199 64 8MB
English Pages 472 [595] Year 2016
THE
MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIVERSAL NEGRO IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION
PAPERS Caribbean Series
THE
MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIVERSAL NEGRO IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION
PAPERS Caribbean Series SPONSORED BY National Endowment for the Humanities National Historical Publications and Records Commission James S. Coleman African Studies Center, University of California, Los Angeles SUPPORTED BY Ahmanson Foundation Ford Foundation Rockefeller Foundation UCLA Foundation
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
Fitzroy Baptiste† Richard Blackett O. Nigel Bolland Philippe Bourgois Bridget Brereton Patrick Bryan Ronald N. Harpelle Richard Hart Winston James Rupert Lewis Hollis R. Lynch Colin Palmer Stephan Palmié Brenda Gayle Plummer K. W. J. Post
J. R. Ralph Casimir (Source: MGPP JRRC)
THE
MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIVERSAL NEGRO IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION
PAPERS
Volume XIII The Caribbean Diaspora 1921–1922 Robert A. Hill, Editor in Chief John Dixon, Associate Editor Mariela Haro Rodríguez, Assistant Editor Anthony Yuen, Assistant Editor
DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESS Durham and London 2016
The preparation of this volume was made possible in part by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, an independent federal agency, and the National Historical Publications and Records commission. Production of the volume has also been supported by grants from the Ahmanson Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the UCLA Foundation.
Duke University Press gratefully acknowledges the support of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), which provided funds toward the production of this book. Documents in this volume from the Public Record Office are © British Crown copyright material and are published by permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. The volume was designed by Linda M. Robertson and set in Galliard and Stempel Garamond type. Photographs and illustrations were digitized using a Xerox DocuImage 620s scanner and an Epson Perfection 1650 scanner. Copyright © 2016 Duke University Press.
Cataloging-in-Publication data on file with the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-0-8223-6116-9 (cloth) ISBN 978-0-8223-7428-2 (e-book) Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper f
DEDICATED TO THE PEOPLE OF THE CARIBBEAN
CONTRIBUTING SCHOLARS
Rosanne Adderley Peter D. Ashdown Patrick L. Baker Phillippe Bourgois Bridget Brereton O. Nigel Bolland David Browne Marcelo Bucheli Carla Burnett Marcia Burrowes Kim D. Butler Aviva Chomsky Michael Conniff Edward L. Cox Juanita De Barros Dario A. Euraque Helen Francis-Seaman Humberto Garcia-Muñiz Jorge L. Giovannetti-Torres Julia Greene Frank Guridy Ronald N. Harpelle
Alana Johnson Simon Jones-Hendrickson Greg LaMotta Michael Louis Susan Lowes Marc McLeod Melanie Newton Ira P. Philip Brenda Gayle Plummer Lara Elizabeth Putnam Glen Richards Bonham Richardson Reinaldo L. Román D. Gail Saunders Cleve McD. Scott Mimi Sheller Richard Smith Peter Szok Melisse Thomas-Bailey Nigel Westmaas Kevin A. Yelvington
CONTENTS
ILLUSTRATIONS
xxix
MAPS
xxxi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
xxxiii
INTRODUCTION
xxxvii
HISTORY OF THE EDITION EDITORIAL PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES
xlvii li
TEXTUAL DEVICES
lvii
SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS
lix
Repository Symbols lix Manuscript Collection Symbols lxi Descriptive Symbols lxii Abbreviations of Published Works lxii Other Symbols and Abbreviations lxiv lxvii
CHRONOLOGY
THE PAPERS 1921 ca. 6 August
“100% Negro” to the Negro World
3
ca. 6 August
Article in the Negro World
4
7 August
Henry O. Mattos to the Negro World
6
7 August
Percival C. James, General Secretary, UNIA Céspedes Division, to the Negro World
7
xiii
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS
8 August
Arthur Geo. Burkley to Osiris de Bourg
11
10 August
N. C. Frederick et al., UNIA Majuba La Brea Division, to J. R. Ralph Casimir
11
11 August
Alonza Lynch, General Secretary, UNIA Cristóbal Division, to the Negro World
13
12 August
Reprint of Dominica Guardian Article
14
12 August
Jabez L. Clarke, General Secretary, UNIA Havana Division, to William H. Ferris, Literary Editor, Negro World
21
13 August
Article in the Workman
22
15 August
Circular Letter from Winston S. Churchill, Secretary of State, Colonial Office
24
18 August
J. C. Wyke et al., UNIA Dominica División, to J. R. Ralph Casimir
26
18 August
John H. Pilgrim, Secretary, UNIA Colón Division, to the Negro World
27
18 August
James Fraser, Secretary, UNIA Santa Marta Division, to Fred A. Toote
28
ca. 20 August
I. S. Lahoodie to the Negro World
29
ca. 20 August
J. A. H. Thorpe to the Negro World
30
20 August
Article in the Workman
31
26 August
Gilbert E. A. Grindle, Assistant Under Secretary of State, Colonial Office, to the Under Secretary of State, Foreign Office 4 August Samuel Augustus Richards to the King of England 33
32
27 August
“Iconoclast” to the Workman
34
31 August
Richard A. Bennett to Wiliam H. Ferris, Literary Editor, Negro World
36
xiv
CONTENTS
2 September
F. A. Ogilvie to the Negro World
38
3 September
“An Onlooker” to the Negro World
39
3 September
Reverend Joseph U. Osborne, Executive Secretary, UNIA Puerto Padre Division, to the Negro World
40
3 September
Editorial in the Workman
41
3 September
Memorandum from Major G. M. Kincade, Provost Marshal, San Pedro de Macorís, to the Chief of Municipal Police, San Pedro de Macorís
43
5 September
Thomas Duruo, et al., to Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic
43
7 September
UNIA and ACL Santo Domingo Division to the Crusader
48
9 September
J. R. Ralph Casimir in the Negro World
50
“Iconoclast” to the Workman
55
James Benjamin Yearwood, Assistant Secretary General, UNIA, to H. R. P. George in the Workman
56
15 September
Fernando Escobar, Royal Consulate of the Netherlands, Dominican Republic, to Lieutenant-Colonel F. A. Ramsey, Officer in Charge, Department of Justice and Public Instruction 12 September James Cooks to Fernando Escobar 60
57
16 September
J. R. Ralph Casimir in the Crusader
62
18 September
E. Brice, British Consul, Santiago de Cuba, to the Municipal Mayor, Santiago de Cuba
66
10 September ca. 10 September
xv
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS
19 September
Fred A. Toote, Secretary General, UNIA, to J. R. Ralph Casimir
68
21 September
C. A. Reid to the Workman
69
23 September
Harold D. Clum, U.S. Consul, Santiago de Cuba, to John R. Putnam, U.S. Consul, Havana
70
24 September
Luis G. Guzmán, Permanent Secretary, Industria Lodge No. 3551, to Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic
72
24 September
“A Genuine Friend of the Negro Race” to the Workman
74
26 September
Alfred Dunbavin, et al., to Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic
75
26 September
P. Premdas, Acting Assistant Secretary, Black Star Line, to J. R. Ralph Casimir
77
28 September
Robert S. F. Blake, Chaplain, UNIA Banes Division, to William H. Ferris, Literary Editor, Negro World
78
29 September
Philander L. Cable, U.S. Chargé d’Affaires, Havana, to Guillermo Patterson, Subsecretary of State, Cuba
79
30 September
Eduardo V. Morales, UNIA Commissioner to Cuba, to William H. Ferris, Literary Editor, Negro World
80
30 September
Philander L. Cable, U.S. Chargé d’Affaires, Havana, to Charles Evans Hughes, U.S. Secretary of State
81
30 September
Rowland Sperling, Assistant Secretary, Foreign Office, to Auckland C. Geddes, British Ambassador to the United States 26 September Gilbert E. A. Grindle, Assistant Under Secretary of State, Colonial Office, to the Under Secretary of State, Foreign Office 82
82
xvi
CONTENTS
14 July Eyre Hutson, Governor, British Honduras, to Winston S. Churchill, Secretary of State, Colonial Office 83 2 July Report by H. J. Cavenaugh, Superintendent, British Honduras Police 84 3 July Report by H. J. Cavenaugh, Superintendent, British Honduras Police 85 4 July Report by H. J. Cavenaugh, Superintendent, British Honduras Police 86 5 July Report by H. McDonald, Assistant Superintendent, British Honduras Police 87 5 July Report of Interview with Marcus Garvey by Eyre Hutson, Governor, British Honduras 89 ca. 1 October
Rachel E. Butler to the Negro World
93
1 October
“Iconoclast” to the Workman
94
4 October
Circular Letter by Winston S. Churchill, Secretary of State, Colonial Office 15 August Lieutenant-Colonel Des Voeux, Officer Administering the Government, Bermuda, to Winston S. Churchill, Secretary of State, Colonial Office 96 4 August Reverend Richard H. Tobitt to General James Willcocks, Governor, Bermuda 97 25 July Reverend Richard H. Tobitt to Winston S. Churchill, Secretary of State, Colonial Office 98
95
Article in the Negro World
99
ca. 8 October 8 October
Philip Van Putten of UNIA San Pedro de Macorís Branch No. 26 to the Negro World
101
8 October
R. H. Thompson to the Workman
103
9 October
P. E. Plunkett to the Negro World
104
W. Stennett in the Negro World
107
Cyril V. Briggs to J. R. Ralph Casimir
109
ca. 10 October 11 October
xvii
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS
13 October
W. Noel Robinson to William H. Ferris
112
17 October
Lieutenant-Colonel William C. Harllee, District Commander, Eastern District, Dominican Republic, to Brigadier General Harry Lee, Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S. Marine Corps ca. 30 September List of UNIA Members 113
112
22 October
Eduardo V. Morales to M. A. Figueroa, Spanish Section Editor, Negro World
114
24 October
R. M. R. Nelson to the Negro World
115
25 October
Ezel Vanderhorst, Secretary, UNIA Santo Domingo Division, to James Benjamin Yearwood, Assistant Secretary-General, UNIA
116
28 October
Lieutenant-Colonel William. C. Harllee, District Commander, Eastern District, Dominican Republic, to Brigadier General Harry Lee, Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S. Marine Corps 25 October Interview with John Sydney de Bourg 118
118
Charles S. McKenye [McKenzie] to the Negro World
121
31 October
H. Leonard Ivey, Secretary, UNIA El Porvenir Division, to the Negro World
122
31 October
Letter from UNIA Penal Division No. 260 to the Officers and Members of the UNIA Roseau Division
125
1 November
C. K. Ledger, British Chargé d’Affaires, Santo Domingo, to Lieutenant-Colonel F. A. Ramsey, Officer in Charge, Department of Justice and Public Instruction
126
5 November
J. L. Linwood in the Negro World
129
ca. 29 October
xviii
CONTENTS
8 November
Theodore Roosevelt Jr., Assistant Secretary, U.S. Navy, to Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic 2 November UNIA and ACL to Theodore Roosevelt Jr., Assistant Secretary, U.S. Navy 130
130
11 November
Augustus Luis, President, UNIA St. Thomas Division, to the Negro World
132
12 November
Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic, to Ezel Vanderhorst, Secretary, UNIA Santo Domingo Division, et al.
133
M. A. Labega to the Negro World
134
Article in the Panama Star and Herald
136
F. Gregoire to the Negro World
137
Article in the Workman
138
J. Gilman Horsford, Acting President, UNIA San Juan Division, to the Negro World
148
1 December
Samuel Percival Radway, et. al., to the District Attorney, Camagüey Provincial Court
149
3 December
Article in the Workman
150
E. A. Scarlett, Third Vice-President, UNIA Morón Division, to the Negro World
157
John Sydney de Bourg to the Senatorial Commission of Inquiry for the Dominican Republic ca. 12 December Report on U.S. Marine Corps in San Pedro de Macorís 161 ca. 12 December Statement of Zachariah Rawlins and David Hicks 163 ca. 12 December Statement of Joseph Welch 164 ca. 12 December Report on Treatment of UNIA San Pedro de Macorís Division Members 165
160
ca. 20 November 23 November ca. 26 November 26 November ca. 26 November
ca. 10 December
12 December
xix
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS
21 September Statement of Charge Brought Against UNIA San Pedro de Macorís Division Members 173 4 November Military Government Deportation Order 176 ca. 4 November Signatures and Addresses of Those Imprisoned 178 13 December
Attlee Pomerene, U.S. Senator, to John Sydney de Bourg
178
16 December
John Sydney de Bourg to Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic
179
17 December
Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic, to Brigadier General Harry Lee, Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S. Marine Corps
180
19 December
John Sydney de Bourg to LieutenantCommander R. M. Warfield, Commissioner, Department of Agriculture and Immigration
181
20 December
H. S. Blair, Division Manager, United Fruit Company, to Victor M. Cutter, Vice-President, United Fruit Company
182
20 December
Edward H. Bouello to the Negro World
183
21 December
J. R. Ralph Casimir to the Negro World
184
29 December
Statement of Joseph Thomas
186
29 December
Lieutenant-Colonel William C. Harllee, District Commander, Eastern District, Dominican Republic, to Brigadier General Harry Lee, Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S. Marines Corps 21 September Major G. M. Kincade, Provost Marshal, San Pedro de Macorís, to William C. Harllee, District Commander, Eastern District, Dominican Republic 190
188
xx
CONTENTS
30 December
Second Lieutenant James E. Whitmire, U.S. Marine Corps, to Lieutenant-Colonel William C. Harllee, District Commander, Eastern District, Dominican Republic
193
31 December
Telegram from Henry Clay von Struve, U.S. Consul, Antilla, to the Black Star Line
194
3 January
Richard S. Dunbar to the Negro World
195
5 January
“G. F. B.” in the Clarion
196
5 January
Eduardo V. Morales to the Negro World
198
5 January
Brigadier General Harry Lee, Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S. Marine Corps, to Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic September 1921 African Blood Brotherhood Supreme Council Bulletin 201
200
5 January
Frederick G. A. Butler, Finance Officer, Foreign Office, to C. K. Ledger 25 November 1921 John Sydney de Bourg to Winston S. Churchill, Secretary of State, Colonial Office 203
202
I. Augustus Brown in the Negro World
208
10 January
Brigadier General Harry Lee, Acting Military Governor, Dominican Republic, to the Department of Interior and Police
209
14 January
Lieutenant-Colonel F. A. Ramsey, Officer in Charge, Department of Justice and Public Instruction, to Fernando A. Brea, Procurador Fiscal [District Attorney], Macorís-Seybo Judicial District, San Pedro de Macorís
210
Joseph E. Gadbsy to the Workman
211
1922
ca. 7 January
ca. 14 January
xxi
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS
14 January
Telegram from Marcus Garvey to Edgar West
213
16 January
Edgar W. Bridgewater, Reporting Secretary, UNIA San Pedro de Macorís Division, to John Sydney de Bourg
214
17 January
Emiliano García B., Chief, San Pedro de Macorís, to Fernando A. Brea, Procurador Fiscal [District Attorney], Macorís-Seybo Judicial District, San Pedro de Macorís
215
18 January
Lieutenant-Colonel William C. Harllee, District Commander, Eastern District, Dominican Republic, to Brigadier General Harry Lee, Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S. Marines Corps
217
18 January
Brigadier General Harry Lee, Acting Military Governor, Dominican Republic, to J. I. Bowman
218
18 January
Juez Alcade [Town Judge], San Pedro de Macorís, to Fernando A. Brea, Procurador Fiscal [District Attorney], Macorís-Seybo Judicial District, San Pedro de Macorís
219
19 January
D. Erastus Thorpe, President, UNIA Tela Divison, to the Negro World
220
19 January
Fernando A. Brea, Procurador Fiscal [District Attorney], Macorís-Seybo Judicial District, San Pedro de Macorís, to Lieutenant-Colonel F. A. Ramsey, Officer in Charge, Department of Justice and Public Instruction 19 January Emiliano García B., Chief, San Pedro de Macorís Police, to Juan Félix Peguere, Governor of the Province, Santo Domingo 223 19 January Report by Emiliano García B., Chief, San Pedro de Macorís Police 223
221
20 January
Juan Félix Peguere, Governor of the Province, Santo Domingo, to Emiliano García B., Chief, San Pedro de Macorís Police
224
xxii
CONTENTS
20 January
Juez Alcalde [Town Judge], San Pedro de Macorís, to Juan Félix Peguere, Governor of the Province, Santo Domingo
225
20 January
Emiliano García B., Chief, San Pedro de Macorís Police, to Juan Félix Peguere, Governor of the Province, Santo Domingo
226
26 January
J. A. Keloo, Executive Secretary, UNIA Banes Division, to Eduardo V. Morales
226
27 January
A. B. C. in the Listín Diario
227
Louis I. Gonzales to the Negro World
228
28 January
Editorial in the Workman
229
31 January
Brigadier General Harry Lee, Acting Military Governor, Dominican Republic, to Theodore Roosevelt Jr., Assistant Secretary, U.S. Navy
231
31 January
John Grayson-Carey, Charles A. Henry, and W. J. E. Butler, to John Sydney de Bourg
232
4 February
Oshbourne E. Moodie, UNIA Talamanca Valley Division, to the Negro World
234
S. J. Josephs to the Negro World
235
ca. 11 February
J. R. Ralph Casimir to the Negro World
236
11 February
J. L. Barnes, President, UNIA Tampico Division, to the Negro World
237
15 February
“Civis Africanus” in the Negro World
238
Amy Broaster, Emily Chandler, and Caroline Gray, UNIA Puerto Barrios and Los Amates Divisions, to the Negro World
239
John Sydney de Bourg to Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic
241
ca. 28 January
10 February
ca. 18 February
18 February
xxiii
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS
ca. 16 February Statement of Charges against John Sydney de Bourg 247 20 February
Mrs. Anthony, Acting General Secretary, UNIA St. Thomas Division, to the Negro World
248
23 February
John Sydney de Bourg to Warren G. Harding, U.S. President
249
24 February
Jabez L. Clarke, General Secretary, UNIA Havana Division, to Marcus Garvey
251
Joseph Crooke to the Negro World
252
25 February
Article in the Workman
254
27 February
John Sydney de Bourg to Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic
256
28 February
Agness Holness, Lady President, UNIA Havana Division, to Marcus Garvey
260
6 March
Petition from John Sydney de Bourg to Warren G. Harding, U.S. President 16 February William C. Harllee, District Commander, Eastern District, Dominican Republic, to Major G. M. Kincade, Provost Marshal, San Pedor de Macorís 263
260
9 March
Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic, to John Sydney de Bourg
264
11 March
Article in the Workman
265
13 March
John Sydney de Bourg to Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic
267
14 March
Report by Brigadier General Harry Lee, Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S. Marine Corps
268
ca. 25 February
xxiv
CONTENTS
14 March
W. L. Hurley, Office of the Under Secretary, U. S. State Department, to William J. Burns, Director, Bureau of Investigation 21 February William W. Russell to Charles Evans Hughes, U.S. Secretary of State 269
268
17 March
John Sydney de Bourg to Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic
270
20 March
Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, to the Department of Agriculture and Immigration
272
21 March
Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, to John Sydney de Bourg
272
21 March
Declaration by Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic
273
22 March
Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic, to John Sydney de Bourg
274
23 March
Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic, to Theodore Roosevelt Jr., Assistant Secretary, U.S. Navy
275
29 March
W. L. Hurley, Office of the Under Secretary, U.S. State Department, to William J. Burns, Director, Bureau of Investigation 9 March A. C. Frost, U.S. Consul, Guatemala City, to Charles Evans Hughes, U.S. Secretary of State 277
276
31 March
William J. Burns, Director, Bureau of Investigation, to W. L. Hurley, Office of the Under Secretary, U.S. State Department
278
Colonel L. H. Moses, Officer Administering the Affairs of the Department of the Interior and Police, Dominican Republic, to Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic
278
6 April
xxv
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS
8 April
S. Philip to J. R. Ralph Casimir
279
20 April
Draft Letter from Winston S. Churchill Secretary of State, Colonial Office, to Wilfred Collet, Governor, British Guiana ca. April Petition by Members of the UNIA British Guiana Division 285
282
20 April
H. N. Huggins, President, UNIA St. Vincent Division, to J. R. Ralph Casimir
292
Sidney L. M’Lean to Marcus Garvey
293
25 April
Minutes of UNIA Meetings in Panama City
294
18 May
H. N. Huggins, President, UNIA St. Vincent Division, to J. R. Ralph Casimir
296
20 May
Editorial in the Negro World
296
Article in the Negro World
298
F. Gregoire to the Workman
299
ca. 22 April
ca. 27 May 31 May 3 June
Article by Casper Holstein, President, Virgin Islands 300 Congressional Council, in the Negro World
ca. 10 June
Article in the Negro World
309
ca. 17 June
Gustavius Timothy Marigot in the Negro World
311
17 June
Mary Philip to J. R. Ralph Casimir
313
17 June
Mary Philip to the UNIA Roseau Division
313
17 June
Article in the Negro World
314
24 June
Poem by J. R. Ralph Casimir
316
Wilfred Collet, Governor, British Guiana, to Winston S. Churchill, Secretary of State, Colonial Office
318
José Martinez in the Negro World
320
6 July
11 July
xxvi
CONTENTS
15 July
Casper Holstein, President, Virgin Islands Congressional Council, in the Negro World
322
15 July
Antonio Beltrán Rentas to the Negro World
326
17 July
John Sydney de Bourg to Charles Evans Hughes, U.S. Secretary of State 14 February U.S. Immigration Form 329
327
21 July
Enid H. Lamos, Corresponding Secretary, UNIA, to J. R. Ralph Casimir
332
25 July
Lyllian M. Galloway, Manager, Universal Publishing House, to J. R. Ralph Casimir
333
28 July
H. N. Huggins, President, UNIA St. Vincent Division, to J. R. Ralph Casimir
333
28 July
Alfredo Prince, Ex-President, UNIA San Juan Division, to Enrique Colón Baerga, Editor, La Correspondencia de Puerto Rico
334
30 July
Article in the Savannah Tribune
335
2 August
Article in El Mundo
339
5 August
Casper Holstein, President, Virgin Islands Congressional Council, to the Negro World
340
8 August
E. G. Adams, Superintendent of Agriculture, United Fruit Company, Panama, to H. S. Blair, Division Manager, United Fruit Company
342
10 August
Jaime A. Bishop, President, UNIA San Juan Division, to Romualdo Real, Editor, El Mundo
344
12 August
Article in the Central American Express
345
Article in the Workman
347
Conrado Rosario, Secretary General, UNIA San Juan Division, to José Coll Vidal, Editor, La Democracia
348
ca. 14 August 14 August
xxvii
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS
15 August
J. D. W. Ross to the Negro World
350
15 August
Editorial in La Correspondencia de Puerto Rico
351
15 August
Editorial in La Democracia
353
15 August
Article in La Democracia
359
16 August
Jaime A. Bishop, President, UNIA San Juan Division, to Salvador Brau González, Editor, El Tiempo
360
16 August
Conrado Rosario, Secretary General, UNIA San Juan Division, to José Coll Vidal, Editor, La Democracia
361
18 August
J. Ananda to El Mundo
362
22 August
Article in La Correspondencia de Puerto Rico
363
26 August
Editorial in the Workman
364
28 August
E. E. Mair, Circulation Manager, Negro World, to J. R. Ralph Casimir
366
31 August
Article in the Labour Leader
367
ca. August
Poem by Prince John
368 371
INDEX
xxviii
ILLUSTRATIONS J. R. Ralph Casimir’s UNIA Dues Card
54
Payment made by Henry Clay von Struve to Sydney Tullock
195
D. J. Steyn-Pavré, Consul-General for the Netherlands, New York, to W. E. B. Du Bois, 13 April 1922 281 Minutes
284
John Sydney de Bourg Naturalization Petition, 14 February 1921
331
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS
xxx
MAPS Central and South America Puerto Rico
xxxi
149
lxxiv
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Over the years spent editing the Caribbean Series volumes, the Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers project has incurred an unusually large number of institutional, intellectual, and personal debts. The preparation of the volumes would never have been possible without the continuing support and assistance of a wide array of manuscript librarians, archivists, university libraries, scholars, funding agencies, university administrators, fellow editors, and friends. While the debts thus accrued can never be adequately discharged, it is still a great pleasure to acknowledge them. They form an integral part of whatever permanent value these volumes possess. We would like to acknowledge our deep appreciation to so many for contributing so greatly to this endeavor. In a real sense, these volumes represent the fruition of the efforts of many hands that have worked selflessly to assist in documenting the story of the Garvey movement in the Caribbean. We would like to begin by thanking the many archives and manuscript collections that have contributed documents as well as assisted the project by responding with unfailing courtesy and promptness to our innumerable queries for information: Archives of the Episcopal Church, Austin, Texas; Archivo General de Centro América, Guatemala City, Guatemala; Archivo Histórico Provincial de Camagüey; Archivo Historico Provincial de Santiago de Cuba; Archivo Nacional de Cuba; Belize Archives Department; Bermuda Government Archives; Columbia University, New York; Department of Archives, Black Rock, St. Michael, Barbados; Department of Archives, Nassau, The Bahamas; Federal Archives and Records Center, East Point, Georgia; Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London; Jamaica Records and Archives Department, Spanish Town, Jamaica; National Archives of Guyana, Georgetown, Guyana; National Archives, Washington D.C.; Royal Archives, Windsor; Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York; St. Kitts-Nevis National Archives, Basseterre, St. Kitts; St. Lucia National Archives; St. Vincent and the Grenadines National Archives. A large number of libraries and their staffs have rendered extraordinarily valuable service in response to the project’s flow of requests for bibliographical data as well as for historical and biographical materials. We wish to acknowledge and thank for their assistance: Bodleian Library, Oxford University; National Library of Jamaica; New York Public Library; Panama
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Canal Zone Library, Balboa Heights, Canal Zone; Trinidad Public Library; University of California, Los Angeles Library. Several governmental agencies contributed time and resources to the project by assisting with the collection and reproduction of documents. The project wishes to thank these agencies and their staffs for their cooperation: Netherlands Consulate General in New York; National Historical Publications and Records Commission, Washington D.C. Along the way a large number of individuals in many countries have aided the various research efforts of the project. Despite their own busy schedules they responded to the project’s numerous requests for advice and assistance. We would like to thank: Hilary Beckles, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill; Patrice Brown, National Archives and Records Administration; Ian Duffield, University of Edinburgh; Bill Elkins; Robert Gore; Julie Greene, University of Colorado at Boulder; Richard Hart; Dane Hartgrove, National Archives and Records Administration; Susan Hawley, Oxford University; Winston A. James, Columbia University; Rupert Lewis, University of the West Indies, Mona; Ghislaine Lydon, University of California, Los Angeles; Frederick Douglass Opie, Syracuse University; Stephan Palmié, University of Maryland, College Park; Anacristina Rossi; Jerome Teelucksingh; Rodney Worrell, University of the West Indies, Mona; Michael Zeuske, Universität zu Köln. Over the years various individuals have assisted the project with translation of foreign-language documents and phrases. We would like to thank for their services: Linda Greenberg; Rafael E. Moscote, public interpreter of the English language certificates; Ana Lya Sater; Arienne Starkie, Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken, Netherlands; Gabriele Yuen. Because of the editorial design of the Caribbean volumes, the project had the job of identifying and commissioning a panel of scholarly contributors to assist in annotating the large number of Caribbean references contained in the documents. For their willingness to serve and the time that it took away from their own projects, we should like to acknowledge and thank the following contributors: Peter Ashdown, St. Mary’s Hall, Brighton; Patrick L. Baker, Mount Allison University; Bridget Brereton, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine; O. Nigel Bolland, Colgate University; David Browne, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill; Marcelo Bucheli, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Marcia Burrowes, University of Warwick; Kim D. Butler, Rutgers University; Edward L. Cox, Rice University; Juanita De Barros, University of Michigan; Dario A. Euraque, Trinity College; Helen Francis-Seaman; Humberto Garcia-Muñiz, University of Puerto Rico; Jorge L. Giovannetti-Torres, University of Puerto Rico; Ronald N. Harpelle, Lakehead University; Alana Johnson, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill; Simon JonesHendrickson, University of the Virgin Islands; Greg LaMotta, National Archives and Records Administration; Michael Louis; Marc McLeod, Seattle University; Ira P. Philip; Brenda Gayle Plummer, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Lara Elizabeth Putnam, University of Costa Rica; Glen Richards, University of the West Indies, xxxiv
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Mona; Reinaldo L. Roman, University of Georgia; D. Gail Saunders, Department of Archives, Bahamas; Cleve McD. Scott, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill; Richard Smith; Peter Szok, Texas Christian University; Melisse Thomas-Bailey, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine; Nigel Westmaas, Binghamton University. It was also necessary to identify and appoint a team of scholars to review and evaluate the content of contributors’ annotations. Of necessity, the identity of the panel of peer reviewers must remain anonymous, both collectively and individually. Their diligence and critical eye for historical detail supplied important quality control and greatly improved the Caribbean series volumes. We wish to express the project’s gratitude to all of the reviewers. In keeping with the revised plan of the series, the project appointed a special editorial advisory board made up of distinguished Caribbeanist scholars. Their service to the project took several forms, viz., helping to identify contributing scholars and peer reviewers, finding fugitive archival documents, identifying local researchers, and, most importantly, advising on the editorial organization of the volumes. The enthusiastic support given to the project as well as their sound advice have served the project well over the past decade. We should like to acknowledge the valuable service rendered to the project by: Fitzroy Baptiste; Richard Blackett; O. Nigel Bolland; Phillippe Bourgeois; Bridget Brereton; Patrick Bryan; Ronald Harpelle; Richard Hart; Winston James; Rupert Lewis; Hollis R. Lynch; Colin Palmer; Stephan Palmié; Brenda Gayle Plummer; K. W. J. Post. In the years that the project has been functioning, undergraduate and graduate students have assisted with the work of research. Their special blend of resourcefulness, enthusiasm, and diligence have greatly aided the project in accomplishing its objectives. It is a pleasure to acknowledge and thank the following individuals: Jo Bangphraxay, Jenny Cho, Janette Gayle, Laura Gifford, Mariela Haro, Dennis Lee, Theodore Lieu, Sharon Luk, Brandy Worrall, and Marissa Yenpasook. The complex editorial methodology, as well as the huge amount of historical data supporting and explicating the texts, presented a formidable copyediting challenge. We wish to express a special appreciation to Olivia Banner, the project’s former copyeditor, for her invaluable work. The final stages of production depended upon the expertise of several individuals. In preparing photographs and illustrations for publication, Freida Ibanez demonstrated rare skill as designer. Chase Langford expertly prepared the maps for each of the volumes. Duke University Press and its staff have once again proved what an important part academic publishing plays in the larger scholarly enterprise. The project’s sponsoring editor, Ken Wissoker, and Valerie Millholland, senior editor of Duke University Press, facilitated an otherwise arduous process by assisting with the various arrangements at every step of the production and
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publication process. Typesetting was done by Kalina Klamann, whose technical expertise was central in the final stage of the preparation of the volume. Supervision of a large historical documentary editing project brings with it many responsibilities that place administrative demands on the academic institution and department with which it is affiliated. Finally, the project wishes to acknowledge the institutional sponsors of the edition as well as the generous assistance received from private foundations in support of the project’s work. We should like to thank the National Endowment for the Humanities, National Historical Publications and Records Commission, and the Ford, Rockefeller, Ahmanson, and UCLA Foundations.
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INTRODUCTION
The third in the Caribbean Series of the edition of The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers, the present volume covers the period August 1921 to August 1922, twelve months that marked a very dark hour for Garvey and the UNIA parent body. At the same time, it was also a period of continuing growth and expansion of the movement within the Caribbean basin and its associated territories. The present volume extends from the second through the third international conventions of the UNIA. The high point in the political calendar of the UNIA, the annual August celebration-cum-confab was the time when the eyes of the worldwide movement were focused on the organization’s deliberations in New York. In the conventions of August 1921 and August 1922, roiling tensions within the leadership of the UNIA boiled over, pitting Garvey against those whom he declared to be disloyal. The result was the fracturing of the top leadership of the UNIA, including the trial and expulsion of several key leaders. If this was not challenge enough, at the same time Garvey was coming under increased external pressure as well as facing an acute crisis of financial insolvency in the affairs of the Black Star Line. In this weakened state, Garvey decided to pull back in effecting a strategic retreat from his previous radicalism; in place of his earlier oppositional stance, Garvey now proclaimed his loyalty to the selfsame governments that he had previously criticized for oppressing blacks. In that sense, 1921–22 marked a kind of political watershed. One sign of the change became manifest on Garvey’s return to the United States from his five-month sojourn in the Caribbean—a promotional trip that originally had been planned to last for five weeks but which instead stretched into five months, largely due to hostility on the part of the American government which steadfastly refused to grant him a reentry visa. Garvey’s ship stopped briefly in Belize (British Honduras) where he took the opportunity to request a meeting with the British governor of the territory. Whatever Garvey thought would emerge out of the meeting, it resulted in a severe grilling and dressing down by the governor. Thrown on the defensive throughout the ensuing interview, Garvey found himself disavowing and disowning statements that he had previously made when he was confronted with them by the governor in the form of copies of the Negro World newspaper; eventually, he tried to regain the initiative by assuring the governor that he was “a loyal subject.” “It is no desire of mine to be disloyal to any man,” Garvey declared, xxxvii
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adding: “I am a British subject, and a large number of us are British subjects, and it is foreign to our aims to be disloyal and to disrupt the Government, but to help the Government to bring about a better state throughout” (Memorandum of interview with Mr. Marcus Garvey at Government House, Belize, at 2 P. M. on Tuesday 5th July, 1921, TNA: PRO FO 115/2690/ 33396). The retreat from his previous oppositional stance was unmistakable in the exchange that occurred. What might have begun, and been mistaken, as no more than a momentary lapse during his face-to-face encounter with the colonial governor in Belize would shortly reveal itself as the start of a full-scale repositioning by Garvey in terms of his former anticolonial political agenda. Thereafter, Garvey would not challenge the system of British colonial rule. If politics would now give way to the expression of loyalty to existing government, antagonism born of race was what would remain, except the target of antagonism would not be directed against governments and systems of political subjugation, as it had been formerly, but against political rivals. The change would take the form in the enunciation by Garvey of the new doctrine of racial purity. Garvey arrived back in New York on 17 July 1921. He had exactly two weeks to prepare for the international UNIA convention that opened on 1 August. It did not leave him with much time to adapt and to prepare for what was the most important political event in the UNIA calendar; in fact, the planning and organizing of the event would have been severely hampered by Garvey’s protracted absence from America, so that one wonders exactly how much advance preparation was carried out in fact, especially where the direction of international divisions of the UNIA were concerned. All of it was in marked contrast to the phenomenal success achieved by the first international convention of the movement in August 1920. In fact, Garvey had little that he could show in the form of organizational achievement for the year that had elapsed. The Liberian initiative that was launched around the same time that he was setting out on his tour of the Caribbean had started with a great deal of promise; within a matter of a couple of months, however, the mission collapsed in squabbling between the UNIA’s potentate, who was also the mayor of Monrovia, Liberia, and the secretary of the team of technical experts that Garvey had dispatched to what was promised to be the future headquarters of the UNIA. Crippled by the lack of cohesion and absent any clear agenda of work, the mission became a serious embarrassment, its collapse compounded by the fact that the mission lacked the financial support that had been promised to it and that would have been necessary to sustain it. When Garvey returned to New York in July, he was met with news of a mission in tatters. In lieu of the failure to establish the much sought after bridgehead in Africa that the UNIA had been led to expect, and without the territorial base that he had hoped to secure for the movement on African soil, Garvey was xxxviii
INTRODUCTION
obliged to rethink his whole African program and how to implement it. It is little wonder that there was not much discussion of Liberia on the agenda of the convention that followed his return. In considering Garvey’s political reorientation at this juncture in the history of the UNIA, the financial difficulties engulfing the Black Star Line were no less a factor to be weighed. Symbolizing the financial catastrophe of the Black Star Line was the abandonment of the S.S. Kanawha by its crew on the beach in Antilla, Cuba, in the attempt to return to the United States. The ship, which was abandoned due to its unseaworthiness, had been purchased for $65,000, but had lost $75,000 on her maiden voyage to the Caribbean. Similarly, the purchase of the S.S. Yarmouth, the first ship of the Black Star Line, had cost $145,000, but had lost $300,000 on her first trip. It was sold for $1,800 to satisfy claims of almost $100,000. A third ship, an excursion vessel, ended up as a wreck somewhere in New York Harbor. In August 1922, Garvey admitted in court that the Black Star Line represented an investment of $600,000, but which was all gone. Garvey now resorted to a new fundraising expedient: at the August 1921 convention, he announced the launch of the “African Redemption Fund,” which, it was said, was intended to come up with working capital for the UNIA as well as to be used for the African program. Once more Garvey had no alternative but to reach out and appeal to members to give yet again. Economically, it was not an advantageous time for raising additional funds from members. The new fund, which was one more in a succession of appeals by Garvey, coincided with the worst of the postwar economic recession of 1920–21. An extremely sharp deflationary recession in the United States and other countries, it lasted from January 1920 to July 1921. Gone were the relatively flush times of the immediate postwar boom, when members had a surplus they could afford to invest liberally in the hopes kindled by the African program of Garvey. After the short but sharp economic contraction of 1920–21, the UNIA was never able again to generate the level of support it had previously enjoyed. Confronted as he was by the complete insolvency of the Black Star Line, and obviously recognizing how precarious and vulnerable his position was once he stepped outside of the United States, Garvey decided in the circumstances to pull back by toning down his rhetoric, refraining from saying anything that could conceivably be construed as challenging governments. Instead, Garvey now set out to court their favor. Several European governments as well as the U.S. government were invited to send representatives to the August 1922 convention. When Garvey, along with three other officials of the Black Star Line, was indicted by the United States government on charges of mail fraud, he launched a propaganda offensive in which he sought to paint his critics and political opponents as the true enemies of the United States. Part of this offensive involved his ill-advised meeting with the head of the Ku Klux Klan, Edward Young Clarke, in Atlanta, Georgia, in June 1922, a move that would xxxix
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serve to galvanize opponents further and accelerate his own rightward political drift. The precedent for the meeting can be found in the get-together that Garvey had solicited with the governor of British Honduras the year before. It was against this backdrop of political involution on the part of Garvey that the UNIA in the Caribbean at this critical juncture must be judged. Between August 1921 and August 1922, the UNIA continued to show remarkable vitality and to command the fervent allegiance of many thousands of people. In contrast to the situation in the United States, the Caribbean Garvey movement witnessed continued growth and expansion. The present volume contains reports from chartered divisions and chapters from throughout the Caribbean archipelago. The following is a summary of the countries for which the volume contains reports and correspondence (where they are available, charter numbers are provided)— Barbados (Bridgetown) British Guiana (Georgetown) British Honduras (Belize; Trixville) Colombia (Santa Marta) Cuba (Antilla; Banes; Camagüey; Guantánamo; Guaro [172]; Havana; Manatí; Moron; Preston; Puerto Padre [163]; Santiago de Cuba [71]) Dominica (Grand Bay; Marigot; Pointe Michel; Rouseau [85]; Soufriére) Dominican Republic (Consuelo; San Pedro de Macorís [26]) Guatemala (Los Amates [212]; Puerto Barrios [34]) Honduras (El Porvenir; Tela) Jamaica (Falmouth) Mexico (Tampico) Panama (Changuinola; Colón [4]; Cristóbal [240]; Gamboa [5]; Guabito; Guachapali [14]; Panama City [3]; Panama City [18, formerly No. 4], Panama City [Prospective Chapter]; Sixaola; Talamanca Valley [Bocas del Toro]) Puerto Rico (San Juan [45]) St. Kitts (Basseterre) St. Lucia (Castries) St. Vincent (Kingstown) Trinidad (Brother’s Road; Guaico [217]; Majuba/La Brea [283]; Penal; Siparia, St. Joseph; Tabaquite) U.S. Virgin Islands (St. Thomas [84]) The reports contained in the volume describe a mixture of joy and travail and give a flavor of what it was like for those who pledged their allegiance to the UNIA, and did so at times under extremely trying circumstances. Thus, the major highlight of the volume pertains to the brutal attempt at the suppression of the UNIA in the Dominican Republic, specifically in the southeastern port of San Pedro de Macorís, the capital of the sugar-growing xl
INTRODUCTION
area of the eastern part of the Dominican Republic. San Pedro de Macorís, located approximately one hour’s drive to the east of Santo Domingo, was founded in the late nineteenth century by Cubans fleeing their country’s War of Independence. They brought with them their extensive knowledge of sugarcane farming, which they turned eventually into the most important economic activity in the area. Crucially, the extensive labor force that the sugar industry relied upon rested on the supply of West Indian migrant laborers imported from the Leeward Islands in the eastern Caribbean. The West Indian community formed the bedrock of the UNIA in the Dominican Republic. The first quarter of the twentieth century saw sugar production reach its peak; it resulted from the high prices that sugar enjoyed on the international market as a consequence of the First World War. There was even a name given to this period of inflated sugar prices and consequent economic spectacle—la danza de los millones. The city of San Pedro de Macorís would also become renowned for its contribution of many outstanding athletes to Major League Baseball, with the town and its surrounding area supplying the greatest number of Major League players in the world, a large number of them direct descendants of West Indians who came as sugar-cane cutters. A very cosmopolitan urban center with many Europeans settling there and bustling with economic activity, San Pedro de Macorís became a magnet for people all over the eastern Caribbean, providing extremely fertile ground for recruitment and organizing effort by the UNIA. Crucially, this was also the period of U.S. military occupation of the Dominican Republic, which lasted eight years (1916–1924). Although the UNIA had come to San Pedro de Macorís in December 1919 (Division No. 26) and had operated with full approval from Dominican authorities, in September 1921 the U.S. military set out to crush its influence and all activities of the division. It did this by arresting and imprisoning most of its leaders and a good number of its members, and also by deporting several key leaders. Thus, more than a year and a half of peaceful and successful operation was suddenly ended in a nightmare of brutal repression and curtailment that would last for nine months (September 1921– June 1922) and eventually decapitate the movement. It represented the worst physical repression that the UNIA endured in its entire history. To try to resolve the problems that the local division was experiencing, Garvey despatched John Sydney de Bourg as its representative. Much of the present volume is taken up with correspondence between de Bourg and the U.S. Provost Marshal and between de Bourg and U.S. officials in Washington, D.C., and British officialdom. It was the contention of the local UNIA that the person responsible for instigating the repression was the British vice-consul, who was also a priest of the Episcopal Church, the Reverend Alexander Henry Beer. It was believed that Beer reported the UNIA to the American military authorities alleging that the British flag had been trampled upon by the parade of UNIA members celebrating the conclusion of the UNIA international convention,
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stopping in front of the vice-consul’s residence as it did so. The consequences would prove to be dire. Whatever the truth of the allegation coming from either side, the fact is that Beer was wearing the hat of British vice-consul and at the same time wearing a second hat as head of the Episcopal Church in the Dominican Republic. His pride as well as ire must have been severely wounded when several members of his congregation defected to form a separate independent Episcopal church. The move was obviously inspired by the example of the UNIA’s chaplain-general in New York, Rev. George Alexander McGuire, who, in April 1920, broke his earlier affiliation with the Reformed Episcopal Church and founded the Independent Episcopal Church as an independent black denomination incorporated under the statutes of New York. On 2 September 1921 a synod of the Independent Episcopal Church decided to reconstitute the church body as the African Orthodox Church (AOC), and McGuire was subsequently consecrated as its first bishop. If the putative action of the UNIA marchers had besmirched the dignity of the British Empire by the incident with the flag, his own leadership was being called into question by the defection of members of his flock. Sandwiched squarely between British imperial interests on one side and American rule on the other side, and at the mercy of local Dominican magistrates and police doing the bidding of both, the UNIA found itself struggling against not one but two imperialisms; members of the UNIA would now undergo a succession of extremely brutal measures meant to destroy its presence. The leadership of John Sydney de Bourg, who was himself at one stage in the process imprisoned and roughly handled by Dominican authorities, was all the more remarkable in representing the UNIA before the American military authorities as well as intervening in the several administrative hearings to plead the cause of the leaders and members who had been either arrested, deported, or imprisoned. It was an altogether remarkable performance by the UNIA representative, as the documents make clear, both in terms of the literary quality of his numerous submissions as well as intellectual brilliance of his legal arguments. Indeed, his indefatigable spirit, particularly for a man of his advanced years, was no less impressive. The political repression that was meted out to the UNIA in the Dominican Republic was of a kind and intensity that would not be experienced by the UNIA elsewhere in the Americas. Indeed, in its harshness it provided a foretaste and an inkling of the kind of brutal repression that would become synonymous with the dictator Rafael Trujillo, who ruled the Dominican Republic from February 1930 until his assassination in May 1961. It is interesting that one of the business partners of Trujillo in overseeing the importation of West Indian laborers to work on the dictator’s privately owned sugar plantations in the Dominican Republic was none other than the Reverend Alexander Beer, bête noire of the UNIA in the early twenties in San Pedro de Macorís. xlii
INTRODUCTION
Harsh conditions were also faced by the UNIA in eastern Cuba among members who were concentrated in places such as Preston, where they were at the mercy of United Fruit Company rule in what essentially were company-run towns. A similar situation obtained on farms of the United Fruit Company in Panama, in areas such as Guabito, a town in the Changuinola district of Bocas del Toro province, where the so-called military features of the UNIA were viewed as distinctly threatening and steps were taken by United Fruit Company managers to outlaw and suppress them. At the same time, there is also a report furnished by an official of the United Fruit Company of the remarkable success of the UNIA among supporters in Puerto Barrios, Guatemala. Amidst the extraordinary success of the early UNIA across the Isthmus of Panama, there were also strains that began to appear in the form of fractures among divisions in Colón and Panama City in 1921, with dissident factions splitting off and attempting to gain recognition from the parent body in New York by granting charters to start new divisions. However, reports contained in the volume describing the elaborate ceremony to mark the unveiling of the charter of the Guachapali chapter/division, and the presence of a large number of fraternal representatives of other UNIA divisions, impress one with the extensiveness of the planning and the resources that went into the preparation of the event. It is all the more remarkable to note that membership in one UNIA division in Panama exceeded 1,000. A series of incisive commentaries on the state of the UNIA and the evolution of its program would also emerge from the pen of one calling himself “Iconoclast” in the Workman in Panama. Another notable feature of the volume is the record it contains of the organizing activity of the secretary general of the UNIA in Dominica, J. R. Ralph Casimir. Given the number of divisions that Casimir organized in Dominica, and the efficiency and quality of their functioning and the regularity of their communication with the UNIA parent body, it would not be an exaggeration to say that Dominica represented the strongest outpost of the UNIA in the English-speaking Caribbean in the period covered in the present volume. Casimir was responsible for organizing not only the divisions in Dominica, but also in setting up divisions in Trinidad and supervising their functioning. In addition, he functioned as the communication hub for the UNIA division in St. Vincent, to which he provided encouragement and direction. The volume also contains reports of the rebuilding of the UNIA in St. Lucia amid the difficulties it encountered following the break with its original leader, Wilberforce Norville, and its subsequent reconstitution under new leadership. The volume also contains several important reports of the struggle waged by the UNIA to advance the cause of labor in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where the administration of the territories was in the hands of the U.S. Department of the Navy. In this context, the Negro World provided an important political platform for communicating the interests and the views of the labor movement
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and the leadership of D. Hamilton Jackson. Extensive letters and articles by Caspar Holstein and Hubert H. Harrison, key leaders of the Virgin Islands community in New York, are printed in the volume. One highlight of the volume is the reports of the rival African Blood Brotherhood, the New York–based group whose radical propaganda was confused by authorities in the Dominican Republic with that of the UNIA, which confusion only served to further complicate the already difficult situation faced by the UNIA in San Pedro de Macorís. In fact, it was hard to distinguish the leadership of the Brotherhood in San Pedro de Macorís from that of the UNIA. It required the determined intervention of John Sydney de Bourg to make explicit the separation between the two groups and to repudiate their connection totally. The connection between the UNIA and the African Blood Brotherhood was also close in Dominica, where J. R. Ralph Casimir was in active communication with both groups. Once the representatives of the Brotherhood were expelled by Garvey from the floor of the UNIA convention in New York in August 1921, the breach between the two organizations became not only absolute, but also intensely bitter. Powerful and intense as was the loyalty that supporters of Garvey in the Caribbean expressed, about which the volume provides eloquent testimony, the fact remains that it was the friendly society model that provided the foundation of the UNIA’s organizational success. The friendly society formed the template and bedrock of the institutional life of the UNIA, around which people in various communities found the means to continue the building of social and cultural bonds. At the same time, the strength of the UNIA’s devoted following confirms yet again the fact that the real homeland of the movement during these years of the early nineteen-twenties was in the Caribbean. There it attained a depth and a breadth of social outreach and cultural meaning that no other area of the black world equaled or could ever equal. That was because the name of the UNIA happened to be a new label for what people throughout the Caribbean and the wider Caribbean Diaspora knew and had been practicing for a long time prior to the advent of Garvey. In the changed political circumstances following the end of the First World War, to the extent that the aspirations of large numbers of people in the Caribbean and the Caribbean Diaspora became identified with and attached to the banner of the UNIA, the tradition of home grown independent organizing associated with the West Indian friendly society can be seen. It not only was what made the UNIA possible, but also it was what gave to it such a resonant West Indian identity. Two items of special cultural interest are worth noting as they appear in the present volume. The first pertains to the operation of the Barbados “Landship” in Panama and evidence of its association with the UNIA in that country. The second relates to the bomba dance phenomenon in Puerto Rico and the way that the scandal set off by its performance at an event held in San Juan divided opinion among the local leaders of the UNIA. It showed that the xliv
INTRODUCTION
leaders were not only susceptible to and caught up in the civilizing rhetoric of bourgeois cultural ideals of progress and respectability, but also were cognizant of forces from below that had the potential to disrupt the carefully policed boundaries of cultural discipline. Both sets of cultural expression, the “Landship” and the bomba, symbolically serve to express the tremendous diversity and richness of Caribbean popular culture as well as their imbrication, along with the Garvey phenomenon, forming part of a much larger cultural whole in the making of the Caribbean people.
