by Colin Grant
44 Doc No. 210422, G. P. Chittenden, manager, United Fruit Company, Costa Rica Division, to V. M. Cutter, vice-president, United Fruit Company, Boston.
45 Garvey Papers, III, pp. 536–537.
46 United Fruit Company correspondence, cited in Harpelle, p. 58.
47 Garvey Papers, III, p. 536.
48 DNA, RG 165, 10218–418, and DNA, RG 59 811.108 g 191/11. See also Cronon, p. 88. and Bourgois, p. 101.
49 United Fruit Company correspondence, Chittenden to Blair, 20 April 1921. See also Harpell, p. 57.
50 UFC, informant’s report to Blair, 28 April 1921. See also Harpelle, p. 80.
51 Parker, pp. 188–212.
52 Garvey Papers, III, p. 536.
53 William C. Matthews, the UNIA’s lawyer, was believed by the FBI to have acted through Henry Lincoln Johnson, the leading black politician in the Republican Party, in bribing the immigration official, Harry McBride. The black politician, Johnson, had earlier consulted Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes on the matter of Garvey’s request for readmission.
54 Crisis, Vol. 22, No. 2, June 1921.
13. Not to Mention His Colour
INTERVIEWS AND CORRESPONDENCE: Valerie Boyd, Henry Louis Gates, Robert Hill, Arnold Rampersad. PUBLICATIONS: Amy Ashwood, Portrait of a Liberator; John E. Bruce, Washington’s Colored Society; Cincinnati Union, 24 May 1924; Crisis, November 1920, January 1921, December 1929; Du Bois, ‘Dusk of Dawn’, extracted in Selected Writings, from Crisis, September 1922; Henry Louis Gates, Bearing Witness: Selections From African American Autobiography in the Twentieth Century; Robert Hill, Garvey Papers; Langston Hughes, ‘The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain’, published in The Nation, 1926; Amy Jacques, Garvey and Garveyism; Amy Jacques, Philosophy and Opinions; James Weldon Johnson, Selected Writings; David Levering Lewis, W. E. B. Du Bois’s The Fight for Equality and The American Century; William Pringle Livingstone, Black Jamaica; Claude McKay, A Long Way From Home; Claude McKay, Complete Poems; Richard Moore ‘The Critics and Opponents of Marcus Garvey’, extracted in John H. Clarke, Marcus Garvey and the Vision of Africa; Negro World, 3 September 1921; Hubert Harrison, ‘A Tender Point’, Negro World, 3 July 1920; Hubert Harrison, When Africa Awakes; Arnold Rampersad, The Life of Langston Hughes: I, Too, Sing America, Vol.1, 1902–1941; J. Saunders Redding, On Being Negro in America
1 Cincinnati Union, 24 May 1924. Wendell Dabney was both the editor and publisher of the Cincinnati Union. See also Garvey Papers, V, p. 598.
2 McKay, ‘The Mulatto’, from Complete Poems.
3 Redding, p. 39.
4 Harrison, ‘A Tender Point’, Negro World, 3 July 1920. Harrison eventually fell out with Garvey, and Garvey’s name is deleted from the reprint of the article in Harrison, When Africa Awakes, pp. 63–66.
5 Zora Neale Hurston, ‘How It Feels to Be Colored’, published in the anthology Bearing Witness: Selections From African American Autobiography in the Twentieth Century, edited by Henry Louis Gates.
6 Jacques, Garvey and Garveyism, p. 39.
7 Livingstone, p. 7.
8 Jacques, Garvey and Garveyism, p. 197.
9 Walter White’s anecdote was quoted by Claude McKay, A Long Way From Home, p. 111.
10 Bruce, Washington’s Colored Society, cited in Crowder, p. 38.
11 The ‘upper tens’ Negroes referred to Du Bois’s unashamed promotion of the talented tenth – the elite 10 per cent of the black population that he postulated would bring about changes to civil rights for the benefit of all black people.
