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African Americans
http://wn.com/African_Americans -
Amy Jacques Garvey
Amy Euphemia Jacques Garvey (December 31, 1895–July 25, 1973), born to George Samuel and Charlotte Henrietta (South) Jacques, in Kingston, Jamaica. According to the African American National Biography, Volume 3, and [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/garvey/peopleevents/p_jacques.html PBS], her birth year is 1896.
http://wn.com/Amy_Jacques_Garvey -
Arnold Josiah Ford
Rabbi Arnold Josiah Ford (23 April 1877 – 16 September 1935) was the first black rabbi in America, and a prominent member of Harlem's Black Jews.
http://wn.com/Arnold_Josiah_Ford -
Cleo Miller
Cleophus Miller (born September 5, 1951 in Gould, Arkansas) is a former professional American football running back who played nine seasons for the Kansas City Chiefs and Cleveland Browns.
http://wn.com/Cleo_Miller -
Dusé Mohamed Ali
Dusé Mohamed Ali (Bey Effendi), (November 21, 1866 - June 25, 1945)
http://wn.com/Dusé_Mohamed_Ali -
Eliezer Cadet
http://wn.com/Eliezer_Cadet -
Elijah Muhammad
Elijah Muhammad (born Elijah Robert Poole; October 7, 1897 — February 25, 1975) was an African American religious leader, and led the Nation of Islam from 1934 until his death in 1975. Muhammad was a mentor to Malcolm X, Louis Farrakhan, boxer Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., whom he renamed Muhammad Ali, and his son Warith Deen Mohammad.
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Eric D. Walrond
Eric Derwent Walrond (December 18, 1898 - August 8, 1966) was an African-American Harlem Renaissance writer, who made a lasting contribution to literature; his work still being in print today as a classic of its era. He was well-travelled, being born in Georgetown, Guyana (British Guiana) the son of a Barbadian mother and a Guyanese father, moving early in life to live in Barbados, and then Panama, New York, and eventually England.
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J.J. Dossen
http://wn.com/JJ_Dossen -
James Haynes
James Haynes, commonly known as Jim Haynes (born November 10, 1933), was a leading figure in the London "underground" and alternative/counter-culture scene of the 1960s. He was involved with the founding of the paper International Times and the London Arts Lab in Drury Lane for experimental and mixed media work.
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James Van Der Zee
James Van Der Zee (June 29, 1886 - May 15, 1983) was an African American photographer best known for his portraits of black New Yorkers. He was a leading figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Aside from the artistic merits of his work, Van Der Zee produced the most comprehensive documentation of the period. Among his most famous subjects during this time were Marcus Garvey, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and Countee Cullen.
http://wn.com/James_Van_Der_Zee -
Louis Farrakhan
Louis Farrakhan (born Louis Eugene Walcott; May 11, 1933) is the National Representative of the Nation of Islam. He is an advocate for black interests and a critic of American society. Farrakhan has been both widely praised and criticized for his often controversial political views and rhetorical style. In 1996, he was awarded the Al-Gaddafi International Prize for Human Rights founded by Libya's de facto leader Muammar al-Gaddafi.
http://wn.com/Louis_Farrakhan -
Malcolm X
Malcolm X (; May 19, 1925 February 21, 1965), born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (), was an African-American Muslim minister, public speaker, and human rights activist. To his admirers, he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans. His detractors accused him of preaching racism, black supremacy, antisemitism, and violence. He has been described as one of the greatest, and most influential, African Americans in history. In 1998, Time named The Autobiography of Malcolm X one of the ten most influential nonfiction books of the 20th century.
http://wn.com/Malcolm_X -
Norman Burton
Norman Burton (December 5, 1923 - November 29, 2003), occasionally credited as Normann Burton, was an American film and television actor.
http://wn.com/Norman_Burton -
Samuel Alfred Haynes
Samuel Haynes (1899-1971) was an African Caribbean Belizean soldier, activist and poet. He was a leader of the 1919 riot by Belizean soldiers who had fought for Great Britain in World War I and refused to accept racial discrimination at home. He also wrote the lyrics of a song named ""Land of the Gods" which later became Belize's national anthem, "Land of the Free".
http://wn.com/Samuel_Alfred_Haynes -
society
http://wn.com/society -
Thomas Vincent Ramos
Thomas Vincent Ramos (17 September 1887 - 14 November 1955) was a Belizean civil rights activist who promoted the interests of his Garifuna people, and is now considered a national hero.