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HISTORY OF THE EDITION The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) Papers Project formally began in June 1976 at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, under the sponsorship of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. The edition was transferred the following year to the Center for Afro-American Studies, University of California, Los Angeles. Since 1981 it has been affiliated with the university’s James S. Coleman African Studies Center under the sponsorship of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The project has also received generous supporting grants from the Ahmanson, Ford, Rockefeller, and UCLA Foundations.
THE PAPERS The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers is a multivolume edition organized along primarily geographical lines into three distinct but related series. The Main Series, published in seven volumes, covers Garvey’s life and the historical evolution of the UNIA in North America. The African Series comprises three volumes devoted to the expansion of the Garvey movement in sub-Saharan Africa and among Africans residing in the European colonial metropoles during the interwar years. These volumes also include the responses of European imperial and colonial governments to the challenge posed by the African Garvey movement. The Caribbean Series covers the movement in the territories of the Caribbean basin, including the Central American littoral and South American mainland. This tripartite structure of the edition reveals important differences in the Garvey movement’s development in the United States, Africa, and the Caribbean. Although there were areas of overlap among the three regions, particularly in terms of the diverse ethnic origin of the leaders and followers resulting from interregional migration within the Americas and Africa, each region exhibited sufficiently distinctive patterns of development to justify separate but interrelated presentations. The first two volumes of the Caribbean Series comprise over 1,000 of documents, spanning the years from 1911 to 1921. They chronicle the complex and varied responses to Garveyism on the part of Caribbean-based organizations as well as the actions taken by European colonial governments to xlvii
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defend their authority in response to the perceived threat of the Garvey phenomenon. The number of actual selected documents relating to each area appears in the following table; however, it is necessary to emphasize that many documents overlap, since they pertain to more than one particular area of interest:
DOCUMENTS BY COUNTRY Bahamas 24 Barbados 60 Bermuda 16 Brazil 3 British Guiana 56 British Honduras 71 Costa Rica 39 Cuba 111 Dominica 63 Dominican Republic 78 Grenada 27
Guatemala Haiti Honduras Leeward Islands Panama and Canal Zone Puerto Rico St. Lucia St. Vincent Trinidad and Tobago U.S. Virgin Islands Other Countries
8 20 6 51 167 14 22 35 67 19 123
Following a general plan entitled “The Organization of a System of External Contributions to an Editing Project: A Summary of Research Findings,” which the project prepared in 1985 for the African Series, it was decided that the complexity and diversity of the Caribbean Series required the expertise of established scholars in the specialized fields covered by the documents. Although final responsibility for accuracy and editorial consistency resided with the project, many of the specialized annotations explicating Caribbean historical figures, events, and place-names were entrusted to scholars of Caribbean history in the Caribbean, United States, and Europe. The imperatives of establishing and maintaining clear editorial guidelines, achieving a steady flow of communication with contributors, and creating adequate editorial procedures for evaluating and vetting the resultant contributions were achieved with a great deal of effort on the part of both the project and its contributors. The documents were divided primarily into regional or territorial groups and sent out to an initial group of scholars whom the project recruited to undertake the necessary annotation work. Consultants were also asked to prepare translations of the foreign-language documents that they were annotating as well as to write brief contextual essays, which appear in Volume XI under the caption “Historical Commentaries,” and which provide overviews of the historical impact of Garveyism within their respective areas. Most contributors worked from primary sources, some of which were provided by project research, resulting in a wealth of new historical findings that are here published for the first time. xlviii
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In order to evaluate the quality of the annotations, external peer reviewers selected by the project were invited to read all contributing scholars’ annotations and essays; to identify and correct errors and omissions; to supplement annotations and source notes when necessary; and to write reports assessing the quality and comprehensiveness of the submissions. The identity of peer reviewers was kept anonymous.
CONTRIBUTING SCHOLARS Peter Ashdown, St. Mary’s Hall, Brighton Patrick L. Baker, Mount Allison University O. Nigel Bolland, Colgate University Bridget Brereton, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine David Browne, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Marcelo Bucheli, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Marcia Burrowes, University of Warwick Kim D. Butler, Rutgers University Edward L. Cox, Rice University Juanita De Barros, University of Michigan Dario A. Euraque, Trinity College Helen Francis-Seaman Humberto Garcia-Muñiz, University of Puerto Rico Jorge L. Giovannetti-Torres, University of Puerto Rico Ronald N. Harpelle, Lakehead University
British Honduras Windward Islands British Honduras Trinidad and Tobago Barbados United Fruit Company
Barbados Brazil Grenada U.S. Virgin Islands Honduras Dominica Dominican Republic Dominican Republic Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, and the U.S. Canal Zone Alana Johnson, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Barbados Simon Jones-Hendrickson, University of the Virgin Islands Virgin Islands Greg LaMotta, National Archives and U.S. Virgin Islands Records Administration Michael Louis St. Lucia Marc McLeod, Seattle University Cuba Ira P. Philip Bermuda Brenda Gayle Plummer, University of Wisconsin Trinidad and Tobago Lara Elizabeth Putnam, University of Costa Rica Costa Rica Glen Richards, University of the West Indies, Mona Leeward Islands Reinaldo L. Roman, University of Georgia Puerto Rico D. Gail Saunders, Department of Archives, Bahamas Bahamas Cleve McD. Scott, University of the West Indies, St. Vincent and the Cave Hill Grenadines xlix
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS
Richard Smith World War I Melisse Thomas-Bailey, University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago St. Augustine Nigel Westmaas, Binghamton University British Guiana
EDITORIAL SELECTION, TRANSCRIPTION, AND ANNOTATION The Caribbean Series is composed of letters, speeches, and writings of Caribbean Garveyites and their opponents, as well as official UNIA documents and speeches by Marcus Garvey that have a direct bearing on the Caribbean. It also includes minute papers of officials; official correspondence and memoranda; government investigative records; legal documents; newspaper articles; and facsimiles of original documents. In the case of Caribbean newspaper articles, several of which were reprinted in the UNIA’s Negro World, every effort was made to search systematically for the original newspaper sources. In some cases, copies of the Caribbean newspapers have not survived or are impossible to locate. In keeping with its overall editorial principles, the policy of the project was to take the original newspaper sources, rather than the Negro World reprints, as the copy text wherever possible. The following table does not imply any hierarchy; it is merely a classification of included documents.
SELECTION OF DOCUMENTS BY CATEGORY Government correspondence 319 Organizational correspondence 105 Personal correspondence 78 Official Reports and Documents 80 Organizational Records and Documents 80 Speeches and Poetry 4 Articles, Letters, and Poetry Published in Newspapers: African 3 African-American 2 Caribbean 216 Negro World 147 White American 3 Other 3 Editorials and Notices Published in Newspapers: Caribbean 21 Negro World 3
l
EDITORIAL PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES I. ARRANGEMENT OF DOCUMENTS Documents are presented in chronological order according to the dates of authorship of the original texts. Enclosures and attachments to documents, however, appear with their original covering documents. For purposes of identification, enclosures are set in italic type in the table of contents. The publication dates of news reports, speeches, and periodical articles are given on the place and date lines within square brackets; dates of original composition or delivery, however, if available, chronologically supersede the dates of publication and are printed within double square brackets on the document’s place and date lines. Investigative or intelligence reports that give both the dates of composition and the periods covered by the reports are arranged according to the dates of composition. Documents that lack dates and thus require editorial assignment of dates are placed in normal chronological sequence. When no day within a month appears on a document, the document is placed after the last document specifically dated within that month. Documents that carry only the date of a year are placed according to the same principle. Documents that cover substantial periods, such as diaries, journals, and accounts, appear according to the dates of their earliest entries. When two or more documents possess the same date, they are arranged with regard to affinity with the subject of the document that immediately precedes them or that which immediately follows them.
II. FORM OF PRESENTATION Each document is presented in the following manner: A. A caption introduces the document and is printed in a type size larger than the text. Letters between individuals are captioned with the names of the individuals and their titles, which are included only on first appearances. When the title but not the name of a document’s author is known, the title alone is given. The original titles of published materials are retained with li
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS
the documents; however, the headlines of some news reports are abridged or omitted as indicated in the descriptive source notes. B. The text of a document follows the caption. The copy text of letters or reports is taken from recipients’ copies whenever possible, but in the absence of a recipient’s copy, a file copy of the letter or report is used. If the file copy is not available, however, and a retained draft copy of the letter is found, the retained draft copy is used as the basic text. File copies are referred to as copies or carbon copies in descriptive source notes. C. An unnumbered descriptive source note follows the body of each text. The descriptive source note describes the physical character of the document by means of appropriate abbreviations, such as TLS (typed letter signed). A complete list of these abbreviations may be found in the Descriptive Symbols section on page lxii. A repository symbol indicates the provenance of the original manuscript or, if it is rare, printed work. Printed sources are identified in the following manners: 1.
A contemporary pamphlet is identified by its full title, place and date of publication, and the location of the copy used.
2.
A contemporary article, essay, letter, or other kind of statement that appeared originally in a contemporary publication is preceded by the words “Printed in . . . ,” followed by the title, date, and, in the case of essays in magazines and journals, inclusive page numbers of the source of publication.
3.
A contemporary printed source reprinted at a later date, the original publication of which has not been found, is identified with the words “Reproduced from . . . ,” followed by the identification of the work from which the text has been reproduced in the volumes. Articles originally printed in Caribbean newspapers and reprinted in the Negro World, the originals of which have not been found, are identified in captions as coming from the Caribbean paper, with the Negro World source given in the descriptive source note.
Information on the special character or provenance of a document is also explained in the descriptive source note, as is any editorial intervention or elision regarding a document, such as “text abridged” or “headlines omitted.” D. Numbered textual annotations that elucidate the document follow the descriptive source note.
lii
EDITORIAL PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES
E. The following principles of textual annotation apply: 1. Individuals, organizations, and historical events are identified upon their first mention in the volumes, with additional information about them sometimes furnished upon their later appearance where such data provide maximum clarification. Pseudonyms are identified, wherever possible, by textual annotations. 2.
Elided material has in general been annotated, except in instances, such as diaries and some speeches, where it is clearly extraneous.
3.
Reasons for the assignment of dates to documents or the correction of document dates are explained in instances where important historical information is involved.
4.
Obscure allusions and literary or biblical references in the text are annotated whenever such references can be clarified or their source identified. Common or frequently cited biblical references are not annotated.
5.
Published and manuscript materials consulted during the preparation of textual annotations appear in parentheses at the end of each annotation, except when they are cited directly, in which case reference immediately follows the quotation. Research correspondence conducted by Garvey Papers project staff members is cited in annotations. Frequently used reference works are cited in abbreviated forms, a complete table of which may be found on pages lxii–lxiv.
III. TRANSCRIPTION OF TEXT Manuscripts and printed material have been transcribed from original texts and printed as documents according to the following principles and procedures: A. Manuscript Material 1.
The place and date of composition are placed at the head of the document, regardless of their location in the original. If the place or date of a manuscript (or both) does not appear in the original text, the information is editorially supplied and printed within square brackets, in roman type if certain, in italics if uncertain or conjectural. Likewise, if either the place or date is incomplete, the necessary additional information is editorially supplied within square brackets. Original superscript letters are brought down to the line of type, and terminal punctuation is deleted.
2.
In colonial government reports, investigative or intelligence reports, and other reports that were submitted on printed forms, the place and liii
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS
date are abstracted and placed at the head of each document, while the name of the reporting agent or government official, when available, is placed at the end of the document on the signature line. 3.
The signature, which is set in capitals and small capitals, is placed at the right-hand margin on the line beneath the text or complimentary close, with titles, where they appear, set in uppercase and lowercase on the line below. Terminal punctuation is deleted.
4.
When a file copy of a document bearing no signature is used to establish the text but the signatory is known, the signature is printed in roman type within square brackets.
5.
The inside address, or address printed on letterhead or other official stationery, is printed immediately below the text if historically significant and not repetitive.
6.
Endorsements, dockets, and other markings appearing on official correspondence, when intelligible, are reproduced in small type following the address, with appropriate identification. In the case of other types of documents, such as private correspondence, endorsements and dockets are printed only when they are significant. Printed letterheads and other official stationery are not reproduced. They are sometimes briefly described in the descriptive source note or, if they contain lengthy or detailed information, in an annotation.
7.
Minutes, enclosures, and attachments are printed immediately following their covering documents. Whenever they are not printed, this fact is recorded and explained. Whenever a transmission letter originally accompanying an enclosure or attachment is not printed, the omission is noted and the transmission document identified and recorded in the descriptive source note.
8.
Proper names that are spelled erratically in the original text are regularized or corrected upon their first appearance in a document by printing the correct form in square brackets after the incorrect spelling. In words other than proper names, corrections of spelling irregularities are made within the word and printed within square brackets; however, typographical or spelling errors that contribute to the overall character of documents are retained. Accent marks missing in the original text have not been added.
9.
Capitalization is retained as in the original. Words underlined once in a manuscript are printed in italics. Words that are underlined twice or spelled out in large letters or full capitals are printed in small capitals.
10. Punctuation, grammar, and syntax are retained as found in the original texts. Punctuation corrections that are essential to the accurate reading liv
EDITORIAL PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES
of the text are provided within square brackets. If, however, a punctuation mark appears in a document as a result of typographical error, it is corrected in square brackets or silently deleted. 11. All contractions and abbreviations in the text are retained. Abbreviations of titles or organizations used in document heads are identified in a list that appears on pages lxiv–lxvi. Persons represented in the text by initials only have their full names spelled out in square brackets after each initial on their first appearance, if we have been able to identify them. If we have not, this fact is noted in a textual annotation. 12. Superscript letters in the text are lowered and aligned on the line of print. 13. Omissions, mutilations, and illegible words or letters are rendered through the use of the following textual devices: a) Blank spaces in a manuscript are shown as [ ]. If the blank space is of significance or of substantial length, this fact is elaborated upon in a textual annotation. b) When a word or words in the original text must be omitted from the printed document because of mutilation, illegibility, or omission, the omission is shown by editorial comment, such as: [torn], [illegible], [remainder missing]. c) Missing items are restored in the printed document within square brackets. A question mark following the restoration indicates that it is uncertain or conjectural. 14. Additions and corrections made by the author in the original text are rendered as follows: a) Additions between the lines, or autograph insertions in a typewritten document, are brought onto the line of type and incorporated into the body of the text within diagonal lines // //. b) Marginal additions or corrections by the author are also incorporated into the printed document and identified by the words [in the margin] italicized in square brackets. Marginal notes made by someone other than the author are treated as endorsements and printed after the text of the document. c) Text deleted or altered in the original, as in a draft, is restored and indicated by canceled type at the place where the deletion or alteration occurs in the original text. If a lengthy deletion is illegible, this is indicated by the words [deletion illegible].
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS
15. When texts have been translated from other languages, capitalization and punctuation have generally been changed to reflect English usage. Foreign-language titles of organizations have been kept in their original language. A concentrated effort has been made to render the spirit as well as the letter of the original, with particular attention paid to tone, style, and level of language proficiency, since such matters can convey a number of historically relevant meanings. B. Printed Material Contemporary printed material is treated in the same manner as original texts and is transcribed according to the same editorial principles as manuscript material. When the same article, or versions of the same article, appear in both a Caribbean and a non-Caribbean newspaper or magazine, the copy text is taken from the Caribbean source, when available, with the non-Caribbean source, as well as any differences between the two versions, described in the descriptive source note. However, if the non-Caribbean version was published before the Caribbean, the non-Caribbean version is the copy text used. 1.
In the case of published letters, the place and date of composition are uniformly printed on the place and date line of the document, regardless of where they appear in the original, and placed within double square brackets. Elements that are editorially supplied are italicized.
2.
Newspaper headlines and subheads are printed in capital and small capital letters. Headlines are punctuated as they are in the original, but terminal punctuation is deleted, and they are reproduced in the printed document in as few lines as possible. If they are editorially abridged, this is indicated in the descriptive source note.
3.
Original small capitals are retained.
4.
Signatures accompanying published letters are printed in capitals and small capitals.
5.
Obvious typographical errors and errors of punctuation, such as the omission of a single parenthesis or quotation mark, are corrected and printed in roman type within square brackets. Typographical idiosyncrasies that reflect the page design of a magazine or newspaper article, such as the capitalization of the first word or words of an article, are silently regularized.
6.
In the case of a printed form with spaces to be filled in, spaces are indicated as in the original with the use of hairline rules. Handwritten or typewritten insertions are printed within diagonal lines // //.
lvi
TEXTUAL DEVICES [roman]
Editorial restoration of missing, mutilated, or illegible text. Correction of typographical errors in original manuscript or printed document. A question mark following a restoration or correction indicates that it is uncertain or conjectural. Also used to indicate known place and/or date of publication of a news report or periodical article, or known place and/or date of composition of a manuscript when the place and/or date is not given in the manuscript; or to identify unnamed individuals alluded to in text, or known signatory of a manuscript the text of which has been established on the basis of an unsigned file copy. When preceded by in the margin in italics, indicates marginalia brought into the line of type.
[italic]
Editorially assigned date and/or place of any document whose date and/or place of publication or composition is uncertain or conjectural. Editorial comment inserted in the text, such as [endorsement], [illegible], [remainder missing], [torn], [enclosure], [attachment], [in the margin].
[[roman]]
Known date and/or place of composition of a published letter, article, or news report, or delivery date of a speech, if publication date and/or place differs.
[[italic]]
Editorially assigned date and/or place of composition of a published letter, article, or news report, or delivery date of a speech, if publication date and/or place differs and date and/or place of composition or delivery is uncertain or conjectural.
//
Incorporation into the text of an addition or correction made above or below the line by author, or of autograph insertions made in typewritten original.
//
canceled
Textual matter that is canceled in the original.
[...]
Text editorially abridged.
[
Blank space in a document.
]
lvii
SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS REPOSITORY SYMBOLS The original locations of documents that appear in the text are described by symbols. The guide used for American repositories has been Symbols of American Libraries, 11th ed. (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1976). Foreign repositories and collections have been assigned symbols that conform to the institutions’ own usage. In some cases, however, it has been necessary to formulate acronyms. Acronyms have been created for private manuscript collections as well. REPOSITORIES AFRC
Federal Archives and Records Center, East Point, Georgia RG 163 Records of the Selective Service System (World War I)
AGCA
Archivo General de Centro América, Guatemala City, Guatemala
AHPC
Archivo Histórico Provincial de Camagüey RA Fondo Registro de Asociaciones
AHPSC
Archivo Histórico Provincial de Santiago de Cuba GP Fondo Gobierno Provincial
AHPVC
Archivo Histórico Provincial de Villa Clara RA Registro de Asociaciones
ANC
Archivo Nacional de Cuba RA Fondo Registro de Asociaciones
ANCR
Archivo Nacional de Costa Rica
AP
Atlanta Federal Penitentiary Records, AFRC
ATT
Hollis Burke Frissell Library, Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, Alabama
BA
Bermuda Archives
BAD
Belize Archives Department
BDA
Barbados Department of Archives GH Records of Government House lix
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS CZL-M
Canal Zone Library-Museum, Library of Congress
DAB/PRO Department of Archives, Nassau, Bahamas/Public Record Office DJ-FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Department of Justice, Washington D.C.
DLC
Library of Congress, Washington D.C.
DNA
National Archives and Records Administration, Washington D.C. RG 28
Records of the Post Office Department [POD]
RG 38
Records of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations [OCNO]
RG 54
Records of the Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering [BPISAE]
RG 55
Records of the Government of the Virgin Islands
RG 59
General Records of the Department of State
RG 60
General Records of the Department of Justice [DOJ]
RG 65
Records of the Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]
RG 84
Records of the Foreign Service Posts of the Department of State
RG 165
Records of the War Department General and Special Staffs [WDGS/WDSS]
RG 185
Records of the Panama Canal
RG 267
Records of the Supreme Court of the United States
IU
University of Ibadan Library, Ibadan, Nigeria
JA
Jamaica Archives, Spanish Town, Jamaica
MBZ
Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken, Gravenhage, Netherlands
MGPP
The Marcus Garvey & Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers Project
MU
University of Massachusetts Library, Amherst lx
SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS
NAG
National Archives of Guyana, Georgetown, Guyana GD Governor’s Despatches
NATT
National Archives Trinidad and Tobago, Port of Spain, Trinidad
NN-Sc
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library, New York
NP
Notoria Publica No. 2
SKNNA
St. Kitts and Nevis National Archives, Basseterre, St. Kitts
SVGNA
St. Vincent and the Grenadines National Archives
TNA: PRO The National Archives of the UK: Public Records Office BT
Board of Trade
CAB
Cabinet Office
CO
Colonial Office
FO
Foreign Office
KV
Records of the Security Service
WO
War Office
TNF
Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee
WNRC
Washington National Records Center, Suitland, Maryland RG 204
Records of the Pardon Attorney
MANUSCRIPT COLLECTION SYMBOLS AJG
Amy Jacques Garvey Papers, TNF
CP
Chancellor’s Papers, Oxford
CSO
Colonial Secretary’s Office, JA
HM
Herbert Macaulay Papers, IU
JEB
John E. Bruce Papers, NN-Sc
JRRC
J. R. Ralph Casimir Papers, NN-Sc
NAACP
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Papers, DLC
UCD
Universal Negro Improvement Association, Central Division Papers, NN-Sc
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS
WEBDB
W. E. B. Du Bois Papers, MU
DESCRIPTIVE SYMBOLS AD
Autograph document
ADI
Autograph document initialed
ADS
Autograph document signed
AL
Autograph letter
ALI
Autograph letter initialed
ALS
Autograph letter signed
AN
Autograph note
ANI
Autograph note initialed
ANS
Autograph note signed
PD
Printed document
TD
Typed document
TDI
Typed document initialed
TDS
Typed document signed
TG
Telegram
TGS
Telegram signed
TL
Typed letter
TLI
Typed letter initialed
TLS
Typed letter signed
TN
Typed note
TNI
Typed note initialed
TNS
Typed note signed
TTG
Typed telegram
TTGS
Typed telegram signed
ABBREVIATIONS OF PUBLISHED WORKS AM
Antigua Magnet
ANB
American National Biography lxii
SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS
ATOR
African Times and Orient Review
BI
Belize Independent
BM
Black Man
BMHS
Journal of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society
CD
Chicago Defender
Cl
Clarion, British Honduras
COL
Colonial Office List
CQ
Caribbean Quarterly
DA
Daily Argosy
DBH
Max Bissainthe. Dictionnaire de bibliographie Washington, D.C.: Scarecrow Press, 1951.
DCB
Bridget Brereton, Brinsley Samaroo, and Glenroy Taitt. Dictionary of Caribbean Biography, Volume One: Trinidad and Tobago. St. Augustine: Department of History/Institute of Caribbean Studies, University of the West Indies, 1998.
DC
Daily Chronicle, British Guiana
DC-D
Dominica Chronicle, Roseau, Dominica
DG
Daily Gleaner
DmG
Dominica Guardian
DNB
Dictionary of National Biography
DOCOL
Dominions Office and Colonial Office List
HJ
Handbook of Jamaica
JCH
Journal of Caribbean History
JHSN
Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria
JILAS
Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies
JLAS
Journal of Latin American Studies
JSH
Journal of Social History
LIBB
Leeward Islands Blue Book 1889–1945. Antigua, [1890]–1948.
LL
Labour Leader (Trinidad)
LLS
Supplement to the Labour Leader (Trinidad)
MGP
Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers lxiii
haitienne.
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS
NW
Negro World
NWCB
Negro World Convention Bulletin
NYAN
New York Amsterdam News
NYT
New York Times
OED
Oxford English Dictionary
P&O
Amy Jacques Garvey, ed. Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey. 2 vols. 1923, 1925. Reprint (2 vols. in 1). New York: Atheneum, 1992.
PS&H
Panama Star and Herald
PT
Plain Talk (Kingston, Jamaica)
SES
Social and Economic Studies
TrG
Trinidad Guardian
TrSG
Sunday Guardian (Sunday edition of TrG)
UM
Union Messenger
VSL
Voice of St. Lucia
WBD
Webster’s Bigraphical Dictionary
WI
West Indian
WIC
West Indian Crusader
WIP
Weekly Illustrated Paper
WWA
Who’s Who in America
WWCA
Who’s Who in Colored America
WWCR
Who’s Who of the Colored Race
WWJ
Who’s Who in Jamaica
WWW
Who Was Who
WWWA
Who Was Who in America
WWWJ
Who’s Who and Why in Jamaica
OTHER SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS Included are abbreviations that are used generally throughout annotations of the text. Standard abbreviations, such as those for titles and scholastic degrees, are omitted. Abbreviations that are specific to a single annotation appear in lxiv
SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS
parentheses after the initial citation and are used thereafter in the rest of the annotation. ABB
African Blood Brotherhood
ACL
African Communities League
ACLU
American Civil Liberties Union
AFL
American Federation of Labor
AOC
African Orthodox Church
APU
African Progress Union
ATLU
Antigua Trades and Labour Union
AWA
Antigua Workingmen’s Association
BPL
Barbados Progressive League
BSL
Black Star Line, Inc.
BWIR
British West Indies Regiment
CFLU
Colón Federal Labor Union
CL
Caribbean League
DBU
Dominica Brotherhood Union
DL
Democratic League
IWW
International Workers of the World
JPL
Jamaica Progressive League
LP
Labour Party
LUA
Labour and Unemployed Association (Belize)
MIS
Mutual Improvement Society (St. Kitts)
NAACP
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
NPC
Negro Progress Convention
PAC
Pan-African Congress
PNP
People’s National Party
RGA
Representative Government Association
R. P.
Republic of Panama
SPAO
Society of Peoples of African Origin
TUC
British Trade Union Congress lxv
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS
TWA
Trinidad Workingmen’s Association
UBA
Universal Benevolent Association
UFC
United Fruit Company, Bocas del Toro, Panama
UNIA
Universal Negro Improvement Association
UUU
Ulotrichian Universal Union
lxvi
CHRONOLOGY AUGUST 1921–AUGUST 1922 1921 1 August
Opening of the second UNIA international convention in New York; keynote speech is delivered by UNIA potentate Gabriel M. Johnson.
2 August
UNIA Roseau Division, Dominica, holds day-long events to celebrate the anniversary of Emancipation in the West Indies.
4 August
Garvey delivers official convention report; writes official letter to President C. D. B. King of Liberia regarding UNIA’s proposed plan of colonization in that country.
7 August
UNIA Divisions from Florida and Céspedes, Cuba, hold a joint meeting in district of Florida, Cuba.
10 August
UNIA convention holds Women’s Day.
14 August
UNIA Guachapali Division, Panama, is established.
15 August
African Blood Brotherhood head, Cyril V. Briggs, writes a letter to Garvey requesting a meeting with him. Secretary of State for the Colonies Winston Churchill issues a circular letter, requesting that the colonial governments consider the introduction of permanent legislation granting governors powers to arrest, detain, exclude, and deport undesirables.
18 August
UNIA Colón Division expels seven members for disloyalty.
ca. 18 August
J. R. Ralph Casimir returns to Dominica after a tour of Trinidad and is elected president of the UNIA Roseau Division.
ca. 20 August
Charter for Guachapali, Panama, Chapter N0. 14 is received. lxvii
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS
24 August
Due to the S.S. Kanawha’s disabled condition, its crew is forced to abandon ship in Antilla, Cuba.
25 August
Formal charges are raised against various UNIA executive officers and debated on the floor of the convention.
26 August
Delegates of the African Blood Brotherhood are physically routed from the floor of the UNIA convention.
28–29 August
The second Pan-African Congress meets in London.
30 August–2 Sept
The second Pan-African Congress continues in Brussels.
31 August
The Bureau of Investigation continues its investigation of Garvey for a possible Mann Act violation. Closing of the UNIA convention; Garvey delivers the closing address. Members of the San Pedro de Macorís UNIA division (No. 26) stage a parade on the streets of the town to celebrate the close of the UNIA; three days later a wave of brutal repression commences against officials of the group, involving arrests, deportation, and extended imprisonment.
August
At the UNIA convention in New York, Garvey introduces the African Redemption Fund, intended to “create working capital for the organization and to advance the cause for the building up of Africa.”
2 September
Bishop George Alexander McGuire leaves the Episcopal Church and establishes the African Orthodox Church in New York.
3 September
While the next day’s Sunday services were being prepared at the UNIA’s meeting hall in San Pedro de Macorís, American Marines enter it and arrest the president and all those present, seventeen in all, including women and three children; the hall is sealed after documents and other assets are confiscated.
4–5 September
The second Pan-African Congress continues in Paris.
7 September
The UNIA San Pedro de Macorís Division holds a public parade. Garvey launches an attack against W. E. B. Du Bois and the Pan-African Congress.
lxviii
CHRONOLOGY
10–11 September
The UNIA head office refuses application to establish another UNIA branch led by expelled members in Colón, Panama. Fourteen members of the UNIA in San Pedro de Macorís are arrested and tried in Dominican civil courts for operating unlawfully.
ca. 16–17 September Members of the San Pedro de Macorís Division are found guilty. The American Provost Marshall orders thirteen of them to be re-confined awaiting action upon request for their deportation. 19 September
With the support of the UNIA, Caribbean immigrant laborers detained in Santiago, Cuba, protest their detention.
24 September
Garvey sends Eduardo V. Morales to represent the BSL in recovery of the S.S. Kanawha in Antilla, Cuba.
28 September
Bishop McGuire is consecrated a bishop of African Orthodox Church.
30 September
The UNIA commissioner to Cuba arrives in Antilla, Cuba, from New York.
10 October
The UNIA Manati Division, Cuba, holds day-long events to celebrate the anniversary of Cuban national independence.
22 October
John Sydney de Bourg arrives in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, by way of Puerto Rico; he visits San Pedro de Macorís and begins corresponding and meeting with the U.S. military governor and administrators regarding the status of UNIA prisoners.
25 October
Bishop McGuire resigns as chaplain-general of the UNIA.
31 October
The trial of Garvey for libel against Cyril V. Briggs, whom Garvey accused of being a “Negro for convenience” by virtue of Briggs’s light-skinned complexion.
4 November
Six British citizens are arrested in a raid on the San Pedro de Macorís UNIA.
12 November
The U.S. military governor of the Dominican Republic denies the petition issued by the UNIA for the reversal of punishment of UNIA members. lxix
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS
ca. 17 November
Bishop McGuire abandons his allegiance to the UNIA and joins the UNIA’s archrival, the African Blood Brotherhood.
20 November
John Sydney de Bourg visits the UNIA Consuelo Division. The UNIA Guachapali Division, Panama, unveils its charter and installs officers.
22 November
Of the UNIA members arrested in San Pedro de Macorís, four are deported, eight are released, and one remains in detention. Casper Holstein founds the Virgin Islands Congressional Council to lobby U.S. Congress in support of extending political rights to the Virgin Islands.
November
D. Hamilton Jackson takes over leadership of the St. Croix Labor Union from rival Ralph de Chabert, after the union suffers a crushing defeat by sugar planters.
ca. 1 December
A meeting of the UNIA Camagüey Division, Cuba, is raided by police and forcibly disbanded.
2 December
Deported members of the UNIA San Pedro de Macorís Division arrive in St. Kitts, where they spend several days at the quarantine station before being permitted to land. One member subsequently departs for New York, while three remain in St. Kitts.
20 December
One member of the UNIA San Pedro de Macorís Division is arrested in connection with his testimony against an immigration officer.
December
The British government sends a commission under Colonel E. F. L. Wood to assess demands for reform in the West Indies.
1922 ca. 5 January
A UNIA exhibition of native art, mechanical ingenuity, and industry held in British Honduras, is reportedly attended by the governor and people throughout the colony.
10 January
The court Orders Garvey to appear for alleged violation of United States Criminal Code Section 215. Military authorities raid the school administered by the UNIA in San Pedro de Macorís. lxx
CHRONOLOGY
12 January
Garvey is arrested and charged with fraudulent use of the U.S. mail, and is held on a $2,500 bond pending presentation of the case to a federal grand jury.
15 January
The federal grand jury indicts Garvey et al. for violation of United States Criminal Code Section 215.
19 January
The local colonial administrator recommends to the Department of Justice and Public Instruction, Dominican Republic, that all members of the UNIA and the African Blood Brotherhood be deported, and their newspapers and documents be banned from circulation.
January–February
John Sydney de Bourg negotiates with plantation owners on behalf of laborers in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and with U.S. military administrators for the return of confiscated UNIA property.
16 February
Federal grand jury indicts Garvey, Elie Garcia, George Tobias, and Orlando M. Thompson for violation of United States Criminal Code Section 215. John Sydney de Bourg is arrested in the Dominican Republic on charges of disobeying prohibition of public UNIA meetings and selling BSL stock; he is subsequently tried and sentenced to either a $300 fine or five months in prison.
February
The British commission to the West Indies releases its findings in the Wood Report, laying the basis for a modified constitutional order in the form of limited elected representatation in Grenada, Trinidad, Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and the Leewards.
2 March
The military governor of the Dominican Republic grants John Sydney de Bourg’s appeal and orders that the amount of the fine paid by the accused be returned to him.
14 March
The general of the U.S. Marines recommends to the military governor that the UNIA and African Blood Brotherhood be prohibited from operating in the Dominican Republic.
21 March
James M. Halley, the last UNIA member held in San Pedro de Macorís, is released from prison after spending six months and nineteen days in confinement; he is allowed to remain in the Dominican Republic.
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS
The military governor of the Dominican Republic authorizes Dominican civil authorities to formulate special regulations and supervision over the UNIA and African Blood Brotherhood operations. April
UNIA British Guiana Division petitions colonial government to remove prohibition on the Negro World.
early May
The Honduran president decrees obstacles to importation of black (Afro-Caribbean) labor; in response, the United Fruit Company devises strategies for transferring surplus non-black laborers from Nicaragua and Costa Rica to Honduras.
4 June
Virgin Islanders living in New York hold a mass meeting in St. Mark’s Hall to protest conditions under Naval Department rule.
15 June
Garvey obtains legal divorce from his first wife, Amy Ashwood, in Jackson County, Missouri.
25 June
Garvey meets with the acting imperial wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, Edward Young Clarke, in Atlanta, Georgia.
6 July
The governor of British Guiana recommends to secretary of state for the colonies that the colonial government lift the prohibition of the Negro World in that colony.
ca. 8 July
Garvey announces at a Liberty Hall meeting that he intends to ask for the resignation of all the UNIA and BSL officers at the coming convention of the UNIA.
ca. 11 July
John Sydney de Bourg visits the UNIA San Juan Division, Puerto Rico, amidst leadership controversies.
27 July
Garvey marries his personal secretary, Amy Jacques, in Baltimore.
1 August
The opening of the third UNIA International Convention in New York.
2 August
Garvey asks the convention to impeach J. D. Gibson and A. F. Johnson for dishonesty.
7 August
The impeachment trial of Adrian F. Johnson begins.
11 August
The Bureau of Investigation reports rumors that G. E. Stewart and Fred A. Toote will resign from the UNIA. Twenty-seven people are arrested at Almirante, Panama, for wearing the banned military attire of the Universal African Legion. lxxii
CHRONOLOGY
ca. 12 August
The Unionist Party newspaper, La Democracia, partly supported by the UNIA, protests the performance of the Afro-Puerto Rican dance, the bomba, at a dinner gala held at the elite Union Club in San Juan, declaring that it does not reflect black civic life and culture in Puerto Rico.
23 August
The impeachment trial against Rev. J. W. F. Eason (“Leader of American Negroes”) begins on the floor of the UNIA convention.
lxxiii
Central and South America
lxxiv
AUGUST 1921
“100% Negro” to the Negro World [[Balboas Canal Zone, Isthmus of Panama, ca. 6 August 1921]]
GREETING FROM PANAMA Sir:— My heart being full with overflowing joy, I am compelled to write you this letter at this time. After reading for some weeks my own Bible, which is “The Negro World,” it has placed me in such a determined condition of mind that I cannot keep still. Noble leader; your voice of calling has reached my ears with its full force, and I am now trying to answer in some way or other, though feeble it may be. I desire to report myself to you as a true-hea[rt]ed, full-blooded Negro, one who hails from the island of Jamaica, one who has sacrificed his early years as a soldier for ten years and one who has always felt willing to assist in any cause which would uplift the Negro race. As a British soldier I was taught the way to obey the bugle calls of England. I was taught the way to march and keep in line. I was taught the way to signalize; and more than all, thank God, I was taught the way to fight and, as the time is fast approaching when our own race will need her soldiers to fight, and her signalers to perform her own duties, I am now offering my services to the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L. and to the Black Star Line Steamship Corporation, in any way whatsoever that said services of mine may be utilized. In other words, I desire by this action, to give the proverbial widow’s mite for the good and welfare of our race. With regard to our Fatherland and Motherland, sweet Africa, which is laden with her bounteous wealth, ready to bestow them on the scattered seed of Ham, I have lived there for three years and have had a taste of the refreshing waters that flow through her wonderful streams. Africa! Oh bleeding Africa, with her children crying out against oppression, must be set free at any cost. As we have read where God once rained down manna from heaven to feed the children of Israel, so may we hold a strong belief that if he is to rain manna again, it will be to feed us children of Africa on our march for deliverance from Caucasian bondage. Although I am not educated nor trained, I feel confident that the little I can do will assist the cause in some way or other. I am a rive[t]er, a bucker-up, a heater—one who worked from the beginning on the Lock Gates of the Panama Canal to their completion. With regard to wireless telegraphy, I have had no experience with it, but it would take me but a little time to pick it up, as I already have the telegraphic code in my head. I sincerely hope that my offer will be accepted to serve in one way or another.
3
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS
Before closing I would like to ask you to entreat the Almighty God to grant you that portion of wisdom and understanding that King Solomon had so that you may be able to lead your people with might and right, because when a race is forced through oppression to talk or to fight, they are going to fight with the spirit of the very devil in them, figuratively speaking. Cheer up, noble leader! cheer up! the sky is signalling; reinforcements are fast appearing, and victory will be ours ere long. Let me remind you once more not to forget my offer as I am very anxious to do something for the benefit of my race. At times when my eyes behold the oppression meted out to our people by the white man, I feel like an angry bull facing a red flag. And now, courageous leader, may God bless you. Long may you live to triumph and stand up for the people of the Negro race. May you never grow weary in passing the words of command, “Forward, March to Victory, Ye Oppressed People of Ethiopia.” And you may rest assured that as long as you will give the word of command, there are millions ready to obey. Thanking you in advance for your kind attention, and hoping to hear from you in a very short time, I remain, your 100% Negro. [Addressed to:] Our Most Honorable President and Mr. Marcus Garvey, Savior of Our Race— Printed in NW, 6 August 1921.
Article in the Negro World [[St. Lucia, ca. August 6, 1921]]
SAINT LUCIA U.N.I.A. The St. Lucia Division is plodding along beset with difficulties.1 The Norville faction2 behaves like the proverbial fox and the grapes. Finding they are out of it, they try every means in their power to injure the interests of the U.N.I.A.3 Our leader, Mr. Tobitt,4 has come off for a full share of their revilings, and even the Hon. Marcus Garvey, at one time their idol, has come off with a certain measure of contempt. But in spite of it the officers and members of the division are doing their bit. We have started the membership drive and secured 33 members in one week . . . We are drawing unto us gradually the intelligent and cultured men of our community.5 Our funds are not at expenses. The charter6 frame alone cost over $20, and we have bought an organ to enliven our meetings. We have musical talent among us, and we are never hard up for an organ[ist] (male or female). We have started a company to deal in grocery and dry goods and hope to start operations next week. Death, however, has paid us a visit. Mr. Joseph Lacorbiniere, our chairman of the Trustee Board, died on 4
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS
Before closing I would like to ask you to entreat the Almighty God to grant you that portion of wisdom and understanding that King Solomon had so that you may be able to lead your people with might and right, because when a race is forced through oppression to talk or to fight, they are going to fight with the spirit of the very devil in them, figuratively speaking. Cheer up, noble leader! cheer up! the sky is signalling; reinforcements are fast appearing, and victory will be ours ere long. Let me remind you once more not to forget my offer as I am very anxious to do something for the benefit of my race. At times when my eyes behold the oppression meted out to our people by the white man, I feel like an angry bull facing a red flag. And now, courageous leader, may God bless you. Long may you live to triumph and stand up for the people of the Negro race. May you never grow weary in passing the words of command, “Forward, March to Victory, Ye Oppressed People of Ethiopia.” And you may rest assured that as long as you will give the word of command, there are millions ready to obey. Thanking you in advance for your kind attention, and hoping to hear from you in a very short time, I remain, your 100% Negro. [Addressed to:] Our Most Honorable President and Mr. Marcus Garvey, Savior of Our Race— Printed in NW, 6 August 1921.