12 Crisis, December 1929, January 1921. Du Bois devoted two articles to his early assessment of Garvey.
13 Bishop Charles Spencer Smith had equated Du Bois’s approach with that of Garvey’s, prompting the editor of Crisis to write a corrective to the New York Age on 20 June 1921. He followed that up with a letter to the Secretary of State on 23 June. In all, 113 delegates took part in the second Pan-African Congress from 29 August to 6 September 1921.
14 Du Bois, ‘Dusk of Dawn’, Selected Writings, p. 757.
15 Garvey Papers, IV, pp. 141–151. Garvey devoted an edition of the Negro World to the deconstruction of Harding’s speech.
16 Crisis, November 1920.
17 Arnold, quoted in Johnson, p. 194.
18 Jacques, Philosophy and Opinions, p. 17.
19 Ibid, p. 37.
20 FBI informants alleged that witnesses had seen Jacques and Garvey spend time together in a private compartment on a Pullman sleeper. Jacques was named as a co-respondent by Amy Ashwood in her alimony claim against Garvey. ‘Did not marry for love …’, author interview with Robert Hill, November 2006.
21 Amy Jacques maintained that Pickens visited them on at least two occasions at their apartment in Harlem and negotiated a firm job offer. Pickens continued to write positively about Garvey in 1921 though rejecting an honorary title that Garvey wanted to bestow upon him.
22 Garvey Papers, III, pp. 508–511. Governor Hutson promised not to publish the account of their meeting but he did send a report of it together with reports of Garvey’s mass meetings in Belize to the Colonial Secretary, Winston Churchill.
23 According to Robert Hill, the Catechism owed much to the writing of the unusual self-trained scholar and journalist Joel Augustus Rogers. Rogers was a Jamaican friend of Garvey’s who wrote occasionally for the Negro World. He is best known for his non-fiction work: From Superman to Man (1917) and two volumes of profiles of extraordinary black figures from history, World’s Great Men of Colour (1924). ‘Bible that doesn’t suit us’, speech by Garvey at Guabito, Cuba, on 21 April 1921, reported in Negro World, 18 June 1921.
24 Garvey Papers, III, p. 398, report from Detective Sergeant J. H. Irving in Jamaica.
25 Rose Pastor Stokes was a founding member of the American Communist Party. Her wealth came from her marriage to the millionaire J. Phelps Stokes. She was initially sentenced to ten years in jail for sedition. She appealed and after two years the sentence was overturned. She had also been arrested during the Palmer raids on 1 January 1920.
26 McKay, in the Liberator, April 1922. Also cited in Lewis, p. 64.
27 Cyril V. Briggs to Marcus Garvey, 15 August 1921, Garvey Papers, III, pp. 667–668.
28 Quoted in Du Bois, Selected Writing, p. 989 from Crisis, September 1922.
29 Garvey Papers, III, p. 691; Lewis, p. 72.
30 Garvey Papers, IV, pp. 74–76.
31 Richard Moore, ‘The Critics and Opponents of Marcus Garvey’, extracted in Clarke, p. 223.
32 Garvey Papers, IV, p. 302.
33 ‘… a little bit of cotton’, Garvey Papers, III, p. 544. J. E. Spingarn, a member of the NAACP, launched the award in 1914.
34 Garvey Papers, III, p. 148.
35 Ashwood, Portrait, 2a.
36 Johnson, p. 498.
37 ‘ … plaintive wailings’, Garvey Papers, III, p. 481. ‘ … towards Africa and its future’, Garvey Papers, III, p. 607.
38 The first UNIA Court Reception was reported in microscopic detail by the Negro World on 3 September 1921. See Garvey Papers, III, pp. 698–707.
