Introduction

INTRODUCTION With the United States government's deportation of Marcus Garvey in December 1927, the founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) entered upon die final phase of his extraordinary relationship with the international black movement he had organized in Harlem almost a decade before. This closing phase of Garvey's life coincides with a strategic time in larger world affairs, as the era of buoyant post-war optimism drew to a close and was superseded by the human tragedy of worldwide economic depression and, finally, by the violence of a second world war. Garvey's first entry onto the world stage—as the militant herald of black self-determination—had been facilitated by opportunities presented by the crisis of World War I and the concomitant rise of national emancipation movements. Strategic alterations in the international system of colonial empires continued to be proposed throughout the interwar period, providing Garvey with further diplomatic opportunities in Pan-African affairs after his deportation. While he maintained an international presence as the UNIA's spokesman in the late 1920s and throughout the 1930s, the internal operation of the UNIA in those years was characterized by disruptions and challenges more difficult than Garvey had yet encountered. The world that Garvey had known during the peak years of his political influence in America in the early 1920s had changed dramatically during his years in prison. When he was released in 1927, the UNIA was no longer the organization that it had once been; increasingly rent by internal division and bereft of resources, it was struggling for economic survival and suffering from competition with analogous movements. These circumstances took a heavy toll on the morale of the movement and its membership base. Yet many of his followers still saw Garvey as a hero. As UNIA activist Samuel Haynes wrote in the 14 January 1928 issue of the Negro World, "Garvey, living or dead, is our patron saint, our supreme leader and counsellor, and neither the cannon of hate nor the whip of prejudice can swerve us from our allegiance to him and the great ideal of African nationalism." The documents, speeches, correspondence, and editorials included in the present volume illustrate the ways Garvey and UNIA members responded to the rapidly changing socioeconomic circumstances that occurred following his xxxvii THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS departure from America and how they negotiated the many internal vicissitudes that were to emerge out of their changing relationship. * * * The enthusiastic crowds that greeted Garvey upon his arrival in his Jamaican homeland on 10 December 1927 represented a new facet in the complex development of the UNIA. During the previous decade the radical New Negro movement had risen explosively within the racially militant context of black Harlem, with Garvey and the UNIA emerging as internationally recognized symbols of the new black consciousness. The end of that New Negro era coincided with the waning of Garvey's influence in America—with the disintegration of his various UNIA enterprises, the ensuing factionalization and fratricidal struggles among his followers, and the long sought success on the part of federal and local officials to find grounds to deport him. After years of struggling to maintain an agenda focused on Pan-African unity and black economic independence and dealing with problems of internal dissent and external repression, Garvey encountered new difficulties in Jamaica, where he came face-to-face with the concrete challenge of building a national movement against colonial rule. Garvey's itinerary upon his return to Jamaica reflected his reaction to freedom after almost three years of enforced silence. He addressed many large welcoming crowds in Kingston in late 1927 and almost immediately undertook a speaking tour of the rural parishes of the island. In January 1928, he set out on a six-week speaking tour of Central America but soon encountered familiar limitations. He had to alter his plans when denied admission into Costa Rica and was hampered by various other obstructions designed by American consular and Central American officials who considered him a threat to the security of colonial administrations. Garvey's speeches throughout the late 1920s are evidence of the renewed dynamism he felt emerging from a period of involuntary activity. They reflect strong religious and metaphysical beliefs, revealing him to be even more of a proponent of optimistic New Thought philosophy than he had been in the past. They also show a level of political conservatism that was perhaps born of his previous experiences with political repression. Closely monitored by journalists and colonial police, he urged Jamaicans in his speeches to be peaceful and law-abiding in return for guarantees of protection by the English crown. In Garvey's words, Jamaicans should act as "useful citizens of the Empire and as British subjects" (4. April 1928). The observance of England's constitutional primacy was explicitly recognized at UNIA public meetings where the English national anthem was