Significantly, Collins’s positions in the Garvey Club and in the UNIA brought her into contact with other black nationalist women in Harlem at the time, including Amy Jacques Garvey, who later became Garvey’s second wife. Born to an educated middle-class family in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1895, Jacques Garvey relocated to the United States in 1917. As new black residents from the South joined a growing community of Afro-descended people in the city, Harlem witnessed a flowering of black intellectual and literary expression through various mediums, including poetry, literature, and music. The Harlem Renaissance, which began around 1918, also marked the emergence of the “New Negro,” the antithesis of the submissive, passive, and accommodating “Old Negro.”54 Arriving in Harlem during this period, Jacques Garvey joined the community of “New Negro” migrants.55 Although she would later deny it, Jacques Garvey was a close friend of Garvey’s first wife, Amy Ashwood, who may have also played a significant role in Jacques Garvey’s decision to join the UNIA. When Marcus Garvey and Amy Ashwood were married at Harlem’s Liberty Hall in 1919, Jacques Garvey participated in the ceremony as Ashwood’s maid of honor—a clear indication that the two women had formed a close bond of friendship and mutual affection.56
Like Collins, Jacques Garvey became increasingly active in UNIA affairs shortly after joining the organization. Unlike Ashwood, who maintained a very public presence, however, Jacques Garvey worked mostly behind the scenes. During her early years in the UNIA, Jacques Garvey served as the secretary in the UNIA’s main office and helped Garvey plan his speaking tours. In 1922, months after Garvey’s divorce from Amy Ashwood was finalized, Jacques Garvey became Garvey’s new wife—a position she skillfully used to leverage her involvement and leadership in the organization. In only a matter of months, she became the most prominent woman in the organization, serving in a wide range of capacities, including spokesperson and archivist. In 1923, Jacques Garvey published the first edition of the Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey, a collection of Garvey’s speeches and essays. “It is my sincere hope and desire,” she explained in the book’s introduction, “that this small volume will help to disseminate among the members of my race everywhere the true knowledge of their past history . . . and the glorious future of national independence in a free and redeemed Africa, achieved through organized purpose and organized action.”57 Embracing the core tenets of black nationalism, including black political self-determination, racial pride, and African redemption, Jacques Garvey played a crucial role in popularizing and preserving Garvey’s ideas. When her husband was imprisoned in 1925 on charges of mail fraud, Jacques Garvey served as the de facto leader of the UNIA, overseeing much of the organization’s day-to-day activities.58 From 1924 to 1927, Jacques Garvey edited the women’s page of the Negro World, “Our Women and What They Think,” providing a significant platform for UNIA women to articulate their views without direct male censorship.59
While Jacques Garvey’s leadership and influence was second to none, other women in the organization maintained critical positions in the UNIA, bringing a wide range of talents and skills “to the table.” This was the case for Henrietta Vinton Davis, who became the organization’s first female president and later maintained a number of prominent leadership positions in the organization. Born in 1860 in Baltimore, Maryland, Davis was the daughter of Mary Ann (Johnson) Davis and Mansfield Vinton Davis, a “distinguished musician.”60 During her early years, she attended the Boston School of Oratory, where she sharpened the oratorical skills that later proved beneficial to her involvement in the Garvey movement. In 1878, Davis became the first African American woman to be employed by the Office of the Recorder of the Deeds located in Washington, D.C.61 A close associate of influential black leaders such as noted abolitionist Frederick Douglass, Davis was one of the most talented and prolific black actresses of the period and received widespread acclaim in several national newspapers.62
