W.E.B.

Du Bois Institute

Marcus Garvey: The Harlem Years

Author(s): John Henrik Clarke
Source: Transition, No. 46 (1974), pp. 14-15+17-19
Published by: Indiana University Press on behalf of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2934951 .
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 46
TRANSITION
MARCUS GARVEY: THE HARLEM YEARS
There is now a renaissance of interest in the life of
Marcus Garvey. The African Independence Explosion,
that started in 1957 when the former West African colony
called the Gold Coast, became an independent country,
now called Ghana, helped to set this renaissance in mo-
tion. Some of Marcus Garvey's dreams about African
redemption were being realized. In his lifetime, he was a
man who had a stubborn belief in the impossible, and
came close to achieving it. During the uncertain years that
followed the First World War, he built the largest Black
mass movement that this country has ever seen. There
was never a leader like him, before or since. His popu-
larity was universal, his program for the redemption of
Africa and the return of African people to their mother-
land, shook the foundations of three empires.
In nearly all matters relating to the resurgence of
African people, in this country and abroad, there is re-
consideration of this man in his program that seemed
impossible in his lifetime. His prophecy has been ful-
filled in the independence explosion that brought more
than 30 African nations into being. The concept of Black
Power that he advocated, using other terms, is now a
reality in large areas of the world where the people of
African origin are predominant.
Marcus Garvey's principal areas of agitation were the
Afro-American struggle in the United States, his native
Caribbean Islands and the universe of Black humanity
everywhere. From the year of his arrival in the United
States in 1916 until his deportation in 1927, the ethnic
community called Harlemwas his window on the world.
From this vantage point he became one of the greatfigures
ofthe 20th century.
It is no accident that Marcus Garvey had his greatest
success in the United States among Black Americans in
the community called Harlem. He came to the United
States and began to build this movement at a time of
great disenchantment among Afro-Americans who had
pursued the "American Dream," until they had to con-
cede that the dream was not dreamed for them. They had
listened to the "American Promise," and also conceded
14
--IM- I- I' f II
John Henrik Clarke
that the promise was not made to them. Marcus Garvey
gave them the vision of a new dream, a new promise, and
a new land. He restored hope where hope had been lost.
This is the real relevance of Marcus Garvey for today.
In the years following the end of the First World War,
when America's promise to us had been betrayed, again
we looked once more toward Africa and dreamed of a
time and place where our essential manhood was not
questioned.
A leader emerged and tried to make this dream into a
reality. His name was Marcus Garvey. The personality
and the movement founded by Marcus Garvey, together
with the writers and artists of the Renaissance period,
helped to put the community of Harlem on the map.
While the literary aspect of the Renaissance was unfold-
ing, Marcus Garvey and his Universal Negro Improve-
ment Association, using Harlem as his base of operation,
built the largest mass movement among black people
that this country had ever seen. This movement had
international importance and was considered to be a
threat to the colonial powers of Europe which were
entrenched in Africa.
This magnetic and compelling personality succeeded
in building a mass movement after other men had failed.
This may be due to the fact that he was born and reared
in an age of conflict that affected the world of African
peoples everywhere.
The appearance of the Garvey movement was perfectly
timed. The broken promises of the postwar period had
produced widespread cynicism in the Black popula-
tion which had lost some of its belief in itself as a people.
Adam Clayton Powell, Sr. wrote of Garvey: "He is the
only man that made Negroes not feel ashamed of their
color." In his book, Marching Blacks, Adam Clayton
Powell, Jr. wrote:
Marcus Garvey was one of the greatestmass leaders of all
time. He was misunderstoodand maligned,but he brought
to the Negro people for the first time a sense of pride in
being black.

The Garvey movement had a profound effect on the
political development of Harlem and on the lives of both
the Adam Clayton Powells. The fight to make Harlem a
Congressional Districl began during the Garvey period.
In his New WorldA-coming, Roi Ottley (1943) observed
that,
Garveyleapedintotheoceanof blackunhappiness at a most
timelymomentfora savior.He hadwitnessedthe Negro's
disillusionmentmountwiththe progressof theWorldWar.
Negrosoldiershadsufferedall formsof Jim-Crow, humilia-
slander,andevenviolenceat thehands
tion,discrimination,
of a whitecivilianpopulation.Afterthe war,therewas a
resurgence of Ku Klux Klaninfluence:anotherdecadeof
racialhatredandopenlawlessness hadset in, and Negroes
againwereprominent amongthevictims.Meantime, admi-
nistrationleaderswerequitepointedin tryingto persuade
in the war
Negroesthat in spiteof theirfull participation
efforttheycouldexpectno changesin theirtraditional status
in America.