sung before the rendering of the UNIA's own Universal Ethiopian anthem. Garvey displayed his claims to full citizenship and privileges by purchasing a stately home that he called "Somali Court." The location of the home was socially symbolic; it was situated on Lady Musgrave Road, close to King's House, the English governor's official xxxviii INTRODUCTION residence, in an elite area of suburban St. Andrew that was the preserve of the white upper class. It is also significant that Garvey charged an admission fee for his public appearances, except for the few occasions when he spoke at Kingston's Liberty Hall. His audiences consisted of a nonrepresentative number of members of the professional middle class, artisans, and self-employed working class people. These paying, eminently respectable, audiences helped underscore Garvey's message of citizenship, cooperation, and reward. The themes of Garvey's speeches—like those of his Negro World editorials, written in the period immediately following his deportation—thus show nuances and changes in his racial and political thought. Once back in Jamaica, Garvey began to see merit in the American practice of defining all persons with any African heritage as black. While in America he had virulently opposed the sociopolitical mandates of the "colored" or mulatto group; in Jamaica, he sought to affiliate himself with the more privileged, racially-mixed, sector of society. He promoted plans of interest to middle class people of color, including the ideas of establishing black-owned and operated department stores and the development of a scholarship fund for students of African descent. In addition to addressing himself to Jamaican concerns, Garvey became immediately involved with UNIA business in the United States and abroad. After he returned from his extensive speaking tour, he called E. B. Knox, his personal representative in the United States, to come to Kingston to discuss UNIA affairs. Soon after Knox's visit, he left Henrietta Vinton Davis in charge of UNIA operations in Kingston and sailed for England with his wife, Amy Jacques Garvey, for a six-month stay. Knox soon joined the couple and a temporary headquarters was established in West Kensington, London. Garvey rented Royal Albert Hall and delivered an address on the national rights of Africans and of peoples of the African diaspora. From England, he traveled to France, Belgium, and Germany. Returning briefly to England, he then traveled to Geneva, Switzerland, where he presented a renewal of the UNIA's 1922 petition to the League of Nations. He concluded his tour with speeches in Paris before coming back to London. In the autumn, Garvey left England for Canada, where he intended to tour local divisions and meet with UNIA officials to plan an international convention to be held in Canada in the following year. Soon after his arrival in Montreal, he was apprehended by Canadian immigration officials, who were responding to the fears of American diplomats who believed Garvey might use his proximity to the United States to urge his American followers to vote for the Democratic presidential challenger, Governor Alfred Smith of New York, in the upcoming presidential election. Garvey was questioned and released by the immigration authorities, who limited his stay to one week and stipulated that he make no public speeches. These restrictions induced Garvey to alter his plan to hold the next UNIA convention in Canada. Garvey returned to Jamaica in December 1928, filled with new plans for redirection of the UNIA and for his own local possibilities. He issued a call xxxix THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS for the next UNIA convention to be held in Jamaica and organized ceremonies to celebrate the opening of a new social and cultural enterprise based at Edelweiss Park, an elegant property situated at 67 Slipe Road, St. Andrew, that he had purchased to serve as the new international UNIA headquarters, as business offices of the local UNIA, and as the venue for mass entertainments, political convocations, and secular services. The park became a kind of local chautauqua, a novel phenomenon for Jamaicans. Garvey also announced plans to begin a new daily newspaper that he hoped would rival the Daily Gleaner, an established paper that represented the interests of the business and planter classes. Called the Blackman, Garvey's newspaper commenced publication in March 1929. Garvey established the Blackman Printing and Publishing Company, which produced the paper in addition to handling professional printing jobs, at 5-7 Peters Lane, Kingston, in April. After months of promotion and preparation, the Sixth Annual UNIA Convention opened at Edelweiss Park in August 1929. A sizeable number of delegates from the United States were in attendance—proof that Garvey's influence remained strong among members of American divisions. A massive procession through the streets of Kingston attracted thousands of spectators; it was said to be the largest such display since the exhibition marking the celebration of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897.

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