http://wn.com/Thomas_Vincent_Ramos -
Thomas W. Anderson
Thomas W. Anderson, a native of Virginia, was educated at the Keystone-Eckman High School, Keystone, West Virginia, the Bluefield Colored Institute, Bluefield, West Virginia, and [http://www.tnstate.edu/library/digital/walden.htm Walden University], Nashville, Tennessee. He was connected with the National Baptist Publishing House, Nashville, Tennessee for seven years; was ordained as a Baptist minister in 1918 by Rev. R. L. Bradby of the Second Baptist Church, Detroit, Michigan, and was pastor of the Second Baptist Church, Adrian, Michigan for about eighteen months. He was elected clerk of the Chain Lake Association. He served as an elected member of the Hamtramck, Michigan Township Review on the Republican ticket in 1919; was appointed water inspector and assistant clerk of the village council of Hamtramck in October 1919. He was deputy sheriff and member of the Wayne County Republican Committee, president of the Hamtramck branch of the NAACP, and president of the Adrian Michigan branch, which he organized.
http://wn.com/Thomas_W_Anderson -
Thomas W. Harvey
Thomas Watson Harvey (November 27, 1893 - June 27, 1978) was President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA) from 1956 to 1978. He was born in Douglas, Burke County, Georgia, the oldest of twelve children of Walker and Billie Harvey. His father was a farmer and both his grandparents were slaves. He was named after Thomas E. Watson, the leader of the Populist Party in Georgia who was a champion of Georgia's dispossessed, both black and white.
http://wn.com/Thomas_W_Harvey -
Thomas Watson Harvey
http://wn.com/Thomas_Watson_Harvey -
William H. Ferris
William Henry Ferris (born July 20, 1874 - died 1941) was an author, minister, and scholar.
http://wn.com/William_H_Ferris -
Zora Neale Hurston
Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American folklorist, anthropologist, and author during the time of the Harlem Renaissance. Of Hurston's four novels and more than 50 published short stories, plays, and essays, she is best known for her 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God.
http://wn.com/Zora_Neale_Hurston
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{{Infobox country
http://wn.com/Australia -
Belize () (formerly British Honduras), is a democratic constitutional monarchy, and the northernmost Central American nation. Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages. Although Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official language. Belize is bordered by Mexico to its north, by Guatemala to its south and west, and by the Caribbean Sea to the east.
http://wn.com/Belize -
Canada () is a country in North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean. It is the world's second largest country by total area. Canada's common border with the United States to the south and northwest is the longest in the world.
http://wn.com/Canada -
Chicago ( or ) is the largest city in the state of Illinois. With over 2.8 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous city in the country. Its metropolitan area, commonly named "Chicagoland," is the 26th most populous in the world, home to an estimated 9.7 million people spread across the U.S. states of Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana. Chicago is the county seat of Cook County.
http://wn.com/Chicago -
Cleveland () is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately 60 miles (100 km) west of the Pennsylvania border. It was founded in 1796 near the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, and became a manufacturing center owing to its location at the head of numerous canals and railroad lines. With the decline of heavy manufacturing, Cleveland's businesses have diversified into the service economy, including the financial services, insurance, legal, and healthcare sectors, though the city's population has continued to decline. Cleveland is also home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
http://wn.com/Cleveland -
:For the plant genus Costarica, see its synonym Sicyos.
http://wn.com/Costa_Rica -
The Republic of Cuba (; , ) is an island country in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos.
http://wn.com/Cuba -
Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The state takes its name from Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, an English nobleman and Virginia's first colonial governor, after whom (what is now called) Cape Henlopen was originally named.
http://wn.com/Delaware -
Detroit () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Wayne County. Detroit is a major port city on the Detroit River, in the Midwest region of the United States. Located north of Windsor, Ontario, Detroit is the only major U.S. city where Canada can be viewed by looking to the south. It was founded on July 24, 1701, by the Frenchman Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac. Its name originates from the French word détroit () for strait, in reference to its location on the river connecting the Great Lakes.
http://wn.com/Detroit -
Ecuador (), officially the Republic of Ecuador (, ), literally, "Republic of the equator") is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border with Brazil. The country also includes the Galápagos Islands in the Pacific, about west of the mainland.
http://wn.com/Ecuador -
England () is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental Europe. Most of England comprises the central and southern part of the island of Great Britain in the North Atlantic. The country also includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.
