During the Civil Rights–Black Power era, Gordon, Ashwood, Jacques Garvey, and De Mena continued to fight for the rights and dignity of black people in the diaspora—until they could physically fight no longer. In their absence, a diverse group of civil rights and Black Power activists and intellectuals emerged to lead the battle for universal black liberation, articulating visions of freedom that built upon yet also departed from earlier expressions of black nationalist and internationalist thought. Black nationalist ideas, made popular by earlier groups such as the UNIA and the PME, outlived and outgrew these organizations and their leaders—even despite the assault on black radical political activity during the early Cold War. Black nationalism not only survived but also thrived during the postwar era—taking on new shapes and expressions in a range of black political organizations in the United States and across the globe.
Rebuilding the PME After World War II
The end of World War II in 1945 ushered in a period of significant change in the United States and across the globe. Many African Americans in the military who traveled abroad during the war returned to the United States radicalized. Yet these men and women would find the same challenges in the United States they left behind during the war. Across the country, black men and women continued to face pervasive acts of racial violence and discrimination, a reality that underscored the hypocrisy of U.S. leaders who fought to dismantle fascism abroad while maintaining white supremacy at home. With a profound sense of urgency, many of these individuals became involved in race organizations of the period. With the surge of black political activity, they found a wealth of political groups from which to choose. Indeed, the postwar era in the United States witnessed the proliferation of black political groups. In addition to older groups like the NAACP and the National Urban League (NUL), activists during the postwar era found crucial spaces in which to agitate for black political rights in reformist groups such as the National Negro Labor Congress, the Civil Rights Congress, and the Council on African Affairs.6
After her release from prison in August 1945, Mittie Maude Lena Gordon attempted to rebuild the networks she had established through the PME prior to World War II. This was no easy task. Black activists across the country, including some who had previously supported the black nationalist woman leader, grew distant from Gordon. In one instance, Benjamin Jones, a Garveyite residing in Harlem, expressed concerns about working with Gordon because of her prior troubles with the FBI. In a detailed letter to Jones, white separatist Earnest Sevier Cox, who remained unwavering in his support of Gordon, immediately came to her defense: “In relation to the great petition prepared by the [PME] and used in support of the Greater Liberia Bill, Mrs. Gordon was imprisoned, charged with seditious utterance. The petition itself cannot be tainted by her imprisonment for it explicitly states its purpose and a vast number who signed it did not even know Mrs. Gordon.”7 His comments reflected his relationship with Gordon, which by this time had evolved from that of a political alliance to a friendship. By the mid-1940s, the white supremacist and the black nationalist were in contact on a weekly basis and even exchanged Christmas cards and presents. Interestingly enough, Gordon would often send Cox words of encouragement written on Afrocentric cards.8 These gestures shed light on the complex relationship between two vastly different individuals who were united by similar political interests. During Gordon’s imprisonment, Cox wrote often to the black nationalist woman leader and also remained in close contact with her spouse, William. Cox’s letters revealed what appeared to be his genuine concern for her physical health and well-being.9It is not surprising, then, that he took Jones’s critiques to heart and attempted to lessen the blow to Gordon’s reputation, emphasizing her tireless efforts to advance black emigration.
In reality, Jones’s misgivings about Gordon had little to do with his worries about her imprisonment; instead, they represented longstanding tensions between the PME and the UNIA and struggles over power and control. Still, Jones’s comments also underscore how Gordon’s arrest and imprisonment undermined her political work. It was no coincidence that many of her letters to activists across the globe went unanswered during the postwar era. Certainly, some potential allies were unwilling to collaborate with an activist who had been arrested for “seditious activities.” Moreover, by the time Gordon returned home from prison in 1945, many of the PME’s chapters had completely dissolved while others were struggling to stay afloat.
Though the exact membership figures of the PME during this period are uncertain, the organization was a far cry from what it was before the war. By 1946, many of the organization’s key organizers and recruiters, including activists like Celia Jane Allen and Thomas Bernard, who played key roles in building and leading PME chapters in the U.S. South, were no longer active in the movement—partly as a result of the FBI’s crackdown.10 The vast majority of the PME’s political organizing during the postwar period took place in the U.S. Midwest with Gordon facilitating the activities with the assistance of a few other women leaders. The members of the organization continued to meet weekly to strategize about how to advance black emigration to West Africa. Morale was low because many of the members were frustrated with their inability to secure federal funding or pass legislation. “We are becoming disgusted over this matter, after so many years of hard work and suffering for this cause,” Gordon complained in 1949.11
During the mid to late 1940s, a younger generation of black nationalists emerged as leaders in the PME—endorsing black emigration, racial pride, political self-determination, and economic self-sufficiency. Many of these individuals were black working-class women who had joined the movement during the 1930s and early 1940s. Rosie Lee Gearring, a black nationalist from Indiana, was among them. Born Rosie Lee Williams in Arkansas on April 19, 1922, Gearring resided in East Chicago, Indiana, where she became an active member of the PME, most likely as a result of her grandfather, Jacob Hart, who served as a member of the PME’s board of directors.12 Petite and dark-skinned with short black hair, Gearring was a quiet woman who was described by her associates as a passionate activist. Her former classmates at Washington High School in East Chicago, where Gearring was enrolled from 1932 to 1940, remembered her as a “crusader type of person” who was especially interested in black nationalist politics.13 Rejecting the classification “Negroes,” Gearring maintained the belief that black people ought to be described as people of “African descent,” thereby emphasizing connections to the continent and ties to black men and women throughout the diaspora.14 In 1939, Gearring had joined hundreds of PME activists who journeyed to Washington, D.C. to witness the late Mississippi Senator Theodore Bilbo’s presentation of the Greater Liberia Bill.