This attitude had helped to create the atmosphere into
which a Marcus Garvey could emerge. In many ways the
scene was being prepared for Marcus Garvey for over
one hundred years before he was born. There is no way
to understand this without looking at the American
antecedents of Marcus Garvey, i.e., the men, forces and
movements that came before him.
During the eighteenth century there was strong agita-
tion among certain groups of Black people in America
for a return to Africa. This agitation was found mainly
among groups of 'free Negroes' because of the uncer-
tainty of their position as freed men in a slaveholding
society. "One can see it late into the eighteenth century,"
Dr. DuBois explains in his book Dusk of Dawn, "when
the Negro Union of Newport, Rhode Island, in 1788,
proposed to the Free African Society of Philadelphia a
general exodus to Africa on the part of at least free
Negroes"
The Back-to-Africa idea has been a recurringtheme in
Afro-American life and thought for more than a hundred
years. This thought was strong during the formative
years of the Colonization Society and succeeded in con-
vincing some of the most outstanding Black men of the
18th and 19th centuries, such as: John Russwurm, the
first Black college graduate (Bowdoin, 1820), and Lott
Carey, the powerful Virginia preacher. Later the Society
fell into severe disrepute after an argument with the
Abolitionists.
Marcus Garvey was not the first West Indian to play
a vital role in the Afro-American freedom struggle.
West Indians have been coming to the United States
for over a century. The part they have played in the pro-
gress of the Afro-American in his long march from sla-
very to freedom has always been an important factor.
More important is the fact that the most outstanding of
these Caribbean-Americanssaw their plight and the plight
of the Afro-American as being one ai d the same.
As early as 1827, a Jamaican, John B. Russwurm, one
of the founders of Liberia, was the first colored man to be
graduated from an American college and to publish a
newspaper in this country; 16 years later his fellow
countryman, Peter Ogden, organized in New York City
the first Odd-Fellows Lodge for Negroes. Prior to the
Civil War, West Indian coi tribution to the progress of
Afro-American life was one of the main contributing
factors in the fight for freedom and full citizenship in the
northern part of the United States.
TRANSITION46
In his book Souls of Black Folk, Dr. W. E. B. DuBois
says that the West Indians were mainly responsible for the
manhood program presented by the race in the early
decades of the last century. Indicative of their tendency
to blaze new paths is the achievement of John W. A.
Shaw of Antigua, who, in the early 90's of the last century
passed the civil service tests and became deputy commis-
sioner of taxes for the County of Queens in New York
State.
In 18th century America, two of the most outstanding
figures for liberty and justice were the West Indians-
Prince Hall and John B. Russwurm. When Prince Hall
came to the United States the nation was in turmoil. The
colonies were ablaze with indignation. Britain, with a
series of revenue acts, had stoked the fires of colonial dis-
content. In Virginia, Patrick Henry was speaking of
liberty or death. The cry "No Taxation Without Repre-
sentation" played on the nerve strings of the nation.
Prince Hall, then a delicate-looking teenager, often walk-
ed through the turbulent streets of Boston, an observer
unobserved.
A few months before these hectic scenes, he had arrived
in the United States from his home in Barbados, where
he had been born about 1748, the son of an Englishman
and a free African woman. He was, in theory, a free man,
but he knew that neither in Boston nor in Barbados were
persons of African descent free in fact. At once, he ques-
tioned the sincerity of the vocal white patriots of Boston.
It never seemed to have occurred to them that the an-
nounced principles motivating their action was-stronger
argument in favor of destroying the system of slavery.
The colonists held in servitude more than a half million
human beings, some of them white; yet they engaged in
the contradiction of going to war to support the theory
that all men were created equal.
More than a hundred years of struggle, agitation and
disenchantment would follow this period. When Marcus
Garvey began his organizational work in the United
States a large number of Black Americans were willing
to listen to him.
In Philosophyand OpinionsMarcus Garvey would later
ask himself: "Where is the black man's government?
Where is his king and his kingdom ? Where is his president,
his country and his ambassador, his army, his navy, his
men of big affairs?" He could not answer the question
affirmatively, so he decided to make the Black man's go-
vernment, king and kingdom, president ana men of big
affairs. He taught his people to dream big again; he
reminded them that they had once been kings and rulers
of great nations and would be again. The cry "Up you
mighty race, you can accomplish what you will" was a
call to the Black man to reclaim his best self and re-enter
the mainstream of world history. When Marcus Garvey
came to the United States in 1916, World War I had
already started. The migration of Black workers from
the South to the new war industries in the North and
eastern parts of the United States was in full swing. Dis-
satisfaction, discontent, and frustration among millions
of Black Americans were acceleratingthis migration. The
atmosphere and the condition was well prepared for the
message and the program of Marcus Garvey.