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{{Infobox country
http://wn.com/Ethiopia -
The Republic of Ghana is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south. The word Ghana means "Warrior King" and is derived from the ancient
http://wn.com/Ghana -
India (), officially the Republic of India ( ; see also official names of India), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.18 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world. Mainland India is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal on the east; and it is bordered by Pakistan to the west; Bhutan, the People's Republic of China and Nepal to the north; and Bangladesh and Burma to the east. In the Indian Ocean, mainland India and the Lakshadweep Islands are in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives, while India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands share maritime border with Thailand and the Indonesian island of Sumatra in the Andaman Sea. India has a coastline of .
http://wn.com/India -
Jamaica () is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harboring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Its indigenous Arawakan-speaking Taíno inhabitants named the island Xaymaca, meaning the "Land of Wood and Water", or the "Land of Springs".
http://wn.com/Jamaica -
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the west coast of Africa, bordered by Sierra Leone, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, and the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2008 Census, the nation is home to 3,476,608 people and covers .
http://wn.com/Liberia -
Michigan () is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is a French corruption of the Ojibwe word mishigama, meaning "large water" or "large lake".
http://wn.com/Michigan -
:For alternate meanings, see Monrovia (disambiguation).
http://wn.com/Monrovia -
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia (, ), is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March 1990 following the Namibian War of Independence. Its capital and largest city is Windhoek. Namibia is a member state of the United Nations (UN), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU), and the Commonwealth of Nations.
http://wn.com/Namibia -
Nigeria (), officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising thirty-six states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in the north. Its coast in the south lies on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean. The three largest and most influential ethnic groups in Nigeria are the Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba. In terms of religion Nigeria is roughly split half and half between Muslims and Christians with a very small minority who practice traditional religion.
http://wn.com/Nigeria -
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,
http://wn.com/Ohio -
Panama (), officially the Republic of Panama (; ), is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The capital is Panama City.
http://wn.com/Panama -
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania () is a U.S. state and Commonwealth located in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to the east. The state's four most populous cities are Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown and Erie. The state capital is Harrisburg.
http://wn.com/Pennsylvania -
Philadelphia () is the largest city in Pennsylvania, sixth-most-populous city in the United States and the fifty-first most populous city in the world.
http://wn.com/Philadelphia -
Sierra Leone () (Krio: Sa Lone), officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has a population estimated at 6.5 million. It is a former British Colony and now a constitutional republic comprising three provinces and the Western Area; which are further divided into fourteen districts.
http://wn.com/Sierra_Leone -
The Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe; to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland; while Lesotho is an independent country wholly surrounded by South African territory.
http://wn.com/South_Africa -
Venezuela (; ), officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Spanish: República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south. Its roughly northern coastline includes numerous islands in the Caribbean Sea, and in the north east borders the northern Atlantic Ocean. Caribbean islands such as Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Curaçao, Aruba and the Leeward Antilles lie near the Venezuelan coast. Venezuela's territory covers around with an estimated population of 26,414,816. Venezuela is considered a country with extremely high biodiversity, with habitats ranging from the Andes mountains in the west to the Amazon Basin rainforest in the south, via extensive llanos plains and Caribbean coast in the center and the Orinoco River Delta in the east.
http://wn.com/Venezuela -
http://wn.com/Washington_DC
- African Americans
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Unia, Michel Filmography
Cecile Unia
Releases by album:
Album releases
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:18
- Published: 08 May 2007
- Uploaded: 07 Dec 2011
- Author: yootyoob101
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:21
- Published: 31 May 2008
- Uploaded: 03 Dec 2011
- Author: Matleieusz
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:27
- Published: 25 Sep 2011
- Uploaded: 06 Dec 2011
- Author: TheUnexpected56
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:27
- Published: 24 Sep 2011
- Uploaded: 04 Dec 2011
- Author: projectunia
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:03
- Published: 30 May 2007
- Uploaded: 01 Dec 2011
- Author: sonatachile
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 10:30
- Published: 30 Jun 2011
- Uploaded: 06 Dec 2011
- Author: MaturaToBzduraTV
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:49
