Marcus Garvey: Pan-Africanism and the Rise of the New Negro Movement

"Our union must know no clime, boundary, or nationality… let us hold together under all climes and in every country." (Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr. 1887-1940).

Born in St. Ann's Bay, Jamaica, Garvey's father was a mason; his mother a farmer. Of the many siblings Garvey had, only his sister survived to adulthood. When Garvey reached 16, he had cultivated his passion for reading, having benefited from the extensive libraries his father and uncle kept. Throughout his young adulthood, Garvey kept varied jobs as a master printer and foreman for a printing house; then as a printer for a Government publication. He later commenced his own newspaper, The Watchman, but it lasted only a short time. Garvey traveled from Jamaica to Costa Rica, where he worked as a timekeeper on a banana plantation. His travels throughout the Caribbean and Latin America convinced Garvey that to unite the Africana population was the only way to advance the diaspora beyond its current socio-economic condition (1).

Galvanized by the writings of Booker T. Washington, Garvey set out for the United States in 1916, to found a school for blacks in Jamaica that was tailored along the precedent of Washington's Tuskegee Institute. When he arrived, Garvey was dismayed to learn that Washington had already passed away. However, Garvey began his school in a "dingy Harlem lodge" with a core student body of thirteen (2). Though he arrived in the states penniless and virtually unknown, in the span of one decade Garvey had rallied a following that was unprecedented by any black leader before or since. By 1916, Garvey became the founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and the African Communities League (UNIA-ACL), in which he espoused a Pan-African philosophy that advocated the involvement of the African diaspora in the politico-economic affairs of African countries, and the unity among diasporic cultures locally--and globally. This philosophy later became known as Garveyism

With Harlem as his primary base, Garvey emerged during a confluence of social and political movements that gave way to the rise of the "New Negro Movement." As Garvey was the next up-and-comer orator of his kind, he would be considered another of the great "ebony sages" that William H. Ferris identified, who would usher in the incipient Harlem Renaissance. During this boon of artistic frenzy during the late twenties, writers, poets, artists, and musicians of Harlem would bring forth new modes of defining African American culture and identity. Garvey was not content to limit his focus on a new, emergent African American identity, but one that was primarily informed by a unified, pan-African sensibility and vehement anti-colonial rancor. As a stump speaker on Lenox Avenue, Garvey took effective advantage of the movements among newly-arrived immigrants who demanded their rights. UCLA's site devoted to Garvey's life and career quotes Garvey as having observed that "other races were engaged in seeing their cause through---the Jews through their Zionist movement and the Irish through their Irish movement---and I decided that, cost what it might, I would make this a favorable time to see the Negro's interest through" (3). His message was reaching millions worldwide before the end of the WWI era; and though his followers enthusiastically heralded him as the "Moses" of the African diaspora, others denounced him as a zealot at best, a madman at worst. Leader W.E.B. DuBois commented ruefully that Garvey had been under the influence of "very serious defects of temperament and training." As if these weren't sufficiently damning words, DuBois continued by describing Garvey's personality as "dictatorial, domineering, inordinately vain and very suspicious" (UCLA). Though Garvey had his formidable detractors, his message to unite the African Diaspora and to "redeem" it from centuries of colonial rule, resonates today. His message has inspired such movements as those connected to Malcolm X's Black Nationalist affiliations; as well as the Rastafarian movements in Jamaica that herald his name.

Lastly, the words of his biographer in Life and Lessons succinctly articulates the man's legacy:

"The name Garvey has come to define both a discrete social phenomenon, organized under the banner of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and African Communities League (ACL), and an era of black renaissance, in which Garveyism and the concept of black racial pride became synonymous. Before white America fell enraptured before the spell of what Claude McKay termed "the hot syncopated fascination of Harlem" in the Jazz Age, black America had already traversed the age of Garvey and the New Negro.^1 Garveyism as an ideological movement began in black Harlem's thirty or so square blocks in the spring of 1918, and then burgeoned throughout the black world---nearly a thousand UNIA divisions were formed, and tens of thousands of members enrolled within the brief span of seven years. The reign of the Garvey movement, as Rev. Adam Clayton Powell, Sr., wrote, 'awakened a race consciousness that made Harlem felt around the world'" (Excerpted from Marcus Garvey: Life & Lessons 3)

Reconstruction to the New Negro Renaissance (1865-1919)

The Reconstruction 'decade' as it was called, lasted from approximately 1865 until 1877: the 'official' end of this period was marked by the removal of Union troops from the South. The Reconstruction Act of 1867 created the Freedman's Bureau, which opened schools and set up cooperatives to help newly freed African Americans make a successful adjustment to freedom and citizenship This era saw the rise of the first Historically Black Colleges such as Fisk, Howard, Talladega, Tuskegee, Morehouse, Atlanta, and Hampton (544).