*
He came to the United States in 1916, one year after the
death of Booker T. Washington. He had exchanged cor-
respondence with Booker T. Washington with the hope
15

of securing some means to build, in Jamaica, a school
similar to Tuskegee in Alabama. Unfortunately, Booker
T. Washington had died the previous year.
Marcus Garvey's plans for the self-determination of
his people are outlined in the following excerpts from
"Aims and Objects of Movement for Solution of Negro
Problem" issued by Marcus Garvey as President-
General of Universal Negro Improvement Association,
1924.
The UniversalNegro ImprovementAssociationis an orga-
nization among Negroes that is seekingto improvethe con-
a Nationin
ditionof the race,withthe viewof establishing
Africa where Negroes will be given the opportunity to
develop by themselves,withoutcreatingthe hatredand ani-
mosity that now exist in countriesof the white race through
Negroes rivalingthem for the highest and best positions in
government, politics,societyand industry.Thisorganiza-
tionbelievesin therightsof allmen,yellow,whiteandblack.
To us, the white race has a right to the peacefulpossession
and occupationof countriesof its own and in like manner
the yellow and black races have their rights .. Only by an
honest and liberalconsiderationof such rightscan the world
be blessed with the peace that is sought by Christiantea-
chersand leaders.
The SpiritualBrotherhoodof Man. The following pre-
amble to the Constitution of the organization speaks for
itself: The Universal Negro ImprovementAssociation and
African Communities'Leagueis a social, friendly,humani-
tarian, charitable, educational, institutional, constructive,
and expansive society and is founded by persons, desiring
to the utmost, to work for the general uplift of the Negro
peoples of the world. And the memberspledge themselves
to do all in theirpowerto conservethe rightsof all mankind,
believingalwaysin the Brotherhoodof Man and the Father-
hood of God. The motto of the organizationis: One God!
One Aim! One Destiny! Therefore,let justice be done to
all mankind,realizingthat if the strongoppressesthe weak,
confusion and discontentwill ever mark the path of man,
but with love, faith and charitytowardall, the reignof peace
and plenty will be heraldedinto the world and the genera-
tions of men shall be called Blessed.
The declaredObjectsof the Associationare: To establish
a Universal Confraternityamong the race; to promote the
spiritof prideandlove;to reclaimthe fallen;to administer
to andassistthe needy,to assistin civilizingthe backward
tribesof Africa;to assistin thedevelopmentof Independent
Negro Nationsand Communities; to establisha central
nationfortherace;to establishComrrissionaries orAgencies
in the principalcountriesand citiesof the worldfor the
representationof all Negroes.
The early twenties were times of change and accom-
plishment in the Harlem community. It was the period
when Harlem was literally put on the map. Two events
made this possible: a literary movement known as the
Harlem Renaissance and the emergence in Harlem of the
magnetic and compelling personality of Marcus Garvey.
He was the most seriously considered and the most color-
ful of the numerous black Manassehs who presented
themselves and their grandiose programs to the people of
Harlem.
Marcus Garvey's reaction to color prejudice and his
search for a way to rise above it and lead his people back
to Africa, spiritually if not physically, was the all-con-
suming passion of his existence. His glorious and ro-
mantic movement exhorted the Black people of the world
and fixed their eyes on the bright star of a future in which
they could reclaim and rebuild their African homeland
and heritage.
Garvey succeeded in building a mass movement among
American Blacks while other leaders were attempting
it and doubting that it could be done. He advocated the
return of Africa to the Africans and people of African
descent.
TRANSITION 46
He organized, very boldly, the Black Star Line, a
steamship company for transporting cargoes of African
produce to the United States, and because of this spread
rapidly throughout the Caribbean area and Central and
South America, among West Indian migrant laborers.
And due to the effectivenessof the American mass media
of communication, it penetrated into the continent of
Africa.
One year after he entered the United States, in 1917, he
made a speaking tour of the principal cities, building up a
national following. By 1919 he had branches well esta-
blished all over the world preparingto send delegates and
representatives of fraternal organizations to "the first
International Convention of the Negro Peoples of the
World," which was held in August 1920 in New York
City.
The first public mass meeting was held at Madison
Square Garden -the largest auditorium in the state, and
white reporters conceded that about 25,000 assembled
inside the auditorium, and there was an overflow standing
in the streets.