- Published: 11 Sep 2011
- Uploaded: 07 Dec 2011
- Author: MRrawHEAD1
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 10:25
- Published: 17 Oct 2011
- Uploaded: 07 Nov 2011
- Author: sskulvideo
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:26
- Published: 12 Jun 2011
- Uploaded: 30 Sep 2011
- Author: GazetaLubuska
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:36
- Published: 09 Nov 2008
- Uploaded: 01 Dec 2011
- Author: odDymarkow
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:30
- Published: 10 Feb 2010
- Uploaded: 05 Dec 2011
- Author: odDymarkow
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:30
- Published: 25 Nov 2010
- Uploaded: 07 Dec 2011
- Author: davidoski2
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:53
- Published: 08 Jun 2011
- Uploaded: 06 Dec 2011
- Author: TauronAzotyTarnow
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Iran files complaint over purported US drone
Al Jazeera
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Euro crisis summit: The night Europe changed
BBC News
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Defense Authorization Act Will Destroy The Bill Of Rights
WorldNews.com
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Russians stage mass protests against Putin, polls
The Star
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Israeli airstrikes hit Gaza civilians
Sydney Morning Herald
- Africa
- African Americans
- Alberta Porter
- Amy Haynes
- Amy Jacques Garvey
- ancestry
- Andrew G. Pio
- Antonio Maceo
- Arnold Josiah Ford
- Australia
- Belize
- Benjamin E. Burrell
- Black Cross Nurses
- black nationalism
- black nationalist
- Black Star Line
- Canada
- Captain A L King
- Carrie B. Mero
- Central America
- Charles L. James
- Charles Lynell James
- Chicago
- Chief Alfred Sam
- Cleo Miller
- Cleveland
- Clifford Bourne
- Costa Rica
- Cuba
- Daisy Dunn
- Delaware
- Detroit
- Dusé Mohamed Ali
- E.R. Matthews
- Ecuador
- Effie Stepter
- Elie Garcia
- Eliezer Cadet
- Elijah Muhammad
- England
- Eric D. Walrond
- Ethiopia
- Fatherhood of God
- G.R. Christian
- Gabriel Johnson
- Gbandela
- George Osborne Marke
- Ghana
- Granzaline Marshall
- Harriet Rogers
- Henry Dolphin
- Henry James Ramsay
- Hucheshwar G. Mudgal
- Hugh Mulzac
- humanitarian
- Hurricane Hattie
- India
- institutional
- Irene W. Wingfield
- Isaac B. Allen
size: 6.1Kb
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 the utmost to work for the general uplift of the people of African ancestry of the world. And the members pledge themselves 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 of peace 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 the Universal African Legion, a paramilitary group; the African Black Cross Nurses; African Black Cross Society; the Universal African Motor Corps; the Black Eagle Flying Corps; the Black Star Steamship Line; the Black Cross Trading and Navigation Corporation; as well as the Negro Factories Corporation.
Name
In an article entitled "The Negro's Greatest Enemy", published in Current History (September 1923) Garvey explained the origin of the organization's name: :"Where did the name of the organization come from? It was while speaking to a West Indian Negro who was a passenger with me from Southampton, who was returning home to the West Indies from Basutoland with his Basuto wife, I further learned of the horrors of native life in Africa. He related to me in conversation such horrible and pitiable tales that my heart bled within me. Retiring from the conversation to my cabin, all day and the following night I pondered over the subject matter of that conversation, and at midnight, lying flat on my back, the vision and thought came to me that I should name the organization the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities (Imperial) League. Such a name I thought would embrace the purpose of all black humanity. Thus to the world a name was born, a movement created, and a man became known."
Early history
Originally from Jamaica, at 23 Garvey left and traveled throughout Central America and moved for a time to England. 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. He founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in August 1914 as a means of uniting all of Africa and its diaspora into "one grand racial hierarchy." After traveling through the United States beginning in March 1916, Garvey inaugurated the New York Division of the UNIA in 1917 with 13 members. After only three months, the organization's 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 organization's position on different issues related to people of African ancestry around the world, in general, and the UNIA, in particular. Eventually claiming a circulation of five hundred thousand, the newspaper was printed in several languages. It contained a page specifically for women readers, documented international events related to people of African ancestry, and was distributed 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. The single level hall with low ceilings had previously been home to the Metropolitan Baptist Tabernacle. It was dedicated on July 27, 1919. On Sunday evenings, it hosted the weekly UNIA meeting; it also housed a restaurant. Later that year the 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) was capitalized at ten million dollars. It sold shares individually valued at five dollars to both UNIA members and non-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 on charter to other organizations. The BSL later purchased the Kanawha as its third vessel. This small yacht was intended 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. It generated income and provided around 200 jobs by its numerous enterprises: three grocery stores, two restaurants, a laundry, a tailor shop, a dress making shop, a millinery store, a printing company and doll factory. However, most went out of business by 1922.