For the young activist, the PME offered a space to engage in black nationalist politics while also providing a sense of community. On July 28, 1940, Gearring—then Rosie Lee Williams—married classmate John W. Gearring at the PME’s central meeting place in East Chicago.15 Surrounded by friends and loved ones in the PME, including her grandfather, Gearring exchanged vows on the site where she and others engaged in much of their political work. In the months following her nuptials and even after the birth of her daughter, Jeanette Olivia, in December 1940, Gearring remained actively involved in the PME from her base in East Chicago, Indiana. On Sunday evenings, she joined hundreds of black men and women, sometimes including PME members from Chicago, who gathered at a community hall along the Indiana harbor to strategize and discuss future plans for the movement.16 During the years after World War II, Gearring worked to rebuild a record of the group’s supporters, including those who had lost contact with the organization’s headquarters in Chicago.17
Despite the significant age difference between the two women, Gordon and Gearring maintained a close relationship on the basis of their mutual interest in black nationalism. “I am young in years,” the twenty-one-year-old Gearring told one political ally in 1944, “but I have the same spirit our leader [Mittie Maude Lena Gordon] has—a nationalist one.”18 B
y Gearring’s own account, Gordon mentored her closely, teaching her the ins and outs of the movement and connecting her with some of the organization’s contacts across the country.19 In 1944, Gordon appointed Gearring as first assistant president general of the PME, a formal title that recognized her collaborative work with Gordon.20 On the surface, this small gesture demonstrated Gordon’s investment in nurturing and mentoring younger black women.
However, Gordon’s actions also reveal how the black nationalist leader fought to maintain full authority of the organization she founded even as she recognized the leadership potential of others. During the period in which Gearring served as first assistant president general, Gordon endured significant health problems, including arthritis and an ailing heart.21 Rather than identifying a new president general for the organization, Gordon chose to hold on to the position until she could physically serve no longer. Her actions may have been guided by selfish ambitions or an inability to fully trust others—perhaps as a result of her earlier experiences with individuals like Ethel Waddell, her former secretary turned archrival. Regardless, these shortcomings eventually caused Gearring to drift away from the PME. “It has been so difficult for me,” Gearring admitted in a letter to a political ally. “Being young in years has its disadvantages,” she explained, “because the older ones are inclined to believe that they aren’t competent because of their youth.”22
Gearring’s difficulties in the PME during the 1940s shed light on some of the internal challenges in the organization. However, they were not representative of all black women’s experiences in the PME. Alberta Spain, an activist from Chicago who had joined the movement during the early 1930s, maintained a close relationship with Gordon and continued to work on the organization’s behalf during the postwar era. Moving up the ranks—first as a secretary and then as a member of the organization’s executive council—Spain became increasingly involved in PME activities.23 In February 1948, when Gordon’s husband, William, passed away following a brief illness, Spain not only took on a greater role in the organization but also was responsible for planning William’s memorial service, perhaps because Gordon was too overcome with grief to do so.24 The very fact that she was able to facilitate the memorial service suggests that Spain was especially close to Gordon. Spain would later describe Gordon as a close confidant and mentor who taught her how to run the affairs of the organization and introduced her to several of the PME’s political contacts.25 Gordon’s relationship with Spain highlights some of the positive intergenerational exchanges between veteran black nationalist women and a younger generation of activists during the Civil Rights–Black Power era.26
The Persistence of Liberian Dreams
During the postwar era, veteran black nationalists advocated black emigration to Liberia—a political strategy that had largely fallen out of favor with a younger generation of black nationalist activists and intellectuals. Instead, younger black nationalists advocated African liberation and supported black separatism (to varying degrees), while black emigration to Liberia was not a pressing concern for them. Yet veteran activists held fast to the belief that black emigration—and relocation to Liberia, in particular—remained a viable option. Despite Liberia’s economic challenges, veteran black nationalists continued to view relocating to Liberia as a unique opportunity to advance African liberation and Pan-Africanism.27 Reminiscent of earlier black nationalists, including African American minister Alexander Crummell and educator Edward Wilmont Blyden of St. Thomas, these men and women envisioned Liberia—one of only two independent African states at the time—as the ideal location for uniting people of African descent in the diaspora.28