Unlike Jacques Garvey and Collins, who joined the Garvey movement in their twenties, Davis made the decision to join the UNIA much later in life. In 1916, at the age of fifty-six, the acclaimed elocutionist abandoned her acting career to become what one scholar describes as “a missionary in the cause of African redemption.”63 Although her involvement in the Garvey movement certainly enhanced her visibility and propelled her political career, Davis had already demonstrated engagement with political matters since the 1890s—in one instance, she wrote to Populist Party candidate Ignatius Donnelly to express an interest in supporting his 1892 campaign in order to better “serve [her] race and humanity.” Especially drawn to Garvey’s teachings on race pride and self-reliance, Davis became an active member of the UNIA in 1916, quickly moving up the ranks. Within three years, she became the UNIA’s international organizer and concurrently maintained positions as vice president of the UNIA’s shipping corporation and one of the directors of the Black Star Line. In the years that followed, Davis, who remained unmarried and without children, held a number of highly visible leadership positions in the UNIA, including secretary general and delegate to Liberia in 1924.64
Davis’s unwavering commitment to mentoring others helped younger women advance in the Garvey movement. During the mid-1920s, Davis advised Maymie Leona Turpeau De Mena, who became another leading figure of the UNIA.65 Born Leonie Turpeau in St. Martinville, Louisiana, on December 10, 1879, De Mena was one of eight children in a working-class household.66 De Mena’s father, Michel Turpeau, was a farmer who operated a lumberyard for a short period of time.67 Isabella Turpeau, De Mena’s mother, worked from home—raising her eight children with her husband’s assistance until the two separated in 1881.68 De Mena’s brother, David Dewitt Turpeau Sr., later described the limited educational opportunities that were afforded to the Turpeau children: “To begin with we had no school to go to, if there were any disposition to give us any schooling. Not until my parents were separated and my mother moved to town was there any school opportunities given to us, and then it was most meager.”69 Though much of her early life is shrouded in mystery, census records reveal that De Mena relocated to Nicaragua during the early twentieth century but traveled frequently to the United States. In 1912, De Mena boarded the Dictator ship in Bluefields, Nicaragua, headed for New Orleans, Louisiana. By that time, she was a Nicaraguan citizen—a status she had acquired through her marriage to Francis H. Mena, a Creole planter and journalist from Bluefields.70
The circumstances surrounding De Mena’s marriage to Francis H. Mena are unclear. What is certain, however, is that she became involved in the Garvey movement while residing in Nicaragua. By the early 1920s, approximately one-third of all UNIA chapters were located in Central America alone—including twenty-three in Costa Rica, eight in Honduras, and five in Nicaragua.71 With these chapters in Central America, combined with the growing popularity of the Negro World newspaper, De Mena must have been exposed to Garvey’s teachings long before meeting the charismatic black nationalist leader. When her marriage to Francis ended sometime around 1922, De Mena returned to the United States with her young daughter, Berniza, where she became increasingly active in the Garvey movement. Within a matter of years, she became one of the key women leaders, playing an instrumental role in promoting Garvey’s teachings throughout the African diaspora and, on numerous occasions, serving as a translator and organizer during UNIA promotional tours with Henrietta Vinton Davis.72 A gifted orator, De Mena traveled extensively with Amy Jacques Garvey in 1925, visiting UNIA divisions across the United States, galvanizing black men and women and garnering organizational support in the wake of Garvey’s arrest and subsequent imprisonment.73 In Virginia, for example, De Mena promoted Garveyism during the mid-1920s and oversaw the election of officers at the local UNIA division.74
In Sierra Leone, as in the United States, the UNIA similarly provided a vehicle through which black women could engage in black nationalist and Pan-Africanist politics during the early twentieth century. The experiences of Adelaide Casely Hayford (née Smith) underscore the significant role
the UNIA played in propelling Sierra Leonean women into political leadership during the 1920s. Born in 1868 into an elite Creole family in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Casely Hayford came of age during the period of British colonial rule. Originally founded by British abolitionists and philanthropists in 1787, Sierra Leone became a Crown colony of Britain during the nineteenth century, further expanding British colonial presence in West Africa. Like other Sierra Leonean women born into Creole elite society, Casely Hayford’s upbringing was deeply influenced by traditional Victorian ideas of gender roles.