Article in the Negro World [[St. Lucia, ca. August 6, 1921]]
SAINT LUCIA U.N.I.A. The St. Lucia Division is plodding along beset with difficulties.1 The Norville faction2 behaves like the proverbial fox and the grapes. Finding they are out of it, they try every means in their power to injure the interests of the U.N.I.A.3 Our leader, Mr. Tobitt,4 has come off for a full share of their revilings, and even the Hon. Marcus Garvey, at one time their idol, has come off with a certain measure of contempt. But in spite of it the officers and members of the division are doing their bit. We have started the membership drive and secured 33 members in one week . . . We are drawing unto us gradually the intelligent and cultured men of our community.5 Our funds are not at expenses. The charter6 frame alone cost over $20, and we have bought an organ to enliven our meetings. We have musical talent among us, and we are never hard up for an organ[ist] (male or female). We have started a company to deal in grocery and dry goods and hope to start operations next week. Death, however, has paid us a visit. Mr. Joseph Lacorbiniere, our chairman of the Trustee Board, died on 4
AUGUST 1921
Sunday the 3rd of this month, after an illness of about five weeks. Mr. Lacorbiniere was one of those members who fought hard to throw off the yoke of Norvilism. He was an energetic officer, and though ill during most of the time attended meetings regularly. The U.N.I.A. extends to his bereaved family their sincere sympathy, and hopes Almighty God will comfort them in their sad bereavement. R. I. P. EPHRAM J. DESER General Secretary Printed in NW, 6 August 1921. 1. The tone of this article markedly contrasts with the optimism that buoyed the division at its first launching in November 1920 under the leadership of Wilberforce Norville. The intense factional rivalry that had erupted over the previous months and that had been played out in public undoubtedly was a great setback for the UNIA, which struggled to rebuild its membership and probably its image after a second launching. Most of the difficulties could be attributed to the ousting of the founders of the St. Lucia division only months after it unveiled its charter. Opponents, who viewed the leadership and direction of the body with displeasure, and probably with apprehension as well, saw Norville and his associates as “wild enthusiasts” who created a threat to the acceptance of the UNIA in St. Lucia through the use of unnecessarily disruptive tactics in the community. By March 1921 there was already a change in the presidency. It is not clear how the change was achieved, although from the continued wrangling revealed here, it is unlikely that Norville and his team gave up their positions voluntarily. Some reorganization undoubtedly followed, however, as is implied by the existence of an advisory board under the chairmanship of a Dr. E. Duncan (VSL, 16 March and 18 May 1921). 2. The reference to the “Norville faction” indicates that internal struggles between followers of Wilberforce Norville and those who had replaced him remained unabated for months. While the change in presidency took place between February and March of that year, by August the situation had hardly improved. What emerges from the complaints is that the persons labelled “wild enthusiasts” did not disappear quietly from the scene and continued to be a thorn in the side of the local UNIA branch. 3. A notice which first appeared in the 15 June edition of the Voice of Saint Lucia, and which was still in publication through the month of August, warned the public against purchasing or having any business dealing with “Property No. 7 Broglie Street” in Castries, which, the notice explained, “though purchased by W. O. Norville in his name, really belongs to the St. Lucia Division of the UNIA and ACL, it having been purchased with the funds of the said Association as was stated by Mr. Norville himself in the 1st District Court.” The notice was dated 13 June 1921 at Castries and signed by Job E. James, president, St. Lucia division of the UNIA and ACL (VSL, 15 June 1921). 4. Rev. Richard H. Tobitt, leader of the Eastern West Indies province of the UNIA, visited St. Lucia on 9 June 1921. His hosts attached great importance to a visit that undoubtedly addressed the ongoing crisis in the local division. Tobitt first had a meeting with the advisory board at the association’s hall. Then he held a public meeting in the Good Shepherd Society’s Hall where he addressed a large gathering of “members and friends of the Association.” He explained the aims and principles of the movement and “removed the wrong impression” given by the unguarded remarks of some members. The visitor “further decided the vexed question which nearly nipped the Association in the bud,” and not unexpectedly, “made it perfectly clear that the recognized members of the U.N.I.A. in St. Lucia are those under the leadership of Mr. Job E. James as President” (VSL, 15 June 1921). 5. This comment implies that the members of the previous group were possibly not of the right educational and social standing to lead an organization of this nature. This might explain the formation of an advisory board under the chairmanship of Dr. Duncan—a person with the requisite social status. The association earlier said that the “recent leaders” had already proved their fitness to undertake management of the division (VSL, 18 May 1921). 6. The leadership earlier staged another “Unveiling of the Charter” ceremony, presumably to indicate a complete break with the previous group. The unveiling took place on 15 May 1921 in their hall located at Morne Dudon Road. The program replicated the first unveiling ceremony at Liberty Hall held on 7 November 1920 under then-president Norville. Presiding over the ceremony
5
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS was the chairman of the advisory committee, Job E. James. A violin and organ led a choir of about ten voices, and Julian Theobalds rendered “a fine violin solo.” Job James, Dr. E. Duncan, and another officer, S. O. Thompson, addressed the audience, and the president’s daughter, Pearla James, unveiled the charter. No mention was made of the previous unveiling held just a few months before. The writer of the report referred to it in passing in an apologetic manner: “One could not help feeling it a pity that those who first attempted to lead the Association here failed to grasp the true meaning of its object and consequently led along wrong lines” (VSL, 18 May 1921).
Henry O. Mattos to the Negro World [[Havana, Cuba, August 7, 1921]]
A MESSAGE FROM CUBA Sir— Please permit a space in your most valuable paper. When I observe the more rapid and steady growth of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, I am curious to know what has the Negro to fear, and why should he doubt himself. If we as a race would recall our hard years of toil, if we as a race could but see the vast increase of what such toil has procured to every one else but the Negro, we would decide that the Negro has no reason whatever to be contented. The Negro discontented cries the world over; “Give me liberty or give me death.” Liberty to have my full share in the sunlight of Africa, or death, rather than to breach our most determined vow. Let us take Ireland, for instance, that nation, though in her years of struggle for her freedom, we cannot but admit, that they as a white nation have more chances more of a sunlight than the Negro. And if that nation with her better chances, if they with their better recognition can strike the blow for their freedom; I fail to see why the Negro should doubt and cringe. We have outlived the age of standing still and have entered the moving age, the age of reconstruction, even the reconstruction of an African Empire. Arise and shine ye Sons and Daughters of Ethiopia for thy light has come. Now that Mr. Marcus Garvey has returned to the United States of America, I am curious to know from the Doctors of Deceit, the meaning of an undesirable alien. The Hon. Marcus Garvey did not only return to the States, but at sea sent messages of his return, which shows his permission to return and that he was on schedule. There is an old saying that a half educated man is much more troublesome to deal with than the uneducated. But where the knockers of Garveyism are concerned, we find the educated the more dangerous. An educated man plus deceit is the most desperate being on God’s earth to get along with; and when highly tensioned with deceit he has a tendency to believe he is walking on the marbles of Heaven. But, as they can’t fool the people all the time, their dice are sure to turn against them. HENRY O. MATTOS Printed in NW, 20 August 1921.
6
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS was the chairman of the advisory committee, Job E. James. A violin and organ led a choir of about ten voices, and Julian Theobalds rendered “a fine violin solo.” Job James, Dr. E. Duncan, and another officer, S. O. Thompson, addressed the audience, and the president’s daughter, Pearla James, unveiled the charter. No mention was made of the previous unveiling held just a few months before. The writer of the report referred to it in passing in an apologetic manner: “One could not help feeling it a pity that those who first attempted to lead the Association here failed to grasp the true meaning of its object and consequently led along wrong lines” (VSL, 18 May 1921).
Henry O. Mattos to the Negro World [[Havana, Cuba, August 7, 1921]]
A MESSAGE FROM CUBA Sir— Please permit a space in your most valuable paper. When I observe the more rapid and steady growth of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, I am curious to know what has the Negro to fear, and why should he doubt himself. If we as a race would recall our hard years of toil, if we as a race could but see the vast increase of what such toil has procured to every one else but the Negro, we would decide that the Negro has no reason whatever to be contented. The Negro discontented cries the world over; “Give me liberty or give me death.” Liberty to have my full share in the sunlight of Africa, or death, rather than to breach our most determined vow. Let us take Ireland, for instance, that nation, though in her years of struggle for her freedom, we cannot but admit, that they as a white nation have more chances more of a sunlight than the Negro. And if that nation with her better chances, if they with their better recognition can strike the blow for their freedom; I fail to see why the Negro should doubt and cringe. We have outlived the age of standing still and have entered the moving age, the age of reconstruction, even the reconstruction of an African Empire. Arise and shine ye Sons and Daughters of Ethiopia for thy light has come. Now that Mr. Marcus Garvey has returned to the United States of America, I am curious to know from the Doctors of Deceit, the meaning of an undesirable alien. The Hon. Marcus Garvey did not only return to the States, but at sea sent messages of his return, which shows his permission to return and that he was on schedule. There is an old saying that a half educated man is much more troublesome to deal with than the uneducated. But where the knockers of Garveyism are concerned, we find the educated the more dangerous. An educated man plus deceit is the most desperate being on God’s earth to get along with; and when highly tensioned with deceit he has a tendency to believe he is walking on the marbles of Heaven. But, as they can’t fool the people all the time, their dice are sure to turn against them. HENRY O. MATTOS Printed in NW, 20 August 1921.
6
AUGUST 1921
Percival C. James, General Secretary, UNIA Céspedes Division, to the Negro World [[Céspedes, Cuba, August 7, 1921]]
REPORT OF U.N.I.A. MASS MEETING HELD AT FLORIDA, CUBA The seventh day of August is set apart as a red letter day in the annals of the Florida Division of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L. The Cespedes Division of the above mentioned society, seeing the coldness of the friends of Florida, resolved to help them by going to Florida in a campaign; they made good preparations to go, and on Sunday, August 7, the proceedings were as follows: At 7.30 p.m. the president of the Florida Division, Mr. Alfred Wite, took the chair and called the meeting to order. The chaplain of the Florida Division, in the usual constitutional way, brought the evening’s engagements into operation. The president in the chair extended a right hearty welcome to all the officers and members of the Cespedes Division. He said: “Friends of the Florida Division, to show your gratitude to the friends from Cespedes, give three cheers for the male and lady presidents, three cheers for all the officers present, and three cheers for all the members for their patriotic visit.” This was heartily responded to by all the Florida friends, which looked indeed graceful. The president of Florida made a short speech showing how graceful it looks to see the two divisions united, and he said, “I hope it may so transpire that the Florida Division may be so enthused that soon we may return this visit to Cespedes.” With more brief sentiments he closed his opening address: short, but very rich. The program from Cespedes was now open, and Mr. S. J. Williamson, president of the Cespedes Division, was called to address the meeting. He started by addressing the chair and officers of the Florida Division. Then turning to the audience said: “Ladies and gentlemen of Florida, greeting. It gives me great pleasure to stand in your midst to say a word for the uplift of this our grand racial and universal movement. Looking around on the bright faces it makes me feel as if we were on the way to Liberia, the land of ours by moral and divine rights. (Cheers.) Our visit here tonight is based on patriotism, and I must say to you all as members of our beloved race (whether active or inactive) to fall in and do your best and with the help of our noble leader, the Hon. Marcus Garvey, we are bound to win our cause. Ladies and gentlemen, I cannot say much more, for the time is short, and I have some more big guns to discharge.” He brought his speech to a close with good applause. The next on the program was a song from the choir of the Cespedes Division, “Come, Ye Children, Harken Unto Me,” under the leadership of our worthy instructor, Mr. J. W. Bayne[s], first vice-president of the Cespedes Division. Mr. Allan Williamson was next called. He gave a warm address on our 7
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS
great leader, the Hon. Marcus Garvey. This was just warm enough to open the house for warmer enthusiasm and patriotic addresses. Mr. J. W. Baynes, first vice-president of the Cespedes Division, was then called on to address the meeting. He, in his master tone, addressed the chair in a very excellent style and to the audience he said: “Brothers and sisters of this our beloved race, I congratulate you for your presence here tonight. We are gathered here tonight for a patriotic purpose—to strengthen each other in our great racial and universal movement.” He pointed their attention on the word “watch,” and from each letter of this given word, he made up his speech. Companions and Habits were taken from the two last letters of the given word and from all these he built up a wonderful speech [that] lasted for fully 20 minutes. The reader must be convinced that what is left out of a 20-minute speech is great. He closed with loud cheers at each end of a sentence. In a very distinguished tone the lady secretary of the Cespedes Division rendered a song, “Come, O Come With Me Where Love Is Beaming.” Mrs. Williamson, in her usual harmonious tone, chanted the beautiful song, cheering and satisfying all present. Mr. J. Miller, an ex-teacher and member of the Cespedes Division, was next called to say something for the uplifting of our race. In a most eloquent style he addressed the chair and audience, and in a short and effective address he made the friends to understand what he knew of Garveyism. He said if we be loyal and true to ourselves and follow our leader, Hon. Marcus Garvey, by next summer we are bound to be in Africa. The lady secretary of Florida was next called to render a song. She came on the stage and the beautiful song, “Boy of Ethiopia” was harmoniously delivered. The lady president of the Florida Division was called and she in her usual bold and lively tone, built up a lovely speech showing to her young companions the rights of being a member of the U.N.I.A. The choir of the Cespedes Division rendered an anthem, “Seeking the Lost.” At this point the chairman requested that the house stand and sing “Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus,” during which time the collection was taken up. The organizer and treasurer of Cespedes, Mr. C. S. McKenzie, came on the stage. He addressed the chair and officers most honorably. His speech was very interesting. He told the friends how we are launching into a new sphere of life, viz: a social, political, educational and industrial world, and in order to rank among those that are up in the sphere of modernism we must contribute to the construction loans and the steamship corporation. In closing he said: Sound the loud timbrels o’er Afric’s dark sea, Jehovah has triumphed, the Negroes are free.
8
AUGUST 1921
Now came an event that baffled all description. It was little Princess Louise, the child of the lady president of Cespedes Division. This little one gave a recitation in the Spanish language, she being the only one on the program that rendered a piece in Spanish; it was highly appreciated. The secretary of the Florida Division was next called. He gave a fairly good address and urged the friends to remember the convention fund, as the convention was still on. With much more good sentiment he made a good speech. Mr. George S. Richards, a member of the Cespedes Division, was next called. He gave a real panegyric address and he told how we should look on this movement as honorable, for its basis is honest, and that other movements, organized and general, prove a failure because their leaders are personal aggrandizers of these different movements. He made a fairly good speech and closed with cheers at the end of each sentence. A duet was sung by Mr. C. C. Nufville and Mrs. Nufville. The chaplain of Cespedes division, Mr. Charles Harrison, in his usual pastor-like form, delivered a real patriotic address. In part of his speech he said:— Ladies and gentlemen, it gives me pleasure to stand and say a word for the betterment of our race. I think I hear the clamoring of throngs in convention, planning the prosperity of our future destiny. I think I see the Hon. Marcus Garvey walking in the metropolis of New York, claiming the famous title of the greatest statesman the world has ever seen. With these and much more noble sentiments he built up a speech which was cheered at the end of each sentence. Sister Thomas, a member of the Florida division, and one of the leaders of the Salvation Army, was now called. She started brilliantly to outline the facts of Negro ancestors and religiously pointed out according to the fulfillment of the Scriptures that Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hands and the time has come when she must stretch her hands and call the 400,000,000 Negroes of the world. At this point of her speech she was interrupted by the entrance of a policeman, who asked for credentials for permission to keep a public entertainment in the town according to the laws of the Cuban Government. One was given to him and not being satisfied he asked for another which, after a short delay, was handed to him, still unsatisfied, he took the name of the president of the Florida division and charged him with a breach of the Cuban law. This caused a little excitement among the friends, but by the strong courage of the officers of the Cespedes and Florida divisions, all was soon calm. After the policeman had left the house all stood and sang, “O God, Our Help in Ages Past.” We stood the persecution very heroically, and we went on with our program.
9
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS
The general-secretary of Cespedes was now called to address the meeting. He started by extending a right hearty welcome to the friends of the Florida division and went right into the details of Negro history. He expressed very strongly the fact that the great men of our race rank among the greatest in the annals of the world. He pointed out that the U.N.I.A. and the Black Star Line are the greatest and richest in the world. He showed how far ahead we are, and with a monthly savings of four and a half million dollars these associations are the greatest of all moral organizations in the world. Therefore invest your money in this great movement and you will in the near future be happy in your successful achievements, and when we reach over the top and Africa is set free, we must say, “Send the glad tiding o’er the sea; the chains are broken, the slaves are free. This is the Negro jubilee.” With thrilling applause he took his seat. A song was rendered by Miss Walters, “Softly and Low,” which was very harmoniously sung. Again little Princess Louise went on the stage and gave a recitation in English, which was very interesting. Dr. S. P. Radway was next on the stage, and in his usual magnetic style addressed the chair and officers of both divisions. He defined the area of Africa and the different portions of land held by the different powers of Europe, and the area of Liberia as the only standing free state that we can enter by. He said that the men that mean to go to Africa and do not make up their minds to die for freedom and right, had better die at once and get out of the way (cheers). He said, I am ready to take my racial oath to die for the liberation of Africa, so help me God. (Cheers.) At the close of his speech he said: Lives of great men all remind us, we can make our lives sublime, and in parting leave behind us, footprints on the sands of time.1 With long and prolonged cheers the orator took his seat. Our program was not finished, but owing to the train that had to convey the Cespedes friends home, was due at its usual hour, we brought the evening’s engagement to a successful close. The Ethiopian anthem was sung and the benediction brought the memorable campaign to a close with a collection of $6.80 as a proof of self sacrifice. PERCIVAL C. JAMES General-Secretary, Cespedes Printed in NW, 10 September 1921. 1. “Psalm of Life,” a poem in Voices of the Night, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, published in 1839 (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Poems and Other Writings, ed. J. D. McClatchy [New York: Library of America, 2000]).
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AUGUST 1921
Arthur Geo. Burkley to Osiris de Bourg Havana, Cuba, August 8th 1921 DEAR MR. DEBOURG:—
After having waited so long for your certificate I am pleased that I am able to enclose same to you. You will bear in mind that the New York office has got thousands of others in a like position to deal with weekly and that as a matter of fact some must wait for awhile until others have been served and of course you were one of these this time. However your long waiting I am sure has done nothing to weaken you[r] good will and love for the Negro Movement and it is necessary for me to call your attention to the fact that you have been absent from Liberty Hall for quite a while and that we are dependent upon your support in person as well as in cash for the furtherance of this movement for which your father is so worthily giving his very life. Surely you and your helpmate are not callous to [the] betterment of our race and that you both fully realize that it will be a real hard task to accomplish the complete unity of the race. But it can be done and we can only do it if you both will come down and help us with your brawn and you[r] brain. Kindly accept this invitation for you to come down and resume your place in the ranks of advancement for the welfare of the race. Thanking you in advance, I have pleasure to remain, Yours fraternally. ARTHUR GEO. BURKLEY [Addressed to:] Mr Osiris DeBourg. Santo Thomas #31.D. Cerro Havana NN-Sc, Sydney DeBourg Papers. TLS, on BSL, Division de Cuba, Aguiar 92, Departamento 18 letterhead.
N. C. Frederick et al., UNIA Majuba La Brea Division, to J. R. Ralph Casimir Majuba, La Brea1 //(//Trinidad//)// Division Charter 383 U.N.I.A. & A.C.L. 10th. August, 1921 We the Officers and Members of the Majuba La Brea Division of the U.N.I.A. & A.C.L. wish to inform you that it has been a great pleasure to us to be able to offer you our hospitality and we owe you this meed of thanks for the compliment you have paid us with your presence, and for the genial[i]ty and good 11
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Arthur Geo. Burkley to Osiris de Bourg Havana, Cuba, August 8th 1921 DEAR MR. DEBOURG:—
After having waited so long for your certificate I am pleased that I am able to enclose same to you. You will bear in mind that the New York office has got thousands of others in a like position to deal with weekly and that as a matter of fact some must wait for awhile until others have been served and of course you were one of these this time. However your long waiting I am sure has done nothing to weaken you[r] good will and love for the Negro Movement and it is necessary for me to call your attention to the fact that you have been absent from Liberty Hall for quite a while and that we are dependent upon your support in person as well as in cash for the furtherance of this movement for which your father is so worthily giving his very life. Surely you and your helpmate are not callous to [the] betterment of our race and that you both fully realize that it will be a real hard task to accomplish the complete unity of the race. But it can be done and we can only do it if you both will come down and help us with your brawn and you[r] brain. Kindly accept this invitation for you to come down and resume your place in the ranks of advancement for the welfare of the race. Thanking you in advance, I have pleasure to remain, Yours fraternally. ARTHUR GEO. BURKLEY [Addressed to:] Mr Osiris DeBourg. Santo Thomas #31.D. Cerro Havana NN-Sc, Sydney DeBourg Papers. TLS, on BSL, Division de Cuba, Aguiar 92, Departamento 18 letterhead.
N. C. Frederick et al., UNIA Majuba La Brea Division, to J. R. Ralph Casimir Majuba, La Brea1 //(//Trinidad//)// Division Charter 383 U.N.I.A. & A.C.L. 10th. August, 1921 We the Officers and Members of the Majuba La Brea Division of the U.N.I.A. & A.C.L. wish to inform you that it has been a great pleasure to us to be able to offer you our hospitality and we owe you this meed of thanks for the compliment you have paid us with your presence, and for the genial[i]ty and good 11
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feeling which you have contributed to make this movement a success[.] We also ask you to convey our greetings and best wishes to the Officer[s] and Members of the division you are so dear to. Although they are far from us yet we are with them in spirit and by the universal link through the efforts of the unshrinking work of the Hon’ble Marcus Garvey, and the Executive Officers of the Parent Body and you to lay the path-way for a glorious and redeemed “Africa” our Motherland. From men who pursue their peaceful ways aloof from the storm and gusty turmoil of political strife, a deep debt is due to those who casting their lot on that troubled sea, guide in the U.N.I.A. & A.C.L. the teeming vessel of the organization[.] A warm sense [of] this debt is expressed in this purse we now offer you[,] also the health and preservation of you be guided by Jehov//ah// that no obsta[cle] be in your way in your voyage from us and during the issue of you[r] duties. We look at the time once, and wonder, //“//Why, can’t this race be as noble as others//?//[”] I heard a voice answered //“//yes,//”// and even nobler Marcus Garvey and his Executive and you an illustrious representa[tive] //who// is with us tonight and we rejoice to make way for you an orator in whose transforming mind [the] most arid topic acquire[s] a grace and whom an occasion and environment such as this cannot fail to stir to eloquence[.] To wish you Bon Voyage N. C. FREDERICK President Chaplain [signature illegible] Vice President [signature illegible] Gen. Secretary TOM HOYT Treasurer WILLIAM BRYAN Chaplain [Addressed to:] Mr. J. Raphiel Ralph Casimir. Secretary //(2)// General //(1)// Dominica U.N.I.A. & A.C.L. JRRC. TLS. 1. La Brea was located deep in the south of Trinidad. It was mainly engaged in the extraction of oil and asphalt from the early 1900s.
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Alonza Lynch, General Secretary, UNIA Cristóbal Division, to the Negro World [[Colón, R. P., Colón, Aug. 11, 1921]]
A MESSAGE FROM COLÓN, R.P. Sir: Permit me space in our valuable paper to publish the following: On the above date will be recorded in history that again General Mayers of the Panama Boys’ Universal Service Association, also a member of the U.N.I.A., came over from Panama to Colón with a few of his officers to meet Mr. J. H. Seymour, General of the Colón Boys’ Universal Service Association, also president of the U.N.I.A. of Cristóbal, Division Chapter, No. 240. On this special occasion, when the boys were lined up for a general parade, people came from all parts of the city to see the good work that has been done, both in Panama and Colón, by General Mayers and General Seymour. Surely these two generals are getting these boys thoroughly fitted and equipped for the battle plains of our fatherland—Africa. At 3.15 p.m. the parade started from 134 Eleventh street and Broadway, winding its way through the city of Colón, then into the Canal Zone and back from where it came. The roads and balconies were packed with people all watching the young troops of Ethiopia, under the leadership of General Seymour and General Mayers. Great applause and cheers were given to these two gentlemen for their good work and military discipline with which they are bringing up the boys. At. 6.45 p.m. the parade finished and the people were asked to return to the hall at 8 o’clock, but, sorry to say, those that were there refused to leave for fear of not getting back, and at 8 p.m. the hall was packed, many outsiders listening to what was said and done. At 8[.]05 p.m. Mr. J. H. Seymour, president of the U.N.I.A., called the meeting to order by the singing of the Ethiopian national anthem, after which General Seymour introduced General Mayers to the audience, to which the General fully outlined the aims and objects of spending the good hours with the boys, showing that Africa has to be redeemed, whether by word or by the sword. He then outlined that whenever he is marching the parade is headed by the colors of the Red, the Black and the Green, and if any one interfe[r]ed with these colors he would give his life as a sacrifice under the colors of the Red, the Black and the Green. Above all, due credit must be given to Nurse Gibson and Nurse Jones who did all in their power to keep the boys very busy with refreshments from morning until night. Mr. J. H. Seymour, pioneer of Cristóbal Division of the U.N.I.A., then addressed the audience, and kept the audience spellbound for about half an hour. ALONZA LYNCH General Secretary, Cristóbal Division, Chapter No. 240 Printed in NW, 26 November 1921.
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Reprint of Dominica Guardian Article [Dominica, ca. 12 August 1921] ANNIVERSARY OF NEGRO EMANCIPATION1 BY THE DOMINICA BRANCH OF THE U.N.I. ASSOCIATION FROM THE DOMINICA GUARDIAN OF 12TH AUGUST The local observance of the anniversary of Negro Emancipation in the West Indies was seldom if ever as fittingly done as was the case this year, when the Roseau Section of the Dominica Branch of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, of which Mr. Francis Gardier is the President General, rallied in full strength, supported by numerous friends, to do honour to that most auspicious event of August 1837 [1838], on the first day of which, at the firing of the midnight gun, all of our Negro ancestors in British colonies were given their freedom. UNFURLING THE FLAG The first part of their celebration took the form of unfurling the colours of their Association for the first time over Liberty Hall, their headquarters in Dominica. This ceremony took place at 3 p.m. on Sunday the 1st. All the officers of the Society were in their places. The function opened with the singing of the hymn “From Greenland’s Icy Mountains,” followed by Prayer. A stirring address by the President General, Mr. Francis Gardier, then followed, in the course of which he impressed his hearers with the necessity which was felt to exist by the leaders of the Negro race for having a flag of their own, just as the other races had theirs. This necessity has now been materialized, by the Hon. Marcus Garvey having provided their green, black and red standard for them. This flag is now to be unfurled, and he would tell them that it was the duty of every Negro to respect and support that flag. They not only had to do these, but also to defend the flag when assailed, even with their life’s blood. In the past Negroes defended the flags of other races, and it was up to them, now and at all times, to do the same towards their own. At the conclusion of the address, the President General, accompanied by the officers and some others, went outside, and in the midst of hearty cheers, set the new flag flying to the S.E. bre[ez]e. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CEREMONY Returning to the Hall, Mr. Steber (the Patron of the Society in Dominica) delivered an instructive address upon the significance of the ceremony which they had just taken part in. First, he said, from time immemorial, each nation and tribe had been known to possess its own flag or emblem, and to respect it and defend it against all enemies, even at the sacrifice of lives. He asked them to look upon their green, black and red in like respect and venera14
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tion, even as the British looked upon the Union Jack; the French, the blue white and red; the Americans, their stars and stripes, etc. Theirs consisted of three colours—BLACK, to recall to their minds the dark days of slavery when their black forefathers suffered all kinds of cruelties—sometimes death—at the hands of their white masters; GREEN, the emblem of Hope. Well may they hope, considering the wonderful strides which the Race had made during the comparatively short period since when their ancestors had been freed by the most gracious act of Victoria the Good. RED, which bespoke of that Great Victory which the Race expected to win over Racial and other prejudices, and over all the different mean obstacles to progress which were being set in their way by men of other races of small minds. To better achieve that great victory he besought them to unite and stand shoulder to shoulder as one in the great fight which not only they but Negroes in the U.S., and the world over; led by the Hon. Marcus Garvey, had pledged their all to achieve. “Afric’s our Home” was then sung and the meeting dispersed. HIGH MASS AT THE CATHEDRAL Punctually at 6.30 a.m. on Monday the 2nd, the officers and members of the Society, entered the Cathedral, which was already crowded with other worshippers. They were headed by their own flag and the Union Jack; a band of music leading to the Church door. High Mass, preceded by the Veni Creator, and ended with the Te Deum, was sung by the Rev. Father Van der Westerlaken, Rev. Fathers de Ridder and Moris being Deacon and Subdeacon respectively.2 There was a full choir. At the Offertoire large numbers went up to the Sanctuary rails, and some of the members also partook of Holy Communion. THE PROCESSION The Mass over the members prec[ed]ed by the band of music and their ensigns etc., marched through the streets mentioned last week, witnessed by hundreds of sight-seers and followed by an immense crowd. Possibly about 1,000 persons were in the procession. Mr. Gardier, who was busy fixing up the hall and making other necessary arrangements, was not present, but in his place Mr. H. D. Severin, President of the Division of the Association, delivered a spirited little address of thanks and encouragement to the members. THE GREAT RALLY Liberty Hall was simply packed at 10.30 a.m., the time fixed for the great Emancipation Day Rally, under the Chairmanship of the Editor of this paper. A good many invitations were sent to Negroes and Negro descendants holding prominent positions in the community, but the only one to answer in person was Mr. R. C. Martin, mercantile accountant. On the platform were Messrs. Francis Gardier, the local President General; J. R. Casimir, Secretary General; H. D. Severin, President; of the Roseau Division, C. Morancie, J. R. Roberts, 15
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R. C. Martin and other officers of the Society. The Hall was profusely decorated with flags, etc. The replies sent, nearly all pleaded pre-engagement, whilst a couple exhibited crass ignorance of the aims of the Society as an excuse for not coming. THE OPENING At the call to order the hymn “From Greenland’s Icy Mountains” was sung, and prayer being said, the President General called upon Mr. Steber to take the chair. He said, to be brief, that the support given by Mr. Steber to the Society in general, and his ready co-operation with and sympathetic advices to himself and his officers justified his selection to preside over this their first great celebration. He really felt that their movement stood in need of the cooperation of all sections of the community. He compared their Association as a mill which required the full action of its various component parts, down to the cog wheels, shafts, etc., to do the different work expected of each. And Mr. Steber’s assistance and co-operation may be likened to whichever part one chose to assign to it. But the fact was clear to him, and he was happy to acknowledge it, that Mr. Steber had done his bit, and done it well. (Prolonged applause.) THE CHAIRMAN’S OPENING ADDRESS MR. STEBER begged to thank the officers of the Society for the honour done him. He was sorry that, of the several other gentlemen asked no one had attended, or else they might have had a better chairman; nevertheless, he felt, as a member of the race the anniversary of whose emancipation they were now celebrating, that it was an honour for him to be present, and he did not feel in the least ashamed at being with the Society at their present function; he assured them that, so long as they carried on this Association with credit to themselves and honour to the race, he should always make it a duty, and feel it a pleasure, to be with them in their social and other gatherings. (Loud Cheers.) It was a most happy thought indeed that of giving a Thanksgiving Service to commemorate the deliverance of their ancestors from the thraldom of Slavery. He noticed their demeanour throughout the demonstration with both pleasure and pride[.] (Cheers.) If they knew at least a fraction of the horrible cruelties from which their Negro ancestors in the British West Indies were freed on this day they would even here, in this hall, again go down on their knees and thank Almighty God for that great deliverance. He then cited a few of the instances as told to him (when he was a young overseer here) by one of the freed slaves; also an instance of extreme cruelty by a young slave owner in British Guiana, who, crossing one of crocodile-infested rivers of that colony with a young slave girl who was nursing a baby which she had for him, ordered the mother to throw the baby overboard, for no other reason than that it was making a noise in his ears by crying. Upon the mother hesitating, the heartless father ordered one of the slaves, who was at the oar, to throw the child overboard, but this was no 16
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sooner done when the mother, with one loud, piercing shriek, threw herself in the surging water after the little baby, and they sunk to rise no more. It was freedom from such barbaric cruelties that they—the free intelligent offsp[r]ings of the slaves—were celebrating to-day. And although among the Negroes and Negro offsprings in better financial and social circumstances here, many were ashamed to identify themselves with this celebration, because of “the irresponsible boys”—as they style the officers of this Association, he for one was not, and he was only too pleased to be here to witness the thoroughness of their behaviour to-day. He did not feel dishonoured by being here. (Loud cheers.) He hoped that the meeting would be an enjoyable one to them, and that everything they may do as members of this Association will be done with credit to themselves and honour to their race and country. (Prolonged applause.) Mr. Severin, the President of the Roseau Division, was then called upon to address the meeting. His subject was divided in three parts: Slavery, the U.N.I.A., and the Hon. Marcus Garvey. It was a very good delivery for a young man of his status, and took the audience by storm. NEGROES NOT COWARD Mr. Ralph Casimir, the Secretary General, was the next speaker. He referred to Negro slavery from the days when Hawkins obtained permission to take our African ancestors to the West Indies, ostensibly for their Christianization, but only to have them harshly worked and cruelly treated during forty long years, until our late beloved Victoria the Good gave them their freedom. Then followed the great Lincoln with his act of freedom to the slaves in the United States. Yet, urged the speaker, the Negroes as a race enjoyed no freedom in the political sense; they are being deprived of the very essence, of this liberty. There can be no personal liberty when men of the race are not permitted to have a voice in their own governing affairs. Not being satisfied with their position as political serfs, it was now their duty to follow the leadership of the Hon. Marcus Garvey, the “Moses of our Race.” We have been taught the old lesson that “Britons shall never more be slaves,” but certainly in a sense we Britons of the dark race are not a free people. Not being free in the land of other races we should rightly claim Africa for our home. If Africa was worth while for other races it is also worth while for her own sons and daughters. It is God’s own words, that “Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hands unto God.” Marcus Garvey is calling us to follow him thither; let our answer be “Brother we are coming 2,000 strong.[”] (Cheers.) This is the race which he is fighting and asking us to join. Negroes were not cowards either in France, Flanders or Mesopotamia. We should not shirk the present fight for possession of our own Motherland. Let those here who do not yet belong to the Association join at once. Behind them today is the strength of a great gathering at Liberty Hall, in New York, discussing this same subject—Liberty and Democracy for the Negroes. Fear not. (Great applause.)
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MR. MARTIN’S SPEECH The next speaker was Mr. Martin, who said in part that he heartily congratulated the officers and members of the Dominica Branch on the phenomenal success which the Association had achieved in the short period of time since its inauguration in this island. That day (2nd Aug.) should be a Red Letter day in the history of the Negro race in Dominica, as it was the first time that such a gathering was brought about without the aid of any but men and women of the race. The gathering, he said, proved two things, namely, that the members of the race can combine and co-operate for the common good of all, and secondly that Negroes can organize. They have the ability, but only want the facility. He was pleased to find that the New Negro is making his own facility and opportunity to improve himself. He said that the noble work in which the members of the U.N.I.A. are engaged is highly appreciated by a large proportion of the community, whilst the prejudiced of the race and the opposers of Negro progress stand in fear of them. Difficulties, he said, they will have to contend with, but they must not be daunted, as it has always been the case with every great movement. In conclusion, he said it was a happy idea to hold their first public demonstration on the 2nd of August, as the 1st of August is Emancipation day for Negroes in the West Indies, when the first streak of Negro liberty shone through the dark clouds of slavery; and that streak is broadening and brightening up daily, and he trusted that it will reach its acme of brilliancy when, through the efforts of the U.N.I.A., they shall celebrate Negro Independence Day on Afric’s shores, where the Negro shall sit under his own vine and fig tree, no man daring to make him afraid. OTHER SPEECHES Speeches were next delivered by Mr. Jones, the Secretary of the Pointe Michel Division of the Association, who gave a nice little address on Liberty, which engaged the rapt attention of the audience, and by Mr. J. H. [H. J.] Elwin, the Assist. Secretary, Roseau Division, who spoke on Slavery; his address being also very attentively followed. “AFRIC OUR HOME” was then sung by the whole of the audience, after which, Mr. C. Morancie, after a few brief words, performed the ceremony of “Kissing the Colours,” which created a solemn impression on the audience. CLOSING THE MEETING The Chairman then brought the meeting to a close, in doing which he again complimented the officers and members of the Association upon the great success of their meeting. Such a gathering was not possible in slavery days, and long since after, but nowadays the world was moving upward and Negroes were thick in the upward march. Formerly no Negro went to heaven was an old slogan of the white “saints.” But somehow, or other, after a time, one was sup18
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posed to have gone, and he was ca[ri]catured by the engravers for getting there; whilst now, just opposite him, he saw pictures representing (1) a Negro John the Baptist and (2) a Negro Angel. That was a good sign. Negroes have the right to go everywhere—even to Heaven, and to aspire to everything which the other races hold dear—foremost of all political liberty; and he saw through this U.N.I. Association a school of thought for Dominica Negroes. The day may soon come when Dominica will be once again given the franchise; when it does come our voters will not be led by others, as their grand fathers used to be, for a cattle chain, a few empty sugar bags, and cheap clothing, but much through the teaching of this Association, will go boldly, independently and intelligently forward to the polls to cast their votes for members of their own choice. (Applause.) This is the great end in view. This will be the great victory. (Prolonged cheers.) GOD SAVE THE KING was then heartily sung and cheers were lustily given for His Majesty, the Chairman, Hon. Marcus Garvey, the U.N.I.A., the Black Star Line and the Officers and members of the Association, after which the big audience dispersed. VARIETY ENTERTAINMENT Liberty Hall was again packed, almost to suffocation in the evening, there being not even standing room for the crowded audience. The programme was a big one, consisting of songs, farces, recitations, magic, etc. Some of the best pieces were “The Congo Act,” representing African customs, and the Pantry Ghost. The Chorus “Go the Other Way” by ladies and “Merrily the Phyllis Wheatley will go” were well received; the songs “Up in the Air” and “Lia lai” scored encores, whilst the tableau “Africa the Land of Opportunity” was very much appreciated. Mr. J. R. Roberts performed some clever tricks of legerdemain, which showed him up to advantage in the magical art. On the whole a most enjoyable evening was spent. The entertainment was such a success that it was repeated the next evening and drew another crowded house and many new comers. RURAL CELEBRATIONS There were also celebrations on August 2nd by the Divisions of the Association at Grand Bay, Marigot and Soufriere. At the latter place speeches were delivered by Messrs. Gerald Grell, Z. Joseph, P. Leger, Thos. Etienne, Miss F. Maynes, Mr. R. A. Seraphin, the Secretary; and Mr. W. J. Seraphin, the President; which were all highly appreciated by the audience.
THE UNIVERSAL NEGRO IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION Headquarters: Liberty Hall, Roseau President General: Mr. F. Gardier Secretary General: Mr. J. R. Casimir 19
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ROSEAU DIVISION President: Mr. H. D. Severin Vice-President: Mr. S. J. C. Wyke Secretary: Mr. C. Morancie Asst. Secretary: Mr. H. J. Elwin Chairman Advisory Board: Mr. J. R. Roberts POINTE MICHEL DIVISION President: Mr. Am. Adrien Vice-President: Mr. R. Andre Secretary: Mr. E. S. Jones Asst. Secretary: Mr. J. B. Devin SOUFRIERE DIVISION President: Mr. W. J. D. Seraphin Secretary: Mr. R. A. Seraphin GRAND BAY DIVISION President: Mr. P. F. Jno. Lewis Vice-President: Mr. Wm. Roach Secretary: Mr. W. J. Henderson MARIGOT DIVISION President: Mr. M. L. Boland Vice-President: Mr. Jas. Prevost Secretary: Mr. A. Timothy JRRC. PD. 1. For accounts of this annual celebration, cf. Barry Higman, “Slavery Remembered: The Celebration of Emancipation in Jamaica,” Journal of Caribbean History, 12 (1979): 55–74; Bridget Brereton, “A Social History of Emancipation Day in the British Caribbean: The First Fifty Years,” in Hilary Beckles, ed., Inside Slavery: Process and Legacy in the British Caribbean Experience, (Kingston, Jamaica: Canoe Press of the University of West Indies, 1996), pp. 78–95). 2. Dominica at this time was being served by Catholic priests from Belgium.
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Jabez L. Clarke, General Secretary, UNIA Havana Division, to William H. Ferris, Literary Editor, Negro World [[Diaria No. 8, Havana, Cuba, August 12, 1921]]
REV. GLASHEN COMMENDED Dear Mr. Editor— Please allow me space in your “indispen[s]able weekly” to call the attention of the various readers in all parts of the world [to] an article appearing in the issue of the 6th inst. in which the former Executive Secretary of the Key West division, Dr. A. J. Kershaw[,] endeavors to “throw light” as he termed it, on the statements made by the Rev. T. C. Glashen before the Havana division, which statements were reported by me in the “Negro World” of July 16. It was clearly stated that “the speaker said in part,” and very evidently there were a few omissions here and there of minor importance; otherwise the article was an exact reproduction of the speaker’s expressions. I am not a chief justice; I was not on the scene of the occurrence; I have heard the Rev. Glashen speak, and I have seen Dr. Kershaw’s article, and certainly every man has a right to defend himself, especially in this case. One thing I feel sure is that those who have been following the columns of the “Negro World” will agree with me that Kershaw has not even begun to defend himself; on the contrary, his article is more a conviction than a defense. There was no such statement made by the Rev. Glashen; neither did any part of my article read that “he made the division in Key West one of the strongest in the U.S.A. within two months.” Show me the man today who claims that the word “couple” (used in introducing my report) is confined on all occasions to mean, definitely, “two” and I recall to memory the one who would give his life in arguing that eight makes a “few.” [B]ecause in the time of the deluge there were eight people saved in the Ark, and the scriptures say, “For many are called, but few are chosen.” Again, Brother Kershaw, if you read further down my report, you will see where the Rev. Glashen said, “Within the space of seven months we were able to count hundreds of members in Key West.” Your saying that the division was founded in August, 1920, was stated by Bro. Glashen and reported, and more definitely, because he gave the date also—the 20th. You say that the only time that Mr. Glashen took you aside and spoke to you was when he advised you to take the monies in connection with the “Black Cross Nurses.” Why, Doc, it looks rather strange at this time that one man should advise another to take money which is also within reach of the former. The readers of the “Negro World” are not so easily swindled as to believe that statement.
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Your article reads that you were arrested without an audit of books, without any charge against you to the body and without your advice. Do you mean to say that the president was only prophesying that there was a defalcation? But by the way, Kershaw, in all your elaborate letter, you have not said whether you falsified the $225 or the $25 you mention; neither have you denied going to the crackers and inciting them against the brother. After all, the readers of the “Negro World” needed more “light” on those two points than on the trifles you mention. Now, Brother Kershaw, though the time has not yet come, won’t you explain for me, “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread?” Do you really mean that the lynching conditions in your section are so terrible that angels would fear to do the work that the pioneers of the U.N.I.A. have done there, viz., in rescuing the suffering Negroes and in making you an example to others for your injustice? Oh, Doc.! Concerning the spelling of your name, it is hardly necessary to mention that the writer was to be blamed and not the Rev. Glashen. It appears to me that you only used that to mention about your checks. Oh! Bro., you must be a very rich man to be loaning money that way and mentioning them so lightly. Won’t you give me $500 to be paid within two years, when I reach Liberia? But be it understood that if I am to take that and shield your disloyalty at any time after, then do not you worry to send it. Thanking you in advance for space, dear Mr. Editor, Yours for Racial Uplift, JABEZ L. CLARKE Editor’s Note:—We trust that this will close the controversy. [Addressed to:] Prof. Wm H. Ferris, Literary Editor, “Negro World,” New York City, U.S.A. Printed in NW, 27 August 1921.
Article in the Workman [Panama City, 13 August 1921]
THE PROSPECTIVE CHAPTER U.N.I.A. Whatever may be said about the Prospective Chapter, the fact remains that it is, to some extent, a working unit. The great human Octopus is gathering within its mighty folds the scattered masses of negroes in the City, and in the suburbs of Chorrillo. Although yet in its infancy, it has already accomplished much, and is planning to do big things. The open manner in which the finance of the organization is discussed; the free speech of its members; the gallant and fruit22
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Your article reads that you were arrested without an audit of books, without any charge against you to the body and without your advice. Do you mean to say that the president was only prophesying that there was a defalcation? But by the way, Kershaw, in all your elaborate letter, you have not said whether you falsified the $225 or the $25 you mention; neither have you denied going to the crackers and inciting them against the brother. After all, the readers of the “Negro World” needed more “light” on those two points than on the trifles you mention. Now, Brother Kershaw, though the time has not yet come, won’t you explain for me, “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread?” Do you really mean that the lynching conditions in your section are so terrible that angels would fear to do the work that the pioneers of the U.N.I.A. have done there, viz., in rescuing the suffering Negroes and in making you an example to others for your injustice? Oh, Doc.! Concerning the spelling of your name, it is hardly necessary to mention that the writer was to be blamed and not the Rev. Glashen. It appears to me that you only used that to mention about your checks. Oh! Bro., you must be a very rich man to be loaning money that way and mentioning them so lightly. Won’t you give me $500 to be paid within two years, when I reach Liberia? But be it understood that if I am to take that and shield your disloyalty at any time after, then do not you worry to send it. Thanking you in advance for space, dear Mr. Editor, Yours for Racial Uplift, JABEZ L. CLARKE Editor’s Note:—We trust that this will close the controversy. [Addressed to:] Prof. Wm H. Ferris, Literary Editor, “Negro World,” New York City, U.S.A. Printed in NW, 27 August 1921.