39 Hughes, ‘The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain’, published in The Nation, 1926.
14. Behold the Demagogue or Misunderstood Messiah
INTERVIEWS AND CORRESPONDENCE: Robert Hill, Judith Stein. SOURCES: NAACP files (Library of Congress). PUBLICATIONS: The Bible, King James Version, Regency Publishing House, Nashville/New York; W. E. B. Du Bois, Selected Writings; Crisis, April 1922; Daily Gleaner, 11 July 1922; Thomas Dixon, Clansman; Robert Hill (ed.), The Crusader; Robert Hill, Garvey Papers; Amy Jacques, Garvey and Garveyism; Colonel Hubert Fauntleroy Julian, Black Eagle (Anchor Press, 1965); David Levering Lewis: When Harlem Was in Vogue; Rene Maran, Batouala: A True Black Novel; Tony Martin, Race First; Messenger, July 1922; Negro World, 21 January 1922; Negro World, 10 May 1924; New Yorker, 11 July 1931; John Peter Nugent, The Black Eagle (Bantam Books, 1971); New York Times, 7 August 1922; New York World September 1921; Jeffrey Perry, Hubert Harriso
n Reader
1 Birth of a Nation was based on the novels The Clansman (1905) and The Leopard’s Spots (1902) by Thomas Dixon. The Klan was formed in Tennessee in 1866 in the aftermath of the Civil War; after that group fell into decline, a more organised Knights of the Ku Klux Klan came to prominence in Atlanta in 1915.
2 Du Bois, ‘Dusk of Dawn’, Selected Writings, p. 602.
3 Garvey Papers, IV, p. 916.
4 Garvey Papers, IV, p. 13.
5 ‘Because it welcomes …’, Crusader, vol., IV, December 1921. Garvey Papers, IV, p. 73 (on Crichlow’s report) and p. 301 (on Rush Memorial Church meeting).
6 Garvey Papers, IV, p. 307.
7 ‘Risked his future …’, Garvey Papers, I V, p. 317. Jacques, p. 44.
8 Garvey Papers, IV, pp. 342–352.
9 Negro World, 21 January 1922.
10 Crisis, April 1922.
11 Garvey Papers, IV, p. 348.
12 ‘Time will tell …’, Perry, p. 194. ‘Appropriated every feature …’, Perry, introduction, p. 6 and p. 197.
13 Garvey Papers, IV, pp. 474–477.
14 ‘Believing oneself to be a great man’, Garvey Papers, IV, p. 621, also cited in Crisis, September 1922. In the Crisis article the Black Star Line had been lauded as a brilliant suggestion and Garvey’s only contribution to solving the race problem. Ultimately, the article was a careful deconstruction of Garvey’s failings as a businessman.
15 Jacques, p. 137.
16 Garvey Papers, IV, p. 373.
17 Ibid, p. 590.
18 Ibid, p. 650.
19 Ibid.
20 Ibid, p. 660.
21 Ibid, p. 180.
22 Ibid, p. 610.
23 Egypt gained independence on 22 February 1922. Batouala: A True Black Novel was based on René Maran’s experience working for the Colonial Service in French Equatorial Africa. Batouala won France’s most prestigious literary honour, the Prix Goncourt, in 1921. Maran was the first black man to do so.
24 Garvey Papers, IV, pp. 625–626.
25 Garvey Papers, IV, p. 679. Edward Young Clarke was the Imperial Kleagle (chief organiser) of the KKK and was responsible for recruitment into the organisation. He was also a proprietor of the Southern Publicity Association which proved a useful tool in advertising the Klan.
26 Daily Gleaner, 11 July 1922. The quote about KKK buying stocks in the Black Star Line was attributed to Garvey’s secretary, Charles McElderry.
27 Garvey Papers, IV, pp. 747–749.
28 New York World, September 1921.
29 Walter White to Leavis R. Gravis, 28 August 1924, Library of Congress – NAACP files.
30 Messenger, July 1922.
31 Ibid.
32 New York Times, 7 August 1922.
33 A paraphrase of ‘Joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance’, Luke 15:7.
34 Garvey Papers, IV, pp. 844–845.
35 ‘The bite, bitterness …’, New York World, Seligman, Garvey Papers, IV, pp. 243 and New York World magazine, 4 December 1921. ‘Kernel of truth …’, Crisis, April 1922.