Casely Hayford’s travels abroad planted the seeds that fueled her growing interest in feminist and Pan-Africanist politics—as it did for scores of other black women. In 1872, she migrated to London with her family where she studied at the Ladies College on the island of Jersey before going to study music in Germany. In 1903, she met and married Pan-Africanist Joseph E. Casely Hayford, a lawyer from Ghana, with whom she bore one child. In 1905, during one of her visits to Ghana, she emphasized the important role African women could play in the country’s social and political development. Two years later, she relocated to Ghana to live with her husband but returned to Sierra Leone when the marriage ended in 1914. By several accounts, the relationship between Adelaide and Joseph Casely Hayford grew strained because of Adelaide’s strong-willed and independent personality, which frequently clashed with her husband’s own independence and strong will. Recognizing that the relationship could not be salvaged, the two mutually agreed to separate, although they were never legally divorced.75
In Freetown, where she took up residence, Casely Hayford articulated proto-feminism—using her speeches and writings to challenge male supremacy in African societies and endorse African women’s political rights. Immediately after her arrival in Sierra Leone, Casely Hayford delivered a public lecture before congregants at the Wesleyan church on “The Rights of Women and Christian Marriage,” no doubt drawing insights from her own personal experiences. In the subsequent months, Casely Hayford went on to deliver several lectures on women’s rights, often speaking at women’s forums and local churches.
Casely Hayford’s entry into the Garvey movement sometime around October 1919 coincided with her growing interest in women’s rights and education reform. With few opportunities for women to obtain a formal education in Sierra Leone during this period, Casely Hayford desired to open up a school for girls that would provide vocational training, teach African history and culture, and teach young girls how to be economically independent. Explaining her rationale years later, Casely Hayford noted that her “eyes were opened to the fact that the education meted out to [African people] had . . . taught us to despise ourselves.” “Our immediate need,” she continued, “was an education which would instill into us a love of country, a pride of race, an enthusiasm for the black man’s capabilities, and a genuine admiration for Africa’s wonderful art work.”76 These core tenets—race consciousness, black pride, African-centered education, and black self-sufficiency—were also central to the UNIA’s platform. It is not surprising, therefore, that the UNIA provided a space in which Casely Hayford could advance her political work in Sierra Leone. In 1919, Casely Hayford became president of the ladies’ division of the UNIA’s Freetown branch, which provided a critical opportunity for her to work alongside likeminded African women in the organization.
Even though Casely Hayford parted ways with the UNIA in the summer of 1920 after tensions erupted over the use of money, her involvement in the Garvey movement crystallized her political views. Through her writings and speeches, Casely Hayford advocated black nationalism, Pan-Africanism, and feminism. In one article, published in the West Africa newspaper in 1922, Casely Hayford articulated African nationalist aspirations, noting that she was “looking forward . . . to a new day, in which Africa shall be allowed to expand and develop, along her own ideas and ideals.”77 Reflecting her commitment to racial pride and African-centered education, Casely Hayford stressed the importance of “educat[ing] and enlighten[ing] the African child without taking him too far away from his native environment.”78 She also called for more employment opportunities for people of African descent and emphasized the significance of black-owned businesses and institutions to better serve the needs of black communities. A “race woman through and through,” as she described herself, Casely Hayford remained committed to racial uplift politics, public service, and leadership in black communities in Africa and in other parts of the globe.79
The Diverse Roles of Women in the UNIA
Although some women held formal leadership positions in the UNIA, this was not the case for most women, who comprised roughly half of the rank-and-file members.80 Within the patriarchal structure of the UNIA, rank-and-file women often led from the margins, working to advance the goals of the organization primarily through their involvement in the UNIA’s female auxiliaries—the Black Cross Nurses and the African Motor Corps.81 Modeled after the American Red Cross, the Black Cross Nurses auxiliary was established by Henrietta Vinton Davis in 1921 in Philadelphia to provide a range of services in black communities.82 Throughout the United States and around the world, these women not only offered medical services to black families but also provided health education.
FIGURE 2. The UNIA’s Black Cross Nurses marching in Harlem in 1922. George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images.