Three important laws were passed in the early years of Reconstruction. The 13th Amendment made slavery illegal; the Fourteenth Amendment extended the government's protection to African Americans; the Fifteenth Amendment extended the vote to black men. The latter, as our text points out, caused a rift among progressive organizers, particularly feminists. Government preferred to give the vote to black men only (and usually only those who owned property), which eroded the support for equality for blacks formerly extended by the suffrage movement (545). While many laws were created to enfranchise blacks, this period in history saw the re-emergence of slavery in a different guise: while many black southerners fled their homes during the Great Migration of the early 20th century, those who stayed behind were still working in de facto servitude for their former owners. The sharecropping system ensured this return of effective slavery, and Jim Crow laws made racial segregation the law of the land. 

Meanwhile, the formerly progressive organizations that supported abolition were divided on the issue of full enfranchisement of free African Americans, and "the antislavery societies, by and large, had been segregated" (544). As the social reformers of the time turned their focus from equal rights to other social issues (such as prohibition and suffrage for women), the nation also turned its attention from the issues of the war and reconstruction to pacifism and nostalgia. Writers such as Thomas Nelson Page, a native Virginian, became popular for writing romantic elegies about the "Old South." In collections such as Marse Chan and Other Stories, the author painted scenes of happy slaves in the fields tilling cotton, while the Master and his family enjoyed the prosperity of the day. This era of "Moonlight and Magnolias" prized a wistful glance at a mythology of the South as an 'ideal civilization.' Other writers such as journalist Joel Chandler Harris, presented his own renderings of black dialect and folk tale in his collections on Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby.

Thomas Nelson Page (google images)

Joel Chandler Harris (Google images)

The first World War gave rise to a growing sense of global nationalism, while locally, racial tension intensified with the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan: a violent terrorist organization. The rebirth of the KKK was galvanized by two events: the publication of Thomas Dixon's book The Clansman and D.W. Griffith's subsequent adaptation of the novel to film, Birth of a Nation. Both texts outlined the tenets of white racist mythology that cast the black male as a sexual predator of white females. White males arrogated themselves as the valiant protector of southern female virtue while ushering in renewed hope for a fallen South. One concludes that during this period of financial devastation following the war, the South found its scapegoat in the black male and leveled its fury against him. 

Even Page's nostalgic writings alternated with political essays in which he denounced the rise of the "New Negro": a term he coined to describe a generation of freed blacks who rightly demanded rights on par with those of other Americans. As a response, the black community had a spokeswoman: Ida B. Wells Barnett, a diminutive former schoolteacher turned journalist, exposed the radical ironies and cruelties surrounding racial violence in the South in her publication, A Red Record. 

Wells moved to the North to stay with her friend Frances E.W. Harper when her Memphis office was vandalized following the publication of A Red Record. Here, the former schoolteacher exposed the racist motivations and concocted myths about black males as "The Old Threadbare Lie," and sought to expose the violence for what it was. Though she was forced to flee the South after the publication of A Red Record, the impact of her publication and the bravery she exemplified are of considerable historical significance. 

Solomon Northup: Twelve Years A Slave

"Commenting on the literally hundreds of slave narratives published during the antislavery crusade, Ephraim Peabody, a contemporary writer, noted that they were 'calculated to exert a very wide influence on public opinion' because they contained 'the victim's account of the workings of this great institution.' Among the autobiographies  by former slaves, a few were especially effective in presenting a clear picture of the nature and operation of that 'peculiar institution.' The most famous were Frederick Douglass' Narrative, published in 1845, William W. Brown's Narrative, published in 1853. Northup's account is considered one of the most authentic descriptions of slavery from the viewpoint of the slave himself. Ulrich B. Phillips, who doubted the value and authenticity of many of the slave autobiographies wrote of Northup's book: '...this one has a tone which engages confidence. Its pictures of plantation life and labor are of particular interest'" (Philip S. Foner, Introd. Twelve Years a Slave).

Solomon Northup (1808-1863) was born in New York State to a father who was a freed slave, and a mother who was a free woman of color (1). A successful farmer, landowner and violinist, he was lured to Washington D.C. in 1841 on the promise of a job with traveling entertainers and taken hostage. Northup was drugged and sold at auction in New Orleans to a Louisiana planter. From the time of his kidnapping, Northup's family and friends had no knowledge of his whereabouts, and during his twelve year enslavement, he tried numerous times to contact them without success (1).