The significance of this thirty-day convention was that
for the first time representatives of African people from
all over the world met in sessions to report on conditions
under which they lived-socially, economically and
politically-and to discuss remedial measures.
After the historic First UNIA International Conven-
tion of the Negro Peoples of the World in 1920, the cry,
"Africa for the Africans, those at home and those
abroad," became part of the folklore of the Black
Americans. The most important document that came
out ot this convention was the Declaration of the Rights
of the Negro Peoples of the World. Marcus Garvey had
started negotiations with the President of Liberia for
colonization and development of Africa by Western
world Blacks. This was the beginning of the hope and
heartbreak of Marcus Garvey's colonization scheme.
Between 1920 and 1925 the Garvey Movement rose to
great heights and in spite of its troubles, continued to
grow. This is the period in which the Movement had its
greatest success and was under the severest criticism. The
Convention of 1920 was a monumental achievement in
Black organization. This convention came in the years
after the First World War, when the promises to Black
Americans had been broken, lynching was rampant, and
when Blacks were still recovering from "the red summer
of 1919," in which there were race riots in most of the
major cities and the white unemployed took out their
grievances on the Blacks, who many times were com-
peting with them for the few availablejobs. During this
time, Marcus Garvey brought the Black Star Line into
being and into a multiplicity of troubles. He divorced
his wife and married another, and made his name and
his organization household words in nearly every part
of the world where Black people lived.
The trials and tribulations of the Black Star Line would
read like the libretto of a comic opera, except the events
were both hectic and tragic, and there were more villains
than heroes involved in this attempt to restore to Black
people a sense of worth and nationness.
Marcus Garvey's trouble with the courts started soon
after the formation of the Black Star Line. The charges
and counter-chargesrelating to the Black Star Line were
17
 46
TRANSITION
the basisof most of his troublesand the causeof his con-
viction and being sent to AtlantaPrison. This was the
beginningof the end of the greatestyearsof the Garvey
Movement.
The yearsof triumphand tragedywerebuildingyears,
searchingyears and years of magnificentdreaming.
MarcusGarvey'svision of Africahad lifted the spiritof
BlackAmericansout of the Depressionthat followedthe
First World War. The UNIA's African Legions and
BlackCrossNursesbecamefamiliarsightson the streets
of Harlem. The UNIA grewin membershipand in sup-
port of all kinds. Garveywas the beatingheart of the
movement.His persuasivevoiceandprolificwritingsand
his effectiveuse of pageantrystrucka responsivechord
throughout the Black communities of America and
abroad. Branchesof the Movementwere established
in Latin America,wherevertherewere large Caribbean
communities.An AfricanOrthodoxChurchwasfounded
in America. Now the Blackmanwas searchingfor a new
God, as well as a new land.
The GarveyMovementbegan to take effectiveroots
in Americawhen millions of Blackshad begun to feel
that they would neverknow full citizenshipwith dignity
in this countrywheretheir ancestorshad been brought
againsttheirwill, and wherethey had contributedto the
wealthand developmentof the countryin spiteof condi-
tions of previousservitude. Againstthis backgroundof
brokenpromisesand fadinghope, MarcusGarveybegan
to build a world-wideBlack movement. This, the first
Blackmass protestcrusadein the historyof the United
Statesbeganto pose seriousproblemsfor whiteAmerica.
This movementalso posed seriousproblemsfor the then
existingBlack leadership,especiallyfor Dr. W. E. B.
DuBois.
In the article,"DuBois VersusGarvey:Race Propa-
gandistsat War,"the writerElliottM. Rudnickoutlines
the originsof the conflictbetweenthesetwo Blackgiants
who looked at the world from differentvantagepoints.
Both of themwerePan-Africanists and both of themhad
as theirobjectivesthe freedomandredemptionof African
people everywhere. Yet, there was no meetingof the
mindson the methodsof reachingthese desirablegoals,
In the articleRudnicksays: "Unlike DuBois, Marcus
Garveywas able to gain mass supportand his propa-
ganda had a tremendousemotionalappeal. He esta-
blished the UniversalNegro ImprovementAssociation
in New York (with branchesin many U.S. cities and
severalforeigncountries). The aim of the organization
was the liberationof Africa. By 1919,he set up the Black
Star Line and the Negro Factories Corporation. In
August, 1920, Garveycalled a month-longconvention
of the U.N.I.A. in New York City. In the name of
'400,000,000Negroes of the World,' he declaredthat
Africamust be free. He did not botherto displaythe
restraintwhich characterizedPan-Africanleaders and
manyof his remarkswereinflammatory.He warnedthat
his race was preparedto shed its blood to removethe
whitesfromthe natives'rightfullandin Africa. His con-
ventiondelegatesandmembersparadedthroughHarlem.