The strategies Black Cross Nurses employed to administer their community work and the nature of their day-to-day activities varied from locale to locale. In Richmond, Virginia, the Black Cross Nurses auxiliary taught new mothers how to care for their babies, offered information about birth control, and organized community workshops on nutrition and sanitation.83 In New Orleans, Louisiana, Black Cross Nurses often contributed to relief efforts in the community and in nearby cities. After the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, for example, members of the New Orleans division provided assistance to flood victims in the Louisiana Delta.84 In stunning white uniforms, Black Cross Nurses in the United States often paraded through city streets, deploying maternal images and symbols, singing the UNIA’s anthem, “Ethiopia, Land of Our Fathers,” and carrying the organization’s colorful flag.
Throughout Latin America and Caribbean, as in other parts of the globe, Black Cross Nurses operated in their expected roles as mothers and nurturers in black communities. They performed social welfare and organizational functions such as providing clothing for the needy, running soup kitchens, and visiting the sick.85 While men in the UNIA participated in the African Legion, the organization’s protective arm, female members of the Black Cross Nurses were involved in the “motherly” duties of meeting the physical and emotional needs of black communities—especially the most marginalized groups. In Santiago de Cuba, for example, Black Cross Nurses often cared for braceros who fell ill or were mistreated by local sugarcane companies. Facing a labor crisis during the early twentieth century, sugar companies in Cuba obtained permission from the government to import thousands of black workers, primarily from Haiti and Jamaica, to work on sugar plantations. Despite the promise of better of wages, Caribbean braceros in Cuba were ensnared into a system of exploitation that closely mirrored slavery. With few public medical services available to braceros, the UNIA’s Black Cross Nurses in Cuba filled a significant void. In many instances, these skilled nurses went into quarantined areas on sugar plantations to provide medical services for black braceros who were severely ill.86
Similarly, Black Cross Nurses in Belize initiated a series of community-based initiatives to improve the quality of health services in black communities. Their strategies, however, were vastly different, reflecting class distinctions. In Belize, Black Cross Nurses were members of the Creole middle class—descendants of African slaves and European slave owners. In the complex social structure and racial schema of this British colony, these middle-class women drew a sharp divide between themselves and working-class, colonized, and immigrant women of color. Functioning as social reformers, these women practiced “a maternalist politics o
f racial uplift,” centering their social and political activism on improving conditions in black communities yet seeking to increase rights for middle-class Creole women at the expense of working-class and impoverished women. While they attempted to assist impoverished mothers, Belizean Black Cross Nurses imposed their values on poor mothers, viewing them as morally inept. For the most part, Black Cross Nurses in Belize posed no threat to colonial authorities.87
In addition to serving as Black Cross Nurses, rank-and-file women in the UNIA, wherever they resided in the Black diaspora, often held positions as “lady presidents” of local divisions or participated in the Juvenile Divisions and the Universal African Motor Corps, the female version of the allmale paramilitary African Legion. Lady presidents of local divisions were charged with the task of overseeing the local female auxiliary.88 In the African Motor Corps, Garveyite women learned military drills and a variety of automotive skills, including driving cars, taxis, and ambulances.89 However, whether they maintained a position as a lady president of a local division, Black Cross Nurse, or member of the African Motor Corps, these women held restricted leadership positions and were always accountable to men in the organization.90
Rank-and-file women in the UNIA frequently challenged the organization’s leadership structure, desiring more autonomous leadership positions without male oversight. During an afternoon session of the 1922 UNIA convention in Harlem, a group of Garveyite women publicly resisted their subordinate positions in the organization. Although they could serve as delegates to the organization’s conventions, women encountered a number of difficulties being recognized by Garveyite men who presided over the sessions.91 Insisting that they had not received “proper recognition” during previous sessions, these women addressed the convention with a list of grievances. “We, the women of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L.,” they stated, “know that no race can rise higher than its women.” Reflecting their proto-feminist awareness, UNIA women went on to emphasize the value of women’s autonomous leadership, which they argued was critical to “refine and mold public sentiment.”92
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