Article in the Workman [Panama City, 13 August 1921]
THE PROSPECTIVE CHAPTER U.N.I.A. Whatever may be said about the Prospective Chapter, the fact remains that it is, to some extent, a working unit. The great human Octopus is gathering within its mighty folds the scattered masses of negroes in the City, and in the suburbs of Chorrillo. Although yet in its infancy, it has already accomplished much, and is planning to do big things. The open manner in which the finance of the organization is discussed; the free speech of its members; the gallant and fruit22
AUGUST 1921
ful efforts to annihilate “insularity”—the curse that has caused the downfall of nearly every colored organization on the Isthmus—speaks well for the Chapter. There is something lacking, however, without which the flowery orations and musical treats are vain. It is THE SPIRIT OF INDUSTRY. No people can become great by merely talking. The ploughman digs up the soil and prepares it to receive the seed. Oratory, like the ploughman, digs at the root of human resources and human emotions, and prepares the intellectual soil to receive the seed necessary for the progress of a cause, whether good or evil. It is no use digging without planting the seeds of INDUSTRY and ECONOMY. The U.N.I.A. is not a church, a lodge, nor a debating club. It stands for progress at every angle. There is splendid brain material in the Chapter lying dormant, that CONSTRUCTIVE ability to do and dare[.] Why not utilize it? England, America, France[,] Germany and all great powers have made themselves through commerce and industry[.] In Panama, foreigners such as Greeks, Syrians, Indians and Chinese have built themselves fortunes on the sweat of West Indians, and we must lift our hats in credit to them. Why harp on the failures of others? They are only object lessons. Failures in some are stepping stones to success for others. In the Chapter, we have the debating element; the church element and the musical element. Now since the part is not as great as the whole, let the whole be formed by having a BUSINESS ELEMENT. A committee of the most intelligent members should be formed to devise the ways and means of building enterprises that will not only give employment to many, but also create a moral in the U.N.I.A., that the general public must respect and support. The members of the Chapter are willing and co-operative and with the spirit for progress, they can raise the necessary funds among themselves and launch out into the commercial world even on a small basis. Very little is ever accomplished by talkology, as it generally breeds debate, strife and misunderstandings. The Chapter has in its midst, men and women for any grade of work, and has already earned the goodwill of the community. Talk business do business and avoid contentions. Support your genial president and he will be a drawing card for membershi[p.] Place the right officers in the right place without favour, and they will set the machinery of progress in motion. Strike while the iron is hot for the eye of Panama is on you, and it is hoped that the next issue of The Workman will contain the glad tidings that the Chapter has formed THE INDUSTRIAL COMMITTEE. Printed in the Workman (Panama City), 13 August 1921. Headed “(Contributed by War Office Club.)”
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS
Circular Letter from Winston S. Churchill, Secretary of State, Colonial Office [London] 15 Aug 1921 Sir, With ref. to Sir. W. Collet[’]s conf. desp of the 7th of June concerning the proposed visit of Marcus Garvey, Leader of the Universal Negro Improvement Assocn. to the Colony, I have to [transmit] to you the accompanying copies of two despp from the Governor of Jamaica, and two from H.M.’s Minister in Costa Rica, & H. M.’s Representative at Panama respectively. 2. //With regard to the prevention of the landing of M. Garvey or the deportation of the Rev. R. H. Tobitt// I have to point out that under §3 of the O in C of March 21st 1916 the Gov is empowered to make Regns with regard to //the// arrest, detention, exclusion & deportation. 3. I am advised that these Regns give you sufficient & legal power for the purpose you require, & I am content so far as matters of policy are concerned to leave this matter to your discretion. 4. I have however to request that you will give consideration as to the possibility of introducing //permanent// legislation to give the Gov. certain stated powers for dealing with such cases to take the place of the Proclamations issued under the O-in-C, and that you will furnish your [observations] to me on this proposal in due course. I have etc (Signed) WINSTON S. CHURCHILL [Handwritten in the margin:] From Gov J’ca 14/5/21 28093 From Gov J’ca 28/5/21 31028 From F.O. 6/6/21 28467 From F.O. 18/7/21 35993 ? Copy comes to Govs. W. I. Colonies for obs[ervations] L. F. F. (see last sentence of Mr. Wood[’]s minute)1 Before we do this we should see what perm[anent] legislation already exists E[.] R[.] D[.] [E. R. Darnley] [Typed minutes:] General Department. Mr. Darnley. Mr. Wiseman. Please see Mr. Darnley’s minute in margin of draft on 34269. ? Further action. A. H. B. 12/10 I should think we might leave this for the present. I think the general policy regarding the Order in Council has already been laid down in a circular.
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AUGUST 1921 R. A. W. [R. A. Wiseman] 13/10/21 See despatches 12th August 1920 (24860/20 General) and British Guiana reply 53210/20 General. J. A. S. 15/10/21 Mr. Grindle. I think we should ask British Guiana whether it is not now possible to withdraw the Order in Council of 26th October 1896 formerly secret. E. R. D. 22/10 [Handwritten minutes:] On 15 Aug. last we asked the Gov. for obstns [observations] in due course on the substitution of a permanent law for the provisions of the O. in C., & the S. of S. left to the Gov’s discretion the questions of policy involved in the case of his powers. There is no ground for anticipating his obstns or trying to deprive him of his powers before he gets permanent legislation. Put by G[.] G[.] [G. Grindle] 31.10.21 I understand Mr. Wood’s minute to be intended as a statement of policy not as a direction to communicate with Govs. as they have already been told they have discretion as to retention or repeal of the O. in C. (& therefore as to the [case of] the powers the O. in C. gives them) [no initials] TNA: PRO CO 318/364/02545. AL, draft. 1. In the winter of 1921–22, Edward Frederick Lindley Wood (1881–1959), parliamentary undersecretary of state for the colonies, toured the British West Indies in order to report to the secretary of state for the colonies Winston Churchill on the political and social situation there. “The whole history of the African population of the West Indies inevitably drives them towards representative institutions fashioned after the British model,” the report declared. “Transplanted by the slave trade or other circumstances to foreign soil, losing in the process their social system, language, and traditions, and, with the exception of some relics of obeah, whatever religion they may have had, they owe everything that they have no, and all that they are, to the British race that first enslaved them, and subsequently to its honour restored to them their freedom. Small wonder if they look for political growth to the only source and pattern that they know, and aspire to share in what has been the peculiarly British gift of representative institutions” (Great Britain. Colonial Office, West Indies. Report by the Honourable E. F. L. Wood, M.P. . . . on His Visit to the West Indies and British Guiana December, 1921–February, 1922 [London: H.M. Stationery Office, 1922], 6). Wood was a leading Conservative politician and diplomat and was known as Lord Irwin from 1925 until 1934 and as Viscount Halifax from 1934 until 1944. He was one of the most senior British Conservative politicians of the 1930s, holding several senior ministerial posts during this time, most notably those of viceroy of India from 1925 to 1931 and of foreign secretary between 1938 and 1940. He is regarded as one of the architects of the British policy of appeasement prior to the Second World War, during which he served as British ambassador in
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS Washington (Earl of Halifax, Fullness of Days [New York: Dodd, Mead, 1957]; Andrew Roberts, The Holy Fox: A Life of Lord Halifax [London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1991]; D. J. Dutton, “Wood, Edward Frederick Lindley, first earl of Halifax [1881–1959],” DNB, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn., Jan. 2011 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/36998, accessed 25 March 2015]).
J. C. Wyke et al., UNIA Dominica Division, to J. R. Ralph Casimir Dominica Division UNIA & ACL Charter No #85 Liberty Hall Aug. 18th 1921 Dear Sir, We have the greatest pleasure to welcome you back in our midst after a short stay of about eight weeks among our brothers across the sea and hope no doubt, that you have spent a most happy time during your sojourn abroad. We have heard of your splendid work in Trinidad of which we are all well proud of and we thank the almighty for having guide you back to our shore and hope he will grant you length of days to carry on the great work you have started. We have to announce to you that the Gen. President [has] resigned his office and you have been elected to the vacant situation[.] [We] hope that the Lord will prolong your life to carry on the great work which [He has en]trusted to you and pray that, with the help of your officers you will [be] able to bring this division to a strong and perfect success. Wishing you success once more in our midst. We are Yours for the success of this division, J. C. WYKE Act. Prd. CASIMIR MORANCIE Actg. 1st Vice P[res.] SOLOMON G. W. PETER Actg. Gen. Secty E. HAUSTIN Assoc. Lady Secty WM. DONFRAID [Addressed to:] Mr. J. R. R. Casimir General Sectary Dominica Division U.N.I.A. & A.C.L. Charter No #85 JRRC. ALS, recipient’s copy. Handwritten letterhead: “One God! One Aim!! One Destiny!!!”
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS Washington (Earl of Halifax, Fullness of Days [New York: Dodd, Mead, 1957]; Andrew Roberts, The Holy Fox: A Life of Lord Halifax [London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1991]; D. J. Dutton, “Wood, Edward Frederick Lindley, first earl of Halifax [1881–1959],” DNB, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn., Jan. 2011 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/36998, accessed 25 March 2015]).
J. C. Wyke et al., UNIA Dominica Division, to J. R. Ralph Casimir Dominica Division UNIA & ACL Charter No #85 Liberty Hall Aug. 18th 1921 Dear Sir, We have the greatest pleasure to welcome you back in our midst after a short stay of about eight weeks among our brothers across the sea and hope no doubt, that you have spent a most happy time during your sojourn abroad. We have heard of your splendid work in Trinidad of which we are all well proud of and we thank the almighty for having guide you back to our shore and hope he will grant you length of days to carry on the great work you have started. We have to announce to you that the Gen. President [has] resigned his office and you have been elected to the vacant situation[.] [We] hope that the Lord will prolong your life to carry on the great work which [He has en]trusted to you and pray that, with the help of your officers you will [be] able to bring this division to a strong and perfect success. Wishing you success once more in our midst. We are Yours for the success of this division, J. C. WYKE Act. Prd. CASIMIR MORANCIE Actg. 1st Vice P[res.] SOLOMON G. W. PETER Actg. Gen. Secty E. HAUSTIN Assoc. Lady Secty WM. DONFRAID [Addressed to:] Mr. J. R. R. Casimir General Sectary Dominica Division U.N.I.A. & A.C.L. Charter No #85 JRRC. ALS, recipient’s copy. Handwritten letterhead: “One God! One Aim!! One Destiny!!!”
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AUGUST 1921
John H. Pilgrim,1 Secretary, UNIA Colón Division, to the Negro World [[Colón, August 18, 1921]]
THE U.N.I.A. IN COLÓN Sir: Please insert in the Negro World that the following members were expelled from the Colón Division for disloyalty: F. Gregoire, C. Greenidge, S. Edward St. Rose, William Davis, T. Bryant, John Thompson, H. R. George. Some time ago this request was made, but your office advised that the President-General was on his tour and that he would investigate and report. The members of the Colón Division insist that they are within their rights to determine whether a [mem]ber or members of their division are guilty of disloyalty, and consequently, they have asked that this request be renewed. Fraternally, JOHN H. PILGRIM Secretary Printed in NW, 10 September 1921. 1. John H. Pilgrim (1886–1954) was born in Grenada to a Barbadian father and a St. Lucian mother. He spent his early years in Barbados as well as St. Lucia, before he, like many others of his time, migrated to Panama to seek work in the building of the canal. He remained there for over a decade, then traveled to England to study journalism before returning to St. Lucia in the late 1920s. Pilgrim subsequently became the publisher and proprietor of the biweekly West Indian Crusader, which began in January 1934. When Garvey visited St. Lucia in 1937, the Crusader adopted a combative and antagonistic stance that contrasted sharply with the attitude of the island’s other paper, the Voice, as well as to the enthusiastic welcome that Garvey received on his arrival in St. Lucia, both of which reflected a strong local interest in Garvey and his ideas. Although the Crusader was critical of Garvey in the late 1930s and although Pilgrim seemed to have had a hard time understanding the acceptance that Garvey’s ideas received during his visits to St. Lucia and Grenada, Pilgrim sympathized with the struggles of the working class. He was a founding member of both the first trade union and the first political party in St. Lucia, and a contemporary recorded that “through his newspaper he championed the cause of the black person’s right to vote and the benefits of having a Federated West Indies” (Notable St. Lucians [St. Lucia National Archives, unpublished]; Howard S. Pactor, comp., Colonial British Caribbean Newspapers: A Bibliography and Directory [New York: Greenwood Press, 1990], p. 98).
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS
James Fraser, Secretary, UNIA Santa Marta1 Division, to Fred A. Toote [[Santa Marta, August, 18, 1921]]
THE U.N.I.A. IN SANTA MARTA, COLOMBIA Dear Sir: The Santa Marta Division greatly deplores its inability to deputize a delegate for the approaching convention—an event in which its members are particularly concerned. Just a handful of members form our division, and the amount necessary to defray expenses cannot be raised among us. We wish respectfully to ask you not to deem us less devoted and loyal to the cause on this account than our more fortunate brothers who will be present on this memorable occasion. For nothing would nor could give us greater pleasure than the privilege of working (however little, comparatively) together with those valiant heroes who are using all efforts and spending unstintingly the force of their energies for the salvation of the race. We take this opportunity, sir, to assure you that we have always taken a lively interest in what concerns the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L. That all reports dealing with its working and progress (especially those appearing in The Negro World, of which most of our members are subscribers), have always claimed our attention and filled us more and more with love for our people and hope for the realization of that unity which is now being preached to us the world over. Though not wanting in faith, we must confess that rumors calculated to disturb our minds were so insistently pressed on us that they caused some fears. These fears, thank heaven, have, however, been dispelled since reading Mr. Garvey’s report in The Negro World relative to his trip to the West Indies and Central America, and his return to Liberty Hall. The members of this division hope that our leader, Mr. Marcus Garvey, in this convention of 1921 will meet with that success which for the well-being of our race he looks forward to—that his able hands may remove all impediments which are likely to present themselves. Yours for racial uplift and well-being, the Santa Marta Division of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L. JAMES FRASER Secretary Printed in NW, 17 September 1921. 1. Santa Marta, located in the Caribbean region of Colombia, was the first Spanish settlement in Colombia and the oldest surviving city in that country, also the second oldest in South America. It is bordered to the north and west by the Caribbean Sea. The historic figure Simón Bolívar died here on 17 December 1830, at the age of 47 (John Lynch, Simón Bolívar: A Life [New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007]).
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AUGUST 1921
I. S. Lahoodie1 to the Negro World [[Forest Home, Toledo,2 British Honduras, ca. 20 August 1921]]
A VOICE FROM BRITISH HONDURAS Dear Sir— Permit me to make an appeal on behalf of my Negro brethren who live in this part of the colony of British Honduras. You will agree with me that the Negro, wherever he may be at this present moment, stands in need of help. He should be made to feel that he owes himself the duty of self-development, and to this duty he must turn his immediate attention. With those who have been awakened to this fact, there is at present a difficulty, and one which, in my op[i]nion, you are able to lessen in part. Reading, much reading and still more reading is an essential to self-development, and today the ambitious Negro— the real New Negro—realizes (thanks to the Hon. Marcus Garvey), that his reading must be general and extensive—not merely confined to the history, antiquity, progress and development of other races as he has been taught to do in the past. But the question often arises, “What to read?” or often “Of whom may I purchase any great Negro publication?” Here lies the difficulty. Most of our people do not know what to read. Negro publications have not been advertised widely enough. Now that the old servile Negro has been transformed, he should be given the chance to choose his books from the literary works of Negro writers. May I ask, on behalf of those also who share this difficulty elsewhere, that you publish from time to time, in the pages of the Negro World, Negro publications dealing with the history, achievements and general progress of the Negro race, together with the names of publishers of whom they may be had? I am certain that the subscribers and readers of the Negro World (and they are no mean lot) will very much appreciate this, and be very grateful to you for doing so. The New Negro indeed feels that the time has now come when he should adorn his writings and beautify his orations by making use of quotations culled from authors and authoresses of his race. No longer must he perem[p]torily bind himself to quotations foreign to his race; no longer must he resort to the writings of other races as a means to his edification and self-development. To help him in this, be kind enough to let the pages of the Negro World show him the Negro literature he requires. Do this and watch results. Fraternally yours, I. S. LAHOODIE Printed in NW, 20 August 1921. 1. I. S. Lahoodie was probably related to John Lahoodie who, along with Antonio Soberanis Gomez, Benjamin Reneau, and John Barnett, created and led the Labourers and Unemployed Association in 1934 (O. Nigel Bolland, “The Labour Movement and the Genesis of Modern Poli-
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS tics in Belize,” in Labour in the Caribbean: From Emancipation to Independence, ed. Malcolm Cross and Gad Heuman [London and Basingstoke: Macmillan Caribbean, 1988]). 2. Toledo is the most southern, isolated, and least populated of the districts of British Honduras.
J. A. H. Thorpe to the Negro World [[Sagua La Grande, Cuba, ca. 20 August 1921]]
PROPAGANDA IN CUBA TO DIVIDE CUBAN AND WEST INDIAN NEGROES Sir: Kindly allow me space in the columns of your valuable newspaper to express my joy for the safe return of the Hon. Marcus Garvey after spending such a long time abroad exposing himself to so much danger for the advancement of our down-trodden race. We hope and pray that Divine assistance will always accompany him and carry him safely along his tiresome journey to our long-lost home[,] Africa. I am inclosing a cutting from one of the principal newspapers of Cuba, namely, the Heraldo De Cuba, which, I am sure, when translated and reprinted in The Negro World, will give to your readers an idea of existing conditions in Cuba. Now, this article was printed on the front page of the Heraldo. The “caricaturist,” in my opinion, seems to want to present to the reading public what will happen in Cuba in the near future if the present conditions continue, but the average Cuban readers do not look on it in that way; they take it as a case that really happens, because of which they are treating us as if our countrymen had actually committed the diabolical act. Wherever a West Indian along the streets of Sagua La Grande, where I am residing, walks he is constantly hailed by such vile names as cannibal, anthropophagus, etc., and if you attempt to deny the story a copy of the paper is held up to your view to confirm the insults.1 In my opinion, Mr. Editor, these printing presses are wilfully doing these things to prejudice the minds of the Cuban Negroes against we, the West Indian Negroes, and to keep us at variance all the time. Most naturally, if the Cuban Negroes know that the Jamaicans are eating white people they are going to keep as far as possible from us, as when we cannot get white folks to eat we may try some of them also. Now, Mr. Editor, “caricature” means “a pictorial representation or written description exaggerated as to excite ridicule.” The editor of this paper seems to have maliciously contrived this to add to our already distressed condition. There are lots of alien residents in Cuba, but he has picked out and named the Jamaicans because they are made up mostly of Negroes. 30
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS tics in Belize,” in Labour in the Caribbean: From Emancipation to Independence, ed. Malcolm Cross and Gad Heuman [London and Basingstoke: Macmillan Caribbean, 1988]). 2. Toledo is the most southern, isolated, and least populated of the districts of British Honduras.
J. A. H. Thorpe to the Negro World [[Sagua La Grande, Cuba, ca. 20 August 1921]]
PROPAGANDA IN CUBA TO DIVIDE CUBAN AND WEST INDIAN NEGROES Sir: Kindly allow me space in the columns of your valuable newspaper to express my joy for the safe return of the Hon. Marcus Garvey after spending such a long time abroad exposing himself to so much danger for the advancement of our down-trodden race. We hope and pray that Divine assistance will always accompany him and carry him safely along his tiresome journey to our long-lost home[,] Africa. I am inclosing a cutting from one of the principal newspapers of Cuba, namely, the Heraldo De Cuba, which, I am sure, when translated and reprinted in The Negro World, will give to your readers an idea of existing conditions in Cuba. Now, this article was printed on the front page of the Heraldo. The “caricaturist,” in my opinion, seems to want to present to the reading public what will happen in Cuba in the near future if the present conditions continue, but the average Cuban readers do not look on it in that way; they take it as a case that really happens, because of which they are treating us as if our countrymen had actually committed the diabolical act. Wherever a West Indian along the streets of Sagua La Grande, where I am residing, walks he is constantly hailed by such vile names as cannibal, anthropophagus, etc., and if you attempt to deny the story a copy of the paper is held up to your view to confirm the insults.1 In my opinion, Mr. Editor, these printing presses are wilfully doing these things to prejudice the minds of the Cuban Negroes against we, the West Indian Negroes, and to keep us at variance all the time. Most naturally, if the Cuban Negroes know that the Jamaicans are eating white people they are going to keep as far as possible from us, as when we cannot get white folks to eat we may try some of them also. Now, Mr. Editor, “caricature” means “a pictorial representation or written description exaggerated as to excite ridicule.” The editor of this paper seems to have maliciously contrived this to add to our already distressed condition. There are lots of alien residents in Cuba, but he has picked out and named the Jamaicans because they are made up mostly of Negroes. 30
AUGUST 1921
I have written a letter of protest to him, in which I ask him to make some explanation in a future issue to undo this mischief, which I expect to submit to you in the near future. Again hoping sincerely that God will help and protect the Hon. Marcus Garvey and his co-assistants, and that wisdom and harmony will be the ruling power in your approaching convention; also that the 400,000,000 Negroes the world over unanimously support and concentrate their efforts, which, linked together as one endless chain, may lead us in due time to Africa, our long lost paradise. Yours for success, J. A. H. THORPE Printed in NW, 20 August 1921. 1. Although the Heraldo de Cuba (Havana) article to which Thorpe refers has not been identified, it probably formed part of the brujería craze in early republican Cuba, in which, according to Aline Helg, “a fearful representation of brujería (defined as the “complex use of plants and animals, incantation, and/or the exercise of supernatural powers to heal, protect, or harm people”) . . . caricatured some patterns of African cultural expression and transformed exceptional cases into the general rule. Newspapers were the most efficient agents of this process” (Aline Helg, Our Rightful Share: The Afro-Cuban Struggle for Equality, 1886–1912 [Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1995], pp. 108–109). In June 1919, in the Regla neighborhood of Havana, a black Jamaican immigrant named Williams was arrested for offering candy to a young white girl, allegedly with the intention of kidnapping and then sacrificing her for purposes of brujería. A frenzied crowd of white Cubans stormed the local jail, grabbed Williams, and killed him by dragging him through the streets tied to the back of a horse. The Havana daily El Día praised the lynching as a “step forward that we take toward civilization” (El Día, 29 June 1919). Earlier, in May 1919, in Guantánamo, Afro-Caribbean immigrants had also been accused of murdering a young boy, Evelio Rodríguez Almairall. The Heraldo de Cuba used one of these incidents to portray Afro-Caribbean immigrants in general as brujos, or witches (Reinaldo Luis Román, “Conjuring Progress and Divinity: Religion and Conflict in Cuba and Puerto Rico, 1899–1956” [Ph.D. diss., University of California, Los Angeles, 2000], pp. 140–181; León Primelles, Crónica cubana, 1919–1922. Menocal y la Liga nacional. Zayas y Crowder. Fin de la danza de los millones y reajuste [Havana: Editorial Lex, 1957], pp. 134–137; Ernesto Chávez Alvarez, El crimen de la niña Cecilia [Havana: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales, 1991], pp. 27, 36; Helg, Our Rightful Share, pp. 238–239).
Article in the Workman [Panama City, 20 August 1921]
PROSPECTIVE CHAPTER U.N.I.A. RECEIVES CHARTER That the late prospectors, U.N.I.A. were rewarded in their search, was demonstrated last Sunday night when President Gadsby announced to the vast audience that the Charter had arrived. What was formerly the Prospective Chapter, is now legally known as—Guachapali Chapter No. 14[.] As the clock of time, in one great, backward sweep of its momentum, points with sublime hands to a group of victorious Crusaders of the middle ages, reverently kneeling before the Holy Sepulchre, so did these people appear. With matchless fortitude and 31
AUGUST 1921
I have written a letter of protest to him, in which I ask him to make some explanation in a future issue to undo this mischief, which I expect to submit to you in the near future. Again hoping sincerely that God will help and protect the Hon. Marcus Garvey and his co-assistants, and that wisdom and harmony will be the ruling power in your approaching convention; also that the 400,000,000 Negroes the world over unanimously support and concentrate their efforts, which, linked together as one endless chain, may lead us in due time to Africa, our long lost paradise. Yours for success, J. A. H. THORPE Printed in NW, 20 August 1921. 1. Although the Heraldo de Cuba (Havana) article to which Thorpe refers has not been identified, it probably formed part of the brujería craze in early republican Cuba, in which, according to Aline Helg, “a fearful representation of brujería (defined as the “complex use of plants and animals, incantation, and/or the exercise of supernatural powers to heal, protect, or harm people”) . . . caricatured some patterns of African cultural expression and transformed exceptional cases into the general rule. Newspapers were the most efficient agents of this process” (Aline Helg, Our Rightful Share: The Afro-Cuban Struggle for Equality, 1886–1912 [Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1995], pp. 108–109). In June 1919, in the Regla neighborhood of Havana, a black Jamaican immigrant named Williams was arrested for offering candy to a young white girl, allegedly with the intention of kidnapping and then sacrificing her for purposes of brujería. A frenzied crowd of white Cubans stormed the local jail, grabbed Williams, and killed him by dragging him through the streets tied to the back of a horse. The Havana daily El Día praised the lynching as a “step forward that we take toward civilization” (El Día, 29 June 1919). Earlier, in May 1919, in Guantánamo, Afro-Caribbean immigrants had also been accused of murdering a young boy, Evelio Rodríguez Almairall. The Heraldo de Cuba used one of these incidents to portray Afro-Caribbean immigrants in general as brujos, or witches (Reinaldo Luis Román, “Conjuring Progress and Divinity: Religion and Conflict in Cuba and Puerto Rico, 1899–1956” [Ph.D. diss., University of California, Los Angeles, 2000], pp. 140–181; León Primelles, Crónica cubana, 1919–1922. Menocal y la Liga nacional. Zayas y Crowder. Fin de la danza de los millones y reajuste [Havana: Editorial Lex, 1957], pp. 134–137; Ernesto Chávez Alvarez, El crimen de la niña Cecilia [Havana: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales, 1991], pp. 27, 36; Helg, Our Rightful Share, pp. 238–239).
Article in the Workman [Panama City, 20 August 1921]
PROSPECTIVE CHAPTER U.N.I.A. RECEIVES CHARTER That the late prospectors, U.N.I.A. were rewarded in their search, was demonstrated last Sunday night when President Gadsby announced to the vast audience that the Charter had arrived. What was formerly the Prospective Chapter, is now legally known as—Guachapali Chapter No. 14[.] As the clock of time, in one great, backward sweep of its momentum, points with sublime hands to a group of victorious Crusaders of the middle ages, reverently kneeling before the Holy Sepulchre, so did these people appear. With matchless fortitude and 31
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patience unrivalled, they fought and conquered, pressing on until now, with mighty voice, they raise the victor’s song. The shades of Hannibal and Toussaint must have smiled, while the sweet strains of “Greenland[’s] Icy Mountains” penetrated the mysterious depths of their abode far beyond mortals ken, in the peaceful realms of Shadowland. The seriousness of the whole affair is empathically impressionable, and justly so, too, when the whole world is full of unrest, and the despised Negro, buffeted on tremendous waves of oppression, finds himself dragging from one country to another barely existing, and, like Noah’s dove, with no resting place for the soles of his feet. For this week, over one hundred new members have joined the ranks of the devoted band, with hundreds more to follow. The Chapter while speeding on eagle wings, meets with many storms; but these are also in the House of Lords, and quickly subside before the goddess of reason. However, these folks should profit by past experiences, and let personal affairs be settled outside of the organization when possible. The president should be impartial, and overrule disagreeable and senseless motions, using discretion and law combined. Since unity is strength, don’t be like crabs, or you will never get out of the barrel. Some one must be Chairman, therefore, give him a helping hand, as all mortals make mistakes. There are some village lawyers who like to be seen and heard; they do more harm than good, and only look upon an organization as a field for diversion, or airing grievances. Mr. President, there are many intelligent men who have modern ideas, but are never given a chance by these fireside prattlers, whose thoughts are as old as the pyramids. Take warning and ask these chaps to be decent sometimes, as we don’t need another Babel on earth, yet. The moment France was declared a Republic, she settled down to Business, and today, she is the greatest Democracy on earth[.] Although young, she led the whole of Europe. [Should?] you do likewise? Should [you?] worry if other races get ahead of us? Certainly not—They act while we talk. GET–DOWN–TO–BUSINESS. Printed in the Workman (Panama City), 20 August 1921. Headed “(Contributed by War Office Club.)”
Gilbert E. A. Grindle, Assistant Under Secretary of State, Colonial Office, to the Under Secretary of State, Foreign Office Downing Street, //26th// August, 1921 Sir, I am directed by Mr. Secretary Churchill to transmit to you, to be laid before the Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, the accompanying copy of a petition to His Majesty from Mr. S. A. Richards, an ex-Corporal of the West India Regiment, at present residing in Cuba. 32
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patience unrivalled, they fought and conquered, pressing on until now, with mighty voice, they raise the victor’s song. The shades of Hannibal and Toussaint must have smiled, while the sweet strains of “Greenland[’s] Icy Mountains” penetrated the mysterious depths of their abode far beyond mortals ken, in the peaceful realms of Shadowland. The seriousness of the whole affair is empathically impressionable, and justly so, too, when the whole world is full of unrest, and the despised Negro, buffeted on tremendous waves of oppression, finds himself dragging from one country to another barely existing, and, like Noah’s dove, with no resting place for the soles of his feet. For this week, over one hundred new members have joined the ranks of the devoted band, with hundreds more to follow. The Chapter while speeding on eagle wings, meets with many storms; but these are also in the House of Lords, and quickly subside before the goddess of reason. However, these folks should profit by past experiences, and let personal affairs be settled outside of the organization when possible. The president should be impartial, and overrule disagreeable and senseless motions, using discretion and law combined. Since unity is strength, don’t be like crabs, or you will never get out of the barrel. Some one must be Chairman, therefore, give him a helping hand, as all mortals make mistakes. There are some village lawyers who like to be seen and heard; they do more harm than good, and only look upon an organization as a field for diversion, or airing grievances. Mr. President, there are many intelligent men who have modern ideas, but are never given a chance by these fireside prattlers, whose thoughts are as old as the pyramids. Take warning and ask these chaps to be decent sometimes, as we don’t need another Babel on earth, yet. The moment France was declared a Republic, she settled down to Business, and today, she is the greatest Democracy on earth[.] Although young, she led the whole of Europe. [Should?] you do likewise? Should [you?] worry if other races get ahead of us? Certainly not—They act while we talk. GET–DOWN–TO–BUSINESS. Printed in the Workman (Panama City), 20 August 1921. Headed “(Contributed by War Office Club.)”
Gilbert E. A. Grindle, Assistant Under Secretary of State, Colonial Office, to the Under Secretary of State, Foreign Office Downing Street, //26th// August, 1921 Sir, I am directed by Mr. Secretary Churchill to transmit to you, to be laid before the Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, the accompanying copy of a petition to His Majesty from Mr. S. A. Richards, an ex-Corporal of the West India Regiment, at present residing in Cuba. 32
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2. I am to request that if Lord Curzon sees no objection His Majesty’s Representative in Cuba may be instructed to inform Mr. Richards that his petition has been referred by the King to the Secretary of State for the Colonies who has by His Majesty’s command given it careful consideration but regrets that he finds himself unable to advise the King to give any directions in the matter. I am, Sir, Your most obedient servant, G. GRINDLE [Handwritten minutes:] Copy Havana for action as desired. [initials illegible] 30.8.21 [signature illegible] 30/8 TNA: PRO FO 371/5565. TLS.
Enclosure: Samuel Augustus Richards to the King of England [Box 705. Preston1 Oriente Cuba. 4th.7.1921] From Samuel Augustus Richards—Ex-Corporal of the West India Regiment To The King Most Excellent Britannic Majesty Sir, I do humbly and respectfully beg to put //the// matters herein stated to your distinguished notice and sincerely hope that Your Majesty’s Government will favour me with an impartial investigation. Your Majesty’s Government will understand from this letter that most of us who have served through the Great War as Negroes of the British Empire, had to leave our home in search of employment after leaving the Army owing to the very meagre amount of employment therein: and the over growth of strangers in our home especially in Jamaica. Cuba one of the domicile, their laws have provides for the Cubians [Cubans] only and what is actually not wanted is given to others. I therefore beg to lay this petition to the notice of His Sovereign Lord the King for his kind consideration towards the English Speaking Negroes who are suffering for want of employment in Cuba in America and in Panama. And that His Majesty’s Government will see its way to give the English Speaking Negroes a portion of land of our own in Africa; so that we may be able to cultivate it and with the assistance of the Home Government we would be better off settle down and do well. I further beg to point out that the foregoing countries are now seeking our exodus out of their home; and for these reasons if I have exceeded my humble limit in addressing Your Majesty Govern33
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ment thus I beg //to// pardon me seeing the motive which prompt my action. Resting on the mercy of Almighty God and the sympathy of Great Britain. I beg to remain etc., (Sgd) SAMUEL AUGUSTUS RICHARDS TNA: PRO FO 371/5565. TL. 1. Located in the municipality of Mayarí, in Holguín Province, Preston was a sugar-cane processing center owned and operated by the United Fruit Company and named in honor of one of the company's founders, Andrew W. Preston (1846–1924). Following the Cuban Revolution of 1958, United Fruit was forced to withdraw, and the Cuban government renamed the town Guatemala to symbolize solidarity with that nation (http://www.holguincuba.net/).
“Iconoclast” to the Workman [Panama City, 27 August 1921] Sir: The Colón [c]orrespondent of the WORKMAN in the issue of May 7, of this year, reporting the proceedings of a meeting held in Liberty Hall, Colón, in connection with the recent visit of Mr Marcus Garvey, President General of the U.N.I.A. & A.C.L., said in part: “. . . Among those present was Mayor Aizpuru who, on being introduced by President Brooks, expressed himself in glowing terms in connection with the movement, but on closing, he asked Mr. Garvey that now he is going away and has taken the people’s dollar with him, what were they to do seeing that they were all poor people and conditions were such. Mr. Garvey replied that he was a stranger to these parts and it was no[t] in his power to dictate to the people but as he was asked, he would suggest that the poor people form themselves into a committee and approach the rich to start native industries in order that they might be employed.” I also wish, Mr. Editor, to quote from the NEGRO WORLD of July 30 the following passages appearing under the caption “Marcus Garvey and Miss H V Davis tell thrilling story of trip to West Indies and Central America”; “. . . From Moron I (Mr. Garvey) went to the little city of Nuevitas, and there also I received ano[t]her hearty response and there the people ‘Went Over The Top’ 100 per cent for the Black Star Line and the Liberian Construction Loan, even though his Grace, the Chaplain-General, Dr. McGuire, had been there, and [as?] Archbishop, naturally he cleaned up all Cuba and left not even a brass nickel there. But when I arrived in Nuevitas, the ladies went down into their ‘National Banks’ and they brought up all the reserves they had. . . . In Preston I also received a warm reception. Dr. McGuire had preceded me there and I believe in two nights took away all the savings of the people in Preston. So when I arrived there to get some more they did the best they could. . . . From Preston I went to another great stronghold, the stronghold of Barnes, where Dr. McGuire, I believe, in two nights got $4,000 for the Black Star Line. . . . I sold thousands of 34
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ment thus I beg //to// pardon me seeing the motive which prompt my action. Resting on the mercy of Almighty God and the sympathy of Great Britain. I beg to remain etc., (Sgd) SAMUEL AUGUSTUS RICHARDS TNA: PRO FO 371/5565. TL. 1. Located in the municipality of Mayarí, in Holguín Province, Preston was a sugar-cane processing center owned and operated by the United Fruit Company and named in honor of one of the company's founders, Andrew W. Preston (1846–1924). Following the Cuban Revolution of 1958, United Fruit was forced to withdraw, and the Cuban government renamed the town Guatemala to symbolize solidarity with that nation (http://www.holguincuba.net/).
“Iconoclast” to the Workman [Panama City, 27 August 1921] Sir: The Colón [c]orrespondent of the WORKMAN in the issue of May 7, of this year, reporting the proceedings of a meeting held in Liberty Hall, Colón, in connection with the recent visit of Mr Marcus Garvey, President General of the U.N.I.A. & A.C.L., said in part: “. . . Among those present was Mayor Aizpuru who, on being introduced by President Brooks, expressed himself in glowing terms in connection with the movement, but on closing, he asked Mr. Garvey that now he is going away and has taken the people’s dollar with him, what were they to do seeing that they were all poor people and conditions were such. Mr. Garvey replied that he was a stranger to these parts and it was no[t] in his power to dictate to the people but as he was asked, he would suggest that the poor people form themselves into a committee and approach the rich to start native industries in order that they might be employed.” I also wish, Mr. Editor, to quote from the NEGRO WORLD of July 30 the following passages appearing under the caption “Marcus Garvey and Miss H V Davis tell thrilling story of trip to West Indies and Central America”; “. . . From Moron I (Mr. Garvey) went to the little city of Nuevitas, and there also I received ano[t]her hearty response and there the people ‘Went Over The Top’ 100 per cent for the Black Star Line and the Liberian Construction Loan, even though his Grace, the Chaplain-General, Dr. McGuire, had been there, and [as?] Archbishop, naturally he cleaned up all Cuba and left not even a brass nickel there. But when I arrived in Nuevitas, the ladies went down into their ‘National Banks’ and they brought up all the reserves they had. . . . In Preston I also received a warm reception. Dr. McGuire had preceded me there and I believe in two nights took away all the savings of the people in Preston. So when I arrived there to get some more they did the best they could. . . . From Preston I went to another great stronghold, the stronghold of Barnes, where Dr. McGuire, I believe, in two nights got $4,000 for the Black Star Line. . . . I sold thousands of 34
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dollars worth of stock at that meeting and we received a large amount of money for door admittance. . . . Miss Jacques collected $14,000 for door receipts alone. . . .” In continuation of the present study, Mr. Editor, I again beg leave to quote from the Gleaner of July 20 where it says: “. . . The Governor of Jamaica has decided to repatriate fully 10,000 Jamaican Labourers who have been stranded in Cuba. The Government has been in communication with the British Minister in Havana and the British Consul in Santiago de Cuba with regard to the condition of the labourers from this colony who are now in the neighbouring republic. These enquiries show that there are not only thousands of Jamaicans out of work but large numbers of them are threatened with starvation and other hardships. . . . ” Now, Mr. Editor, after a careful consideration of the above, I am forced to the conclusion that there is something radically wrong somewhere, either in the people who go around collecting such vast sums of money (possibly with the best intentions for the betterment of their fellowmen in the near or far future) and yet claim to be strangers when they are confronted with questions pertaining to the solution of the present difficult economic situation, or in those who blindly and fanatically give their little savings in exchange for a promised deliverance and its consequent era of happiness and prosperity which neither they, their children nor their children’s children have the faintest hope of enjoying. But, Mr. Editor, to me the most ugly part of it is not in the giving by the poor people because, being in the great majority unlettered, they are quite apt to fall to the beautiful word pictures painted for them of gold and diamonds lying around everywhere in the Motherland, but in the fact that they get no consideration whatever when a tide of adversity sets in. Surely the Parent Body of the U[.]N[.]I[.]A. in New York must know something of the sufferings of the West Indians in Cuba, many of whom, I venture to presume, are included in those referred to in the President-General’s story quoted above[.] What are they going to do to help relieve the situation? Glancing over the report of the High Chancellor covering the financial activities at headquarters for the year ended July 31, 1921 (See Negro World of Aug. 13), I see that of $90,000 collected from various sources for the General Fund, more than $45,000 or over 50 per cent has been expended in the salaries of officers and employees. The report also show that of $144,450 raised by the sale of bonds in the Liberian Construction Loan, $26,946 has been paid in salaries to officers and employees, $10[,]872 spent in travelling expenses, the two items consuming a quarter or 25 per cent of the total collections while only $4,000 has actually been spent in Liberia for the construction of a building to be used as headquarters there. Now it does seem to me, Mr. Editor, that a system which provides for the well being and enjoyment of a few at the expense of the poorer masses is one that should not only be despised but openly denounced. It is the same principle 35
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which brought about the present chaotic state of affairs in Russia and the establishment of Bolshevism. It is the same principle which has caused and is still causing the gigantic struggle waged between capital and labour, and any individual or business concern or organization or government built on such a system must eventually collapse. Here are these people drawing prodigious sums as salaries and travelling expenses while those who bore the heat and burden of the day and subscribed their all in support of the work are starving by thousands. Talk about paying for leadership and then compare the U.N.I.A. movement with the effect made and the results accomplished by the little band of Pilgrim Fathers who formed the [n]ucleus of the present American nation, methinks that very little would have been achieved if the leaders of that little party had claimed for themselves the lion’s share of everything. Talk about your Negro Moses, as far as I can remember, the original Moses lived in the same kind of tent in the wilderness and ate the same manna from heaven as did the children of Israel of whom he was the recognized [l]eader. Now, Mr. Editor, if the cause is worth suffering for as these leaders of the U.N.I.A. tell us, then I take it that we should all suffer alike, and not some live in affluence while the great majority who made the greater sacrifice are suffering untold hardships. The government of Jamaica has now a stupendous problem to face in the return of so many half-starved penniless citizens. Again I ask: What is the greatest Negro organization which claims to have the future welfare of the Negro race most at heart going to do to prove to the world the genuineness of its much boasted objects? The eyes of all concerned are turned towards the Parent Body for some material assistance in the solution of the problem. Shall they look in vain? Respectfully, ICONOCLAST Printed in the Workman (Panama City), 27 August 1921.
Richard A. Bennett to William H. Ferris, Literary Editor, Negro World [[Central Jarom, Camaguey, Cuba, August 31, 1921]]
BROTHERHOOD OF MAN Dear Mr. Editor:— Today being the last day of the Second Annual Convention of our people, whereupon many worthy problems have been solved for the benefit of our people by those whom we have selected as delegates and who through their martial 36
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which brought about the present chaotic state of affairs in Russia and the establishment of Bolshevism. It is the same principle which has caused and is still causing the gigantic struggle waged between capital and labour, and any individual or business concern or organization or government built on such a system must eventually collapse. Here are these people drawing prodigious sums as salaries and travelling expenses while those who bore the heat and burden of the day and subscribed their all in support of the work are starving by thousands. Talk about paying for leadership and then compare the U.N.I.A. movement with the effect made and the results accomplished by the little band of Pilgrim Fathers who formed the [n]ucleus of the present American nation, methinks that very little would have been achieved if the leaders of that little party had claimed for themselves the lion’s share of everything. Talk about your Negro Moses, as far as I can remember, the original Moses lived in the same kind of tent in the wilderness and ate the same manna from heaven as did the children of Israel of whom he was the recognized [l]eader. Now, Mr. Editor, if the cause is worth suffering for as these leaders of the U.N.I.A. tell us, then I take it that we should all suffer alike, and not some live in affluence while the great majority who made the greater sacrifice are suffering untold hardships. The government of Jamaica has now a stupendous problem to face in the return of so many half-starved penniless citizens. Again I ask: What is the greatest Negro organization which claims to have the future welfare of the Negro race most at heart going to do to prove to the world the genuineness of its much boasted objects? The eyes of all concerned are turned towards the Parent Body for some material assistance in the solution of the problem. Shall they look in vain? Respectfully, ICONOCLAST Printed in the Workman (Panama City), 27 August 1921.
Richard A. Bennett to William H. Ferris, Literary Editor, Negro World [[Central Jarom, Camaguey, Cuba, August 31, 1921]]
BROTHERHOOD OF MAN Dear Mr. Editor:— Today being the last day of the Second Annual Convention of our people, whereupon many worthy problems have been solved for the benefit of our people by those whom we have selected as delegates and who through their martial 36
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courage and representations have so much merited the position of representatives, I beg to tender through the medium of your paper my congratulations for the martial manner in which they have endeavored to determine the legitimate right of universal equality which has been manifested through the strenuous task undertaken and accomplished within these thirty-one days. I have kept in touch with the procedure and proceedings of the convention during the entire course of its sessions by constant reading of the Negro World and conclude that it is he[r]culean, as also do thousands of members and well-wishers of the U.N.I.A. in this locality. I highly appreciate the step taken by the Hon. Marcus Garvey by entering a protest against the idea of a Pan-African Conference to be held in Europe over which aliens were to preside, and Dr. Du Bois its secretary.1 I have also noticed in the issue of your paper of the 27th inst. where another protest had been tendered against the recruiting of British war veterans by Spain to fight Moors in Morocco.2 After reading the above resolution, which had been seconded by the Hon. Speaker in Convention and carried without a dissenting vote, I feel sure that we are well represented and not a stone was left unturned. Notwithstanding, in spite of all these representations, there are still doubts in the minds of our pe[o]ple as to the ultimate success of our achievement. Nevertheless, may it please His Highness, the Potentate, His Excellency, the Hon. Marcus Garvey and other members of the high Executive Council of the U.N.I.A. to pursue unfalteringly until we shall have gained our objective. Knowing that we are laying on the sands of time a foundation which will never be destroyed, for it is because we have seen the necessity for the materialization of our people, that we have started on such a great venture. I expect that there will be a great change among the high executives of the parent body during the sessions of this convention, but I hope that those men upon whom the lot may fall may ever continue to be faithful with an endeavor of obtaining the object of our aim. I have read with much regret of the resignation of the Chaplain-General, Rev. Dr. Alexander McGuire, on the ground that he would not be able to devote all his time to the service of the association. My suggestion to the U.N.I.A. is that a Spanish section be prepared in the Negro World3 so as to facilitate the Cuban element, as thousands of Negro aliens are leaving this republic owing to the embar[r]assed conditions of financial difficulties. I also beg to tender through this medium my hearty appreciation by congratulating the general-secretary of the Tela division No. 165 for the unique manner in which he unfolds to the public the annual report of his division. In conclusion I say I am, indeed, concerned in the brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God, and I have true confidence in the latter for the achievement of humanity and the aggrandizement of national culture. Under such circumstances I request that all Negroes of the world link together so that
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we may be able to hand down to posterity an African empire. Yours for racial uplift, RICHARD A. BENNETT [Addressed to:] Prof. W. H. Ferris, Literary Editor, Negro World, 56 West 135th Street, New York City Printed in NW, 22 October 1921. 1. The second PAC, organized by W. E. B. Du Bois, met in London on 27–29 August 1921, and was continued in Brussels on 30 August–2 September 1921, and in Paris on 4–5 September 1921. The primary topics discussed at the conference were segregation and discrimination and the issue of West African land ownership. Garvey strongly objected to the PAC because it was taking place in Europe with white delegates invited to speak. Instead, he argued that the conference should be organized strictly for blacks who should determine their own destiny (J. Ayodele Langley, PanAfricanism and Nationalism in West Africa, 1900–1945 [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973], pp. 71–84; NW, 2 August 1921; MGP 9: 138–139). 2. By fall 1923 the Rif of northern Morocco were on the verge of expelling the Spanish and establishing their own republic. The Rif had begun their fight for independence in 1920, and the three-year struggle climaxed in June 1923 when the Spanish army suffered a catastrophic defeat at their hands. Under the command of Abd el-Krim, three thousand Rif soldiers defeated nineteen thousand Spanish troops, captured large amounts of arms and ammunition, and drove the Spanish back to the ports. By the end of 1923 the Rif began a new campaign into Tangier and began to organize the Republic of the Rif with a president, legislature, and plans for a constitution. Although Abd el-Krim was captured in 1926 by a joint expedition of French and Spanish troops, the Rif were not defeated until 1934 (S. Fleming, “Primo de Rivera and Abd El-Krim: The Struggle in Spanish Morocco, 1923–1927” [Ph.D. diss., University of Wisconsin, 1974]; Baltimore Afro-American, 15 June 1923; Douglas E. Ashford, Political Change in Morocco [Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961], pp. 25–31; David S. Woolman, Rebels in the Rif: Abd El-Krim and the Rif Rebellion [Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1968]). 3. The Negro World contained an intermittent Spanish-language section between 1921 and 1931.