36 Negro World, 10 May 1924. Also cited in Martin, Race First, pp. 303–304.
37 Garvey Papers, IV, p. 841.
38 ‘Colonel’ Julian’s claim of being the first black pilot in the western hemisphere was disputed. He may have been the first black male pilot but the first black pilot was ‘Brave’ Bessie Coleman who returned to the USA in 1921 having obtained her pilot’s licence in Paris. Her dream of founding a black aviation school ended when she fell to her death from her plane during an aviation exhibition. Quoted in Garvey Papers, IV, p. 948.
39 Julian, pp. 58–65. See also Lewis, pp. 111–112 and Nugent, pp. 26–35 and the New Yorker, ‘The Black Eagle’, 11 July 1931.
40 Garvey Papers, IV, p. 1040.
41 Ibid, p. 1041.
42 Ibid, p. 946.
43 Ibid, p. 985.
44 Ibid, p. 1047.
15. Caging the Tiger
INTERVIEWS AND CORRESPONDENCE: Ralph Crowder. SOURCES: Oral History of the American Left, Tamiment Library, NYU, for the public radio programme Grandma Was an Activist. PUBLICATIONS: Jervis Anderson, A. Philip Randolph: A Biographical Portrait; Baltimore Afro-American, 29 September 1922; Chicago Whip, 21 October 1922; John H. Clarke, Marcus Garvey and the Vision of Africa; Crisis, September 1922 and February 1928; Ralph Crowder, John E. Bruce; Daily Negro Times, 20 June 1923; Robert Hill, Garvey Papers; New York Journal, 18 January 1922; Robert Hill and Barbara Bair (eds.), Life and Lessons; Amy Jacques, Garvey and Garveyism, Philosophy and Opinions; James Weldon Johnson, Black Manhattan; Messenger, October 1922 and March 1923; New York Age, 27 January 1923; New Orleans Times-Picayune, 2 January 1923; New York Times, 6 September 1922 and 4 February 1925; Jeffrey B. Perry, A Hubert Harrison Reader; Samuel Redding, On Being a Negro in America; Emma Lou Thornborough, ‘T. Thomas Fortune: Militant Editor in the Age of Accommodation’, in John Hope Franklin and August Meier (eds.), Black Leaders of the Twentieth Century
1 Messenger, October 1922. New York Times, 6 September 1922.
2 New York Age, 9 September 1922. See also Anderson, pp. 129–137.
3 ‘Inculcated into the minds of Negroes …’, Messenger, September 1921. ‘Against the emotional power …’, Anderson, p. 137.
4 Garvey Papers, V, pp. 6–9.
5 Garvey Papers, IV, p. 869.
6 Ibid, pp. 939–940.
7 Johnson, pp. 186–189.
8 Thornborough, in Franklin and Meier, pp. 19–37. ‘An old friend of Bruce Grit’, see Crowder, pp. 59–60.
9 Garvey Papers, V, p. 128. Chicago Defender, report from 29 October 1922.
10 Negro World, 17 March 1923.
11 Messenger, March 1923.
12 Domingo resigned from the editorial board of the Messenger. In his letter of resignation he first praised the Messenger which had ‘prided itself upon its internationalism’, but in its attack on West Indians the journal had ‘fallen from its former high estate’. Cited by Anderson, p. 134.