Tensof thousandsof Negroeswereexcitedby the massed
unitsof the AfricanLegionin blueand red uniformsand
the white-attiredcontingentsof the BlackCrossNurses.
Garvey's followers sang the new U.N.I.A. anthem,
'Ethiopia, Thou Land of Our Fathers' and they
18
proudlywaved the Association'sflag (black for Negro
skin, greenfor Negro hopes, and red for Negro blood).
Neveragainwas the raceto havea leaderwho couldpro-
duce such a wonderfulshow."
DuBoispubliclyignoredGarveyuntilDecemberof 1920
and this tardinessof editorialrecognitionwas probably
due to the Crisiseditor'sambivalencetowardhim. Du-
Bois was profoundlyimpressed'by "this extraordinary
leaderof men," and he acknowledgedthat Garveywas
"essentiallyan honestandsincereman witha tremendous
vision,greatdynamicforce, stubborndeterminationand
unselfishdesireto serve."However,the Crisiseditoralso
consideredhim to be:
... dictatorial, vainandverysus-
domineering, inordinately
picious... Thegreatdifficulty withhimis thathe hasabso-
lutelyno businesssense,no flairfor realorganization and
his generalobjectsare so shot throughwith bombastand
exaggerationthatit is difficultto pinthemdownfor careful
examination.
The following month, after DuBois had requested (and
failed to receive) a financial statement from the Jamaican
on the Negro Improvement Association and the Black
Star Line, the Crisis editor wrote: "When it comes to
Mr Garvey's industrial and commercial enterprises there
is more ground for doubt and misgiving than in the mat-
ter of his character."
At least once DuBois entertained the idea that his own
hopes for Africa's reclamation and an international
Black economy could be achieved through Garvey's mass
appeal. The two men were not strangers to each other
before Garvey came to the United States in 1916. In the
years between their first meeting and the eve of the Second
Pan-AfricanCongress,DuBois had built a Black intel-
lectualmovement,while Garveyhad built a Blackmass
movement.
*
Garvey and his movement had a short and spectacular
life spanin the UnitedStates. His movementtook really
effectiveformin the UnitedStatesin about 1919,and by
1926 he was in a Federal prison, charged with misusing
the mails. From prison he was deported home to Ja-
maica. This is, briefly, the essence of the Garvey saga in
America.
MarcusGarvey,who was duly elected ProvisionalPresi-
dent of Africa by his followers, was never allowed to set
foot on Africansoil. He spokeno Africanlanguage.But
Garvey managedto conveyto Africanpeopleeverywhere
(and to the rest of the world)his passionatebelief that
Africa was the home of a civilizationwhich had once
been great and would be great again. When one takes
into considerationthe slendernessof Garvey'sresources
and the vast material forces, social conceptions and
imperialinterestswhichautomaticallysoughtto destroy
him, his achievementremainsone of the great propa-
gandamiraclesof thiscentury.
Garvey's voice reverberated inside Africa itself. The
King of Swaziland later told Mrs Marcus Garvey that he
knew the names of only two Black men in the Western
world: Jack Johnson, the boxer who defeated the white
man JimJeffries,and MarcusGarvey. Fromhis narrow
vantage point in Harlem, Marcus Garvey became a
worldfigure.
After years of neglect, new interest in the life and
ideas of this remarkableman has created a Marcus

Garvey Renaissance. In his homeland, Jamaica, he has
been proclaimed a national hero. All over the Black
world he is being reconsidered with respect and reve-
rence. His greatness lies in the fact that he was daring
enough to dream of a better future for Black people,
wherever they live on this earth.
The Garvey movement began to fragment and decline
concurrently with the end of the Harlem Renaissance.
This period had a meaning that is generally missed by
most people who write about it. This movement had
indigenous roots and it could have existed without the
concern and interest of white people. This concern, often
/! <
LcL'
,.tf
LcS4AA'1
K r f^
TRANSITION 46
overstated, gave the movement a broader and more
colorful base, and may have extended its life span. The
movement was the natural and logical result of years of
neglect, suppression, and degradation. Black Americans
were projecting themselves as human beings and de-
manding that their profound humaneness be accepted.
It was the first time a large number of Black writers,
artists, and intellectuals took a unified walk into the
North American sun.
The Black nationalists and freedom fighters before and
after Marcus Garvey were saying, no more or less than
what Garvey had said in word and deed: "Up! Up! You
mighty race. You can accomplish what you will."[]
19