F. A. Ogilvie to the Negro World [[Morón, Camaguey, Cuba, September 2, 1921]]
U.N.I.A. IN MORON, CAMAGUEY, CUBA Dear Sir: I notice in the issue of The Negro World of the 27th ult., that a scheme was put before the convention for the establishment of medical and surgical departments in various parts of the world for the benefit of members of the organization.1 In my humble opinion I think no effort should be spared in pushing the proposition into working form, as I believe, as far as this country (Cuba) is concerned, it would be of untold blessing to the thousands of our people who at times suffer great hardship from want of a place of their own where they can be treated in case of illness. Those who have labored here for any length of time will readily understand and appreciate what I am writing
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we may be able to hand down to posterity an African empire. Yours for racial uplift, RICHARD A. BENNETT [Addressed to:] Prof. W. H. Ferris, Literary Editor, Negro World, 56 West 135th Street, New York City Printed in NW, 22 October 1921. 1. The second PAC, organized by W. E. B. Du Bois, met in London on 27–29 August 1921, and was continued in Brussels on 30 August–2 September 1921, and in Paris on 4–5 September 1921. The primary topics discussed at the conference were segregation and discrimination and the issue of West African land ownership. Garvey strongly objected to the PAC because it was taking place in Europe with white delegates invited to speak. Instead, he argued that the conference should be organized strictly for blacks who should determine their own destiny (J. Ayodele Langley, PanAfricanism and Nationalism in West Africa, 1900–1945 [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973], pp. 71–84; NW, 2 August 1921; MGP 9: 138–139). 2. By fall 1923 the Rif of northern Morocco were on the verge of expelling the Spanish and establishing their own republic. The Rif had begun their fight for independence in 1920, and the three-year struggle climaxed in June 1923 when the Spanish army suffered a catastrophic defeat at their hands. Under the command of Abd el-Krim, three thousand Rif soldiers defeated nineteen thousand Spanish troops, captured large amounts of arms and ammunition, and drove the Spanish back to the ports. By the end of 1923 the Rif began a new campaign into Tangier and began to organize the Republic of the Rif with a president, legislature, and plans for a constitution. Although Abd el-Krim was captured in 1926 by a joint expedition of French and Spanish troops, the Rif were not defeated until 1934 (S. Fleming, “Primo de Rivera and Abd El-Krim: The Struggle in Spanish Morocco, 1923–1927” [Ph.D. diss., University of Wisconsin, 1974]; Baltimore Afro-American, 15 June 1923; Douglas E. Ashford, Political Change in Morocco [Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961], pp. 25–31; David S. Woolman, Rebels in the Rif: Abd El-Krim and the Rif Rebellion [Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1968]). 3. The Negro World contained an intermittent Spanish-language section between 1921 and 1931.
F. A. Ogilvie to the Negro World [[Morón, Camaguey, Cuba, September 2, 1921]]
U.N.I.A. IN MORON, CAMAGUEY, CUBA Dear Sir: I notice in the issue of The Negro World of the 27th ult., that a scheme was put before the convention for the establishment of medical and surgical departments in various parts of the world for the benefit of members of the organization.1 In my humble opinion I think no effort should be spared in pushing the proposition into working form, as I believe, as far as this country (Cuba) is concerned, it would be of untold blessing to the thousands of our people who at times suffer great hardship from want of a place of their own where they can be treated in case of illness. Those who have labored here for any length of time will readily understand and appreciate what I am writing
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about. The Spaniards here have got such institutions for the benefit of their people, and it is but reasonable that aid should be provided for those of our people who may not be able to pay for their medical assistance. I sincerely hope that our people give their united support in putting over this great scheme, which will all be to their benefit. Dr. Gibson must be complimented for his great move, and instead of criticizing, all should give him their best assistance in bringing the matter to a success. I remain, very truly yours, F. A. OGILVIE Printed in NW, 17 September 1921. 1. In a report on the second UNIA convention in New York, the Negro World stated that “An ambitious motion by the Hon. J. D. Gibson, having for its object the establishing of medical and surgical dispensaries throughout the world, was carried by a large majority. The motion was strongly opposed by a few who thought it beyond the realms of practical politics at the present time. The sponsor of the project averred, however, that he was confident of being able to place before the Executive Council views such as would convince them that the measure was capable of fulfillment at little or no cost to the Asso[ci]ation as a whole” (NW, 27 August 1921; MGP 3: 668– 669).
“An Onlooker” to the Negro World [[Bridgetown, Barbados, B.W.I., September 3, 1921]]
SATISFIED WITH BRIDGETOWN EVENT Dear Mr. Editor: As an onlooker who is becoming interested allow me to inform you of some of the things I saw at Barbados among the Negro people on August 31. I must say they have left an impression in the hearts of some of us, who were very pessimistic about its success in this country. On the morning of the 31st they held a thanksgiving service at 5 a.m., and I noticed that it was well attended. The service opened with a processional hymn from the “Ancient and Modern,”1 No. 5, followed by prayer. Then reading of the Ninety-second Psalm. Next Hymn 378. Scripture reading, number 13, chapter 17–33. A special prayer for all rulers of the world and the association. A solo preceded the sermon, the subject of which was “The Promise, Encouragement vs. Discouragement,” Genesis, chapter 50, verse 24, and Numbers, 13th chapter, 30th and 31st verses. The preacher was Rev. F. Bruce Callender, who seems to be a very forceful preacher. He showed how Caleb2 was blessed for encouraging the people, while the discouragers died. At the close of the sermon the president and vice-president spoke on “Independence,” and Mr. Wilson on “Encouragement.” Thus ended a beautiful morning with the
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about. The Spaniards here have got such institutions for the benefit of their people, and it is but reasonable that aid should be provided for those of our people who may not be able to pay for their medical assistance. I sincerely hope that our people give their united support in putting over this great scheme, which will all be to their benefit. Dr. Gibson must be complimented for his great move, and instead of criticizing, all should give him their best assistance in bringing the matter to a success. I remain, very truly yours, F. A. OGILVIE Printed in NW, 17 September 1921. 1. In a report on the second UNIA convention in New York, the Negro World stated that “An ambitious motion by the Hon. J. D. Gibson, having for its object the establishing of medical and surgical dispensaries throughout the world, was carried by a large majority. The motion was strongly opposed by a few who thought it beyond the realms of practical politics at the present time. The sponsor of the project averred, however, that he was confident of being able to place before the Executive Council views such as would convince them that the measure was capable of fulfillment at little or no cost to the Asso[ci]ation as a whole” (NW, 27 August 1921; MGP 3: 668– 669).
“An Onlooker” to the Negro World [[Bridgetown, Barbados, B.W.I., September 3, 1921]]
SATISFIED WITH BRIDGETOWN EVENT Dear Mr. Editor: As an onlooker who is becoming interested allow me to inform you of some of the things I saw at Barbados among the Negro people on August 31. I must say they have left an impression in the hearts of some of us, who were very pessimistic about its success in this country. On the morning of the 31st they held a thanksgiving service at 5 a.m., and I noticed that it was well attended. The service opened with a processional hymn from the “Ancient and Modern,”1 No. 5, followed by prayer. Then reading of the Ninety-second Psalm. Next Hymn 378. Scripture reading, number 13, chapter 17–33. A special prayer for all rulers of the world and the association. A solo preceded the sermon, the subject of which was “The Promise, Encouragement vs. Discouragement,” Genesis, chapter 50, verse 24, and Numbers, 13th chapter, 30th and 31st verses. The preacher was Rev. F. Bruce Callender, who seems to be a very forceful preacher. He showed how Caleb2 was blessed for encouraging the people, while the discouragers died. At the close of the sermon the president and vice-president spoke on “Independence,” and Mr. Wilson on “Encouragement.” Thus ended a beautiful morning with the
39
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS
singing of the Ethiopian National Anthem. At night they had a dramatic performance, which was well attended. AN ONLOOKER Printed in NW, 1 October 1921. 1. Hymns Ancient and Modern was a hymnal in common use within the Church of England. First published in 1861, it resulted from the efforts of the Oxford movement. The hymnal achieved immediate and overwhelming success, becoming the most popular English hymnal ever published. Total sales in 150 years were over 170 million copies (David Hay Fleming, comp., Hymns Ancient and Modern: For Use in the Services of the Church, new ed. with 1st supplement [London: Printed for the proprietors by William Clowes and Sons, 1916]; Harry Eskew and Hugh T. McElrath, Sing with Understanding: An Introduction to Christian Hymnology [Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1980]; Total sales Hymns Ancient and Modern, http://www.hymnsam.co.uk/about-us/the-history-and -traditions.aspx). 2. In Numbers 13, listing of the heads of each tribe, verse 6 reads: “Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh.” Verse 30, chapter 13, reads: “And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.” Caleb and Joshua said the people should trust God and go into the land, while the other ten spies said that conquering the land was impossible (Timothy R Ashley, The Book of Numbers, New international commentary on the Old Testament [Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1993]).
Reverend Joseph U. Osborne,1 Executive Secretary, UNIA Puerto Padre2 Division, to the Negro World [[Puerto Padre, Oriente, Cuba, Sept. 3, 1921]]
A GREETING Dear Sir:— Please allow me a little space to mention the heartfelt enthusiasm of the Puerto Padre Division No. 163 of the Universal Negro Improvement Association pertaining to the second International Convention. We, the officers and members of the Puerto Padre Division, send our hearty congratulations for the resolutions laid down in this second international convention for our race. May it please the four million Negroes of the world, as it pleases us, knowing that this convention is the second milestone reached in traveling to our motherland Africa. May it impress the millions of other races that we, the four [hundred] million Negroes of the world, need a free and redeemed Africa. We of Puerto Padre, members of the division of Puerto Padre of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L., send a never forgotten congratulation for your sitting thirty days at the second international convention in handing down the declarations of rights to the world for the redemption of our motherland, Africa. To our noble leader, his Excellency Honorable Marcus Garvey, the division Puerto Padre beg to mention that there were great lives of noble men, but
40
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS
singing of the Ethiopian National Anthem. At night they had a dramatic performance, which was well attended. AN ONLOOKER Printed in NW, 1 October 1921. 1. Hymns Ancient and Modern was a hymnal in common use within the Church of England. First published in 1861, it resulted from the efforts of the Oxford movement. The hymnal achieved immediate and overwhelming success, becoming the most popular English hymnal ever published. Total sales in 150 years were over 170 million copies (David Hay Fleming, comp., Hymns Ancient and Modern: For Use in the Services of the Church, new ed. with 1st supplement [London: Printed for the proprietors by William Clowes and Sons, 1916]; Harry Eskew and Hugh T. McElrath, Sing with Understanding: An Introduction to Christian Hymnology [Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1980]; Total sales Hymns Ancient and Modern, http://www.hymnsam.co.uk/about-us/the-history-and -traditions.aspx). 2. In Numbers 13, listing of the heads of each tribe, verse 6 reads: “Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh.” Verse 30, chapter 13, reads: “And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.” Caleb and Joshua said the people should trust God and go into the land, while the other ten spies said that conquering the land was impossible (Timothy R Ashley, The Book of Numbers, New international commentary on the Old Testament [Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1993]).
Reverend Joseph U. Osborne,1 Executive Secretary, UNIA Puerto Padre2 Division, to the Negro World [[Puerto Padre, Oriente, Cuba, Sept. 3, 1921]]
A GREETING Dear Sir:— Please allow me a little space to mention the heartfelt enthusiasm of the Puerto Padre Division No. 163 of the Universal Negro Improvement Association pertaining to the second International Convention. We, the officers and members of the Puerto Padre Division, send our hearty congratulations for the resolutions laid down in this second international convention for our race. May it please the four million Negroes of the world, as it pleases us, knowing that this convention is the second milestone reached in traveling to our motherland Africa. May it impress the millions of other races that we, the four [hundred] million Negroes of the world, need a free and redeemed Africa. We of Puerto Padre, members of the division of Puerto Padre of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L., send a never forgotten congratulation for your sitting thirty days at the second international convention in handing down the declarations of rights to the world for the redemption of our motherland, Africa. To our noble leader, his Excellency Honorable Marcus Garvey, the division Puerto Padre beg to mention that there were great lives of noble men, but
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there’s none to compare to you, for today you cause the dumb to speak, the blind to see, and the deaf to hear, and also raise the dead from where they were laid and break the chains that chain us captive, and set us free. David, when in his time slew Goliath it was said Saul had won his thousand, but David his ten thousand; we can boastfully say today you are not ten thousand, but you are more than millions. As you have taken the leadership of your race and beg us to stand in unity, we are willing to follow you to the end. Hoping you may not weary to control the rights of your people, trusting the four [hundred] million Negroes of the world new and old may cling to your side as a hen gathers her brood under her wing, as at the last you will be as a shelter in the time of storm, may you lead us as in the days of Moses when he led the children of Israel to the promised land. We thank you, our dear leader, for this second convention and hope the next you may sit in Africa with millions under your jurisdiction under the standard of the red, black and green. May the holy angels watch around you; guide your step to the way of peace until you land us in that fertile land of our forefathers, Africa. Happy greetings to all beloved brethren of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L. while I remain for one God! one aim! one destiny! Yours, REV. J. U. OSBORNE Ex. Sec’y, Puerto Padre Division, Oriente, Cuba Printed in NW, 29 October 1921. 1. Joseph U. Osborne also served as secretary of the Puerto Padre division when it applied for official government recognition in 1922 (Joseph U. Osborne, secretary, UNIA, to the Honorable Governor of the Province of Oriente, Puerto Padre, 11 July 1922, AHPSC, GP, leg. 2452, exp. 4). 2. Puerto Padre was a town in Oriente Province near two large sugar plantations, Chaparra and Delicias, both owned by the Cuban American Sugar Company, one of the largest employers of Afro-Caribbean labor in Cuba.
Editorial in the Workman [Panama City, 3 September 1921]
A NEW DAWN FOR GUACHAPALI CHAPTER U.N.I.A. NO. 14 LAND AHOY!—The
weather-beaten passengers and mariners, galvanized into sudden action as the watch announces the approach of land, has nothing on Guachapali Chapter No[.] 14, when, on Wednesday night, the witty President Gadsby proclaimed to a vast audience that “election” was at hand. This means—THE DAWN OF A NEW LIFE—the formation of COMMITTEES and the launching out into a CONSTRUCTIVE world hitherto unk[n]own to the hardy pioneers. This step is worthy of the highest commendation, and is indic[a]tive of a spirit of progress, winging its early flight from the wintry days of economic and industrial sleep that enshrouded the old NEGRO, to the verdant springtime 41
SEPTEMBER 1921
there’s none to compare to you, for today you cause the dumb to speak, the blind to see, and the deaf to hear, and also raise the dead from where they were laid and break the chains that chain us captive, and set us free. David, when in his time slew Goliath it was said Saul had won his thousand, but David his ten thousand; we can boastfully say today you are not ten thousand, but you are more than millions. As you have taken the leadership of your race and beg us to stand in unity, we are willing to follow you to the end. Hoping you may not weary to control the rights of your people, trusting the four [hundred] million Negroes of the world new and old may cling to your side as a hen gathers her brood under her wing, as at the last you will be as a shelter in the time of storm, may you lead us as in the days of Moses when he led the children of Israel to the promised land. We thank you, our dear leader, for this second convention and hope the next you may sit in Africa with millions under your jurisdiction under the standard of the red, black and green. May the holy angels watch around you; guide your step to the way of peace until you land us in that fertile land of our forefathers, Africa. Happy greetings to all beloved brethren of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L. while I remain for one God! one aim! one destiny! Yours, REV. J. U. OSBORNE Ex. Sec’y, Puerto Padre Division, Oriente, Cuba Printed in NW, 29 October 1921. 1. Joseph U. Osborne also served as secretary of the Puerto Padre division when it applied for official government recognition in 1922 (Joseph U. Osborne, secretary, UNIA, to the Honorable Governor of the Province of Oriente, Puerto Padre, 11 July 1922, AHPSC, GP, leg. 2452, exp. 4). 2. Puerto Padre was a town in Oriente Province near two large sugar plantations, Chaparra and Delicias, both owned by the Cuban American Sugar Company, one of the largest employers of Afro-Caribbean labor in Cuba.
Editorial in the Workman [Panama City, 3 September 1921]
A NEW DAWN FOR GUACHAPALI CHAPTER U.N.I.A. NO. 14 LAND AHOY!—The
weather-beaten passengers and mariners, galvanized into sudden action as the watch announces the approach of land, has nothing on Guachapali Chapter No[.] 14, when, on Wednesday night, the witty President Gadsby proclaimed to a vast audience that “election” was at hand. This means—THE DAWN OF A NEW LIFE—the formation of COMMITTEES and the launching out into a CONSTRUCTIVE world hitherto unk[n]own to the hardy pioneers. This step is worthy of the highest commendation, and is indic[a]tive of a spirit of progress, winging its early flight from the wintry days of economic and industrial sleep that enshrouded the old NEGRO, to the verdant springtime 41
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS
of NEGRO enterprise, NEGRO ability and NEGRO statecraft. Sunday night’s meeting was d[i]vine, the choir giving full justice, while Mr. Miller’s four held the audience enraptured with an incomparable quartette. In the absence of the chairman, the Vice, Mr. Charles Alvarez [,] worthily filled the vacancy, pouring forth a soul of poesy and oratory that lifted his hearers on the wings of imagination to the feet of Demosthenes. Wednesday night, the beloved ANCIENT-ANDMODERN was there to deliver the goods. Mr. Gadsby is indeed, a connecting link between the present and the past, defying Mr. Latin in his own house, and touching from the sweet, dream, harp of David “The Shepherd Boy,” to the comic antics of “Charlie Chapl[in].” Like most men with great minds, he has great faults; but who has not? One thing is certain, he is honest and sincere; and his zeal for the organization, seasoned with pleasant reminders of antique days, has contributed largely in bringing it from thirty members, to within the vicinity of the thousand-mark in less than six months. He is the right man in the right place, and deserves the support [of] the entire membership. No one will be disappointed in joining the Chapter, for the steady stream of members weekly, reminds one of a certain command:—“Cast the net on the right side of the ship and ye shall find.” The people are certainly casting their nets the right side, for the sick, the oppressed, and the destitute, never appeal in vain. The President and Vice are certainly all that can be desired, and if these indomitable spirits, with true fraternal love will only blend forces for one AIM—one DESTINY—one GOD, then the streams of difficulties are half-way bridged and unsurpassed success awaits the organization. Jealousy is one of the worst enemies of our people and without taking into consideration their inability to hold offices many prefer to pull down the house rather than allow the right men to retain their seats. It is observable, and only too true, that capable men never clamor for positions, while the “Solomons” will resort to any treacherou[s] designs to obtain their end[s]. On elections depend the destinies of organizations or nations; and it is hoped that this Chapter will elect real live-wires—men with practical ideas. Remember parrots are only mimics, and square pegs never fit in round holes. This world at its present stage calls for action and not words alone. We wish the Chapter a long unbroken chain of prosperity in Economics—Finance and Industry. Printed in the Workman (Panama City), 3 September 1921. Headed “(Contributed By War Office).”
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Memorandum from Major G. M. Kincade, Provost Marshal, San Pedro de Macorís, to the Chief of Municipal Police, San Pedro de Macorís MILITARY GOVERNMENT OFFICE OF PROVOST MARSHAL,1
San Pedro de Macoris, September 3, 1921 MEMO TO THE CHIEF OF MUNICIPAL POLICE Observances to be followed when conducting the arrest of the [“]Black Star Line”[:] All books found in the room where the ceremony is to be conducted, all accounts books, all documents relating to this society, any money they may have in their deposit box, newspapers, etc. should be confiscated. The homes of the members must be searched2 for anything related to this organization. When the prisoners, men, women, and other relatives, are taken to Jail, they must all be searched and all papers they may have on them must be confiscated. All of this and any reports that the Municipal Police may submit should be sent to the Provost Marshal3 of San Pedro de Macoris, D.R. Signed G. M. KINCADE, Major U.S.M.C. DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TL, copy. On Municipal Police of San Pedro de Macorís letterhead. Translated from Spanish. 1. In English in the original. 2. Original is misspelled as “rejistradas” throughout. 3. In English in the original.
Thomas Duruo, et al., to Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison,1 Military Governor, Dominican Republic San Pedro de Macoris, September 5th, 1921 Sir: We the und[er]signed do hereby thru these presents solicit your attention to hear us in the following occur[re]nce which took place on the evening of September 3rd at 9 o’clock p.m. Owing to our grievance we desire to bring to your notice that on the 23rd of December we obtained the necessary permission of the Military Governor 43
SEPTEMBER 1921
Memorandum from Major G. M. Kincade, Provost Marshal, San Pedro de Macorís, to the Chief of Municipal Police, San Pedro de Macorís MILITARY GOVERNMENT OFFICE OF PROVOST MARSHAL,1
San Pedro de Macoris, September 3, 1921 MEMO TO THE CHIEF OF MUNICIPAL POLICE Observances to be followed when conducting the arrest of the [“]Black Star Line”[:] All books found in the room where the ceremony is to be conducted, all accounts books, all documents relating to this society, any money they may have in their deposit box, newspapers, etc. should be confiscated. The homes of the members must be searched2 for anything related to this organization. When the prisoners, men, women, and other relatives, are taken to Jail, they must all be searched and all papers they may have on them must be confiscated. All of this and any reports that the Municipal Police may submit should be sent to the Provost Marshal3 of San Pedro de Macoris, D.R. Signed G. M. KINCADE, Major U.S.M.C. DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TL, copy. On Municipal Police of San Pedro de Macorís letterhead. Translated from Spanish. 1. In English in the original. 2. Original is misspelled as “rejistradas” throughout. 3. In English in the original.
Thomas Duruo, et al., to Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison,1 Military Governor, Dominican Republic San Pedro de Macoris, September 5th, 1921 Sir: We the und[er]signed do hereby thru these presents solicit your attention to hear us in the following occur[re]nce which took place on the evening of September 3rd at 9 o’clock p.m. Owing to our grievance we desire to bring to your notice that on the 23rd of December we obtained the necessary permission of the Military Governor 43
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and of the Civil Governor of this locality for the organization of our Society known under the name of UNITED IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION OF NEGROS. We therefore organized ourselves as a civil and law abiding people according to the Mandate of the Cons[t]itution of said Society of which we have the honor of presenting your inspection. After [having] been on a working basis from the aforementioned date, we have been unfortunately forcibly led to face a dis[ap]pointment from the fact that on Sept[em]ber 3rd our President, General Secretary and Members including females and minors were arrested, Chart[er] Documents and Building seized, whilst Officers and Members of the aforementioned Society were singing sacred pieces. The President asked the Military and Civil Officers on what grounds they were arrested, but the only reply that he received was, “CLOSE YOUR MOUTH.” They were all marched to prison where they are detained and kept up to this moment without knowledge of having committed any crime or violated any of the Laws issued by the Military or Civil Governor. We therefore pray that your Excellency will give this matter your kind attention and Judgement for we believe that there is no just cause for it. We remain, Sir[,] Yours respectfully THOMAS DURUO JAMES COOKS CHA[R]LES P. LUNDY JONATHAN ISAAC BOWMAN H[A]RRY CARDOSO ABRAHA[M] LABEGA LOU[I]S I. MACHAVOUS ALAN JORDAN MARTHA LABEGA EUDARIE JAMES MARTHA HARNSFORD AGNES BRANCH VICTOR BURNET JOHN F[E]LIX LAVRIST [LAVIEST] [Addressed to:] REAR-ADMIRAL S. S. ROBISON. U.S.N.
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SEPTEMBER 1921 [Typed endorsements:] 1st indorsement Headquarters 2nd Brigade, U.S. Marines, Santo Domingo City, D.R., 23 September, 1921 From: Commanding General To: District Commander, Eastern District 1. The above mentioned correspondence (reference (a) was forwarded to your office by 2nd indorsement from these Headquarters under date of September 10, 1921. An immediate and thorough investigation was requested for the reasons of the arrest of the President, General Secretary, and members of the United Improvement Association of Negros at San Pedro de Macoris on September 3, 1921. As no report has been received, immediate action is mandatory in order to comply with the above request. 2. Please explain in writing if there are any reasons (report by airplane mail) why an immediate report could not have been accomplished. By command of Brigadier General Lee, C. J. Miller, Chief-of-Staff 2nd Indorsement Headquarters, Eastern District, San Pedro de Marcoris, Dominican Republic, 23 September, 1921 From: District Commander To: The Commanding General, Second Brigade Subject: United Improvement Association of Negros at S.P. de Marcoris— Petition re imprisonment of members. 1. Returned. 2. This correspondence was not received until September 13. The trials of these offenders was in progress at that time before the Alcaldia here and as soon as they were completed September 17, and the information necessary was received from the Secretary of the Alcaldia September 21, report was immediately made and placed in the mails which would have gone this date. Instead a plane was here yesterday and mail was sent then, but through an error was returned to Macoris today. This correspondence was sent by the second plane that arrived here about noon today. J. MCE. HUEY
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS 3rd Endorsement Headquarters Second Brigade, U.S. Marines, Santo Domingo City, D.R., 24 September, 1921 From: Commanding General To: The Military Governor 1. Returned, complied with, attention being invited to the preceding endorsement. 2. The report referred to in the above endorsement was forwarded to the Office of the Military Governor this date. HARRY LEE2 7th Endorsement MILITARY GOVERNMENT OF SANTO DOMINGO. Santo Domingo City, R.D.,
26 September, 1921 From: Military Governor of Santo Domingo To: Department of Justice and Public Instruction 1. Referred for recommendation. F. U. LAKE By direction 14th endorsement.— Santo Domingo, D.R., 31 October 1921 From: Department of Justice and Public Instruction To: The [M]ilitary Governor of Santo Domingo Subject: United Improvement Association of Negroes at S.P. de Macoris— Petition re imprisonment of members 1.—It is requested that this correspondence be referred to the Department of Fomente y Comunicationes, with the recommendation that the deportation of D. E. Phillips, William J. Butler, Charles E. [Charles A.] Henry and J. T. Carey3 and Jaime Cook, British subjects, and J. N. Halley, Dutch subject, as requested in the eleventh endorsement4 hereon, be effected as soon as possible. 2.—It is believed that the name mentioned as Jaime Cook should read Jaime Cooks. F. A. Ramsey5 Fifteenth Endorsement 1 November 1921 From Military Governor of Santo Domingo.
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SEPTEMBER 1921 To: Department of Agriculture and Immigration SUBJECT United Improvement Association of Negroes at San Pedro de Macoris: Petition regarding imprisonment of members. 1 Forwarded; approved. Please take necessary action. S. S. ROBISON DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TL, recipient’s copy. Endorsements are on Military Government of Santo Domingo, Office of the Military Governor, letterhead. Extraneous endorsements elided. 1. Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, U.S. Navy, a former commander of the Boston Navy Yard, replaced Rear Admiral Thomas Snowden as military governor of the Dominican Republic on 3 June 1921, and remained until 20 October 1922 when a provisional government was installed (Vetilio Alfau Durán, “Presidentes de la República Dominicana,” in Vetilio Alfau Durán en Clío: escritos (II), ed. Arístides Incháustegui and Blanca Delgado Malagon [Santo Domingo: Gobierno Dominicano, 1994], p. 418; Sumner Welles, Naboth’s Vineyard: The Dominican Republic, 1844–1924, vol. 2 [New York: Payson & Clarke, Ltd., 1928], pp. 875–876; Bruce J. Calder, The Impact of Intervention: The Dominican Republic during the U.S. Occupation of 1916–1924 [Austin: University of Texas Press, 1984], pp. 164, 217, 291–292). 2. Brigadier General Harry Lee, U.S. Marine Corps, arrived on August 1921 with the assignments of taking over the direction of the Marines in the Dominican Republic and of reorganizing the Guardia Nacional Dominicana, later renamed Policía Nacional Dominicana. Described as a “hard-driving, self-educated officer who had won both the Croix de Guerre and the Distinguished Service Medal while commanding the 6th Regiment in France,” Lee instituted a program to improve the Marine-civilian relationship, which apparently was successful although the military government did not relax its methods of control (Stephen M. Fuller and Graham A. Cosmas, Marines in the Dominican Republic 1916–1924 [Washington, D.C.: History and Museums Division Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1974], p. 62). The reorganization of the Guardia Nacional Dominicana was carried out, but, among other reasons, the rapid pace of withdrawal of the U.S. military government in 1921 made the attainment of the original objective of creating an apolitical force impossible. Lee became acting military governor on 21 October 1922 when the provisional government of Juan Bautista Vicini Burgos was inaugurated. He became the official military governor six months later (Alfau Durán, “Presidentes”; Calder, The Impact of Intervention, pp. 117, 175– 178, 217, 229–234; Bernardo Vega, Trujillo y las Fuerzas Armadas Norteamericanas [Santo Domingo: Fundación Cultural Dominicana, 1992], p. 20). 3. Reminiscing about the deportees, Wilfred E. Rowland remembered a Carey but gave his name as William rather than J. T., as appears in these documents (it is likely that Carey’s full initials were either W. J. T. or J. T. W. as his name appears in some other documentation with the W.). According to Rowland: “They deported . . . about four or five [people]. The secretary of the organization, the officers, especially the officers. . . . Deported in San Pedro Macorís to their islands. . . . One was a school teacher, in Porvenir. . . . Carey. . . . I think William was his first name. . . . He was from St. Kitts . . .” (Wilfred E. Rowland, interview by Humberto García Muñiz, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 11 May 1991). 4. This endorsement is printed separately in this volume (William C. Harllee, District Commander, to the Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S. Marines, Santo Domingo City, Dominican Republic, 17 October 1921). 5. Lt.-Col. Frederick A. Ramsey, U.S. Marine Corps, served during the U.S. military occupations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic in the Haitian La Garde and in the Policía Nacional Dominicana, respectively. He was also secretary of justice in the Dominican Republic in 1919. In 1933 Ramsey, now a retired colonel, tried and failed to get appointed as receiver general of Dominican customs. The support of dictator Rafael L. Trujillo and his former associates in the military government was insufficient to overturn the veto of Sumner Welles, chief of the Latin American division of the Department of State and former American commissioner to the Dominican Republic
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS (1922–1925), who ruled that Ramsey’s participation in the military government disqualified him (Vega, Trujillo, pp. 152, 176–177, 201).
UNIA and ACL Santo Domingo Division to the Crusader1 [[Santo Domingo, Sept. 7, 1921]]
CRACKER KULTUR IN S. DOMINGO SOUTHERN KU KLUX METHODS IMPORTED INTO FAIR CARIBBEAN ISLE— A.B.B. SENDS PROTEST TO HARDING2 AND TO AMERICAN PRESS FROM U.N.I.A. BRANCH NO. 26 EDITOR The Crusader: We are seeking your aid to expose as far as possible, one of the recent happenings here, almost too gross for a name. This is an example of now-a-days civilization. Do not believe that it’s only in “the South” that the Negro suffers serfdom and semi-slavery. Adding to the statement of Wm. P. Pickett,3 we continue the advocation—“WHILE WRONG IS WRONG, LET NO MAN PRATE OF PEACE,”4 and that’s why we are appealing to the best Negro contemporaries (and do not spare the cost in feeling proud to be numbered among them) for help. We shall try to give to the best of our ability a brief and concise statement, leaving space for your opinion along with those of other valiant and ardent workers. STATEMENT: As a co-operative body the Division No. 26 of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L. is in harmonious working with a branch of the Independent Episcopal Church.5 Its president is the minister of said Independent Episcopal Church, whose origin is in the Church of the Good Shepherd of New York City, incorporated April 8, 1920. As is the custom of this branch of the Independent Episcopal Church to hold choir practice on Saturday nights, on Saturday, September 3, about the hour of 9:30 o’clock, they were practising when, suddenly they were stopped by several marine and civil guards. The captain of the group said, “You are arrested.” The Rev. D. E. Phil[l]ips asked, “Upon what grounds are we arrested?” For an answer the said captain in the person of an American said: “Shut your mouth. All we know is you are arrested.” They were immediately taken from their building to the Police Station, and then a little later to the jail to await trial. There were seventeen persons in all who slept in confinement on Saturday and Sunday nights, three minors and fourteen adults. They are: Rev. D. E. Phil[l]ips, Church Warden Anthony Bastian, Church Sisters N. Potter, J. Williams and Margaret Webster, Mercedes Dario, Violet Hollingsworth, Messrs. C. Haynes, E. Bridgewater, S. Carey, E. Esdaisle, choir members, and J. W. Butler, organist. These as church workers 48
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS (1922–1925), who ruled that Ramsey’s participation in the military government disqualified him (Vega, Trujillo, pp. 152, 176–177, 201).
UNIA and ACL Santo Domingo Division to the Crusader1 [[Santo Domingo, Sept. 7, 1921]]
CRACKER KULTUR IN S. DOMINGO SOUTHERN KU KLUX METHODS IMPORTED INTO FAIR CARIBBEAN ISLE— A.B.B. SENDS PROTEST TO HARDING2 AND TO AMERICAN PRESS FROM U.N.I.A. BRANCH NO. 26 EDITOR The Crusader: We are seeking your aid to expose as far as possible, one of the recent happenings here, almost too gross for a name. This is an example of now-a-days civilization. Do not believe that it’s only in “the South” that the Negro suffers serfdom and semi-slavery. Adding to the statement of Wm. P. Pickett,3 we continue the advocation—“WHILE WRONG IS WRONG, LET NO MAN PRATE OF PEACE,”4 and that’s why we are appealing to the best Negro contemporaries (and do not spare the cost in feeling proud to be numbered among them) for help. We shall try to give to the best of our ability a brief and concise statement, leaving space for your opinion along with those of other valiant and ardent workers. STATEMENT: As a co-operative body the Division No. 26 of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L. is in harmonious working with a branch of the Independent Episcopal Church.5 Its president is the minister of said Independent Episcopal Church, whose origin is in the Church of the Good Shepherd of New York City, incorporated April 8, 1920. As is the custom of this branch of the Independent Episcopal Church to hold choir practice on Saturday nights, on Saturday, September 3, about the hour of 9:30 o’clock, they were practising when, suddenly they were stopped by several marine and civil guards. The captain of the group said, “You are arrested.” The Rev. D. E. Phil[l]ips asked, “Upon what grounds are we arrested?” For an answer the said captain in the person of an American said: “Shut your mouth. All we know is you are arrested.” They were immediately taken from their building to the Police Station, and then a little later to the jail to await trial. There were seventeen persons in all who slept in confinement on Saturday and Sunday nights, three minors and fourteen adults. They are: Rev. D. E. Phil[l]ips, Church Warden Anthony Bastian, Church Sisters N. Potter, J. Williams and Margaret Webster, Mercedes Dario, Violet Hollingsworth, Messrs. C. Haynes, E. Bridgewater, S. Carey, E. Esdaisle, choir members, and J. W. Butler, organist. These as church workers 48
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along with five members of the U.N.I.A. in the persons of C. Henry, 3d vicepresident; Jas. Hally, general secretary, and J. Wells, J. Hicks and Rawlins. These five were not at choir practice. The general secretary was demanded from his home to deliver up articles of the association. They took almost everything that was in our Liberty Hall, such as keys, books, documents and the chart[er]. An inscription “AFRICA WE LOVE YOU. WE’LL FIGHT FOR YOU” was pulled down and stripped to a mince. The wine that was to be used at the celebration of the holy communion was drunk by them. You would be gentlemanly enough to believe, dear editor, that on reaching the prison that the ladies were placed by themselves and the gentlemen likewise! That would be misleading. The idea was to inflict the worst unthinking, inhumane punishment. Male and female were crammed in a small room, size about 15 x 9 x 7½. I shall not comment on this, as it speaks for itself from a standpoint of decency and in this season of the year. In this valiant little group was to be found a mother who had to leave her five children to the mercy of her captors. During these days one of the greatest difficulties is to get a morsel of food to them. Four days after, on Wednesday, September 7, they were taken to the Alcaldia for trial. NO PROSECUTOR APPEARED and they were sent back to prison! Mr. Editor, please help us find a term for a case of this kind? Finally, rumor says that the aim is to deport the “stonewalls” of this branch of the U.N.I.A., President D. E. Phil[l]ips and J. W. Butler, 2d vice-president, they being out, the game is at a close. God knows how long they will be kept shut up until something can be dug up to bring against them for trial. Mr. Editor, can you help us? It is my earnest belief that you can, and will the more readily, when you remember that Force prompted by Revenge is merciless. We are, Fraternally yours, Div. No. 26, of U.N.I.A. and A.C.L. Printed in the Crusader 5, no. 2 (October 1921). 1. The UNIA division 26 probably did not know about either the enmity that existed between the UNIA and the ABB or the ABB’s links with the Communist party in the United States Cyril V. Briggs, the editor of the Crusader and leader of the ABB, thought that Garvey was motivated by “self-glory and aggrandisement” and that the UNIA was made up of “intellectual nincompoops.” However, he also thought that the UNIA, if led by the ABB, could become a militant mass movement. Briggs envisioned the UNIA as a pan-Negro radical racial movement (Judith Stein, The World of Marcus Garvey: Race and Class in Modern Society [Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1986], pp. 142, 144). The publication of this letter in the Crusader conformed with the ABB’s anti-imperialist policy as well as with Briggs’s campaign to convince Garvey to form a united front during that time (Tony Martin, Race First: The Ideological and Organizational Struggles of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association [Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1976], pp. 238–340; Winston James, Holding Aloft the Banner of Ethiopia: Caribbean Radicalism in Early Twentieth-Century America [London: Verso, 1998], pp. 166–167). 2. Warren Gamaliel Harding (1865–1923), a Republican from Ohio who served in the Ohio Senate and then in the United States Senate, was the twenty-ninth president of the United States (1921–23). In August 1923, Harding suddenly collapsed and died in California (DAB). 3. William P. Pickett, The Negro Problem: Abraham Lincoln’s Solution (New York: G. P. Putnam’s sons, 1909). 4. William Samuel Johnson, “Buttadeus (A Battle Episode of July 1915)” (“Current Poetry,” Literary Digest, 12 May 1917, pp. 1420–21; http://www.poetry-archive.com/j/buttadeus.html). 5. Independent Episcopal Church was the original name of Rev. George Alexander McGuire’s African Orthodox Church. The name was changed to African Orthodox Church at its first con-
49
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS clave, 10 September 1924, at which McGuire was unanimously elected archbishop of the new church. McGuire, who was the chaplain-general of the UNIA, was an Episcopal priest who spearheaded a movement to establish a Black Anglican denomination (Byron Rushing, “A Note on the Origin of the African Orthodox Church,” Journal of Negro History, 57:1 [January 1972): 37–39; Richard Newman, “The Origins of the African Orthodox Church,” in The Negro Churchman [Millwood, NY: Kraus Reprint, 1977], iii–xxiv; Randall K. Burkett, Garveyism as a Religious Movement: The Institutionalization of a Black Civil Religion [Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1978]; Warren C. Platt, “The African Orthodox Church: An Analysis of Its First Decade,” Church History, 58, no. 4 [December 1989]: 474–488; Bishop Karl Pruter, The Strange Partnership of George Alexander McGuire and Marcus Garvey [Rockville, MD: Wildside Press, 2008]).
J. R. Ralph Casimir in the Negro World [[R[o]seau Division No. 85, R[o]seau, Sept. 9, 1921]]
THE U.N.I.A. IN TRINIDAD Note: My object in writing about the above subject is to give a brief sketch of what I know about the U.N.I.A. in Trinidad or rather the places visited in Trinidad where there are divisions of the U.N.I.A., viz., Guaico, Tabaquite, Brother’s Road, Penal and LaBrea. Guaico: This division unveiled its charter during my presence on June 25 (see Negro World August 6, 1921). The working of this division is not encouraging. The lady president, Mrs. Mary Philip, is very energetic and does much to keep up the good work. I did not inquire whether this division keeps any account of receipts and expenditures, but it is not likely that such is kept in regular account form, and the financial position is very poor. Meetings are being held twice a week, Sundays and Fridays. An open air meeting was held on June 28 at the northern corner of the road. The day before I left (August 12) I gave instructions re Black Cross Nurses and Universal African Legion. Four men enrolled in the U.A.L. with Mr. Elbert Morancie ex-corporal of the B.W.I. regiment as captain. The membership of the division is about 100, of which only about 20 are financial members. Tabaquite was the next division visited. This division works very unconstitutionally. The only officer whom I met with the real spirit was the lady president, Miss Laura Haynes. I was scheduled to speak here on behalf of the U.N.I.A., etc., on the night of my arrival, July 2, but no meeting was summoned by the officers. I found out that some of the officers had sent for Mr. Bishop and Mrs. Raviak, both of whom are connected with the Labor Union to guide them re the working of the U.N.I.A. Those individuals know nothing of the U.N.I.A. How absurd! Mrs. Raviak told me that Mr. Bishop was a personal friend of Mr. Garvey, and that he (Bishop) got authority from Mr. Garvey to propagate on behalf of the U.N.I.A. Is this a fact? I learnt that this division had been sending its reports to one James Bra[i]thwaite, a leader of the Labor Union residing in Port of Spain, Trinidad, who made the people believe that he 50
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS clave, 10 September 1924, at which McGuire was unanimously elected archbishop of the new church. McGuire, who was the chaplain-general of the UNIA, was an Episcopal priest who spearheaded a movement to establish a Black Anglican denomination (Byron Rushing, “A Note on the Origin of the African Orthodox Church,” Journal of Negro History, 57:1 [January 1972): 37–39; Richard Newman, “The Origins of the African Orthodox Church,” in The Negro Churchman [Millwood, NY: Kraus Reprint, 1977], iii–xxiv; Randall K. Burkett, Garveyism as a Religious Movement: The Institutionalization of a Black Civil Religion [Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1978]; Warren C. Platt, “The African Orthodox Church: An Analysis of Its First Decade,” Church History, 58, no. 4 [December 1989]: 474–488; Bishop Karl Pruter, The Strange Partnership of George Alexander McGuire and Marcus Garvey [Rockville, MD: Wildside Press, 2008]).