13 Garvey Papers, V, pp. 10, 30, 50.
14 Oral History of the American Left, Tamiment Library, NYU.
15 Garvey Papers, IV, pp. 690–699, Marcus Garvey speech, Liberty Hall, 4 July, 1922.
16 Jacques, Garvey and Garveyism, p. 266.
17 Garvey Papers, V, p. 46.
18 Ibid, p. 245.
19 Chicago Whip, 21 October 1922, cited in Garvey Papers V, p. 57.
20 Baltimore Afro-American, 29 September 1922.
21 New York Age, 27 January 1923. See also Garvey Papers V, p. 188.
22 Garvey Papers, V, pp. 133, 142, 153.
23 New Orleans Times-Picayune, 2 January 1923 on the fatal shooting of Eason.
24 Garvey Papers, V, p. 201, Anderson to Poston, 31 January 1923.
25 Garvey Papers, V, p. 169.
26 Ibid, p. 172.
27 Ibid, p. 298.
28 DNA, RG 60, file 198940–282, printed in Garvey Papers, V, pp. 182–187.
29 Garvey Papers, V, p. 221.
30 Jacques, Philosophy and Opinions, p. 294.
31 Garvey Papers, V, p. 213.
32 Crisis, September 1922.
33 Garvey Papers, V, p. 232.
34 Hill and Bair, p. 83.
35 Garvey Papers, V, p. 284.
36 Garvey Papers, VI, p. 64.
37 Ibid, p. 317.
38 Jacques, Garvey and Garveyism, p. 114.
39 Garvey Papers, VI, p. 175.
40 Jacques, Philosophy and Opinions, p. 155.
41 Garvey Papers, VI, p. 366.
42 Garvey Papers, V, p. 339.
43 Daily Negro Times, 20 June 1923. See also Jacques, Philosophy and Opinions and Garvey Papers, VI, p. 366.
44 Prior to his trial, Garvey had spoken approvingly of Jewish people. He believed that in its quest for an African homeland, his movement had much in common with Jewish Zionism. Garvey also benefited from Jewish patronage, especially in Jamaica (fro
m Abraham Judah and Lewis Ashenheim). In at least one speech, at Liberty Hall, in February 1921, Garvey did repeat some aspects of the conspiracy theory of international Jewish dominance, espoused by Henry Ford. However, the overall tone and gist of Garvey’s speech ‘The Rise of the Jews’ is one of admiration of Jewish achievement. In this respect, he notes that black people do not compare favourably with Jewish people. Jewish achievement is put forward as a worthy benchmark.
45 Garvey Papers, VI, p. 387. See also Financial World, 30 June 1923.
46 Perry, p. 195.
47 Crisis, February 1928.
48 New York Times, 4 February 1925. Also printed in Garvey Papers, VI, p. 87.
49 Redding, pp. 35–36.
50 New York Journal, 18 January 1922.
51 Jacques, Philosophy and Opinions, p. 248.
52 New York Times, 30 June 1929.
53 Garvey Papers, V, p. 12.
54 Garvey Papers, IV, p. 638.
55 Clark, p. 142.
56 Hill and Bair, p. 93.
57 Jacques, Garvey and Garveyism, p. 124.
58 Garvey Papers, V, p. 464.
59 Ibid.
60 Ibid, p. 481.
61 Jacques, Philosophy and Opinions, p. 71.
62 Garvey Papers, V, p. 267.
63 Ibid, p. 461.
64 Redding, pp. 40–41.
65 Jacques, Garvey and Garveyism, p. 136.
66 Crisis, May 1924, pp. 8–9.
67 Garvey Papers, X, p. 148.
68 Ibid, p. 152.
69 Ibid, p. 156.
70 Ibid, p. 158.
71 Garvey Papers, X, p. 558.
72 Ibid, p. 249.
73 Garvey Papers, II, p. 292.
74 Garvey Papers, VI, p. 690.
16. Into the Furnace
PUBLICATIONS: Baltimore Afro-American, 13 August 1927; John H. Clarke, Marcus Garvey and the Vision of Africa; Daily Gleaner, 19 December 1926; Eugene Debs, Walls & Bars: Prisons and Prison Life in the ‘Land of the Free’; Robert Hill, Garvey Papers; Robert Hill and Barbara Bair (eds.), Life and Lessons; Amy Jacques, Garvey and Garveyism; New Republic, 31 August 1927; New York Amsterdam News, March 1927; New York Times, 3 December 1927; Mary White Ovington, Portraits in Color
1 Garvey Papers, V, pp. 603, 625.
2 Jacques, pp. 136–137.
3 Ibid, p. 163.
4 Debs, pp. 76–77.