It is ironic that the United States banned the slave trade in 1808, the very year in which Solomon Northup was born to free parents. Nevertheless smuggling and illegal activities continued, and kidnappings were frequent as well. According to Philip S. Foner, Northup's case was the most famous--or infamous. Foner notes "he had been a raftsman and farmer around Lake Champlain in New York until 1841 when, on the ground of his talent with the fiddle, two strangers offered him employment in a circus which they said was then at Washington. Going there with them, without even bidding farewell to his wife and children, for what he thought would be temporary employment at good wages, Northup was drugged, shackled, robbed of his free papers, and sold to the firm of Price, Burch and Co., a well-known slave-trading establishment. Each time he protested that he was a free man, Northup was whipped until he learned not to mention the fact to anyone" (iv).

According to another source, Northup was sold to a number of different planters, but eventually was settled onto a plantation in Bayou Beouf, LA., where he toiled under the control of planter Edwin Eppes. While there, Northup "never revealed to his peers that he had once lived free for fear of...being sent further away." In his memoir Twelve Years a Slave, Northup recounts the plights of other slaves he witnessed being mistreated, such as Eliza, whose young son had been sold away from her, and Patsy, who endured routine and relentless sexual abuse from Eppes (2). On January 3, 1853, Northup was made a free man once again and returned to his family.

Perhaps what adds to the distinction of Northup's narrative is that its subject was kidnapped a free man on American soil. Unlike Olaudah Equiano, whose recollections of his village in Africa created a dramatic contrast between the Edenic early years of the author's life against the Middle Passage and New World slavery, Northup suffered a swift and horrifying transition from freedom and family to chattel slavery within the confines of the United States. His home was not a distant and dim memory, but one that was recent and otherwise accessible. Unlike Frederick Douglass who had been born a slave, Northup's narrative has the distinction of imagining a life in freedom that is destroyed by slavery. Northup's narrative allows its readers to examine even more closely the deteriorating and dehumanizing nature of slavery, and to analyze further the very nature of freedom.

Re-Visioning the Past in the New Millenium: Colson Whithead

New York City-based writer, Colson Whitehead, has experienced a phenomenal success in the last year, with his New York Times number one best seller, Underground Railroad receiving not only the Pulitzer Prize, but also the Carnegie Medal for Fiction, and the National Book Award. His writing career began after graduating from Harvard, when he worked for the Village Voice as a reviewer of 'music, books, and television' (1). He was born and raised--and currently resides--in Manhattan.

Underground Railroad is the featured novel in the program Memphis Reads. It is Whitehead's sixth book; the preceding six were all recipients of awards. 

They are: 
The Intuitionist
John Henry Days
Apex Hides the Hurt
Sag Harbor
Zone One

Colson Whitehead will be speaking in Memphis during the month of September at Christian Brothers University (9/5) and Rhodes College (9/5).

Fiftieth Anniversary of Dr. King's Death: April 4, 2018

Tuesday, April 3

Universal Life Building Ribbon Cutting, 10 a.m., corner of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and Danny Thomas Boulevard

An iconic building in Memphis, the Universal Life Building, has undergone an extensive renovation to return to its original glory. It will serve a new purpose as the hub for minority business development in Memphis.

Mountaintop Speech Commemoration, 6 – 9 p.m., Mason Temple, 930 Mason Street

The ceremony will honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s prophetic Mountaintop speech on the night of April 3, 1968. The program will feature national leaders, artists, and dignitaries. 

Wednesday, April 4
Reenactment of “I AM A MAN” Photograph, 8 – 11 a.m., 333 Beale Street

The Withers Collection Museum and Gallery will celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the 1968 sanitation workers with a reenactment of the iconic “I AM A MAN” photograph from the 1968 sanitation workers strike. The photo will be taken from a helicopter by the granddaughter of Dr. Withers, Mrs. Eboni Bullard. 

50th Anniversary of Sanitation Strike March, 8 a.m., 485 Beale Street

The rally will kick off at AFSCME Headquarters with civil rights activists, faith leaders, and musical talent. Participants will then march to Mason Temple.

Service of Remembrance and Reconciliation, noon – 1 p.m., Calvary Episcopal Church, 102 North Second Street

The service of remembrance honors enslaved people sold at the site of the antebellum slave mart owned by Nathan Bedford Forrest. Students from Rhodes College, along with local scholars, helped write the text for the new historic marker, which will be dedicated at the end of the service.

50th Anniversary Commemoration, 8 a.m. - 7 p.m., National Civil Rights Museum, 450 Mulberry Street

The commemoration service features guest speakers, music, spoken word performances, and tributes. A changing of the wreath ceremony on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel will be held at 3:30 p.m. A moment of silence will be held at 6:01 p.m., the time that the shot was fired.