J. R. Ralph Casimir in the Negro World [[R[o]seau Division No. 85, R[o]seau, Sept. 9, 1921]]
THE U.N.I.A. IN TRINIDAD Note: My object in writing about the above subject is to give a brief sketch of what I know about the U.N.I.A. in Trinidad or rather the places visited in Trinidad where there are divisions of the U.N.I.A., viz., Guaico, Tabaquite, Brother’s Road, Penal and LaBrea. Guaico: This division unveiled its charter during my presence on June 25 (see Negro World August 6, 1921). The working of this division is not encouraging. The lady president, Mrs. Mary Philip, is very energetic and does much to keep up the good work. I did not inquire whether this division keeps any account of receipts and expenditures, but it is not likely that such is kept in regular account form, and the financial position is very poor. Meetings are being held twice a week, Sundays and Fridays. An open air meeting was held on June 28 at the northern corner of the road. The day before I left (August 12) I gave instructions re Black Cross Nurses and Universal African Legion. Four men enrolled in the U.A.L. with Mr. Elbert Morancie ex-corporal of the B.W.I. regiment as captain. The membership of the division is about 100, of which only about 20 are financial members. Tabaquite was the next division visited. This division works very unconstitutionally. The only officer whom I met with the real spirit was the lady president, Miss Laura Haynes. I was scheduled to speak here on behalf of the U.N.I.A., etc., on the night of my arrival, July 2, but no meeting was summoned by the officers. I found out that some of the officers had sent for Mr. Bishop and Mrs. Raviak, both of whom are connected with the Labor Union to guide them re the working of the U.N.I.A. Those individuals know nothing of the U.N.I.A. How absurd! Mrs. Raviak told me that Mr. Bishop was a personal friend of Mr. Garvey, and that he (Bishop) got authority from Mr. Garvey to propagate on behalf of the U.N.I.A. Is this a fact? I learnt that this division had been sending its reports to one James Bra[i]thwaite, a leader of the Labor Union residing in Port of Spain, Trinidad, who made the people believe that he 50
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was President-General of the U.N.I.A. in Trinidad. He took away about forty dollars from this division. I did not stay here long enough to inquire in the working of this Division, and I could not meet the officers together, so I left without knowing much about said division. Brother’s Road: Visited here on July 3. Delivered an address for about three hours re the U.N.I.A., Black Star Line, Negro Factories Corporation and The Negro World, which was highly appreciated. This d[i]vision was started about the middle of June, and when I visited there it had a membership of about 75, and was worth $18 in cash. Things were working very satisfactory, and if continued this will be a bright little division of the U.N.I.A. Penal was visited on July 10. I delivered an address during a meeting held at 3:10 to 7:30 p.m. There are about 150 members. It was intended to unveil the charter on the 31st ult. My stay here was short. There is one Rev. A. E. Taylor, of the A. M. E. Church, who make[s] the people believe that his church is the church of the U.N.I.A. LaBrea: I arrived here on Sunday, August 7, at 9 p.m. I delivered an address at a public meeting held at 9:30 to 11:30 p.m. Also spoke at public meetings held on the 8th and 10th. At a membership meeting held on the 9th at 8 to 11:30 p.m., I acquainted the division of all the necessary information I could re the proper working of the association. The division was started about January this year, and up to the time I arrived there no monthly fees were collected from members nor accounts kept, as the officers knew nothing of the proper working of the association, according to statements made to me. I beg to draw your attention to the fact that Majuba is only a part of the village of LaBrea and the charter for this division was issued for Majuba instead of LaBrea. I spoke to the officers of said division of same and instructed them to have charter issued to LaBrea, and acquainted the parent body of same before they unveil said charter, to which they agreed. Of the five divisions visited, the people of LaBrea seem to be the most interested in the movement, and I advised them (the division) to keep in regular communication with the parent body. As they had not been paying fees from the time the division started I advised the officers to collect fees from the month the charter was granted— sometime in May or June last. Left here at 8:15 a.m. on August 11. Remarks: The divisions which I visited deserve to be congratulated in the manner in which they are “holding on,” against fearful odds, especially the Guaico Division—Tabaquite not included. Propaganda against the association is very common and The Negro World is not allowed to circulate freely. Both publications in Trinidad are owned by whites. The so-called organizer Mr. Herman D. Thompson of St. Joseph Trinidad) knows very little about the U.N.I.A. and is speculating on the people. He orders supplies from the parent body and sells the articles at exorbitant rates. He discusses the business of the association in public. In short, he belongs to the old type of Negroes and is too bombastic. If the parent body depends upon him to organize the Negroes in Trinidad the U.N.I.A. will never be on a proper 51
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS
footing under his management. He is unfit even for the N.A.A.C.P. Sorry to make such remarks, but I am giving you real facts, and there are many in Trinidad within the ranks of the U.N.I.A. who support my statements. He is only making himself fat on the money of the people within the U.N.I.A. It is time that Mr. Garvey made a tour of the world and used his broom wheresoever it is necessary or supply the various leaders elected at the convention with a broom, each to carry out the work. I beg to report of one James Brathwaite [Braithwaite], mentioned above, who goes about collecting money alleged to be shares for the Black Star Line and fails [to] give the people any satisfaction for their money. It is desirous that the leader for these islands be stationed in Barbados, which will be of more benefit, instead of Bermuda. In the way the association is being worked in these parts (Trinidad, St. Vincent, St. Lucia and Dominica especially) it is necessary that the leader supervise matters as often as possible visiting the various islands, and Barbados is better situated to serve him as headquarters. Re my report about the U.N.I.A. in Trinidad, I hope that it will be appreciated and be taken into consideration. The parent body did not order me to go to Trinidad, but I was on sick leave and was requested by the Guaico Division to come and help them to unveil their charter, and while at Guaico officers of other divisions above mentioned requested me to visit their division. J. R. RALPH CASIMIR R[o]seau Division No. 85 Printed in NW, 19 November 1921.
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SEPTEMBER 1921
53
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS
J. R. Ralph Casimir’s UNIA Dues Card (Source: JRRC)
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SEPTEMBER 1921
“Iconoclast” to the Workman [Panama City, 10 September 1921] Mr. Editor:— As there was considerable doubt expressed locally with regard to the authenticity of the statements contained in a letter reproduced in your journal some time ago and alleged to have emanated from the pen of President King [of] Liberia,1 I would respectfully request that you give publication to the following, the authenticity of which cannot be challenged in as much as it is taken from the official organ of the Universal Negro Improvement Association the NEGRO WORLD. It is a part of the reply forwarded by Gabriel L. Dennis, Secretary of the Liberian Plenary Commission, to a message from the Executive Officers, Deputies and Delegates of the Negro Convention now in session in New York City:— . . . I am further directed to say that the President and the Commission while appreciating the kind sentiments of your association with regard to the Republic of Liberia and its people are also pleased to note the declaration made over the signatures of the official heads of the association to the following effect: “That the purpose of the Universal Negro Improvement Association with respect to the Republic of Liberia is solely and purely industrial and commercial, with a view of assisting the people of Liberia in strengthening and improving their country generally.[”] The President is of the opinion that this declaration of the association is most opportune, in view of the representations that have become current as to its political aims in Liberia and Africa generally[.] That the Republic of Liberia, as a sovereign state with corresponding international responsibilities, could not permit its territories to be used as a centre of hostile attacks upon other sovereign states by any organization now operating or which may desire to operate within its political and territorial jurisdictions, is a fact which the President of Liberia hopes that your association will fully appreciate . . . This, Mr. Editor, puts it so plain that he who runs may read. A word, they say, to the wise is sufficient. Yours, ICONOCLAST Printed in the Workman (Panama City), 10 September 1921. 1. Charles Dunbar Burgess King (1875?–1961) was the president of Liberia from 1920 until his resignation in 1930.
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS
James Benjamin Yearwood, Assistant Secretary General, UNIA, to H. R. P. George in the Workman [[New York, ca. 10 September 1921]] BY
U.N.I.A. HEAD OFFICE REFUSES APPLICATION COLÓN MEMBERS TO ESTABLISH ANOTHER BRANCH OF THAT ORGANIZATION
The following letter was recently received by the secretary of a new faction of the U.N.I.A., in Colón from the General Sec[re]tary of the Parent Body in New York:— PARENT BODY, Universal Negro Improvement Association, 56 West, 135 Street, New York, N.Y., Sept. 10th 1921 MR. H. R. P. GEORGE, BOX 847, CRISTÓBAL, C.Z. Dear Sir,— We beg to acknowledge receipt of your petition under date of August 23rd, with $33.31 enclosed as well as requisition. In reply, we regret very much to state that same has not been given consideration, in view of the fact that Colón is a small city and there is now a Chartered Division and a Chapter operating. And further because the majority of the names forwarded on list are members of the Chartered Division—among whom some have been expelled, including yourself—and these names are registered in this office. Should a Chapter be given to your faction, in the next six weeks there would be a split in same; from which a few would draw out asking for another Charter. Your request has been further refused consideration because your faction violated Article 3 Section 61 of the Amended Constitution of Aug. 1920, by taking officers to court instead of submitting grievance to the office of the President General. It is the intention of this organization to have the 400 million Negroes of the world organized in one solid mass, and each community organized as one branch of the great 400 million. We fail to see where you as intelligent people, it would appear so from your writing, cannot operate to the best interest of the community. If your faction would live up strictly to the Constitution and especially the individual member, instead of each one fighting for notoriety and publicity, there would never be any misunderstanding in the Division. 56
SEPTEMBER 1921
We are herewith enclosing check to the amount of $33.13 as received from your faction, and request that you return back to your Division or Chapter or cease to operate under the name of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. It is not the intention of the Executive Council to encourage personalities or anything that would tend to degrade the name of the U.N.I.A., and hamper the progress of the Redemption of Africa. Should you disobey our request, we will cause publication in the local papers of our ruling, as well as in the Negro World. Hoping you will see with us, thus causing you to live up to the high estimation and in the favor of the Executive Council, we assure you of our wholehearted support, and are Yours fraternally, Universal Negro Improvement Association, per J. B. YEARWOOD, Asst. Secty. General Printed in the Workman (Panama City), 24 September 1921.
Fernando Escobar, Royal Consulate of the Netherlands, Dominican Republic, to Lieutenant-Colonel F. A. Ramsey, Officer in Charge, Department of Justice and Public Instruction Santo Domingo, September 15, 1921 Mr. Colonel:— Furthering our conversation of yesterday I have the honor to hand you herewith copy of the communication that I received from Mr. James Cooks, a Dutch subject, who having called to the Capital to complain with the Superior Authorities of certain arbitrary measures that were taken at Macoris against an Institution of which he is a member, and who, at his return to that city, was called to the Alcaldia and advised by the Alcalde [Judge] that by reason of the complaint he had filed with the Authorities at the Capital, he would be deported, as well as others members of the Institution referred to. My protege b[ei]ng a honest artisan, settled since more than 251 years at San Pedro de Macoris, where through his work and economy he was able to acquire a justly deserved credit, the measure he is threatened with is of the most arbitrary ones, and I request you to kindly cause an investigation of the case, and should it be necessary I claim for this Dutch subject the protection he is entitled to.
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We are herewith enclosing check to the amount of $33.13 as received from your faction, and request that you return back to your Division or Chapter or cease to operate under the name of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. It is not the intention of the Executive Council to encourage personalities or anything that would tend to degrade the name of the U.N.I.A., and hamper the progress of the Redemption of Africa. Should you disobey our request, we will cause publication in the local papers of our ruling, as well as in the Negro World. Hoping you will see with us, thus causing you to live up to the high estimation and in the favor of the Executive Council, we assure you of our wholehearted support, and are Yours fraternally, Universal Negro Improvement Association, per J. B. YEARWOOD, Asst. Secty. General Printed in the Workman (Panama City), 24 September 1921.
Fernando Escobar, Royal Consulate of the Netherlands, Dominican Republic, to Lieutenant-Colonel F. A. Ramsey, Officer in Charge, Department of Justice and Public Instruction Santo Domingo, September 15, 1921 Mr. Colonel:— Furthering our conversation of yesterday I have the honor to hand you herewith copy of the communication that I received from Mr. James Cooks, a Dutch subject, who having called to the Capital to complain with the Superior Authorities of certain arbitrary measures that were taken at Macoris against an Institution of which he is a member, and who, at his return to that city, was called to the Alcaldia and advised by the Alcalde [Judge] that by reason of the complaint he had filed with the Authorities at the Capital, he would be deported, as well as others members of the Institution referred to. My protege b[ei]ng a honest artisan, settled since more than 251 years at San Pedro de Macoris, where through his work and economy he was able to acquire a justly deserved credit, the measure he is threatened with is of the most arbitrary ones, and I request you to kindly cause an investigation of the case, and should it be necessary I claim for this Dutch subject the protection he is entitled to.
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS
Mr. Cooks having been called to the Alcaldia where the above mentioned declaration was made to him by the Alcalde in the presence of his Secretary, it is impossible to him to present any witness. Please accept, Mr. Colonel, the assurance of my high consideration. (S) F. ESCOVAR H.2 [Addressed to:] Mr. Lieut-Colonel F. A. RAMSEY, U.S.M.C. In charge of the Department of Foreign Relations City [Typed endorsements:] 1st. [Endorsement] Sept. 17, 1921 From: The Department of State of Foreign Relations To: The Department of State of Justice and Public Instruction Re: Threats by the Alcalde and the American Soldiers in San Pedro de Macoris against Dutch citizen Jaime Cooks. Enclosures: Three. 1.–Please order that the Procurador General [District Attorney] and the Commander of the Brigade conduct the pertinent investigations so that the Consul of the Low Countries may be informed. 2.–Please return the enclosures. F. A. Ramsey Lieut. Col. U.S.M.C. for the Military Government3 Second endorsement. Santo Domingo, D.R., 20 September 1921. From: The Department of Justice and Public Instruction. To: The Military Governor of Santo Domingo. Subject: Threats of the Alcalde and Marines at San Pedro de Macorís against James Cooks, Dutch subject. Enclosures: 3. 1.–The attached correspondence is forwarded with the request that it be brought to the attention of the Commanding General for such action as he may deem advisable in the premises, and that this office be informed by return endorsement as to the steps taken in this case. 2.–The return of all the enclosures is desired. F. A. Ramsey
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SEPTEMBER 1921 4th Endorsement HEADQUARTERS SECOND BRIGADE, U.S. MARINES, Santo Domingo City, D.R.,
30 September 1921 From: The Commanding General. To: The Military Governor of Santo Domingo. Subject: Threats of the Alcalde and Marines at San Pedro de Macoris against James Cooks, Dutch subject. 1. Returned. 2. During the past four months, reports have been received by the Provost Marshal, San Pedro de Macoris, of a Society called “United Negro [I]mprovement Association and the African Blood Brotherhood” these reports indicated that this society was inciting the members (mostly English Negroes) to a class hatred and a defiance of Law and order. On Wednesday, September 7, 1921, the society held a parade through the streets of San Pedro de Macoris, this parade was nothing more than a demonstration to flaunt their ideas to the public and to procure recruits for their organization, during this parade the British flag was insulted, trampled, and spit upon.4 3. From appearances this society is for the uplift of the negro, but its ulterior motive is to engender racial hatred with an idea to ultimate domination of the white race. While this would be impossible in the United States, it is not at all impossible here after the occupation ceases. Realizing that if such an organization, if allowed to grow inculcating Bolshevistic and Anarchistic ideas to the ignorant, would soon become a menace to the peace of the community. Fourteen members were arrested on Saturday, September 10, 1921, for operating unlawfully without a charter, amoung these were the President and most of the officers, these people were tried by the Alcalde and their sentence expire//d// Saturday, September, 17, 1921, when they were to be released. Upon hearing that they were to be released the Provost Marshal ordered them re-confined awaiting action upon a request for their deportation. 4. The President E. C. Phillips, has attained a leadership am[on]g the negroes at Macoris, which has made him arrogant, with little respect for the law. This is the
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS attitude of all the officers of the society. As a consequence the President and others have been submitted to the Alcalde several times for infraction of the law and they have become habitual offenders. This society has disseminated a report throughout the City of Macoris, that they do not fear the Alcalde of the Military Government. 5. Jaime Cooks and 15 others of this society have been recommended for deportation. 6. Attention is invited to the 6th endorsement of the Commanding General to the Military Governor dated 24 September, 1921. Harry Lee DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TL, translated from French into Spanish and English by the U.S. military. Extraneous endorsements elided. 1. Both the French original and the Spanish translation made by the U.S. military give this number as 27, not 25. 2. The Spanish translation made by the U.S. military types the signature as “F. Escivar H.” The signature in the French original is handwritten and illegible. 3. This first endorsement has been translated from French with the exception of the signature line, which was typed in English on the original. All subsequent endorsements were originally in English. 4. Alberto Byas recalled that his mother, St. Kitts–born Florence Seaton, a member of UNIA division 26 in San Pedro de Macorís, told him that during the commemoration of Emancipation Day, celebrated on “August-Monday,” someone took the British flag when the parade marched in front of the British consulate, threw the flag to the floor, stepped on it, and uttered some words to the Reverend Archibald Henry Beer, the British vice-consul in San Pedro de Macorís. This action was what caused, she thought, “the immediate persecution” (Alberto Byas, interview by Humberto García Muñiz, Higüey, Dominican Republic, 1 June 1991; Alberto Byas, provincial governor of the province of San Pedro de Macorís, telephone interview with Humberto García Muñiz, 23 August 1999; Julio César Mota Acosta, Los cocolos en Santo Domingo [Santo Domingo: Editorial La Gaviota, 1977], pp. 40–41). The 1 August celebration was a common celebration among West Indians in the British Caribbean, and it was imported to the places where West Indians emigrated, such as the Dominican Republic and Cuba.
Enclosure: James Cooks to Fernando Escobar Santo Domingo, Sept. 12, 1921 Honorable Sir: There is an institution called “The Universal Negro Improvement Association,[”]1 the object of which is no other than the uplifting and dignifying of the negro race in general. In Macoris, there is a Division of which I form a part, and its regulations and laws etc. are satisfactory to me. This Association has been functioning in the Republic for four years with the approbation of the Military and local authorities of the Government.
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A festivity was held, as customary, on the 31st. of August last; three days after, on the 3rd of September inst., while the President of the Association and several ladies and gentlemen were preparing the hall for the celebration of the Sunday service, American marines entered, ordered the President to suspend the singing and at the same instant arrested him and all the others present and took them to the carcel [jail], confiscating all the goods belonging to the Society and sealing the house. Having heard of the accomplishment of this scandalous and unjust action and the harsh measures taken against these pacific and honest people, I came immediately to the Capital to claim justice from the Superior Authorities. The Magistrado Juez Alcalde of Macoris told me that I and the other members of the institution would be deported from Santo Domingo owing to my visit to the Capital to complain about the actions committed against the Association. Now, Honorable Sir, as neither of the persons who constitute the mentioned Association have committed any offense nor crime, nor have violated any of the laws of the country, I hereby inform you of the case and beg your help and protection. I am a poor carpenter, and have worked in the Republic for over 27 years and own twelve houses. Presently I have business pending in Macoris [omitted: “and I have contracted debts for the sum of $7,000”] and the house occupied by this institution is my own, the institution being indebted to me $1,350. I kindly request your consideration and prompt solution of the matter. Respectfully, JAMES COOKS [Addressed to:] Honorable Fernando Escobar, Consul of Her Majesty the Queen of Holland, City. [Handwritten address:] calle 14—Barrio Sur—casa #88[,] San Pedro de Macorís, R.D.2 DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TLS. Translated from Spanish by the U.S. military, with inconsistencies from the original noted in brackets. 1. “Asociación Universal de Reformas de la Rasa Negra” in original Spanish document. 2. This handwritten address appeared with the original Spanish document.
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J. R. Ralph Casimir in the Crusader [[Dominica, Sept. 16, 1921]]
GREETINGS FROM DOMINICA A STIRRING CALL FOR CO-OPERATION AND RACE LOYALTY— CRUSADER AND NEGRO WORLD SUPPRESSED IN TRINIDAD BY J. R. RALPH CASIMIR, GENERAL SECRETARY AND PRESENT ACTING PRESIDENT ROSEAU DIVISION NO. 85, U.N.I.A. Fellowmen of the Negro Race, Greetings! I am writing you this message to appeal to you to be true to our leaders and ourselves. We’ve helped our neighbors (white) to be what they are today Let’s follow our leaders (Negro) be loyal and obey. We must be thankful to God for having given us true leaders. Among others we must be loyal to that fearless man, the Moses of the Race, Marcus Garvey; and that famous writer, Cyril V. Briggs—both of whom are fighting towards the same common object: “AFRICA FOR AFRICANS AT HOME AND ABROAD AND AN INDEPENDENT NEGRO RACE.” The question each and every Negro should ask himself is “Why there are Negroes who are jealous of the above-mentioned leaders and allow themselves to be continually the tool of the merciless whites[.]” Were not Du Bois, Moton and others—the Old Crowd Negroes—in existence before Garvey and Briggs? Is it not their (old crowd Negroes) own fault if they are unfit to lead New Negroes? Then why should they or their followers and admirers (white and black) try to harm Garvey and Briggs because Garvey and Briggs belong to the fearless and unbuyable type of New Negroes—just the men to lead Negroes? Fellowmen! Marcus Garvey—His Excellency, if you please!—founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, the greatest organization among Negroes, and Provisional President of Africa deserves the help of every living Negro. We should not be jealous of him but fight our way for a place in the sun. That Marcus Garvey has done much for the Negro no one can deny. He has been persecuted and is still being persecuted. He has shed his blood for his race. He cares naught for his life, if that life be given in the cause of his people. He is a martyr! What greater example do we want? We should put aside all indifferences, cheer him up and help him. Join the U.N.I.A. Negroes, 400,000,000 strong, and let us sing: God Save Marcus Garvey! Long Live Marcus Garvey! God Save Marcus Garvey!
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Send him victorious, happy and glorious Long to lead us fearlessly and successfully God save Marcus Garvey! And what about the Hon. Cyril V. Briggs, Editor of The Crusader and Organizer of the African Blood Brotherhood, the only Negro Secret Organization of its kind in the world. Fellowmen! Mr. Briggs has taught us a great deal through the columns of his mighty Crusader. And I believe his African Blood Brotherhood is something grand and powerful. Some of us have read more than once how Leader Briggs has been threatened simply because he is determined that the Negro should be treated squ[arely]. Re “A Threat from Texas”1 he simply referred the white “cracker” to the Negroes who took part in the Great War. And why should not all Negroes have the spirit of the “Hell Fighters?”2 Mr. Briggs too deserves our help. Join the A.B.B. and cheer him up: Fear not, Leader Briggs, go on! Millions of Negroes say, Go on! Let us gather our forces And get ready for the Ku Klux Klan God bless thee, Leader Briggs! BRITISH FEAR CRUSADER AND NEGRO WORLD The Negro World—Garvey’s paper—and The Crusader—Briggs’ paper— have caused the “Brutish” fellows to tremble in their pants in the West Indies. These papers teach us a great deal about the glories of our Race, and if we follow them closely we will act as men and won’t allow any so-called superior race to treat us as “black-bellied reptiles.” If the other fellows are determined to treat us as “black-bellied reptiles” we should believe in tit-for-tat and treat them in turn as “white-bellied reptiles.” The white folks, the prejudice-fellows, should be ashamed to know that so-called “black-bellied reptiles” are capable of doing as much as, and in many cases more than, they (white men) are capable of doing. Fellowmen, we should not be discouraged if we are scorned, abused, ill-treated, etc. Let us prove our worth. Let us be steadfast, determined and know no turning back. The Negro World and Crusader have taught and are still teaching us how to act, think and seek. Send your subscription right away to the Negro World, 56 West 135th street; and Crusader, 2299 Seventh avenue, New York City, U.S.A. While admiring Garvey and Briggs and their respective publications we must also remember others who are doing much for the race in some way or other. Each and every one does according to his capability. Negroes in Africa know of the Hon. Casely Hayford3 and others; those in America know of Ferris, Harrison, Eason and others too numerous to mention; those in England know of Duse Mohammed Ali, editor Africa and Orient Review; we in the West 63
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Indies know of Wilson, editor Barbad[os] Times and Beckles (Barbad[os]); Editor Marryshow of the West Indian (Grenada); Sebastian, editor Union Messenger4 (St. Kitts) and Casimir, the determined race-patriot who is scorned at and termed “the little nigger,” by the Capitalists, the wayside politicians and the “black-white idiots” (Dominica). Those in the various countries of the Americas, far-away Australia and other parts of the world also have their leaders. We must bear in mind that there are also famous Negro leaders among the gentler sex and they need all the possible help we can give. No race can rise higher than its women, and the Negro women are the greatest of women. Negro women be loyal to the men of your race, stop bowing to white men! Negro men give no heed to white women, protect the women of your race! My message may be considered by some as useless, but still I appeal to all Negroes to be loyal to our leaders—not those fellows picked by whites; stop being Negro traitors; be 100 per cent. Negroes and think in the same light as our late Lucian B. Watkins:5 “My God is black. He made me so, etc.”6 I shall make an effort to write at a future date about our Motherland Africa which the “land grabbers” tell us is a land of jungle and forest and yet they are satisfied to live there and abandon their “merrie” England as a home. Again, beseeching you to be loyal to yourselves and yours, trusting that those who are leading will be true to us and themselves, and hoping that our efforts to build up ourselves will be successful. Yours for a United Negro Race, (Signed) J. R. R. CASIMIR Printed in the Crusader 5, no. 3 (November 1921): 29, 31. 1. Under the title “A Threat from Texas,” the Crusader printed a letter filled with racial slurs from a soldier of the American Expeditionary Forces. Briggs had stated that black soldiers “met and defeated the flower of the white race on the bloody fields of Flanders” (Crusader 3, no. 6 [1921]: 11). The letter writer calls this statement a “damnable black lie.” (Crusader 3, no. 6 [1921]: 11). The writer further comments that black soldiers were in labor battalions because they “couldn’t stand the ‘gaff’ of the big guns” and that they “got down on their knees and prayed for their lives when ever a German Gun would explode.” (Crusader 3, no. 6 [1921]: 11). The writer also warns that Briggs should put a “soft pedal” on his organization or the “Texan” (Crusader 3, no. 6 [1921]: 11) and others will do it. Alongside the letter, an editor’s note states that the latter part of the letter was deleted because of indecent language and that only two initials identify the writer. The editor’s note asserts, “The Negro’s courage needs no defense. Texan can ask the Germans, who ran every time they faced our boys, or the French, who decorated a full Negro American regiment” (Crusader 3, no. 6 [1921]: 11). 2. Nicknamed the “Hell Fighters” by Germans, the Fifteenth New York National Guard was activated in the spring of 1917 and ordered to training at Spartanburg, South Carolina, in October. Southern officials protested that the regiment would bring Northern ideas about racial equality, so the commanding officer assembled his soldiers and asked for their consent that they would not retaliate against any negative treatment. On several occasions, black soldiers did not respond when attacked, but white soldiers from other regiments retaliated for them. Army officials sent the regiment to France in December. Re-designated the 369th Infantry Regiment, they were assigned to a French command and became the first black regiment in combat in April 1918. The “Hell Fighters” were under enemy fire for longer than any other American regiment, for a total of 191 days without relief. The first two African American heroes of the First World War, Needman Roberts and Henry Johnson of the 369th, received France’s Croix de Guerre for bravery when they beat off a German attack. The regiment suffered more than fifteen hundred men killed and wounded, but they were the first of the Allied units to reach the Rhine. The French awarded the whole regiment the Croix de Guerre. Besides these honors, the 369th infantry was also known
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SEPTEMBER 1921 for its band, which introduced jazz to France (Phillip T. Drotning, Black Heroes in Our Nation’s History: A Tribute to Those Who Helped Shape America [New York: Cowles Book, 1969], pp. 167– 171; Ebony Pictorial History of Black America [Chicago: Johnson, 1971], pp. 129, 139; William Loren Katz, Eyewitness: The Negro in American History [New York: Pitman, 1974], p. 378; Jack Salzman, David Lionel Smith, and Cornel West, eds., Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History [New York: Macmillan Library Reference, 1996], s.v. “World War I”; Kai Wright, Soldiers of Freedom: An Illustrated History of African Americans in the Armed Forces [New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2002], p. 143; Richard Slotkin, Lost Battalions: The Great War and the Crisis of American Nationality [New York: Holt, 2005]). 3. Joseph Ephraim Casely Hayford (1866–1930), lawyer, scholar, journalist, political leader, and pan-Africanist, dominated Gold Coast public life in the early decades of the twentieth century. Born in Cape Coast, Gold Coast, of partly European extraction, he was educated at the Wesleyan Boys’ High School (now Mfantsipim School) in Cape Coast and at Fourah Bay College in Freetown, Sierra Leone. On his return home, he became principal, first of the Wesleyan Boys’ High School, Accra, and later of his alma mater at Cape Coast. He developed an early interest in writing, particularly journalism, and from 1885 to 1887 worked on the Western Echo, a biweekly Cape Coast newspaper owned by his uncle, James Hutton Brew. He cofounded the Gold Coast Leader in January 1902 and served as its editor from 1919 until his death. Casely Hayford commenced his legal career in Cape Coast as a clerk in the chambers of a European lawyer named Eiolart and then continued his training at the Inner Temple in London. While studying to become a barrister, he enrolled at St. Peter’s College, Cambridge, reading law and economics; he was called to the bar in November 1896. Returning to the Gold Coast soon thereafter, he became active in the Aborigines Rights Protection Society (ARPS), the first modern political organization in the Gold Coast, formed in 1897 in Cape Coast by members of the intelligentsia and traditional rulers to oppose the government’s lands bill. Casely Hayford also served on the ARPS delegation to England to protest the forests bill of 1911. As a nominated member of the Gold Coast Legislative Council from 1916 to 1926, he was a consistent though loyal critic of the colonial government. When elective representation was introduced, he served as an elected member until his death. Casely Hayford’s pride in African culture and his defense of his race were expressed in his numerous books and pamphlets, as well as in his journalism. Gold Coast Native Institutions (1903) showed the democratic workings of traditional political institutions. Ethiopia Unbound (1911) was a fictional embodiment of Casely Hayford’s ideas for the proper direction of the black race. The Gold Coast Land Tenure and Forest Lands Bill (1911) and The Truth about the West African Land Question (1913) defended indigenous land rights, then threatened by government expropriation. Among his pamphlets was United West Africa, written on the eve of the founding of the National Congress of British West Africa (NCBWA). His last work was The Disabilities of Black Folk and Their Treatment (1929). Casely Hayford was also active in the pan-African movement. He followed the campaigns for racial equality in the United States and the West Indies with great interest and corresponded with such leading figures as Edward Blyden, Booker T. Washington, J. R. Ralph Casimir, W. E. B. Du Bois, and in particular, John E. Bruce, through whom he came into contact with Garvey. Casely Hayford closely followed the proceedings of the First Universal Congress, held in London in 1911. His brother, the Rev. Mark Hayford, represented him at the conference organized at Tuskegee in 1912 by Booker T. Washington. His writings, notably Ethiopia Unbound, for which Bruce acted as his American literary agent, contributed to the intellectual growth of pan-Africanism. Casely Hayford’s growing sense of nationalism and racial solidarity led him as early as 1913 to advocate a united West Africa. These activities were intensified in 1917 and bore fruit several years later with the founding of the NCBWA in Accra (Magnus J. Sampson, Gold Coast Men of Affairs [1937; reprint, London: Pall Mall, 1969]; David Kimble, A Political History of Ghana: The Rise of Gold Coast Nationalism, 1850–1928 [Oxford: Clarendon, 1963]; Ralph Uwechue, ed., Makers of Modern Africa: Profiles in History, 2d ed. [London: Africa Books, 1991]; DAHB). 4. The Union Messenger commenced publication in 1921 as a monthly magazine. There is a reference to this publication using red ink for its headlines in the Dominica Guardian of 20 July 1922. From July 1922 the Union Messenger was published as an eight-page weekly and, in December 1930, it was converted into a daily. It was the news organ of the UBA, and J. M. Sebastian, the association’s president, was the managing editor. The UBA had obtained a printing press in 1918, but the publication of its newspaper was delayed for over three years due to the passage of the Restriction of Publications Regulations of 1918 and the 1919 Newspaper Surety (Amendment)
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS Ordinance. The newspaper used as its masthead a quote from Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address: “With malice towards none, With Charity for all, With firmness in the right.” It also carried a dedication that read, “Dedicated to the service of the people, that no good cause shall lack a champion, and that wrong shall not thrive unopposed.” The Union Messenger attracted a readership throughout the British Caribbean and had subscribers in Britain and the United States. Some of the leading causes that Sebastian campaigned for in the pages of the newspaper were the establishment of a high school for girls in St. Kitts, the creation of a West Indian federation with dominion status, and the founding of a West Indian university. The publication of the Union Messenger continued uninterrupted, after Sebastian’s death, until 1961. The Labour Spokesman, a newspaper that had commenced publication in 1957 as the official organ of the St. Kitts–Nevis Trades and Labour Union, then became the sole representative voice of the St. Kitts–Nevis labor movement. The St. Kitts–Nevis Trades and Labour Union had absorbed the UBA after its establishment in 1940, and its general secretary and editor of the Labour Spokesman, Joseph France, had replaced J. M. Sebastian as editor of the Union Messenger after the latter’s death in 1944 (Sir Probyn Inniss, Historic Basseterre: The Story of its Growth [Basseterre, Sir Probyn Inniss, 1979], p. 62; Howard Pactor, Colonial British Caribbean Newspapers: A Bibliography and Directory [Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1990], p. 92; Elise Sebastian Marthol, Meet My Father: A Short Walk through the Life of Joseph Matthew Sebastian [Basseterre, St. Kitts: Elise Sebastian Marthol, 1993], pp. 18–21). 5. Lucian B. Watkins (1879–1921) was regular contributor of poetry to the “Poetry for the People” column in the NW. Born and educated in Virginia, he was a teacher prior to serving as a sergeant in World War I, during which his health became impaired. He died in hospital at Fort McHenry, in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1921. Watkins was the author of many poems and of Voices of Solitude (Chicago: Donohue, 1903). His work was anthologized in James Weldon Johnson, ed., The Book of American Negro Poetry (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1931), “Star of Ethiopia,” “Two Points of View,” and “To Our Friends,” pp. 193–195; see also Tony Martin, Literary Garveyism: Garvey, Black Arts, and the Harlem Renaissance, The New Marcus Library, No. 1 (Dover, MA: The Majority Press, 1983), pp. 66–68. 6. This is quoted from the poem “My God Is Black,” which appeared in the 21 February 1920 issue of the Richmond Planet.
E. Brice, British Consul, Santiago de Cuba, to the Municipal Mayor, Santiago de Cuba British Consulate, Santiago de Cuba, 18 September 1921 Sir: I have the honor of letting you know that, according to reports received in this Consulate, from some of the most trusted men among the 700 braceros [laborers] who have been waiting about two months for the ship that must repatriate them,1 the great majority of these men intend to organize a protest on the morning of Monday the 19th day of the current month before this Consulate, the Government building and the Mayor’s office, on account of their continued detention in Santiago[.] [This] demonstration will take place, it is believed, between the hours of 8 and 10 a.m. I would not grant much importance to this act in itself, but it’s the case that my informants also assure me that although the mass of the men are peaceful, there is a small group that, incited by the directors of the so-called “Universal Negro Improvement Association” that exists in this City, have the evil
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS Ordinance. The newspaper used as its masthead a quote from Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address: “With malice towards none, With Charity for all, With firmness in the right.” It also carried a dedication that read, “Dedicated to the service of the people, that no good cause shall lack a champion, and that wrong shall not thrive unopposed.” The Union Messenger attracted a readership throughout the British Caribbean and had subscribers in Britain and the United States. Some of the leading causes that Sebastian campaigned for in the pages of the newspaper were the establishment of a high school for girls in St. Kitts, the creation of a West Indian federation with dominion status, and the founding of a West Indian university. The publication of the Union Messenger continued uninterrupted, after Sebastian’s death, until 1961. The Labour Spokesman, a newspaper that had commenced publication in 1957 as the official organ of the St. Kitts–Nevis Trades and Labour Union, then became the sole representative voice of the St. Kitts–Nevis labor movement. The St. Kitts–Nevis Trades and Labour Union had absorbed the UBA after its establishment in 1940, and its general secretary and editor of the Labour Spokesman, Joseph France, had replaced J. M. Sebastian as editor of the Union Messenger after the latter’s death in 1944 (Sir Probyn Inniss, Historic Basseterre: The Story of its Growth [Basseterre, Sir Probyn Inniss, 1979], p. 62; Howard Pactor, Colonial British Caribbean Newspapers: A Bibliography and Directory [Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1990], p. 92; Elise Sebastian Marthol, Meet My Father: A Short Walk through the Life of Joseph Matthew Sebastian [Basseterre, St. Kitts: Elise Sebastian Marthol, 1993], pp. 18–21). 5. Lucian B. Watkins (1879–1921) was regular contributor of poetry to the “Poetry for the People” column in the NW. Born and educated in Virginia, he was a teacher prior to serving as a sergeant in World War I, during which his health became impaired. He died in hospital at Fort McHenry, in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1921. Watkins was the author of many poems and of Voices of Solitude (Chicago: Donohue, 1903). His work was anthologized in James Weldon Johnson, ed., The Book of American Negro Poetry (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1931), “Star of Ethiopia,” “Two Points of View,” and “To Our Friends,” pp. 193–195; see also Tony Martin, Literary Garveyism: Garvey, Black Arts, and the Harlem Renaissance, The New Marcus Library, No. 1 (Dover, MA: The Majority Press, 1983), pp. 66–68. 6. This is quoted from the poem “My God Is Black,” which appeared in the 21 February 1920 issue of the Richmond Planet.
E. Brice, British Consul, Santiago de Cuba, to the Municipal Mayor, Santiago de Cuba British Consulate, Santiago de Cuba, 18 September 1921 Sir: I have the honor of letting you know that, according to reports received in this Consulate, from some of the most trusted men among the 700 braceros [laborers] who have been waiting about two months for the ship that must repatriate them,1 the great majority of these men intend to organize a protest on the morning of Monday the 19th day of the current month before this Consulate, the Government building and the Mayor’s office, on account of their continued detention in Santiago[.] [This] demonstration will take place, it is believed, between the hours of 8 and 10 a.m. I would not grant much importance to this act in itself, but it’s the case that my informants also assure me that although the mass of the men are peaceful, there is a small group that, incited by the directors of the so-called “Universal Negro Improvement Association” that exists in this City, have the evil
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intention of trying to upset the order and, complying with a duty to assist the High Authorities in this matter, I hurry to warn you for the ends that you esteem convenient. I make use of this occasion to express my gratitude for your courteous attention to my request on the ninth of the current month, to the effect that a guard be placed in the door of the Consulate, and during the three days that this service was provided an admirable order reigned, not so upon removal of the guard for unknown reasons, since on various occasions I have had to appeal to the police of the nearest post to be able to persuade the braceros to leave. Allow me to suggest to you that you will probably deem it convenient to order the service of some policeman within easy reach of the Consulate during the morning of the 19th, in order to prevent with his mere presence that the agitators provoke some disorder. With the expression of my great respect and consideration I remain yours, very attentively, Consul de S.M.B. (int) AHPSC, GP, leg. 786, exp. 11. TL. Translated from Spanish. 1. As the economic crisis worsened in the summer of 1921, Cuban authorities and citizens in general began to fear that unemployed and hungry immigrants would cause unrest on the island. In July 1921, President Mario Menocal claimed that indigent Afro-Caribbean laborers constituted “a serious danger to public health . . . [and] a public burden on the nation” and decreed that the Cuban government would thus cover the costs of repatriating them (“Decreto No. 1404 de 20 de Julio de 1921: Repatriación de braceros antillanos,” in Hortensia Pichardo, ed., Documentos para la historia de Cuba, 5 vols. [Havana: Instituto del Libro, 1968–1980], 3: 22–23). The government contracted with Xavier Rumeau, a French-born owner of several small sailing vessels, to repatriate immigrants at a cost of twelve pesos per person. Rumeau failed to uphold the contract, however, leaving hundreds of needy immigrants stranded on the streets of Santiago de Cuba, where they had gathered awaiting repatriation. West Indian immigrants mobilized themselves primarily through the UNIA and the People’s Committee (with UNIA leader Dave Davidson acting as secretary), to assist the most destitute immigrants until the worst moment of the crisis had passed (Marc C. McLeod, “Undesirable Aliens: Haitian and British West Indian Immigrant Workers in Cuba, 1898 to 1940,” [Ph.D. diss., University of Texas at Austin, 2000], pp. 134–139).
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Fred A. Toote, Secretary General, UNIA, to J. R. Ralph Casimir UNIVERSAL BUILDING, 56 WEST 135TH STREET NEW YORK, U.S.A. September 19, 1921
Dear Sir, We have received your letter, dated 20th. Aug., with inclosures, and regret very much to hear of the unsatisfactory condition of the Roseau Division. In reference to the deposition of the President, Mr. Gardier, and your acting in this capacity, while still performing the duties of Secretary, we beg to inform you that this is unconstitutional. If you have been elected President, you should accept or refuse the appointment, and have some one elected by the Division to the position of Secretary or President, as the case may be. The reports you forwarded were not accompanied by any remittance and we beg you to point out that the last remittance from the Roseau Division was received here on the 18th. Feb. for the sum of £10.9.8½. We trust that you will do all in your power, now that you are back in Dominica, to place the Division on a sound footing again. As you have, doubtless, learnt from the “Negro World,” Rev. R. H. Tobitt is no longer Leader of the Eastern Province of the West Indies, Hon. Rudolph Smith having been elected to this position at the recent great Convention. We shall be glad if you will give him the necessary co-operation, when he comes to the West Indies. In reference to your inquiry about the African Blood Brotherhood we have to instruct you that on no account must any members of this Organization associate themselves with this body. The African Blood Brotherhood is in the pay of white supporters of Bolshevism, has nothing in common with the U.N.I.A., and through its magazine “The Crusader” is doing all it can to undermine the strength of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. During the recent Convention, its delegates had to be expelled. With best wishes, we are, yours for racial uplift, UNIVERSAL NEGRO IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION
FRED A. TOOTE Secretary General [Addressed to:] Mr. J. R. R. Casimir, Secy., Roseau Div., Dom. JRRC. TLS, recipient’s copy. On UNIA and ACL parent body letterhead.
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C. A. Reid to the Workman [[Colón, September 21, 1921]]
COLÓN DELEGATE TELLS THE TRUTH ABOUT THE A.B.B. DELEGATES Editor The Workman: In your issue of the 17th inst., there appeared a featured article under the caption “Garvey Ousted the A.B.B. Delegates,” etc., copied from the New York Dispatch, purporting to influence or beguile the public into the idea that the Second International Convention of Negroes of the world was dominated by the Hon. Marcus Garvey, President-General of the U.N.I.A. As a delegate to that convention I crave a little of your space to give to the public the truth of the case in question. I feel my first duty is to inform the public what is the A.B.B. The A.B.B. is an organization that the people of the United States, I say United States, because I have been in all of them between Louisiana and New York, think very little about where its name is known, because it is only named A.B.B. in an attempt to take advantage of the new spirit of Negroes who realize that other people are great because they have done great things and are turning their attention toward Africa to great things there, but its real object is to corral the votes of Negroes of the United States into the camp of the party whose platform it is now supporting. It is not the purpose of this letter to criticize the article, but I cannot refrain from commenting here and there. The truth when half told is worse than a lie. The statement about their status being equal to any other delegates is a half truth. The definition of their status was given this way: “In all matters affecting the race all deputies and delegates were equal, but in matters pertaining to the U.N.I.A. only none other but the delegates of the U.N.I.A. would vote.” The article charges that after three weeks nothing had been done. This charge has been ably replied to and refuted by Sir Wm. H. Ferris, which reply I am certain you would not publish unless in this form, therefore I quote part of the reply: “In order for a doctor to prescribe for the benefit of his client he must first diagnose his case.” That is what the convention did—listened to the reports of delegates telling of conditions existing in their respective parts of the world. The truth about the whole matter is this: That during the convention representatives from several governments were present and made stirring appeals on behalf of their respective governments for the support of Negroes. The convention would not commit itself, but stated “We are a young people and would take the best from the various forms of government we had come in contact with for our own guidance.” This displeased the A.B.B. which seems to have a stronger following in the Republic of Panama than anywhere else, and was responsible for the malicious statement made in its daily bulletin. Delegate Plummer of New York came across one of those bulletins at luncheon hour, and on the resumption of the convention read same. The delegates 69
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representing the A.B.B. were called upon to go to the rostrum and defend by argument or explanation the reason for such an attitude. For a space of about two minutes or so no one arose in response to this invitation. Their numbers were asked for by the convention and were given by the registrar, whereupon the delegate representing the Republic of Panama moved an inspection of cards, and before the speaker had time to put the motion there was a little uneasiness caused by those delegates having the numbers given rising from their seats and scampering out of the hall. This is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. No one asked them to leave—they just ran out. The President-General took this opportunity to impress delegates to the convention with the methods used by people of their kind to belittle the U.N.I.A. In justice to myself, in justice to the convention, and in justice to the man the article attacks I am bound to give the public this information. Thanking you for space and hoping you will give this letter publication, for the reason that your journal pretends to be a colored one published in the interest of colored people, and as this information is valuable to them, I beg to remain, yours, C. A. REID Delegate to the Second International Convention of Negroes Printed as “Delegate Reid Refutes Statement from ‘New York Despatch,’ in the Workman (Panama City), 1 October 1921. Reproduced from NW, 26 November 1921.
Harold D. Clum,1 U.S. Consul, Santiago de Cuba, to John R. Putnam,2 U.S. Consul, Havana AMERICAN CONSULAR SERVICE
Santiago de Cuba September 23, 1921 Sir: With further reference to the matter of unemployment and public order, I have the honor to state, that I am informed that most of the Haitians who were here awaiting transportation have been sent to Haiti. There are still about 700 British negroes from Lesser Antilles in this port awaiting transportation and most of these men have been here for a long time. The Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Colored League seems to be doing its best to keep these people stirred up and to arouse an unruly spirit in them. The following are examples of the false rumors which this organization has circulated evidently with malicious intent:
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representing the A.B.B. were called upon to go to the rostrum and defend by argument or explanation the reason for such an attitude. For a space of about two minutes or so no one arose in response to this invitation. Their numbers were asked for by the convention and were given by the registrar, whereupon the delegate representing the Republic of Panama moved an inspection of cards, and before the speaker had time to put the motion there was a little uneasiness caused by those delegates having the numbers given rising from their seats and scampering out of the hall. This is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. No one asked them to leave—they just ran out. The President-General took this opportunity to impress delegates to the convention with the methods used by people of their kind to belittle the U.N.I.A. In justice to myself, in justice to the convention, and in justice to the man the article attacks I am bound to give the public this information. Thanking you for space and hoping you will give this letter publication, for the reason that your journal pretends to be a colored one published in the interest of colored people, and as this information is valuable to them, I beg to remain, yours, C. A. REID Delegate to the Second International Convention of Negroes Printed as “Delegate Reid Refutes Statement from ‘New York Despatch,’ in the Workman (Panama City), 1 October 1921. Reproduced from NW, 26 November 1921.
