia, Liberia in 1949. He took Liberian citizenship and moved
the Parent Body of the UNIAthere. He continued to lead the
Association as President-General until his death in 1964. Stewart
and his entirefamily relocated deeper into the interior of the
country, establishing themselves in Gbandela, Liberia. There
theyestablished a hospital, school and farm.When Stewart died from
cancer in 1964, the Parent Body was moved from Monrovia to
Youngstown, Ohio, whereJames A. Bennett took the reins. In 1968
Bennett was succeeded by Vernon Wilson.After President-General
Wilsons death in 1975, Mason Harvgrave became next President
General. Hargravetestified during the congressional hearings in
August 1987 in relation to the exoneration of Marcus Garvey
oncharges of mail fraud. The findings of the Judiciary Committee
were: Garvey was innocent of the charges againsthim. Although the
Committee determined he had been found guilty earlier due to the
social climate of America at thetime, they had no legal basis upon
which to exonerate a person who was deceased.After President
General Hargrave died in 1988, all his papers and other Parent Body
material were turned over to theWestern Reserve Historical Society
in Cleveland, Ohio for safe-keeping. From 1988 until the present,
the CleoMiller, Jr. has held the title of President
General.Philadelphia parent bodyFrom August to September 1949, the
rehabilitating committee held a conference in Detroit, Michigan.
Followingthat conference, the committee denounced the leadership of
President Stewart and the UNIA became fragmentedonce again.Former
High Chancellor Thomas W. Harvey became President General of the
new faction. An internationalheadquarters was established in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, after a conference was held there in
August 1951.Although some divisions severed ties with the Monrovia
Parent Body after the Rehabilitation Conference, a numberalso
continued to report to Monrovia consistent with the laws in the
constitution.The first International Convention held under
President General Harvey occurred in August 1953. William
LeVanSherrill was elected President General then. As First
Assistant President General, Sherrill had previously served
asacting President General beginning in 1925, during the time when
the UNIAs founder Garvey was incarcerated.During his
administration, Sherrill claimed to have 36 divisions associated
with the Philadelphia Parent Body.Harvey was elected President
General in August 1960. Prior to his election, the UNIA began
publication of the thirdhouse organ, a monthly newspaper entitled
"Garveys Voice". President Sherrill resigned in December 1958
andHarvey became Acting President General of the UNIA. Harvey then
held the post for nearly 20 years, winningre-election every four
years until his death in June 1978.International conventions were
held in Philadelphia during August 1973 and 1976. The UNIA
Executive Councilelected Charles L. James to complete the unexpired
term of Thomas W. Harvey on July 1, 1978. In August 1980 the28th
International convention was held in Philadelphia. Conventions were
held annually from August 1981 toAugust 1986. Two of which were
held in Chicago. At the 34th Annual Convention in Chicago, Illinois
LouisFarrakhan gave the keynote speech on the role of Marcus
Garvey, Malcolm X, and Elijah Muhammad in hisdevelopment. When
President General Charles Lynell James died on August 16, 1990 he
was the last survivinggraduate of the Course of African Philosophy
taught by Marcus Garvey. Reginald Wesley Maddox succeeded Jamesas
President General on August 26, 1990. In August 1992, Marcus
Garvey, Jr. was elected President-General duringthe convention held
in Washington, DC. He held that office until retiring by not
seeking reelection during the 2004convention. During the UNIAs 90th
anniversary and the controversial 47th International Convention,
Redman Battlewas elected the President General of the UNIA-ACL
Rehabilitating Committee.The RBG Quest for Black Power ReaderA Luta
Continua A Frolinan Primer