Activists in the PME continued to endorse this point of view, emphasizing the significance of black emigration as an avenue for political self-determination and economic empowerment. During the mid to late 1940s, Gordon, Spain, and other PME activists refocused their efforts on black emigration to Liberia, strategically steering clear of any other political issue. “We will not be decoyed away from our repatriation plan; for Africa for the Africans,” Gordon insisted. “Our cause is [now] a one-point program; we are not interested in anything else,” she claimed.29 Although an attempt to revive the Greater Liberia Bill was unlikely—Theodore Bilbo, its controversial author, had passed away in 1947—Gordon and her supporters in the PME were hopeful that they could secure federal funds for relocation to some part of Africa. During the late 1940s, as civil rights leaders in the NAACP turned to the United Nations (UN) to agitate for human rights, Gordon toyed with the idea of going to the UN to obtain support for her emigration plans.30 However, she ultimately decided to focus her energies on securing a new pro-emigration U.S. congressional bill. In 1948, she wrote a letter to President Harry Truman asking for his support, but the administration dismissed it.31 In October 1948, Gordon visited Cox in Richmond, Virginia, to strategize plans for securing a new sponsor to introduce a pro-emigration bill to Congress—one that would closely mirror the Greater Liberia Bill. She also traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with Liberian officials who were visiting the United States in hopes of convincing them to support her new emigration campaign.32
Gordon received hopeful news when Cox informed her about a new emigration bill, introduced by Republican Senator William Langer from North Dakota.33 Unbeknown to Gordon, while she was busy seeking a sponsor for a new emigration bill, members of the Universal African Nationalist Movement (UANM), a black nationalist organization led by Benjamin Gibbons, managed to secure a sponsor for a bill to provide federal support for black men and women desiring to relocate to West Africa. Established by Gibbons during the mid-1940s, the Harlem-based UANM was an outgrowth of Garvey’s UNIA.34 Prior to establishing the UANM, Gibbons had been active in the UNIA and, during the early 1940s, served as president of the Harlem-based Garvey Club.35 In 1947, Gibbons traveled to Liberia, where he stayed for several months in order to build political networks and become better acquainted with the region. Upon his return to the United States, Gibbons expanded his efforts to secure federal legislation for black emigration. In a letter to the Philadelphia Tribune, he assured readers that members of the Liberian government fully supported his plans. According to Gibbons, “The government and people of Liberia welcome such a plan of industriously minded people of U.S. African stock who wish to come over to help advance the country.”36
In 1949, Gibbons received support from Senator Langer, who made plans to introduce an amended version of the Greater Liberia Bill to the U.S. Senate.37 This new bill was much more modest than Bilbo’s earlier proposal. Langer’s amended bill called for negotiations between the U.S. president and Liberian officials, thereby allowing for greater flexibility on the terms. Langer’s version of the Greater Liberia Bill also called for the creation of a commission to oversee the process of black emigration—requesting individuals to apply for the opportunity to relocate and deciding what kind of support they would receive once in Liberia. In Langer’s proposal, black emigrants would be granted loans—up to one hundred thousand dollars based on the commission’s discretion—from the U.S. government.38
Much like the earlier Greater Liberia Bill, Langer’s new bill received a chilly reception. U.S. senators not only doubted the feasibility of the bill but also worried it would taint the United States’ public image. Texas Senator Tom Connally, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, refused to support the bill, arguing that it would be an act of injustice to encourage black emigration to Liberia—especially in light of Liberia’s economic instability. Not surprisingly, many civil rights leaders, including members of the NAACP, publicly denounced the bill, arguing that African Americans were citizens of the United States and should not be relocated elsewhere. Writing to black nationalist leader Benjamin Jones in 1949, Madison S. Jones Jr. of the NAACP expressed his disapproval of the emigration bill along these lines and made it clear that the NAACP would not support it in any way. Liberian officials also rejected the proposal on the basis that they had not been fully
consulted before Langer drafted the bill. They also pointed out that Liberia could not accommodate the large-scale migration that Langer envisioned. Moreover, Langer struggled to obtain white support for the bill—his letters to several prominent white politicians asking for their support went unanswered.39
Black nationalists, however, were undeterred. After learning about Langer’s new emigration bill, Gordon reached out directly to the senator to offer her support.40 With Cox’s prodding, she attempted to forge an alliance with the UANM, though she did not hide her belief that Gibbons and his supporters had slighted her by intentionally leaving her out of planning meetings. As she explained in a 1949 letter to Cox, “It is not fair to shut the door in my face after I have given my life to help the white race as well as my own—without one penny salary.” “If I committed a crime so did Jesus Christ. He only asked for the freedom of his people and so did I,” she added.41 Notwithstanding the hyperbolic overtones, Gordon’s comments capture the depth of pain and disappointment she felt as she tried unsuccessfully to gain recognition for a movement she once led. “No one in this country in our race . . . [has] worked as hard for the [culmination] of this cause as we have,” Gordon argued.42 While Gordon despised Gibbons and his supporters for failing to include the PME in their planning, she remained hopeful that the Langer Bill might finally make it possible for her to relocate to Liberia. In reality, the Langer Bill would meet the same fate as Bilbo’s earlier proposal. It never passed.
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