Harold D. Clum,1 U.S. Consul, Santiago de Cuba, to John R. Putnam,2 U.S. Consul, Havana AMERICAN CONSULAR SERVICE
Santiago de Cuba September 23, 1921 Sir: With further reference to the matter of unemployment and public order, I have the honor to state, that I am informed that most of the Haitians who were here awaiting transportation have been sent to Haiti. There are still about 700 British negroes from Lesser Antilles in this port awaiting transportation and most of these men have been here for a long time. The Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Colored League seems to be doing its best to keep these people stirred up and to arouse an unruly spirit in them. The following are examples of the false rumors which this organization has circulated evidently with malicious intent:
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That all repatriated Jamaicans are to be marched through the streets of Kingston as prisoners and that the little properties of such of them as have any are to be mortgaged to pay the expenses of their repatriation. That all Haitians are to be taken to a port in Haiti where they are to be given arms and are to fight the Americans. That all the negro workmen have been sold to sugar estates for $45. each and are to be kept here for the next crop. That the British Consul has received funds from his Government with which to send them home but that he has kept the money. That the Consuls are in league with the sugar estates to keep the men here so that they shall cut the sugar cane for the next crop for nothing. That the Cuban Government has finally decided not to repatriate any more. This last rumor caused a demonstration in front of the British Consulate this morning and the police reserves had to be called out to disperse it. The organization mentioned above is understood to be exerting itself to cultivate a spirit of lawlessness in the men’s minds and to induce them to believe that their only chance lies in joining the organization. As stated in a previous report, this organization was given charge of feeding the destitute foreign negroes, but has been selling the food whenever they could get the laborers to pay for it. The British Consul obtained orders from the Governor that a room was to be set aside as sleeping quarters for a few families that were among these destitute people, so that the women and children would not be obliged to sleep in the same place where the men slept, but one Walters,3 who seems to be at the head of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L. here, ordered them out because they could not pay him for the use of the room. When any of the people, who, because they are ill or weak, cannot get their food (which is seized by the stronger ones) complain to Walters, he has them beaten by the police.4 I understand that the U.N.I.A. //Universal Negro Improvement Association// and A.C.L. obtained recognition and permission from the Governor to organize in this province, by dropping out the word negro when communicating with the Governor, as a racial organization of this kind is not permitted to exist under the laws of Cuba. I am also informed that the Governor gave their organizers letters of introduction to all the alcaldes in the province asking them to assist in forming branches of the organization in their respective municipalities. The organization maintain[s] a booking office here for the sale of steamship tickets to passengers for Haiti and Jamaica, though they have no steamers of their own. They preach openly in the streets telling the negroes that they should not buy their tickets of[f] a white man but purchase them from the organization. When bookings are made they are turned over to one of the steamship agents here who allow//s// a commission of $3 on each to the league. Another steamship agent, Mr. William Burger, an American, who will not lend himself to this practice has been troubled by a representative of the league
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standing in front of his office and shouting out insults against him, calling him a robber, etc., in order to injure his business. This organization is doing its best to stir up hatred amongst the negroes against the white race, and it is my opinion that it should be suppressed, which can probably be done without difficulty owing to the fact that, if I am correctly informed, the laws of this country do not permit such organizations. I have the honor to be, Sir, Your obedient servant, HAROLD D. CLUM American Consul DNA, RG 84, 843/18. TLS. On American Consular Service letterhead. 1. Harold Dunstan Clum (1879–1959) was a career U.S. diplomat. He served as U.S. consul in Santiago de Cuba from 1918 to 1923. He also founded a branch of the Rotary International in Santiago de Cuba (National Cyclopedia of American Biography, vol. 44 [1962], p. 500). 2. John Risley Putnam (1876–1949) was a U.S. foreign service officer detailed to assist in commercial work in Havana, Cuba, 1921–1923 (WWWA). 3. William Walters was a local merchant and organizer of UNIA division 71 in Santiago de Cuba. In October 1921, Walters sent a bill to the governor of Oriente Province, Alfredo Lora, for more than $4,000, seeking reimbursement for the food he had provided, under previous agreement with the governor, to hungry immigrants during the crisis (Provincial Governor to Secretary of Agriculture, Commerce and Labor, Santiago de Cuba, 17 October 1921 and 5 November 1921, AHPSC, GP, leg. 786, exp. 11; NW, 7 July 1923). 4. A committee formed by British West Indian immigrants to survive the economic crisis interpreted the situation quite differently from the U.S. consul. Led by Henry Shackleton, this group protested the lack of assistance provided to destitute immigrants by the British consul, E. Brice, and in fact praised the UNIA for the role it played in helping those in need. According to Shackleton: “One thousand negro labourers including men women and children without food[,] clothing and Shelter were despised by the acting British Consul of Santiago de Cuba, who gave no assistance to the destitute people. . . . The Cuban people[,] the U.N.I.A. and prominent West Indians saved the situation” (H. Shackleton, Chairman, People’s Committee, “To the people of the Windward and Leeward Islands of the British West Indies,” Santiago de Cuba, 25 August 1921, TNA: PRO FO 371/5562).
Luis G. Guzmán, Permanent Secretary, Industria Lodge No. 3551,1 to Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic [SAN PEDRO DE MACORÍS, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC] September 24, 1921 Honorable Sir: We take the liberty of addressing to you these lines hoping that they may be worthy of your attention. It is now 23 days since five members of [omitted: the Respectable] “EXPERIENCE” Lodge of this City [omitted: our brothers in the Order] have been 72
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standing in front of his office and shouting out insults against him, calling him a robber, etc., in order to injure his business. This organization is doing its best to stir up hatred amongst the negroes against the white race, and it is my opinion that it should be suppressed, which can probably be done without difficulty owing to the fact that, if I am correctly informed, the laws of this country do not permit such organizations. I have the honor to be, Sir, Your obedient servant, HAROLD D. CLUM American Consul DNA, RG 84, 843/18. TLS. On American Consular Service letterhead. 1. Harold Dunstan Clum (1879–1959) was a career U.S. diplomat. He served as U.S. consul in Santiago de Cuba from 1918 to 1923. He also founded a branch of the Rotary International in Santiago de Cuba (National Cyclopedia of American Biography, vol. 44 [1962], p. 500). 2. John Risley Putnam (1876–1949) was a U.S. foreign service officer detailed to assist in commercial work in Havana, Cuba, 1921–1923 (WWWA). 3. William Walters was a local merchant and organizer of UNIA division 71 in Santiago de Cuba. In October 1921, Walters sent a bill to the governor of Oriente Province, Alfredo Lora, for more than $4,000, seeking reimbursement for the food he had provided, under previous agreement with the governor, to hungry immigrants during the crisis (Provincial Governor to Secretary of Agriculture, Commerce and Labor, Santiago de Cuba, 17 October 1921 and 5 November 1921, AHPSC, GP, leg. 786, exp. 11; NW, 7 July 1923). 4. A committee formed by British West Indian immigrants to survive the economic crisis interpreted the situation quite differently from the U.S. consul. Led by Henry Shackleton, this group protested the lack of assistance provided to destitute immigrants by the British consul, E. Brice, and in fact praised the UNIA for the role it played in helping those in need. According to Shackleton: “One thousand negro labourers including men women and children without food[,] clothing and Shelter were despised by the acting British Consul of Santiago de Cuba, who gave no assistance to the destitute people. . . . The Cuban people[,] the U.N.I.A. and prominent West Indians saved the situation” (H. Shackleton, Chairman, People’s Committee, “To the people of the Windward and Leeward Islands of the British West Indies,” Santiago de Cuba, 25 August 1921, TNA: PRO FO 371/5562).
Luis G. Guzmán, Permanent Secretary, Industria Lodge No. 3551,1 to Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic [SAN PEDRO DE MACORÍS, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC] September 24, 1921 Honorable Sir: We take the liberty of addressing to you these lines hoping that they may be worthy of your attention. It is now 23 days since five members of [omitted: the Respectable] “EXPERIENCE” Lodge of this City [omitted: our brothers in the Order] have been 72
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imprisone[d], and according [t]o indications, for being members of an English society. According to reports the imprisoning order was issued by the Provost Marshal of this City.—We interviewed this high military functionary2 and he manifested to us that the matter is alre[a]dy in your hands, and that therefore, he cannot absolutely resolve anything in respect to it.3 Having been informed of your high spirit of humanity and altruism we appeal to you; for if it is possible to order the release of th[e] aforementioned (5) five brothers of ours, namely: Halley, Butler, Hicks, Phillipps and Henry [omitted: who are incarcerated in the Public Jail of this City]; they respectfully promise thru us not to continue in the aforementioned Society which is hereby declared to be abolished, for it has never been their intention to be members of a Society that may not meet with the approval of the Superior Government which you represent wit[h] dignity. We Members of the Grand United Order of Odd-Fellows which have its Administrative Head Quarters in the City of [Ph]iladelphia, respectfully implore you to grant liberty to the aforementioned brothers taking into consideration their promise on not continuing in the aforesaid Society. Trusting you will grant our request if it is within your power, we remain respectfully yours, LUIS G. GUZMÁN Permanent Secretary [Original Spanish document addressed to:] Honorable Samuel S. Robinson[Robison] Contralmirante de la Armada de los Estados Unidos[,] Gobernador Militar de Santo Domingo, Ciudad Capital DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TLS, translated from Spanish by the U.S. military, with inconsistencies from the original marked in brackets. 1. Lodge no. 3551, named Industria, was established in San Pedro de Macorís on 26 December 1892 “by a small group of men, only numbering 21, all English-speaking, solid supporters of the great and noble principles predicated and practiced with word and action by the Great United Order of the Oddfellows” (Sergio Augusto Beras Morales, Telesforo A. Zuleta y de Soto, and Luis H. Dalmau Febles, ed., Album del cincuentenario de San Pedro de Macorís, 1892–1932 [San Pedro de Macorís: Talleres Tipográficos Fémina y La Orla, 1933], pp. 91–92). Until 1903, when it “opened its doors to the sons of the country,” it was said that the lodge was disinclined to include native Dominicans and foreigners. As creoles and foreigners, not cocolos, were increasingly elected as dignitaries and officials of Industria, the founders and the original members founded a new lodge, named Experiencia. Here the English remained predominant, “perhaps a bit reluctant to associate the great Oddfellow work with the creole element” (Francisco Richiez Acevedo, “Cocolandia: cosmopolitismo e Hibridismo, consideraciones sobre el cambio social que se opera en la ciudad de San Pedro de Macorís” [Ph.D. diss., Facultad de Humanidades, Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, 1967], p. 26). A more recent study notes that the Experiencia society is known as “‘the lodge of the cocolos,’ has its own locale and its ceremonies are carried out in English” (Julio César Mota Acosta, Los cocolos en Santo Domingo [Santo Domingo: Editorial La Gaviota, 1977], p. 360). 2. “Nos hemos entrevistado con dicho alto funcionario Militar . . .” in original Spanish document. A more accurate translation would be “We spoke with . . .” 3. “. . . y por talmotivo él no puede resolver absolutamente nada” in original Spanish document. A more accurate translation would be “. . . and that for this reason, he can resolve absolutely nothing.”
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“A Genuine Friend of the Negro Race” to the Workman [Panama City, 24 September 1921] Sir:— I think the letter of “ICONOCLAST” in your issue of the 27th ulto, deserves the most careful attention and study of those who are supporting Mr. Garvey’s Association not only from the standpoint, so clearly and forcefully demonstrated in the letter, that the hard earnings of comparatively poor people are being sco[o]ped in to pay large salaries to high officials who are [not] only conspicuous by the high-faluting titles they bear, but also from the standpoint of what benefits do the supporters of this organization expect to reap? Have they up to the present time reaped any benefits morally, socially, politically or financially? It is innate in the human breast that he expects to reap some benefit from the expenditure of his hard earnings. Now suppose the project of an African Republic materializes within the next 25 years, do the mover of this scheme, his cabinet ministers and the many thousands who are financing it entertain the least hope that Mr. Garvey will be president, his followers members of the cabinet and all his supporters or even a majority of them get into positions of trust and emolument in the new Republic? Let this fact be made prominent that if there is ever an African Republic there are scores, if not hundreds, of African gentlemen living in Africa, pure blooded Africans of royal blood, better educated, of higher social standing and in every way better fitted and more entitled to the position of president and members of the cabinet than the present provisional president and his cabinet, and does any single individual entertain the faintest hope that these gentlemen in Africa of royal blood would ever [tole]rate for a single day any other but one of themselves as president of the republic? As a matter of fact, I would not insure Mr. Garvey’s life for two cents for twenty-four hours after landing on the soil of Africa and proclaiming himself president. Where is it proposed that the seat of the new government will be? I suppose Liberty Hall, New York City, an absentee government, for I question very much if, with all his brass and daring, Mr. Garvey would dare put his feet on African soil and proclaim this scheme of his life. I write this because of my genuine interest in the Negro Race and my sanguine belief that our poor people in the West Indies and Central America are being drained of their life blood and blindfoldedly led on to a catastrophe which will retard their progre[s]s half a century or more. There have been schemes which, on paper, were very fascinating and promising that ended like the “South Sea Bubble.”1 All I ask our people is not to be fascinated by the glare and glitter of this scheme as it appears on paper, but dig a little deeper than the surface and find out whether or not the only 74
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benefit it will ever yield to them is their being mulcted of thousand[s] or probably hundreds of thousands of their hard-earned dollars. I write under a “nom de plume” not because I am afraid to sign my name but want what I here write to be impartially considered, not from the standpoint of who is the writer but from the standpoint of the unquestionable facts which by a little sober consideration will reveal themselves. Yours, A GENUINE FRIEND OF THE NEGRO RACE Printed in the Workman (Panama City), 24 September 1921. 1. Founded in 1711, the South Sea Company held a monopoly on British trade with the South Seas and South America in expectation of trading concessions granted by the treaty signed after the War of the Spanish Succession. Although concessions barely materialized, the company remained financially active and offered to finance Britain’s national debt in 1720. Severe speculation resulted, with a 900 percent rise in the price of company stock until the “bubble” burst in September. Banks closed because they could not collect loans on inflated stock, company fraud was uncovered, stock prices fell, and thousands of investors were ruined (The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. [New York: Columbia University Press, 2000], s.v. “South Sea Bubble”; World Encyclopedia, Philip’s Publisher, 2005, Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press, UC-Los Angeles, s.v. “South Sea-Bubble,” (http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t142.e10884).
Alfred Dunbavin1 et al., to Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic Santo Domingo, September 26th, 1921 Honourable Sir: We the undersigned respectfully ask of you leave to expound the following: In the month of December of the year 1919 A.D. there was formed and constituted at the city of San Pedro de Macoris a branch of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L. of the World with the approbation of the Department of Interior and Police and of the Civil Governor of the Province of San Pedro de Macoris. The society was formed for progressive, instructive, constructive, educational and religious purposes, and with tendency to the uplift of the Negro Race throughout the world irrespective of nationality. The branch in question have been working ever since, with the principles laid down by the Head Quarters situated at Universal Building, 35 W. 156 St., New York, U.S.A., and within the keeping of the Constitution and Laws of the Dominican Republic. After working for a period of one year and ten months without giving any trouble to neither the Dominican nor the Military Authorities, on the night of the 3rd of September of the year in course, while the President, officers and members of the Society were practicing for religious service, they were assaulted by U.S. Marines and by the Civil Police Forces without previously been warned, demanding of the members the immediate delivery of Chart[er], Books and other papers and 75
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benefit it will ever yield to them is their being mulcted of thousand[s] or probably hundreds of thousands of their hard-earned dollars. I write under a “nom de plume” not because I am afraid to sign my name but want what I here write to be impartially considered, not from the standpoint of who is the writer but from the standpoint of the unquestionable facts which by a little sober consideration will reveal themselves. Yours, A GENUINE FRIEND OF THE NEGRO RACE Printed in the Workman (Panama City), 24 September 1921. 1. Founded in 1711, the South Sea Company held a monopoly on British trade with the South Seas and South America in expectation of trading concessions granted by the treaty signed after the War of the Spanish Succession. Although concessions barely materialized, the company remained financially active and offered to finance Britain’s national debt in 1720. Severe speculation resulted, with a 900 percent rise in the price of company stock until the “bubble” burst in September. Banks closed because they could not collect loans on inflated stock, company fraud was uncovered, stock prices fell, and thousands of investors were ruined (The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. [New York: Columbia University Press, 2000], s.v. “South Sea Bubble”; World Encyclopedia, Philip’s Publisher, 2005, Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press, UC-Los Angeles, s.v. “South Sea-Bubble,” (http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t142.e10884).
Alfred Dunbavin1 et al., to Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic Santo Domingo, September 26th, 1921 Honourable Sir: We the undersigned respectfully ask of you leave to expound the following: In the month of December of the year 1919 A.D. there was formed and constituted at the city of San Pedro de Macoris a branch of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L. of the World with the approbation of the Department of Interior and Police and of the Civil Governor of the Province of San Pedro de Macoris. The society was formed for progressive, instructive, constructive, educational and religious purposes, and with tendency to the uplift of the Negro Race throughout the world irrespective of nationality. The branch in question have been working ever since, with the principles laid down by the Head Quarters situated at Universal Building, 35 W. 156 St., New York, U.S.A., and within the keeping of the Constitution and Laws of the Dominican Republic. After working for a period of one year and ten months without giving any trouble to neither the Dominican nor the Military Authorities, on the night of the 3rd of September of the year in course, while the President, officers and members of the Society were practicing for religious service, they were assaulted by U.S. Marines and by the Civil Police Forces without previously been warned, demanding of the members the immediate delivery of Chart[er], Books and other papers and 75
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proce[e]ded to seal the house in which the Society held its sessions and imprisoned those of the members that were in the said house, including young ladies and married women. When asked as to the cause for this unexpected treatment, they were informed that it was thru orders given by the Provost Marshal. About three or four days afterwards, they were all turned over to the Justice of the Peace (Alcalde) who told them that they were accused of insurrection without there being an accuser nor a law that could substantiate said accusation; therefore the aforementioned Justice of the Peace (Alcalde) ordered their release; thereupon a counter order was given by the Provost Marshal to retain the prisoners upon his responsibility, and these people are in prison it’s now 23 days without knowing what they are imprisoned for, nor //when// they will be released. We the undersigned members of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L., law abiding citizens of this Republic, do respectfully appeal to you for Justice, hoping that it will not be denied, by releasing all of the members who have been so violently imprisoned without a justificable cause. Respectfully, ALFRED DUNBAVIN JOHN JOS. HERBERT EZEL VANDERHORST JOSÉ LUCIA MARTINEZ JOHN KENNEDY HENRIETTA A. CAIRES HELENA LUCAS [Addressed to:] Hon. Samuel S. Robison, Rear-Admiral, U.S.N., Military Governor of Santo Domingo, Palace DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TLS, recipient’s copy. 1. Alfred Dunbavin was founder, president, and chairman trustee of the UNIA Santo Domingo City division (NW, 16 December 1922).
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P. Premdas, Acting Assistant Secretary, Black Star Line, to J. R. Ralph Casimir UNIVERSAL BUILDING, 56 WEST 135TH STREET NEW YORK, U.S.A. September 26, 1921 DEAR MR. CASIMIR:—
Your letter of recent date, inquiring for certificates for members of your division, money for which passed through the hands of Rev. Tobitt, has come to hand. I am glad to inform you that this matter was attended to on the 12th inst., when certificates were forwarded from this end, direct to each stockholder. The list was as follows:— NAME JOSEPH BOMPER ABRAHAM DANIEL TELEMAQUE GERALDINE ST. LOUIS SAMUEL J. C. WYKE WILLIAM DONTFRAID CHARLES SCOTLAND ELVINA SCOTLAND META FEVRIER JOHN LAWRENCE
CERTIFICATE NUMBER
37891 37892 37893 37894 37895 37896 37897 37898 37899
The matter took some little time, of course, until Rev. Tobitt’s report was checked up. May I ask you to be good enough to see that the stockholders turn in the receipts which Rev. Tobitt gave to them? This is a vital rule, and we shall appreciate your cooperation. Certificate #32141, duly indorsed for transfer from Crosbee Edwards to Casimir Morancie, also came to hand, and we are enclosing you herewith certificate #38778 in its stead. Re inquiry as to sailing of the Phyllis Wheatley, I am unable to give you any definite information at the present time. Our vice president, Mr. Thompson, is still working on this problem, and you will be sure to see notice relative to date of sailing, rates, etc., published in due course in the columns of the Negro World. Thanking you very much for the moral and financial support you have given us, and trusting that you will make 1921–22 a record year for stock in the Black Star Line. Yours fraternally, BLACK STAR LINE, INC. P. PREMDAS Actg. Asst. Sec.
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS [Addressed to:] MR. J. RALPH CASIMIR Roseau, Dominica British West Indies JRRC. TLS, recipient’s copy. On BSL letterhead.
Robert S. F. Blake, Chaplain, UNIA Banes Division, to William H. Ferris, Literary Editor, Negro World [[Banes, Oriente, Cuba, September 28, 1921]]
THE CALL OF THE HOUR Dear Sir— Accept a word of congratulation for the high and honorable office to which you have been elected by the convention, also the Noble Order of Knight Commander of the Nile into which you have been admitted. From time to time your inspiring messages and editorials contained in the Negroes’ weekly journal of hope has been the means of cementing our confidence in your worth as a leader, a statesman and a Christian gentleman. You probably did not know the high estimation in which you were held. To us in remote Banes you were the “Negroes’ rock of defense.” If you can afford space there are one or two differences existing in Banes which we the officers and loyal members feel it our duty to have removed if possible, which so much tends to affect detrimentally our progress as a community and our unity as a race. We feel it quite time that every Negro on the face of the whole earth should have responded to the call of the hour, and if we perceive anything that stands as an obstacle in the way of that expected response, we shall endeavor with much earnestness to have removed. About one-third of the Negroes of Banes have been led away with a false teaching by the religious leader of the district, who is a white man. This gentleman informs his people that to become a member of the Negro association spells ruin to the spiritual life of such a one, because all the professed Christians who have joined the U.N.I.A. have backslidden from God and His church into the affairs of worldly men and sinners. What we understand by this is that those of us who are Christians should stay aside and allow those who we believe to be ungodly to redeem Africa, and when they are through we can go there and live in peace. But to the contrary, God’s words tell us that His chosen people had to fight their way to [the] promised land, otherwise they perhaps would not have reached yet. This is one of the teachings which hamper our unity here. With emphasis I exclaim, “Let the thought perish.” Can Negroes ever again turn from God and His cause? Let all Christian men who have sworn to serve their 78
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS [Addressed to:] MR. J. RALPH CASIMIR Roseau, Dominica British West Indies JRRC. TLS, recipient’s copy. On BSL letterhead.
Robert S. F. Blake, Chaplain, UNIA Banes Division, to William H. Ferris, Literary Editor, Negro World [[Banes, Oriente, Cuba, September 28, 1921]]
THE CALL OF THE HOUR Dear Sir— Accept a word of congratulation for the high and honorable office to which you have been elected by the convention, also the Noble Order of Knight Commander of the Nile into which you have been admitted. From time to time your inspiring messages and editorials contained in the Negroes’ weekly journal of hope has been the means of cementing our confidence in your worth as a leader, a statesman and a Christian gentleman. You probably did not know the high estimation in which you were held. To us in remote Banes you were the “Negroes’ rock of defense.” If you can afford space there are one or two differences existing in Banes which we the officers and loyal members feel it our duty to have removed if possible, which so much tends to affect detrimentally our progress as a community and our unity as a race. We feel it quite time that every Negro on the face of the whole earth should have responded to the call of the hour, and if we perceive anything that stands as an obstacle in the way of that expected response, we shall endeavor with much earnestness to have removed. About one-third of the Negroes of Banes have been led away with a false teaching by the religious leader of the district, who is a white man. This gentleman informs his people that to become a member of the Negro association spells ruin to the spiritual life of such a one, because all the professed Christians who have joined the U.N.I.A. have backslidden from God and His church into the affairs of worldly men and sinners. What we understand by this is that those of us who are Christians should stay aside and allow those who we believe to be ungodly to redeem Africa, and when they are through we can go there and live in peace. But to the contrary, God’s words tell us that His chosen people had to fight their way to [the] promised land, otherwise they perhaps would not have reached yet. This is one of the teachings which hamper our unity here. With emphasis I exclaim, “Let the thought perish.” Can Negroes ever again turn from God and His cause? Let all Christian men who have sworn to serve their 78
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race and humanity under the colors of the Red, Black and Green lend me their voices in refuting this dangerous misconception. Our watchword is “One God.” Take heed, ye knockers, lest ye be found fighting even against God. Can any minister now living, white or black, say that he is satisfied with the treatment of one-half of God’s people by the other half? If not, then where are the John the Baptist, the Elijahs, the Samuels who will dare attack wrong in high places? Why should a man working amongst us as a spiritual leader be not in sympathy with us in our struggles for existence, instead of indulging in ridiculing every step the Negro takes toward self uplift. Is there any black star up there? Look, ye faint hearted; gaze upward, ye double-minded, Ethiopia’s star has risen and now shines forth in its radiancy whether the white man’s eyes see it or not. Let the world know that we have no apology to make where our rights are concerned, and any man coming amongst us to labor for our spiritual welfare must declare his feelings toward this cause which is so dear to our hearts. If he is against our cause he is against us and better bring his return passage with him, be he white, black, yellow, red or any other color. We have no apologies to make, for Africa must be redeemed or we die in the effort. ROBT. S. F. BLAKE Chaplain Banes Division [Addressed to:] Sir William Ferris, Editor, Negro World Printed in NW, 26 November 1921.
Philander L. Cable, U.S. Chargé d’Affaires, Havana, to Guillermo Patterson, Subsecretary of State, Cuba Habana, Cuba, September 29, 1921 My dear Doctor Patterson:— The Legation has been informed that in the Province of Oriente there are two negro organizations reported as (one) The Universal Negro Improvement Association (U.N.I.A.) and (two) the African Colored League (A.C.L.)—that the officers of these organizations are openly preaching racial war. Inasmuch as the titles of these organizations appear to be of English origin I request that I be informed of their activities. I am, dear Doctor Patterson, Very sincerely yours, PHILANDER L. CABLE Chargé d’Affaires, a.i. DNA, RG 84, 843. TL, copy.
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race and humanity under the colors of the Red, Black and Green lend me their voices in refuting this dangerous misconception. Our watchword is “One God.” Take heed, ye knockers, lest ye be found fighting even against God. Can any minister now living, white or black, say that he is satisfied with the treatment of one-half of God’s people by the other half? If not, then where are the John the Baptist, the Elijahs, the Samuels who will dare attack wrong in high places? Why should a man working amongst us as a spiritual leader be not in sympathy with us in our struggles for existence, instead of indulging in ridiculing every step the Negro takes toward self uplift. Is there any black star up there? Look, ye faint hearted; gaze upward, ye double-minded, Ethiopia’s star has risen and now shines forth in its radiancy whether the white man’s eyes see it or not. Let the world know that we have no apology to make where our rights are concerned, and any man coming amongst us to labor for our spiritual welfare must declare his feelings toward this cause which is so dear to our hearts. If he is against our cause he is against us and better bring his return passage with him, be he white, black, yellow, red or any other color. We have no apologies to make, for Africa must be redeemed or we die in the effort. ROBT. S. F. BLAKE Chaplain Banes Division [Addressed to:] Sir William Ferris, Editor, Negro World Printed in NW, 26 November 1921.
Philander L. Cable, U.S. Chargé d’Affaires, Havana, to Guillermo Patterson, Subsecretary of State, Cuba Habana, Cuba, September 29, 1921 My dear Doctor Patterson:— The Legation has been informed that in the Province of Oriente there are two negro organizations reported as (one) The Universal Negro Improvement Association (U.N.I.A.) and (two) the African Colored League (A.C.L.)—that the officers of these organizations are openly preaching racial war. Inasmuch as the titles of these organizations appear to be of English origin I request that I be informed of their activities. I am, dear Doctor Patterson, Very sincerely yours, PHILANDER L. CABLE Chargé d’Affaires, a.i. DNA, RG 84, 843. TL, copy.
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Eduardo V. Morales,1 UNIA Commissioner to Cuba, to William H. Ferris, Literary Editor, Negro World [[Antilla2 Oriente, Cuba, Sept. 30, 1921]]
HIGH COMMISSIONER MORALES SENDS RINGING MESSAGE FROM CUBA Sir:— By this you will know that I arrived quite safe in Antilla, where I met the President, Third Vice and Chaplain on the dock waiting to greet me. A happy welcome home. On arriving, I learned that there had been a little misunderstanding among the officers and members of the Antilla Division during my absence, so I thought it wise to immediately call an officers’ meeting and get down to the root of the trouble and have matters ameliorated and thereby reestablish in their hearts unity and true brotherly love under the colors of the Red, the Black and the Green. At 8 p.m. I called a meeting of the members, when the Black Cross nurses turned out in uniform. Well, I am pleased to state that they are again united with one determination: to continue the good fight until Africa is redeemed. The trip across was very pleasant. I left New York at 3 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 24. On Tuesday afternoon at about [2] o’clock we found ourselves opposite San Salvador.3 At 6 o’clock the same night we saw Cuba’s lighthouse. At 7 o’clock next morning we docked at Antilla. Please give my compliments to all the officials, officers and members of the New York local. At times I think I hear those sweet strains coming from the melodious voices of the “Liberty Hall’s Birds,” the choir and the Black Star Line Band. Though Cuba is financially “down and out,” the members are determined that I must go “Over the Top.” You will hear of my success from time to time. Continue to be earnest and loyal. Keep the standard of the Red, the Black and the Green aloft on the masts of determination and racial progress until it is planted once and forevermore in a free and redeemed Africa. Yours fraternally for Negro progress, EDUARDO V. MORALES Commissioner to Cuba [Addressed to:] Prof. William H. Ferris, Editor Negro World, 56 W. 135th Street, New York City Printed in NW, 22 October 1921. 1. Born in Cuba to a Spanish father and a Panamanian mother, Eduardo V. Morales served as a delegate to the 1921 and 1922 UNIA conventions in New York. In 1921 he was nominated for the
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SEPTEMBER 1921 posts of “West Indian Leader of the Eastern Province” and “Honorary Provisional Vice-President of Africa,” being one of two finalists for the latter position, which, ultimately, was left vacant. At the 1922 convention, he was nominated for the post of “Third Assistant President-General and Titular Leader of the West Indian Negroes,” again coming in second. While it is not certain exactly when he was named UNIA commissioner to Cuba, it was probably at the 1921 convention, since he was serving in that capacity later that same year. On 24 September 1921, Garvey wrote to Henry Clay von Struve, American consul, Antilla, Cuba, introducing Morales as a BSL representative sent to aid in the recovery of the S.S. Kanawha, the BSL vessel that had been abandoned by its crew in Antilla in August of that year (MGP 4: 77). Morales was elected international organizer at the rival UNIA convention held by the New York local in 1926 (MGP 3: 690–691, 712; MGP 4: 824, 995, 1000; MGP 6: 432–433 n.1). 2. Antilla, a municipality and town on the northeastern shore of Cuba, in the province of Holguín, was a railroad terminal and port town. 3. Known as Watlings Island from the 1680s until 1925, San Salvador Island is an island and district of The Bahamas. It is widely believed that San Salvador Island was the first land that Columbus sighted during his first expedition to the New World in October 1492 (William D. Phillips Jr., “Columbus, Christopher,” in David Buisseret, ed., The Oxford Companion to World Exploration, [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012]).
Philander L. Cable, U.S. Chargé d’Affaires, Havana, to Charles Evans Hughes, U.S. Secretary of State Habana, Cuba, September 30, 1921 Sir:— I have the honor to inform the Department that at present considerable disturbance is being caused in the Province of Oriente by the negro contract labor brought here last year for the harvesting of the sugar crop and //which// now finds itself in a destitute condition. These negroes are primarily Jamaicans, Bahamians, Haitians, with, I believe, a certain leaven of Porto Ricans. The point of interest at the present is that a NEGRO ORGANIZATION known as Universal Negro Improvement Association and the African Colored League has been inciting the baser elements among the colored laborers and is openly preaching racial war. I deemed it of sufficient importance to request informal investigation of the activities of this organization and the citizenship of its officers. I have the honor to be, Sir, Your obedient servant, PHILANDER L. CABLE Charge d’Affaires, a.i. DNA, RG 59, 837.504/218. TLS, recipient’s copy.
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SEPTEMBER 1921 posts of “West Indian Leader of the Eastern Province” and “Honorary Provisional Vice-President of Africa,” being one of two finalists for the latter position, which, ultimately, was left vacant. At the 1922 convention, he was nominated for the post of “Third Assistant President-General and Titular Leader of the West Indian Negroes,” again coming in second. While it is not certain exactly when he was named UNIA commissioner to Cuba, it was probably at the 1921 convention, since he was serving in that capacity later that same year. On 24 September 1921, Garvey wrote to Henry Clay von Struve, American consul, Antilla, Cuba, introducing Morales as a BSL representative sent to aid in the recovery of the S.S. Kanawha, the BSL vessel that had been abandoned by its crew in Antilla in August of that year (MGP 4: 77). Morales was elected international organizer at the rival UNIA convention held by the New York local in 1926 (MGP 3: 690–691, 712; MGP 4: 824, 995, 1000; MGP 6: 432–433 n.1). 2. Antilla, a municipality and town on the northeastern shore of Cuba, in the province of Holguín, was a railroad terminal and port town. 3. Known as Watlings Island from the 1680s until 1925, San Salvador Island is an island and district of The Bahamas. It is widely believed that San Salvador Island was the first land that Columbus sighted during his first expedition to the New World in October 1492 (William D. Phillips Jr., “Columbus, Christopher,” in David Buisseret, ed., The Oxford Companion to World Exploration, [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012]).
Philander L. Cable, U.S. Chargé d’Affaires, Havana, to Charles Evans Hughes, U.S. Secretary of State Habana, Cuba, September 30, 1921 Sir:— I have the honor to inform the Department that at present considerable disturbance is being caused in the Province of Oriente by the negro contract labor brought here last year for the harvesting of the sugar crop and //which// now finds itself in a destitute condition. These negroes are primarily Jamaicans, Bahamians, Haitians, with, I believe, a certain leaven of Porto Ricans. The point of interest at the present is that a NEGRO ORGANIZATION known as Universal Negro Improvement Association and the African Colored League has been inciting the baser elements among the colored laborers and is openly preaching racial war. I deemed it of sufficient importance to request informal investigation of the activities of this organization and the citizenship of its officers. I have the honor to be, Sir, Your obedient servant, PHILANDER L. CABLE Charge d’Affaires, a.i. DNA, RG 59, 837.504/218. TLS, recipient’s copy.
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Rowland Sperling, Assistant Secretary, Foreign Office, to Auckland C. Geddes, British Ambassador to the United States FOREIGN OFFICE, S.W.1,
30th September 1921 Sir, With reference to my despatch No. 1174 of the 30th ultimo, I transmit to Your Excellency herewith copy of a letter from the Colonial Office enclosing copy of a despatch from the Governor of British Honduras regarding a recent visit to that Colony by Mr. Marcus A. Garvey. 2. I should be glad if you would furnish a report on the recent activities, if any, of the Universal Negro Improvement Association with a view to bringing the information contained in your despatch No. 1161 of September 15th 1920 up to date. I am with great truth and respect, Sir, Your Excellency’s obedient Servant, (For the Secretary of State) R. SPERLING TNA: PRO FO 371/5684/02606. TLS.
Enclosure: Gilbert E. A. Grindle, Assistant Under Secretary of State, Colonial Office, to the Under Secretary of State, Foreign Office Downing Street, //26// September, 1921 Sir, With reference to your letter of 18th July (No A:/4967/1181/45), I am directed by Mr. Secretary Churchill to transmit to you, to be laid before the Marquess Curzon of Kedleston the enclosed copy of a despatch [in the margin: 14th July 1921] from the Governor of British Honduras regarding the activities of the Local Branch of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. 2. I am to request that if Lord Curzon sees no objection he will obtain the observations of His Majesty’s Ambassador at Washington regarding Mr. Garvey’s assurances as to his behaviour and the policy of his Association. I am, Sir, Your most obedient servant, G. GRINDLE
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Rowland Sperling, Assistant Secretary, Foreign Office, to Auckland C. Geddes, British Ambassador to the United States FOREIGN OFFICE, S.W.1,
30th September 1921 Sir, With reference to my despatch No. 1174 of the 30th ultimo, I transmit to Your Excellency herewith copy of a letter from the Colonial Office enclosing copy of a despatch from the Governor of British Honduras regarding a recent visit to that Colony by Mr. Marcus A. Garvey. 2. I should be glad if you would furnish a report on the recent activities, if any, of the Universal Negro Improvement Association with a view to bringing the information contained in your despatch No. 1161 of September 15th 1920 up to date. I am with great truth and respect, Sir, Your Excellency’s obedient Servant, (For the Secretary of State) R. SPERLING TNA: PRO FO 371/5684/02606. TLS.
Enclosure: Gilbert E. A. Grindle, Assistant Under Secretary of State, Colonial Office, to the Under Secretary of State, Foreign Office Downing Street, //26// September, 1921 Sir, With reference to your letter of 18th July (No A:/4967/1181/45), I am directed by Mr. Secretary Churchill to transmit to you, to be laid before the Marquess Curzon of Kedleston the enclosed copy of a despatch [in the margin: 14th July 1921] from the Governor of British Honduras regarding the activities of the Local Branch of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. 2. I am to request that if Lord Curzon sees no objection he will obtain the observations of His Majesty’s Ambassador at Washington regarding Mr. Garvey’s assurances as to his behaviour and the policy of his Association. I am, Sir, Your most obedient servant, G. GRINDLE
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SEPTEMBER 1921 [Handwritten minutes:] The C.O. appear to attach too much importance to Mr. Garvey. Judging from this desp and those from H.M. R.R. in Central America Mr. Garvey’s tour met with but little success. It hardly seems worth bothering with by asking them for a report. [initials illegible] 29.9.21. Washington have not reported on this movement for a year now & I think we might ask them for something. But naturally Sir A. Geddes can hardly answer the question asked. [signature illegible] 29/9 TNA: PRO FO 371/5684/5856. TLS, recipient’s copy.
Enclosure: Eyre Hutson, Governor, British Honduras, to Winston S. Churchill, Secretary of State, Colonial Office Government House, Belize, 14th July, 1921 Sir,
With reference to previous correspondence noted in the margin1 on the subject of the activities of the local branch, in this Colony, of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, I have the honour to inform you that Mr. Marcus Garvey arrived in this Colony from Jamaica on the 1st July accompanied by Mr. and Miss Jacques, Miss Davis and Mr. Gaynair. They remained in the Colony until Tuesday the 5th July on which date they proceeded to Guatemala on a tour of the Spanish Republics. During their stay four Mass Meetings were held, reports of which, prepared by the Superintendent of Police, I beg to enclose. 2. On the day of their departure I received a written application from Mr. Marcus Garvey for an interview. This interview I granted, and I have the honour to enclose for your information a report of the proceedings at that interview. I have, etc. (Signed) EYRE HUTSON Governor
[Handwritten endorsement:] This is interesting particularly Mr. Garvey’s disavowal of disloyalty & the notice of his intention to visit London in 1922. If he does come to
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS the C.O. I think we should bring up this paper & I think we should ? send copy to F.O. & ask that the obsns [observations] of HM’s Ambassador be obtained as to Garvey’s assurances. & copy this to D of I.L.F. R[.] A[.] W[.] [R. A. Wiseman] 6/8/21 TNA: PRO FO 115/2690/33396. TL, copy. Marked “Secret.” Minute TNA: PRO CO 318/364/33396. Extraneous minutes elided. 1. The correspondence listed in margin is illegible.
Enclosure: Report by H. J. Cavenaugh,1 Superintendent, British Honduras Police [British Honduras] 2nd July, 1921 In confirmation of my telephone message I have the honour to report that Mr. Marcus Garvey landed about 4.30. p.m. from the “Canadian Fisher.” He was accompanied by Mr. and Miss Jacques, Miss Davis and Mr. M. Gaynair. 2. A good sized crowd met him and his party. No demonstration of any kind was made and perfect order was maintained. 3. Mr. Garvey was entertained at the house of Mr. [I]. Morter, I understand he will be staying there during his visit which will be for about four days. He will then leave on a tour of the Spanish Republic. 4. Four Mass Meetings were announced on a printed notice at the bridge post, the first to be held last night, but it was put off, I was told, because he was tired. Possibly the fact that there was a boxing match on the same night in the one available hall of any size had something to do with it also. (Signed) H. J. CAVENAUGH Superintendent of Police TNA: PRO FO 115/2690/33396. TD, copy. 1. Herbert James Lawrence Cavenaugh joined the Trinidad constabulary in 1908, becoming acting inspector in 1919. He was appointed superintendent of police, British Honduras, in June 1920, and the following year was made acting district commissioner, Belize (DOCOL).
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Enclosure: Report by H. J. Cavenaugh, Superintendent, British Honduras Police [British Honduras] 3rd July, 1921 I have the honour to report that for the last 24 hours, the following programme was carried out by Marcus Garvey and party. 2. They spent the day touring about the town sightseeing, and in the evening held the first Mass Meeting at St. Mary’s Hall at 8 p.m. They attempted to get the C.Us. Theatre for the meeting but Mr. Nord refused to put off his cinema show. 3. The Hall had a seating capacity of about 450 but I doubt at any time, whether more than 250 persons were present. The $1.00 seats were only about one third filled. Altogether it was a very discouraging attendance. 4. The Meeting opened with a Hymn, followed by a prayer by Mr. Anglin, the Baptist schoolmaster. In the prayer he alluded in most patriotic terms to our King. Mr. Adderley, a Wesleyan local preacher then introduced Marcus Garvey and party. One significant reference he made in his speech was that he believed in the fundamentals expressed in the Negro World but did not take all he saw in it for Gospel. 5. Songs and recitations followed, by local talent. Afterwards the meeting was addressed by Miss Davis one of the organizers of the U.N.I.A. She made a very eloquent and forceful speech on the aims and ideas of Negro Improvement. This was followed by a long address by Garvey. 6. He took care to impress on his audience that the movement he had started was not by any means intended to overthrow any established Government. Any reference made to Royalty was made in deference—allusions were made to “Victoria the Good,” who freed the slaves and I can safely say I heard no remarks that could be construed as a seditious one. On the other hand there was a strong racial antagonism displayed throughout his address and he exhorted his hearers to assert themselves and show that a black man was as good as a man of any other colour. 7. He made many mis[s]tatements with regard to the part played by the Black Man in the War and represented that had it not been for the aid of the black man, who came to the assistance of the white when they were beaten and running away Germany would have won. 8. The Aims of the Universal Negro Improvement Association were as follows:—firstly, the establishment of a Black Star Mercantile Marine and secondly the formation of a Negro Empire in Africa. The Empire to start in its beginning in Liberia to where all Negroes who are progressive should go. 9. The last ten minutes of his address were confined to exhortations on his part to his hearers to invest all they could afford in shares in the Black Star Line. He pointed out his Secretary, who was sitting at a table near by, who was ready
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to issue shares to them on the conclusion of the Meeting. The rush for shares was not so great that I deemed it necessary to detail Police to preserve order. 10. The behaviour of the audience throughout the Meeting was most orderly. It broke up at 10.30 p.m. after singing the National Anthem. Two meetings were announced for the following day both at the C.Us. Theatre at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. respectively. (Signed) H. J. CAVENAUGH Superintendent of Police TNA: PRO FO 115/2690/33396. TD, copy.
Enclosure: Report by H. J. Cavenaugh, Superintendent, British Honduras Police [British Honduras] 4th July, 1921 I have the honour to report that Marcus Garvey and party held two meetings yesterday at the C.U.s Theatre both of which I attended. 2. The hall has a seating capacity of about 800—at the afternoon meeting about 200 were present, while under 300 attended in the evening. Only about 10 persons were in the $1.00 seats in the afternoon while about 20 were occupying them in the evening. 3. The addresses were very similar in nature to the ones on Saturday night which I have already reported. Garvey enlarged on the subject of the formation of the Negro Empire. He represented that the War was fought to free peoples and nations dominated by others. That Egyptians, Irish, Indians etc., had been granted a certain degree of self government and nothing had been done for Negroes of which 2,000,000 had fought in the war. What they wanted was Africa, the home from where they were stolen, that they were to commence in Liberia and spread from there until they dominated the Continent. 4. He told them that they would have to fight for it—when he said that he did not mean that they had to fight against the governments under which they lived but when they came to expend in Africa they would do so at the expense of anyone who stood in their way. 5. He alluded to the task of cohesion among themselves and stated the reason why the white man succeeded [was] that they trusted each other. Therefore they should trust him and support the movement by all their powers especially by placing their money in the Black Star Line and the Loan for the development of Liberia. 6. He finished up with a fervent appeal to his audience to invest money in these schemes. I attach two pamphlets1 which were distributed on the subject. (Signed) H. J. CAVENAUGH Superintendent of Police 86
SEPTEMBER 1921 TNA: PRO FO 115/2690/33396. TD, copy. 1. The pamphlets have not been retained.
Enclosure: Report by H. McDonald, Assistant Superintendent, British Honduras Police [British Honduras] 5th July, 1921 I attended Mr. Marcus Garvey’s farewell meeting last night. It was held at the U.N.I.A. Hall (Old [Odd] Fellows’ Temple) Barrack Road.—attended by about 150 people 90% being women—seating capacity of hall about 300. On the stage were Marcus Garvey, Miss Davis and officers of the local Branch of the U.N.I.A. i.e., Mr. and Mrs. Morter[,] Adderly, Belizario, Staine, Campbell, Miss Cain etc. and I/N. Anglin (Chaplain). The Meeting opened with prayer and the singing of “From Greenlands Icy Mountains.” S. A. Haynes then rendered a most inspiring address and was very applauded. He advocated most strongly the political economic and social standing of the black peoples and establishment of a black kingdom of Liberia—with an even greater spirit than he fought in the European war (?) would he fight for the attainments of the black cause; the oppression of the negro he had personally experienced and would never cease to publicly express his views till his hopes were realised or death intervened. He retired amid prolonged cheers. Undoubtedly Haynes[’] head was full of the racial question and although his suggestions and insinuations were couched in diplomacy, the theme could not be misunderstood. Miss Davis a very excellent speaker rose and in the course of her address gave vivid examples of the oppression of the negro. She held her audience, spoke with considerable caution and in a manner to which no exception could be taken. Her objective was the sale of shares in the Black Star Line which she had reason to believe would some day surpass anything in its time. She promised a visit in the very near future of one of the Line’s ships and hoped that the coloured [people] of Belize would give a hearty welcome. Her appeal, well put, for five men to take up shares at once had to be repeated time and again before the first man rose whose name is Gill and the four followed after repeated appeals. The fifth man was Campbell who already held shares and I think merely responded for example sake. She closed by saying that in the very near future she would return to Belize and would call the roll when she hoped the ranks of the Association would be on a better footing than at present. Miss Eva Cain addressed and she spoke with great enthusiasm—she calls for no special comment.