With the growth of its membership from 1918 through 1924, as well as, income from its various economic enterprises, UNIA purchased additional Liberty Halls in the USA, Canada, Costa Rica, Belize, Panama, Jamaica, and other countries. Furthermore, UNIA purchased farms in Ohio and other states. It purchased land in Claremont, Virginia with the intention of founding Liberty University.
First international convention
By 1920 the association had over 1,100 divisions in more than 40 countries. Most of the divisions were located in the United States, which had become the UNIA's base of operations. There were, however, offices in several Caribbean countries, 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 first international convention at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The 20,000 members in attendance promulgated The Declaration of Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World on August 13, 1920, and elected the leaders of the UNIA as "leaders for the Negro people of the world".
The organization put forth a program based on "The Declaration of Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World", marking the evolution of the movement into a black nationalist one. It sought to uplift of the black race and encouraged self-reliance and nationhood. Amongst the declarations was one proclaiming the red, black and green flag the official banner of the African race. (Beginning in the 1960s, black nationalists and Pan-Africanists adopted the same flag as the Black Liberation Flag.) UNIA-ACL officially designated the song "Ethiopia the land of our fathers" as the official anthem of "Africa and the Africans, at home and Abroad".
Under the provisions of the UNIA constitution, Gabriel Johnson was elected Supreme Potentate; G. O. Marke, Supreme Deputy Potentate; J. W. [H]. Eason, leader of the fifteen million "Negroes" of the United States of America; and Henrietta Vinton Davis, International Organizer. Garvey was elected "Provisional President of Africa", a mostly ceremonial title.
The opening parade provided one of the most striking features of the convention. It began outside the UNIA headquarters on West 135th Street, went uptown as far as 145th and downtown as far as 125th Street, taking it beyond the boundaries of black residence into white areas. Four mounted policemen, and the heads of Black Star Line and Negro Factories Corporation, led the parade, followed by cars carrying Garvey and Mayor of Monrovia, capital of Liberia, and other UNIA officials, then the Black Star Line Choir, on foot, and contingents from throughout US and Caribbean, Canada, Nigeria, carrying banners, and including 12 bands, with about 500 cars bringing up the rear. Similar dramatic parades featured in the 1922 and 1924 conventions; even after Garvey had left Harlem, the UNIA paraded each August throughout the 1920s, with the place of honour given to portraits of their absent leader. The spectacle of uniformed members, particularly the African Legion and Black Cross Nurses, made a particular impact on the crowds. Many photographs survive of the 1924 Convention Parade, as Garvey employed noted black photographer James Van Der Zee to record the event.
Liberian program
Although UNIA was not solely a "Back to Africa" movement, the organization did work to arrange for migration for African Americans who wanted to go there. In late 1923, an official UNIA delegation which included Robert Lincoln Poston and Henrietta Vinton Davis travelled to Liberia to survey potential landsites. They also assessed the general 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 government's support: "The President directs me to say in reply to your letter of June 8 setting forth the objects and purposes of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, that the Government of Liberia, appreciating as they do the aims of your organization as outlined by you, have no hesitancy in assuring you that they will afford the Association every facility legally possible 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 to any member of the "Garvey Movement". This action closely followed the Firestone Rubber Company's agreement with Liberia for a 99-year lease of one million acres (4,000 km²) of land. The land deal had been assisted by American and European governments. Originally Liberia had intended to lease the land to UNIA at an unprecedented dollar an acre ($247/km²). The commercial agreement with Firestone Tire dealt a severe blow to the UNIA's African repatriation program and inspired speculation that the actions were linked.
Post-Garvey era
After Garvey's conviction and imprisonment on mail fraud charges in 1925 and deportation to Jamaica in 1927, the organization began to take on a different character. In 1926, George Weston succeeded Garvey in a UNIA Convention Election, becoming the next 2nd elected President-General of the UNIA, Inc. This angered many Garvey supporters and as a result spawned many rival entities such as the "Garvey Clubs" and other organizations based on members' differing interpretation of the original aims and objects of the UNIA.As a result, the UNIA continued to be officially recognized as the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League, and a rival "UNIA-ACL August 1929 of the World" emerged, headed by Marcus Garvey after his deportation to Jamaica.
The UNIA, Inc
The UNIA, Inc., after Garvey's departure, continued to operate out of New York until 1941. After Weston's 1926 election to President-General, he was succeeded by Frederick Augustus Toote (1929), Clifford Bourne (1930), Lionel Antonio Francis (1931–1934), Henrietta Vinton Davis (1934–1940), Lionel Antonio Francis (1940–1961), Captain A L King (1961–1981) and Milton Kelly, Jr. (1981–2007).In a historic 1939 British Supreme Court decision, President-General Francis was recognized as the rightful administrative heir to the huge Sir Isaiah Emmanuel Morter (DSOE) Estate in Belize. The organization's administrative headquarters were then shifted to Belize in 1941 when the President-General relocated there from New York.