A shuttle to and from the National Civil Rights Museum will run from 7:30 a.m. until 8:15 p.m. It will start at B.B. King Boulevard and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and make several stops along the way to the museum. 

Thursday, April 5
I AM A MAN Plaza Dedication Ceremony, 11:30 a.m., south side of Clayborn Temple, 294 Hernando Street

I AM A MAN Plaza honors the Memphis sanitation workers strike with its iconic “I AM A MAN” signs. Note: Hernando Street between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and Vance Avenue along with East Pontotoc Avenue between South 4th Street and Hernando Avenue will be closed from 7 p.m. on April 4 through 4:30 p.m. on April 5. 

Friday, April 6
Opening of MLK Reflection Site, 1 p.m., corner of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and South Second Street

The MLK Reflection Site will serve as just that – a place for people to reflect on Dr. King’s message as well as his impact in Memphis. Note: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue between South B.B. King Boulevard and Mulberry Street and South Second Street between George W. Lee Avenue and East Pontotoc Avenue will be shut down for several hours during the opening.

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David Walker: Early Militancy from a "Restless Disturber of the Peace"

"The most militant voice among the early African American protest writers belonged to David Walker, whose call to violent resistance against slavery so alarmed authorities in the South that they were reputed to have put a price on his head" (Gates, et al. 159).

As many African American activists would later intone, the key to overcoming oppression was solidarity and autonomy: one had to stand together with his fellows, secure in the knowledge of his own rights and potential and assert against a common enemy. Only then would freedom be attained. David Walker (1796-1830) would be among the first to risk his life to bring the message of freedom to African Americans and to challenge, head-on, a white power structure determined to prevent his success. 

Walker was born in Cape Fear, NC, to a free mother and an enslaved father who passed away before David was born. The law of the land dictated "partus sequitur ventrem" (that which is brought forth follows the womb/the child follows the condition of the mother), he too was free. As a young man, he often bemoaned the condition of fellow blacks who were still enslaved, finding it unbearable to look on while others suffered in bondage. He relocated to Charleston, SC, a haven for free blacks, which led to his involvement with the African American Methodist Church (AME) and with activism. From there he would move to Philadelphia and then on to Boston by 1825. Shortly thereafter, he would marry, and set up a used clothing business. The American Revolutionary War had brought an end to slavery in Boston, and by this time, the racial climate was comparatively mild. Nevertheless, Walker was active in anti-slavery activism and an outspoken opponent of the Peculiar Institution, having founded the Massachusetts General Colored Association and writing for the first African American owned and operated newspaper, Freedom's Journal. These activities and his outspokenness had, as 1828 came to a close, elevated Walker to Boston's premier spokesman against slavery and racial injustice. The next year, he would publish his Appeal (1). 

Walker's Appeal, in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, To the Coloured Citizens of the World, but in Particular, and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America, Written in Boston, State of Massachusetts, September 28, 1829.

In this brief pamphlet, its author railed against the assumptions of white inferiority made by former president, Thomas Jefferson, alarmed the nation by alleging that racism was a "national problem" and that "slavery was its most egregious manifestation" (Gates, et al. 159).  He attacked the American Colonization Society for its plans to deport newly freed African Americans to a distant enclave in Africa now known as Liberia (2). Most notably, Walker called upon African Americans--free and enslaved--to assert themselves against their white oppressor and to band together as one. His would be perhaps the earliest call for Black Nationalism, and would inspire a progeny of black authors, scholars, philosophers, and activists to harken to Walker's Appeal. 

Walker's pamphlet was more than mere militant outcry. He carefully structured his Appeal according to that of the United States Constitution--in so doing, he signified against the very document that excluded him. In its formalized language and orderly segments, Walker synthesizes the two master texts that white southerners had used as tools against African Americans: the Constitution and the Bible. While reinventing a social contract for the African American that enfranchised him equally, he exposed the religious hypocrisy practiced by whites. Stridently denouncing the wretched condition to which blacks had been rendered, he called for "constructive social change" that would rehabilitate the minds and bodies of black Americans and align them under a "unity of purpose." Strength garnered from numbers and resolve would bring about a future of freedom. This pamphlet was, of course, heresy from the standpoint of most whites: the white power structure took great pains to keep its pages from the slave population (160).

While rumor persisted that Walker was poisoned to death, recent scholars assert that the pamphleteer and activist died from tuberculosis. However, in his short time on earth, Walker presented future generations with a model to follow, one that would inspire the call for unity and solidarity, pride in one's self, and resistance to tyranny. 



(images from Wikipedia.com)