Upon his death in 1961 during Hurricane Hattie, the presidency shifted back to New York under the leadership of King, 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 until 2007.
The UNIA-ACL 1929 of the World
The UNIA 1929 headed by Garvey continued operating in Jamaica until he moved to England in 1935. There he set up office for the parent body of the UNIA 1929 and maintained contact with all its divisions. UNIA 1929 conventions were held in Canada in 1936, 1937 and 1938; the 1937 sessions were highlighted by the introduction of the 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 the UNIA from New York until a successor to Garvey could be formally installed to complete his term as President-General.
During an emergency commissioners' conference in June 1940, James R. Stewart, a commissioner from Ohio and graduate of the course of African philosophy, was named the successor. In the months to follow, the Parent Body of the UNIA was moved from its temporary headquarters in New York to Cleveland. In October 1940 the New Negro World started publishing out of Cleveland. After the 1942 International Convention in Cleveland, a rehabilitating committee of disgruntled members was held in New York during September.
Parent Body in Monrovia
Stewart moved to Monrovia, Liberia in 1949. He took Liberian citizenship and moved the Parent Body of the UNIA there. He continued to lead the Association as President-General until his death in 1964. Stewart and his entire family relocated deeper into the interior of the country, establishing themselves in Gbandela, Liberia. There they established a hospital, school and farm.When Stewart died from cancer in 1964, the Parent Body was moved from Monrovia to Youngstown, Ohio, where James A. Bennett took the reins. In 1968 Bennett was succeeded by Vernon Wilson.
After President-General Wilson's death in 1975, Mason Harvgrave became next President General. Hargrave testified during the congressional hearings in August 1987 in relation to the exoneration of Marcus Garvey on charges of mail fraud. The findings of the Judiciary Committee were: Garvey was innocent of the charges against him. Although the Committee determined he had been found guilty earlier due to the social climate of America at the time, 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 the Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland, Ohio for safe-keeping. From 1988 until the present, the Cleo Miller, Jr. has held the title of President General.
Philadelphia parent body
From August to September 1949, the rehabilitating committee held a conference in Detroit, Michigan. Following that conference, the committee denounced the leadership of President Stewart and the UNIA became fragmented once again.Former High Chancellor Thomas W. Harvey became President General of the new faction. An international headquarters 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 number also 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 LeVan Sherrill was elected President General then. As First Assistant President General, Sherrill had previously served as acting President General beginning in 1925, during the time when the UNIA's 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 third house organ, a monthly newspaper entitled "Garvey's Voice". President Sherrill resigned in December 1958 and Harvey became Acting President General of the UNIA. Harvey then held the post for nearly 20 years, winning re-election every four years until his death in June 1978.
International conventions were held in Philadelphia during August 1973 and 1976. The UNIA Executive Council elected Charles L. James to complete the unexpired term of Thomas W. Harvey on July 1, 1978. In August 1980 the 28th International convention was held in Philadelphia. Conventions were held annually from August 1981 to August 1986. Two of which were held in Chicago. At the 34th Annual Convention in Chicago, Illinois Louis Farrakhan gave the keynote speech on the role of Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, and Elijah Muhammad in his development. When President General Charles Lynell James died on August 16, 1990 he was the last surviving graduate of the Course of African Philosophy taught by Marcus Garvey. Reginald Wesley Maddox succeeded James as President General on August 26, 1990. In August 1992, Marcus Garvey, Jr. was elected President-General during the convention held in Washington, DC. He held that office until retiring by not seeking reelection during the 2004 convention. During the UNIA's 90th anniversary and the controversial 47th International Convention, Redman Battle was elected the President General of the UNIA-ACL Rehabilitating Committee.
Notable members of the UNIA
References
Further reading
External links
Category:African Americans' rights organizations Category:African American history Category:African and Black nationalism Category:Black liberation movements in the British Empire Category:Community building Category:Fraternal and service organizations Category:Pan-Africanist organizations Category:Organizations established in 1914
de:Universal Negro Improvement Association es:Asociación Universal de Desarrollo Negro y la Liga de Comunidades Africanas fr:Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League it:Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League pt:Associação Universal para o Progresso NegroThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.