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Marcus Garvey was introduced by the Chaplain and commenced his 1¼ hours address. When he waxed hot I was reminded of Rider Haggard’s “Winstopogoas” in his moments of animal fer[oc]iousness but he nevertheless knew how to get his hearers and was cheered heartily time and again. Garvey in his serious moments did not lack humour which was appreciated. He believed that he has been inspired by God to come to deliver the black race and that in the course of time the 400,000,000 blacks in the world would belong to the great kingdom of Liberia where he said with emphasis he would never tolerate the presence of anyone who did not resemble himself very closely in colour and features. Garvey’s great promise is to visit London, the very heart of London with four or five of his chief followers, late this year or early in 1922 and tell them a few things and make them understand that the black man means to “come into his own” and forever more will be respected by the whites. Garvey hopes within three years to commence the establishment of the black nation at Liberia and it is for this purpose that the Black Star Line has come into existence. He spoke about the European War and the part played by Black troops and their wonderful fighting prowess which convinced him, when the time arrives, of the excellent sacrifices and fighting spirit that will be exhibited by the black man who will then realise the just cause of liberation from the white man for which they will fight. Garvey, however, was most diplomatic and asked his hearers please not to misunderstand him. While he had great hopes of the future black nation, the black wherever he may be, must be loyal to the flag to which he belongs and serve it with earnestness—with the one proviso—those in British Honduras when singing the National Anthem must at heart sing also the Ethiopian National Anthem. Garvey expressed himself very much impressed with Haynes’ speech and publicly offered to give Haynes a permanent billet in the U.N.I.A. at New York and invited Haynes to leave the Colony tomorrow to take up the new appointment. This met with prolonged cheers and Garvey was whispered as “our deliverer” “God bless you Sir,” by 60 or 70 year old enthusiastic women. Haynes I understand is likely to accept. Garvey advised the world not to interfere with the future of his race and to prevent “trouble” as he puts it, to help them to regain their footing in Liberia. There were moments of enthusiastic madness into which he worked himself while speaking when I thought the aid of a medical man would be absolutely necessary but, such was not to be. Garvey at last called for shareholders and eventually got five, who also had to be persuaded to take out shares. The audience was at the close invited to walk up and shake Marcus’ and Miss Davis’ hands which was done meanwhile singing the “God be with you till we meet again.” The meeting was most orderly and everyone quite civil. Garvey and Davis were certainly listened to with rapt attention and cheered beyond expression but knowing the local people as I do, I felt that a 88
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more practical demonstration of the progress of the movement is necessary before this community can be counted on to give its whole hearted support. (Sgd) H. MC.DONALD Assistant Superintendent of Police TNA: PRO FO 115/2690/33396. TD, copy.
Enclosure: Report of Interview with Marcus Garvey by Eyre Hutson, Governor, British Honduras [Belize, British Honduras, 5 July 1921]
MEMORANDUM OF INTERVIEW WITH MR. MARCUS GARVEY AT GOVERNMENT HOUSE, BELIZE, AT 2 P.M. ON TUESDAY 5TH JULY, 1921 His Excellency the Governor received Mr. Marcus Garvey, the President of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, who was accompanied by Mr. W. A. Campbell, Mr. H. H. Cain and Mr. C. N. Staine. The Colonial Secretary and the Private Secretary were present. His Excellency the Governor:— Mr. Marcus Garvey, you have asked for an interview with me today. I claim the privilege before you address me on the subject of your visit, to make a statement and to ask you to favour me with some information. I desire first to call your attention to the fact that, as the interview is of some importance, I have a shorthand writer present. I shall be glad to supply you with a record of the interview, and to supply a copy to the leader of the local branch of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities’ League. You are, I understand, a native of Jamaica? Marcus Garvey. Yes Sir. H.E. Are you still a British subject? M. G. Yes Sir. H.E. Your official position in the Association and League is, I understand, “President of the Provisional Republic of Africa and President General of the Association and League.” M. G. Yes Sir. H.E. I have had the privilege of reading the Laws of the Association and League, and I have noted the great authority conferred on yourself and on “The High Potentate of the League and Association.” 89
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M. G. Yes Sir. H.E. I noted that the newspaper “The Negro World” is stated in the Laws as the official organ and publication of the Association and League. Am I correct? M. G. Yes Sir. H.E. Who is the Editor? M. G. William Lietch [Henry] Ferris (?) but I have the controlling supervision. H.E. Now I am, or I claim to be, the first to recognise and support, if it be in my power to do so, the praiseworthy aims of the Association, to promote the material, social and educational advancement of the people of the Negro Race so long as such movement proceeds by proper and loyal methods. I have so stated publicly in this Colony, and I have recently endeavoured to assist Dr. Simon1 in the medical education of nurses. I have, however, of course noted other aims of the Association and League so forcibly placed before the people of this town and elsewhere by yourself. I have noted the religious character of your meetings and the singing of the British National Anthem at the conclusion of the meetings. Having in view your replies and assurances to my questions asked, I shall esteem it a favour if you can explain and justify the following account of your speech at a meeting held in Philadelphia, U.S.A. on the 3rd December last, which appeared in the issue of the “Negro World” of the 18th December 1920, it being admitted that the paper is the official organ of the Association and League. EXTRACT FROM “THE NEGRO WORLD,” SATURDAY 18TH DECEMBER, 1920. ADDRESS DELIVERED BY HON. MARCUS GARVEY ON 3RD DECEMBER, 1920, IN PHILADELPHIA, U.S.A. I am looking for the time to come when there will be another world’s war. The time will come when the nations who are controlling Africa will look down in disgrace. Working men in Europe drove the city council out of the city the other day and took charge of the city. It is mentioned that England’s doom is at hand. And those men who drove the council out are only paving the way. And as the Czar lost his throne some years ago, so I fear George of England may have to run for his life, and that will be the chance for the Negro. I have prayed for it, and all the Negroes have done for the last few years, was to pray. The white man starts to work and pray. Because we are such great prayers; let us pray for the “downfall of England.” Why do I want the downfall of England? Because I want the freedom of Africa. (Cheers).
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I want it clearly understood that the ideas of the Universal Negro Improvement Association are one. If these big Negroes and dick-ty Negroes knew what I do, they would come into this movement now. Africa will crown you for what you do for Africa. In the years to come your picture will be hanging in the gallery of Africa. And your children will be able to see what you did in the great construction work of Africa. The paper from which this extract was taken is now in the hands of the Secretary of State in London; but if it becomes necessary it is possible to have it returned. I have read from a certified true copy. I consider it only fair to you to give you an opportunity of removing from my mind a very strong impression and feeling caused by a per[us]al of that article, which is as offensive to me as it is to every other loyal subject of His Majesty the King. M. G. I may say, for Your Excellency’s information, that the first time the article was brought to my notice was shortly after my arrival in Jamaica about two months ago, when Detective Inspector King, who was on the eve of departure to Nigeria, asked me to call and see him, and in the course of conversation he presented the article and I read it. This is the first time I saw the article. It happened that I did speak in Philadelphia on that day, but I am fully persuaded and I am fully conscious of the fact that I never said the things that are reported there. I did say certain things concerning the political situations of several countries in Europe, but I am afraid the reporter’s article is an incorrect statement of what I did say. Your Excellency will realise that we are seldom reported correctly in the press. It is usually just a summary of a speech, and when you see your speech the next morning it is as strange to you as it is to a stranger who had never heard you. As proof that the speech was not properly and correctly reported as you read there, you will find that I am reported to have said that the working men took over the City Council in Europe. A very broad statement “the city Council in Europe.” I must have said something to at least bear upon that, whether in England or elsewhere. At no time have I ever made such statements as made there. There are times when I do not see “The Negro World” for months and at that time I believe I was engaged in a tour in America, and I never saw that article until I went to Jamaica two months ago. Had I know[n] that such statements were reported in “The Negro World” I would certainly have corrected them. I admit I did say things, but not in the crude and disloyal manner reported. If these things were said under my signature I am responsible. H.E. Have you taken any steps to have those incorrect statements corrected in “The Negro World,” and to deny having made them?
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M. G. No Your Excellency: but I intend to do so on my return to the United States. H.E. I am glad to receive that assurance from you. M. G. As Managing Editor of “The Negro World” and President of the Universal Negro Improvement Association I have often written on the policy of the organisation from my point of view, but at no time can anyone accuse me of anything disloyal, as a British subject, over my signature: but as you realise it is very hard and difficult to get oneself correctly reported in the newspapers, especially when the report is not made by a competent man. H.E. If the article had appeared in any other paper than the “Negro World” which is the acknowledged official organ of your association I should have taken no notice of it. I should have given you the credit of having been incorrectly reported. M. G. Why I desired an interview with Your Excellency is because I understood on my arrival here that there was a misunderstanding and a misapprehension attached to the aims and objects of the association, and I would like it clearly understood that the Universal Negro Improvement Association stands solely for the uplifting in every way, morally, socially, educationally and industrially, of the negro people of the world. In certain parts it stands for the liberty of the people, but where they are already free, such as in this Colony, we are doing our best to strengthen the moral life of the people. We have absolutely no political interference, we are only interested in the moral, social and educational development of the people. Each country has to work out its own problems. Throughout colonies such as British Guinea [Guiana] we can educate and we are interested in the better moral, and social grounds. I feel sure that Your Excellency will not deny the right to any race to educate itself on the best possible lines. H.E. The Governor of a British Colony must be very careful not to say or do anything to identify himself with the entire objects and aims of your association, because they are to a certain extent political as referring to the United States of America. M. G. I have to thank you in the name of the organisation for the help you have given and I thank you also for the interest you have taken in getting a complete explanation of a statement reported to have been made by one whom you expected to be a loyal subject. It is no desire of mine to be disloyal to any man. I am a British subject, and a large number of us are British subjects, and it is foreign to our aims to be disloyal and to disrupt the Government, but to help the Government to bring about a better state throughout. There have been charters and religious institutions that have been trying to christianise for nearly three to five hundred years. We are endeavoring to help all such agencies to bring about the speedy realisation of these aims, and we claim that we have
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some of us reached the standard of civilised life to help in some way to bring about what we have so long desired. I know the movement is misrepresented because of the demands of its programme but whenever we are given a chance to explain we have always done so to the satisfaction of all those concerned in the interests of the negro people. H.E. I note it is your desire to assist others and to relieve others of the great responsibility which they have had to assume for many years. I am glad that I have had this opportunity of meeting you and to have heard your explanation and I appeal to you to correct that statement in your paper. I wish to say this. I do not know whether any account of this interview will appear in the local press. I have no wish to publish it unless you desire it but I will have a copy of the record sent to Mr. Campbell who can forward it to you. I [reserve] to myself the right to publish the record if there appears in the public press any garbled or incomplete account of your interview with me. TNA: PRO FO 115/2690/33396. TD, copy. 1. Dr. K. M. B. Simon, a government medical officer, assisted in training the Black Cross Nurses who, beginning on 21 July 1921, received classes in the evenings twice weekly. Dr. Simon and William A. Campbell, the president of the Belize branch of the UNIA, secured the governor’s permission for these trainees to gain practical experience at the Belize Public Hospital each day from 7 A.M. to 2 P.M., learning nursing skills under the hospital matron’s supervision (Eleanor Krohn Herrmann, Origins of Tomorrow: A History of Belizean Nursing Education [Belize: Ministry of Health, 1985], pp. 40–41).
Rachel E. Butler to the Negro World [[Omaj., Orte. [Oriente], ca. 1 October 1921]]
WE SHOULD PAY OURSELVES BACK Sir: Allow me space in your valuable paper to announce a few remarks in behalf of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L. It distresses me to see how some Negroes in this era can be so unconcerned about their past and present destitution. I think it is high time that every well-thinking and ambitious Ne[gro] sh[ou]ld fall into the [whirl]pool of unrest and from thence never cease struggling until they shall have landed on smooth waters, which shall be a redeemed Africa. Many things in life are worth troubling about, one of which is the redemption of Africa, and we are fools and faint-hearted if we let it slip. Fools, indeed, if we do not strain every nerve and fight through all our inherent disadvantages in order to procure same. We’ve been starved and cheated of what has been ours by right from our birth, and, that we are owed some compensation for all that has been missed, 93
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some of us reached the standard of civilised life to help in some way to bring about what we have so long desired. I know the movement is misrepresented because of the demands of its programme but whenever we are given a chance to explain we have always done so to the satisfaction of all those concerned in the interests of the negro people. H.E. I note it is your desire to assist others and to relieve others of the great responsibility which they have had to assume for many years. I am glad that I have had this opportunity of meeting you and to have heard your explanation and I appeal to you to correct that statement in your paper. I wish to say this. I do not know whether any account of this interview will appear in the local press. I have no wish to publish it unless you desire it but I will have a copy of the record sent to Mr. Campbell who can forward it to you. I [reserve] to myself the right to publish the record if there appears in the public press any garbled or incomplete account of your interview with me. TNA: PRO FO 115/2690/33396. TD, copy. 1. Dr. K. M. B. Simon, a government medical officer, assisted in training the Black Cross Nurses who, beginning on 21 July 1921, received classes in the evenings twice weekly. Dr. Simon and William A. Campbell, the president of the Belize branch of the UNIA, secured the governor’s permission for these trainees to gain practical experience at the Belize Public Hospital each day from 7 A.M. to 2 P.M., learning nursing skills under the hospital matron’s supervision (Eleanor Krohn Herrmann, Origins of Tomorrow: A History of Belizean Nursing Education [Belize: Ministry of Health, 1985], pp. 40–41).
Rachel E. Butler to the Negro World [[Omaj., Orte. [Oriente], ca. 1 October 1921]]
WE SHOULD PAY OURSELVES BACK Sir: Allow me space in your valuable paper to announce a few remarks in behalf of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L. It distresses me to see how some Negroes in this era can be so unconcerned about their past and present destitution. I think it is high time that every well-thinking and ambitious Ne[gro] sh[ou]ld fall into the [whirl]pool of unrest and from thence never cease struggling until they shall have landed on smooth waters, which shall be a redeemed Africa. Many things in life are worth troubling about, one of which is the redemption of Africa, and we are fools and faint-hearted if we let it slip. Fools, indeed, if we do not strain every nerve and fight through all our inherent disadvantages in order to procure same. We’ve been starved and cheated of what has been ours by right from our birth, and, that we are owed some compensation for all that has been missed, 93
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its but right that we make this straight in whatever way seems a real and fair play satisfactory to us. The greater our former destitution the greater should be our determination to pay ourselves back. People may stand by and wonder, and criticise, and sneer, but we can pass them by for they do not come into our scheme. So far as [we] are concerned, they might not exist. No doubt they have their significance in some other scheme, but that is of no moment to us. All we know is that 400,000,000 Negroes shall pay themselves back and soar to the limit if ever a race can. RACHEL E. BUTLER Printed in NW, 1 October 1921.
“Iconoclast” to the Workman [Panama City, 1 October 1921]
ICONOCLAST BOOSTS U.N.I.A. CHAPTER ON REACHING 1000 MARK Sir:— In an article appearing in your issue of September 24th last under the heading “U.N.I.A. Chapter Crosses 1000 line mark” the writer in part thus expresses himself:—“The outsider and critic is likely to form an opinion about the U.N.I.A. in general, but the Chapter or any other auxiliary is not responsible for mistakes made by the Chief Executive Office in New York.” To me, this statement conveys a great depth of meaning, containing, as it does, an unwritten admission that the Chief Executive Office has been and is guilty of several gross mistakes, and as I have on all available occasions criticised the mistakes and mistaken methods of said Chief Executive Office, impersonated by its Honourable President-General, I hasten to publicly express my approval of the hidden sentiments contained in the passage quoted. And I do so, not by way of apology to any individual—for I have a perfect right to the exercise of my own judgement,—but that those who have avowed themselves personal enemies of mine because of my attitude on the question might, if possible, learn to know me better. Really, there can be easily observed a vast difference between the present objects of the Association, as accepted by the great following which it has really, and the ultimate aims as set forth by the Chief Executive Office, viz: a free and redeemed Africa, and that places quite a different aspect on the matter. It is a well-known fact that there are no two things together that so appeal to people of ordinary means as the possibility of being cared and provided for in times of sick[n]ess and that of being given a decent burial. We see it daily in the 94
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its but right that we make this straight in whatever way seems a real and fair play satisfactory to us. The greater our former destitution the greater should be our determination to pay ourselves back. People may stand by and wonder, and criticise, and sneer, but we can pass them by for they do not come into our scheme. So far as [we] are concerned, they might not exist. No doubt they have their significance in some other scheme, but that is of no moment to us. All we know is that 400,000,000 Negroes shall pay themselves back and soar to the limit if ever a race can. RACHEL E. BUTLER Printed in NW, 1 October 1921.
“Iconoclast” to the Workman [Panama City, 1 October 1921]
ICONOCLAST BOOSTS U.N.I.A. CHAPTER ON REACHING 1000 MARK Sir:— In an article appearing in your issue of September 24th last under the heading “U.N.I.A. Chapter Crosses 1000 line mark” the writer in part thus expresses himself:—“The outsider and critic is likely to form an opinion about the U.N.I.A. in general, but the Chapter or any other auxiliary is not responsible for mistakes made by the Chief Executive Office in New York.” To me, this statement conveys a great depth of meaning, containing, as it does, an unwritten admission that the Chief Executive Office has been and is guilty of several gross mistakes, and as I have on all available occasions criticised the mistakes and mistaken methods of said Chief Executive Office, impersonated by its Honourable President-General, I hasten to publicly express my approval of the hidden sentiments contained in the passage quoted. And I do so, not by way of apology to any individual—for I have a perfect right to the exercise of my own judgement,—but that those who have avowed themselves personal enemies of mine because of my attitude on the question might, if possible, learn to know me better. Really, there can be easily observed a vast difference between the present objects of the Association, as accepted by the great following which it has really, and the ultimate aims as set forth by the Chief Executive Office, viz: a free and redeemed Africa, and that places quite a different aspect on the matter. It is a well-known fact that there are no two things together that so appeal to people of ordinary means as the possibility of being cared and provided for in times of sick[n]ess and that of being given a decent burial. We see it daily in the 94
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innumerable fraternal organizations and benevolent societies with which our city is over-run, and I should be the last person to blame any one for making provisions for the proverbial “wet day[.]” The wisdom of the step is at once apparent, and I will wager that an unbiased and conscient[i]ous declaration from each member in Panama City will reveal the fact that the great majority (and the majority are women) are members with no other purpose in view. How many of them have seriously studied from all its various angles the possibility of success of the movement in so far as the ultimate aims are concerned[?] But come back to the purpose of this letter. I wish here to congratulate President Gadsby and his competent staff of officers of the No. 14 Chapter for the splendid results achieved in the short period of its existence. Though scoffed and depreciated by those who claim to be the “I AM’S” in these parts, they have without any bombastic show struggled hard and earnestly in the face of all difficulties till today, by their clean methods of business, by the utter absence of autocracy in the management of the people’s affairs, they have gained a confidence and a following that is difficult to beat. As long as they continue in the good work they have so begun, they will continue to reap rich harvests. So, no matter what may be the mistake (and mistake there are many) of the Chief Executive Office in New York, no matter whether the African Republic is ever established, they can, if they will, continue to care for the sick and distressed, to lend a helping hand where necessary, and so help to bring about a condition of real necessity among our people, viz., a Brotherhood of Negroes real, unselfish and unveneered. Thanking you for space, Yours, ICONOCLAST Printed in the Workman (Panama City), 1 October 1921.
Circular Letter by Winston S. Churchill, Secretary of State, Colonial Office DOWNING STREET, September //4 Oct//, 1921
Sir, I have etc., to transmit to you for your observations the accompanying copy of a despatch from the O.A.G. of Bermuda forwarding a memorial from Mr. R. H. Tobitt, on the subject of the refusal of the Trinidad Government to allow him to land in the Colony. I have, etc., (Signed) WINSTON S. CHURCHILL TNA: PRO CO 318/364/02545. TL, draft.
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innumerable fraternal organizations and benevolent societies with which our city is over-run, and I should be the last person to blame any one for making provisions for the proverbial “wet day[.]” The wisdom of the step is at once apparent, and I will wager that an unbiased and conscient[i]ous declaration from each member in Panama City will reveal the fact that the great majority (and the majority are women) are members with no other purpose in view. How many of them have seriously studied from all its various angles the possibility of success of the movement in so far as the ultimate aims are concerned[?] But come back to the purpose of this letter. I wish here to congratulate President Gadsby and his competent staff of officers of the No. 14 Chapter for the splendid results achieved in the short period of its existence. Though scoffed and depreciated by those who claim to be the “I AM’S” in these parts, they have without any bombastic show struggled hard and earnestly in the face of all difficulties till today, by their clean methods of business, by the utter absence of autocracy in the management of the people’s affairs, they have gained a confidence and a following that is difficult to beat. As long as they continue in the good work they have so begun, they will continue to reap rich harvests. So, no matter what may be the mistake (and mistake there are many) of the Chief Executive Office in New York, no matter whether the African Republic is ever established, they can, if they will, continue to care for the sick and distressed, to lend a helping hand where necessary, and so help to bring about a condition of real necessity among our people, viz., a Brotherhood of Negroes real, unselfish and unveneered. Thanking you for space, Yours, ICONOCLAST Printed in the Workman (Panama City), 1 October 1921.
Circular Letter by Winston S. Churchill, Secretary of State, Colonial Office DOWNING STREET, September //4 Oct//, 1921
Sir, I have etc., to transmit to you for your observations the accompanying copy of a despatch from the O.A.G. of Bermuda forwarding a memorial from Mr. R. H. Tobitt, on the subject of the refusal of the Trinidad Government to allow him to land in the Colony. I have, etc., (Signed) WINSTON S. CHURCHILL TNA: PRO CO 318/364/02545. TL, draft.
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Enclosure: Lieutenant-Colonel Des Voeux, Officer Administering the Government, Bermuda, to Winston S. Churchill, Secretary of State, Colonial Office [Bermuda] 15th August 1921 Sir, I have the honour to transmit herewith, the accompanying copy of a letter dated 4th August, 1921, addressed to the Governor of Bermuda by Mr. R. H. Tobitt, covering a memorial to the Secretary of State for the Colonies on the subject of permission for his landing at Trinidad being refused by that Government. 2. Previous correspondence ending with Lord Milner’s despatch No. 112 of the 15th December, 1920, to General Sir James Willcocks will afford some information regarding Mr. Tobitt. 3. Subsequent correspondence ensued between the Government of Trinidad and this Colony showing why Mr. Tobitt was not allowed to land in that Colony. 4. I consider that it will be for the Governor of Trinidad to furnish you with such particulars should he consider it necessary in the event of the matter being referred to him. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your most obedient, humble servant, [signature missing] Lieut.-Colonel Officer Administering the Government [Addressed to:] The Right Honourable, The Secretary of State for the Colonies, Downing Street [Handwritten minutes:] We have not had any information from Trinidad re this man. ? Copy to O.A.G. Trinidad for observations. W. H. [M.?] 21/9 We heard of the intentions of the T’dad Govt. indirectly—in 34269 E[.] R[.] D[.] [E. R. Darnley] 24/9 at once BA, CS 6/1/32. TL, copy. Minutes from TNA: PRO CO 318/364/45475. Stamped “C.O. 45475.”
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Enclosure: Reverend Richard H. Tobitt to General James Willcocks, Governor, Bermuda 24 West 129th Street, (c/o Mr. J. [G]umbs), New York City, Aug. 4, 1921 May it please Your Excellency, Owing to the fact that I could not get the enclosed memorial typewritten before I left Bermuda for New York, I could not write you as directed. The enclosed is self-explanatory, and I now most respectfully ask that you will kindly forward copy No. 1 to His Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, viz the Rt. Hon. Winston Churchill P.P.C. I have enclosed two other copies as I understand three should [be] sent to you for proper disposition of them. I beg that Your Excellency will give the matter your earliest consideration, as I deem it necessary that something be done to prevent such an outrage in the future, as the tampering with the rights of a British Subject, and the dishonouring of a passport signed by so distinguished an Official as Your Excellency—by an Official subordinate and inferior to you. I am not a criminal, neither am I a fugitive from justice, but a loyal British Subject, and as such I look confidently to His Majesty’s Representative for that protection, that justice[,] that sacred right and liberty of which the Union Jack is an emblem, and for which it stands. Soliciting the favour of an early reply which may be sent to the above address, or to St. George’s, Bermuda c/o my wife, (Mrs. R. H. Tobitt) who will forward same. I have the honour to be, Your obedient humble servant, (Sgd.) RICHARD H. TOBITT [Addressed:] To His Excellency, Sir James Willcocks, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., K.C.S.I., &c. Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Bermudas or Somers Islands TNA: PRO CO 318/364/7164. TL, copy.
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Enclosure: Reverend Richard H. Tobitt to Winston S. Churchill, Secretary of State, Colonial Office St. George’s, Bermuda, 25th. July, 1921
THE HUMBLE MEMORIAL OF THE UNDERSIGNED MEMORIALIST, RICHARD HILTON TOBITT, OF ST. GEORGE’S BERMUDAS, OR SOMERS ISLANDS1 Respectfully sheweth:— 1. That your Memorialist, Richard Hilton Tobitt, is a British-born subject, he having been born June 6, 1873, in the island of Antigua, B.W.I., where he resided and was employed as a school-master up to the year 1910, when he proceeded to Canada and the United States of America to further his education. 2. That in the year 1912 your Memorialist came to the Bermudas or Somers Islands as Principal of the St. George’s High School, and afterwards became a Minister of Religion, and has been a resident inhabitant of the Bermudas or Somers Islands ever since—having two children born in the place— and has ever been a British subject. 3. That your Memorialist in the course of his duties as a Minister purchased a First-Class round-trip ticket from the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company to proceed to the various British West Indian Islands and Guiana on the steamers of their Line plying thither to and from Canada. 4. That your Memorialist, though a British subject, secured a passport, No. 2697, issued 7th. June, 1920, endorsed 2nd. April, 1921, from His Excellency the Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Bermudas or Somers Islands, Sir James Willcocks, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., K.C.S.I., D.S.O., etc., for the express purpose, as the said passport sets forth, of travelling to the British West Indies and Canada. 5. That your Memorialist accordingly visited British Guiana, Barbados, the Windward and Leeward Islands, and enjoyed in each of these the full rights of British citizenship, without let or hindrance, the Authorities of those Colonies duly honouring the passport issued by the distinguished Governor of the Bermudas or Somers Islands. 6. That your Memorialist on travelling to Trinidad from British Guiana, while preparing to land, was on the 4th. June, 1921, [held?] on board the R.M.S.P. “Chaudiere” by an Officer from Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, who informed your Memorialist that your Memorialist was forbidden by His Excellency the Governor of Trinidad [Sir John R. Chancellor] to disembark and land in Trinidad. 7. That your Memorialist requested the Officer who delivered this message to furnish the written authority under which he was acting, in violation of 98
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the passport issued in due course by the distinguished Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Bermudas or Somers Islands, and was in the presence of the Chief Officer of the R.M.S.P. “Chaudiere,” Mr. Morgan, told to take warning that the message was delivered, and his landing prohibited. 8. That your Memorialist in consequence of that treatment has been put to considerable inconvenience tending to injure him in the discharge of his duties. WHEREFORE your Memorialist respectfully prays that His Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies enquire into the treatment meted out to your Memorialist, a loyal British-born subject at Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, a British colony, and grant him such redress as will enable him at any time in future to travel to the said island of Trinidad or any other British West Indian Islands without fear of molestation and humiliation to him as a loyal, lawabiding British subject. And your Memorialist, as in duty bound, will ever pray. //While your Memorialist has the honour to be, Your humble and obedient servant,// RICHARD HILTON TOBITT [Addressed to:] THE RT. HON. WINSTON CHURCHILL, P.P.C., HIS MAJESTY’S PRINCIPAL SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES
TNA: PRO CO 318/364/7164. TDS, recipient’s copy. 1. Referred to in legal documents as the Bermudas or Somers Isles, the island was originally administered as an extension of Virginia by the Virginia Company until 1614, when the company’s successor, the Somers Isles Company, took over and managed it until 1684, when the company’s charter was revoked, and the English Crown took over administration. The islands became a British colony following the 1707 unification of the parliaments of Scotland and England, which created the Kingdom of Great Britain (“Bermuda: History and Heritage,” Smithsonian.com, 6 November 2007, http://web.archive.org/web/20130731213731/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/ destination-hunter/bermuda-history-heritage.html).
Article in the Negro World [[Preston, Cuba, ca. 8 October 1921]]
HARD TREATMENT TO THE PRESTON DIVISION IN CUBA BY THE UNITED FRUIT COMPANY The Preston Division of the Universal Negro Improvement Association in Cuba has been having a hard time under the despotic and iron rule of the local managers of the United Fruit Company of that place.1 These men—Howley2 and Hogge3—have cruelly shut down the association without rhyme or reason, though the Governor of the Oriente and the Alcalde of Preston have given their consent for the association to carry on. 99
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the passport issued in due course by the distinguished Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Bermudas or Somers Islands, and was in the presence of the Chief Officer of the R.M.S.P. “Chaudiere,” Mr. Morgan, told to take warning that the message was delivered, and his landing prohibited. 8. That your Memorialist in consequence of that treatment has been put to considerable inconvenience tending to injure him in the discharge of his duties. WHEREFORE your Memorialist respectfully prays that His Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies enquire into the treatment meted out to your Memorialist, a loyal British-born subject at Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, a British colony, and grant him such redress as will enable him at any time in future to travel to the said island of Trinidad or any other British West Indian Islands without fear of molestation and humiliation to him as a loyal, lawabiding British subject. And your Memorialist, as in duty bound, will ever pray. //While your Memorialist has the honour to be, Your humble and obedient servant,// RICHARD HILTON TOBITT [Addressed to:] THE RT. HON. WINSTON CHURCHILL, P.P.C., HIS MAJESTY’S PRINCIPAL SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES
TNA: PRO CO 318/364/7164. TDS, recipient’s copy. 1. Referred to in legal documents as the Bermudas or Somers Isles, the island was originally administered as an extension of Virginia by the Virginia Company until 1614, when the company’s successor, the Somers Isles Company, took over and managed it until 1684, when the company’s charter was revoked, and the English Crown took over administration. The islands became a British colony following the 1707 unification of the parliaments of Scotland and England, which created the Kingdom of Great Britain (“Bermuda: History and Heritage,” Smithsonian.com, 6 November 2007, http://web.archive.org/web/20130731213731/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/ destination-hunter/bermuda-history-heritage.html).
Article in the Negro World [[Preston, Cuba, ca. 8 October 1921]]
HARD TREATMENT TO THE PRESTON DIVISION IN CUBA BY THE UNITED FRUIT COMPANY The Preston Division of the Universal Negro Improvement Association in Cuba has been having a hard time under the despotic and iron rule of the local managers of the United Fruit Company of that place.1 These men—Howley2 and Hogge3—have cruelly shut down the association without rhyme or reason, though the Governor of the Oriente and the Alcalde of Preston have given their consent for the association to carry on. 99
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No meetings have been held since August 1, 1921. Members have been turned out of their jobs and houses which they rent, while others have been illtreated. Vicious rules or “laws” have been stuck up in houses which prevent occupants from having any enjoyment whatever! The latest audacious ill-treatment has been perpetrated on Mr. Christian, the general secretary of the division. On Saturday, September 3, 1921, he, along with several others, were called into the office of Mr. Howley to be questioned about the organization, and because he did not find it convenient to say, “yes sir,” to every question asked him, he was grossly assaulted and beaten and afterwards imprisoned in the government’s “lock-up” for several hours. Mr. Christian is now in New York on his way to Boston to make representation to the headquarters of the United Fruit Company, and we hope full justice will be done to this gentleman for the wanton attack made upon him. Representation has been made to the British Consul at Havana, to the American Secretary of States and to the head office of the U.N.I.A. It is a serious thing for men who are employed to do the company’s work to be ill treated by local managers of the United Fruit Company. We sincerely hope the Boston office will take up the matter and deal out justice with an even hand. Printed in NW, 8 October 1921. 1. Holdings of the United Fruit Company in Cuba were extensive, including numerous sugar mills in Oriente province, where half of all sugar mills were owned by U.S. investors. In 1901, United Fruit was able to purchase 200,000 acres of land at $1 per acre. In 1912, companies like United Fruit Company were granted special permission to import workers who would earn less than Cuban workers. The companies built entire villages on their properties for their employees, who were completely separated from the rest of Cuban society, thus exacerbating racial problems. For many Cubans as well as migrant workers, working conditions were often unbearable. After the sugar harvest, some immigrant workers returned to Jamaica and Haiti, but many stayed (Hugh Thomas, Cuba or the Pursuit of Freedom [New York: Harper & Row, 1971; rev. eds. 1998, 2002, 2010]). 2. R. V. Howley would go on to become commercial manager of the Boston office of the Tropical Radio Telegraph Company in 1926 (Portsmouth Daily Times, 21 September 1926; Philippe Bourgois, “One Hundred Years of United Fruit Company Letters,” in Steve Striffler and Mark Moberg, eds., Banana Wars: Power, Production, and History in the Americas [Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2003], p. 143). 3. F. W. B. Hogge was the manager of United Fruit Company’s Central Preston sugar mill (H. W. Neville, “News of the Cuban Sugar Industry,” Facts about Sugar, vol. XV [15 July 1922], p. 50).
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Philip Van Putten of UNIA San Pedro de Macorís Branch No. 26 to the Negro World [[159 W. 145th St., N. Y., Oct. 8, 1921]]
HOW THE NEGRO FARES IN SANTO DOMINGO Dear Mr. Editor:— I beg of you space in your v[a]luable paper to publish to the world the cause why the officers of Branch No. 26, U.N.I.A. and A.C.L., San Pedro de Macoris, Santo Domingo, are languishing in prison since September 3. On August 31 Branch No. 26 held a demonstration in honor of the successful termination of the second international convention of Negroes of the world. On September 3, while a meeting was in session two officers of the United States Marine Corps and about ten native police had them all taken to prison without any warrant, and when one of the men asked, “Why are we arrested?” the answer was, “Shut your d—d mouth.” There were men, women and children. They then seized the charter, books, papers, buttons and sealed the building, property of the U.N.I.A. Next day some of the women and children were set free and the constitutional officers were kept in prison, while they stationed guards around “Emancipation Hall” for five days after the arrest. One C. A. Henry went to see them at the prison and he was locked up. On the seventh they were taken before the civil magistrate, were questioned and then returned to prison. On the ninth they were taken before the magistrate again and questioned as to the aims and objects of the U.N.I.A. and what was their purpose in joining such an organization, and what benefit did they get from it? They were then found guilty of operating a society without the knowledge or consent of the government and to spread race riot. The principal officers were fined $4 each, namely, D. E. Phillips, president; Wil[l]iam Butler, second vice-president; Charles Henry, third vice-president; James Halley, general secretary, and Anthony Bastian, treasurer. The others were discharged—Sisters Ellen Potter, Jane Williams, Violet Hallings, Brothers Bridgewater, Ecoville, Hicks, Rawlins and Welsh. Their lawyer, Garcia, has appealed their case, as he says the fines are illegally imposed. I would like to state here that the persecution and imprisonment of these men have been from race prejudice, instigated by two white ministers, one an American, the other an Englishman, and also a white lawyer, who has suffered defeat for his government job through the activities of the U.N.I.A., and not from operating a society without the knowledge or consent of the government and to create race riots, as is charged. On or about December 15, 1919, the undersigned, then president of the U.N.I.A., before unveiling its charter addressed two letters, one to Admiral 101
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Snowden of the American Navy, then executive head of the Dominican Republic, informing of the opening of a branch at San Pedro de Macoris, stating definitely its aims and objects as set forth in the preamble of the constitution, and also one to His Excellency Governor Gonzales, civil head of the Province of San Pedro de Macoris. On December 23 I received from Admiral Snowden, through his secretary, a reply approving of the society and wishing us success. One week later I received one from Governor Gonzales, stating also his approval and wishing us success. Those were the two highest executives, one representing the Republic, the other the Province in which the society is operating. I am an Odd Fellow of over ten years’ standing, also a Free Mason for about the same period, yet at no time in installing a branch of those societies did we pay the government so much of a compliment as we did at the opening of the U.N.I.A. and during the time of its continual working. In every project for social and public welfare we have been most active and have contributed more than any other fraternal society, and yet we are accused of sowing seeds of discord. Because of our activities against certain white men, among whom were the British Vice-Consul and the aforementioned lawyer, who were trying to exploit our people, they were awaiting an opportunity to crush us. (His Excellency Sydney Debouge [de Bourg], leader of the South and Central Americas, can bear testimony to these activities, because he took part in them even before he came to the convention which elected him.) When I returned to Santo Domingo from the convention of 1920 it was hinted to me that this lawyer was preparing to attack us upon the grounds that our books were not registered in accordance with a commercial law (No other society has its books registered, only business corporations), so as to safeguard ourselves, I had the books registered. Thus ended all the government requirements: 1. Registered by the military government. 2. Registered by the civil government. 3. Registered by the municipal courts. Thus after one year and nine months the military government, to please two white ministers whose Negro congregations had left them to open an Independent Episcopal church, has imprisoned these men and is trying to deport them, so as to kill the U.N.I.A. and its activities, that the Negro people may return to white leadership. On the 16th the officers were set free by the civil or Dominican government, but immediately arrested by the American military government. That is the policy of those white despicable cowards, always trying to get others to do their dirty work. The same way they did to me they have done to those men. Let the Dominican government make the arrest, and if they fail, then they make the 102
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arrest themselves; only in my case, both Dominican and American failed to get me. But ultimately justice and truth will conquer. Thus are those brave men of the U.N.I.A. suffering imprisonment because they dare to belong to an association which has asked the world for absolute equality in all things that are common to mankind. Imagine one of these ministers, who is now acting British Vice-Consul, bringing about the arrest of twelve of His Majesty’s subjects, people whom he was placed there to protect and defend! By this we can see in the world today it is not a matter of nationality, but of race, white for white, against the black, despite his nationality. Toil on, brave men, in the consciousness of the greatness of your race. We are 400,000,000 strong—with you to aid, protect and defend. When history shall record the deeds of those who have suffered and bled and died for the Redemption of Africa, yours shall be gloriously mentioned and engraved in bronze—Heroes! PHILIP VAN PUTTEN Deputy for Santo Domingo in Negro Convention Printed in NW, 29 October 1921.
R. H. Thompson to the Workman [Panama City, 8 October 1921] Dear Sir,— For the information of the general public, I respectfully beg to submit the following indisputable facts apropos of some calumniating statements which appeared in your issue of the 24th ultimo. But for the fact that such incongruous reports tend to give erroneous impressions, I would waste no time over this matter because I don’t take it seriously. As one of the dissatisfied members of the Colón Chartered Division U.N.I.A., I beg to state emphatically that the article or letter which appeared in the Workman of the 24th ultimo, is grossly misleading and misrepresenting and that such an article irrespective of from whom, or whence it emanated, is likened unto a mystery boat, and a ridiculous one at that judging from its concluding paragraph. I am ardently appealing to the intelligent and thinking Isthmian public to look deeply into this absurd and despotic action and threat on the part of the assistant Secretary General, J. B. Yearwood and his colleagues, the professional mountebanks of the Colón division of the U.N.I.A., who published said letter before we had time to reply. On behalf of the dissatisfied members, I wish to state positively and emphatically that at no time have we made any application whatsoever to the 103
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arrest themselves; only in my case, both Dominican and American failed to get me. But ultimately justice and truth will conquer. Thus are those brave men of the U.N.I.A. suffering imprisonment because they dare to belong to an association which has asked the world for absolute equality in all things that are common to mankind. Imagine one of these ministers, who is now acting British Vice-Consul, bringing about the arrest of twelve of His Majesty’s subjects, people whom he was placed there to protect and defend! By this we can see in the world today it is not a matter of nationality, but of race, white for white, against the black, despite his nationality. Toil on, brave men, in the consciousness of the greatness of your race. We are 400,000,000 strong—with you to aid, protect and defend. When history shall record the deeds of those who have suffered and bled and died for the Redemption of Africa, yours shall be gloriously mentioned and engraved in bronze—Heroes! PHILIP VAN PUTTEN Deputy for Santo Domingo in Negro Convention Printed in NW, 29 October 1921.
R. H. Thompson to the Workman [Panama City, 8 October 1921] Dear Sir,— For the information of the general public, I respectfully beg to submit the following indisputable facts apropos of some calumniating statements which appeared in your issue of the 24th ultimo. But for the fact that such incongruous reports tend to give erroneous impressions, I would waste no time over this matter because I don’t take it seriously. As one of the dissatisfied members of the Colón Chartered Division U.N.I.A., I beg to state emphatically that the article or letter which appeared in the Workman of the 24th ultimo, is grossly misleading and misrepresenting and that such an article irrespective of from whom, or whence it emanated, is likened unto a mystery boat, and a ridiculous one at that judging from its concluding paragraph. I am ardently appealing to the intelligent and thinking Isthmian public to look deeply into this absurd and despotic action and threat on the part of the assistant Secretary General, J. B. Yearwood and his colleagues, the professional mountebanks of the Colón division of the U.N.I.A., who published said letter before we had time to reply. On behalf of the dissatisfied members, I wish to state positively and emphatically that at no time have we made any application whatsoever to the 103
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parent body for any charter or chapter, but we earnestly requested temporary recognition and implored the parent body to make diligent and unbiased investigation into the corrupt administration of the Colón division, and assured them that when matters shall have been adjusted, we shall return to that division. With reference to the arrest of some of the Colón officers for the misappropriation of the association’s funds, I will not here and now go into the details of that matter but it is sufficient to say that we have incontrovertible evidences that the funds were misappropriated and that article 3 section 40 and 56 of general laws of the constitution, besides the declaration of Mr. Garvey in open Convention that any one found robbing the organization must go to jail, warrant the action of those who caused their arrest. In conclusion Mr. Editor, let me candidly and distinctly declare that if Mr. Marcus Garvey and his Executive Council authorized that notorious letter which appeared in your paper and in the face of such indubitable facts which I know were submitted to them relative to the corrupt Colón division by the former General Organizer in whom they imposed implicit confidence and whom has been promoted to the high office of Commissioner at Cuba, etc., who can testify as to the genuineness of our loyalty; then I say that that administration is a farce and does not further deserve the attention of honest, decent, intelligent and self-respecting persons, and the sooner it goes into oblivion the better it will be for all concerned. Thanking you in advance Mr. Editor, I am respectfully, R. H. THOMPSON Printed in the Workman (Panama City), 8 October 1921.
P. E. Plunkett to the Negro World [[Banes, Oriente, Cuba, Oct. 9, 1921]]
DEPUTY H. A. COLLINS ADDRESSES BANES U.N.I.A. The Hon. H. A. Collins, delegate to the convention from Banes, and wife returned on the 14th inst. and received a hearty welcome. He was given an address of welcome by the first vice-president, the president being absent through illness. He started to give his report on the same night. Banes went wild with enthusiasm over the report. Liberty Hall was crammed to its utmost capacity on Wednesday and Sunday to hear the delegate’s report. On the night of his arrival, he spoke of his voyage to New York and back. He gave a synopsis of the happenings at the convention, which was very interesting and took as his topic, “Watchman, What of the Night?” On Saturday the 17th the Black Cross Nurses had an “overland carnival,” at which our honorable delegate and his wife were present. The great feature of 104
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parent body for any charter or chapter, but we earnestly requested temporary recognition and implored the parent body to make diligent and unbiased investigation into the corrupt administration of the Colón division, and assured them that when matters shall have been adjusted, we shall return to that division. With reference to the arrest of some of the Colón officers for the misappropriation of the association’s funds, I will not here and now go into the details of that matter but it is sufficient to say that we have incontrovertible evidences that the funds were misappropriated and that article 3 section 40 and 56 of general laws of the constitution, besides the declaration of Mr. Garvey in open Convention that any one found robbing the organization must go to jail, warrant the action of those who caused their arrest. In conclusion Mr. Editor, let me candidly and distinctly declare that if Mr. Marcus Garvey and his Executive Council authorized that notorious letter which appeared in your paper and in the face of such indubitable facts which I know were submitted to them relative to the corrupt Colón division by the former General Organizer in whom they imposed implicit confidence and whom has been promoted to the high office of Commissioner at Cuba, etc., who can testify as to the genuineness of our loyalty; then I say that that administration is a farce and does not further deserve the attention of honest, decent, intelligent and self-respecting persons, and the sooner it goes into oblivion the better it will be for all concerned. Thanking you in advance Mr. Editor, I am respectfully, R. H. THOMPSON Printed in the Workman (Panama City), 8 October 1921.
P. E. Plunkett to the Negro World [[Banes, Oriente, Cuba, Oct. 9, 1921]]
DEPUTY H. A. COLLINS ADDRESSES BANES U.N.I.A. The Hon. H. A. Collins, delegate to the convention from Banes, and wife returned on the 14th inst. and received a hearty welcome. He was given an address of welcome by the first vice-president, the president being absent through illness. He started to give his report on the same night. Banes went wild with enthusiasm over the report. Liberty Hall was crammed to its utmost capacity on Wednesday and Sunday to hear the delegate’s report. On the night of his arrival, he spoke of his voyage to New York and back. He gave a synopsis of the happenings at the convention, which was very interesting and took as his topic, “Watchman, What of the Night?” On Saturday the 17th the Black Cross Nurses had an “overland carnival,” at which our honorable delegate and his wife were present. The great feature of 104
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the evening was six small children, five of whom were dressed in costumes representing the colors of the association, and the other in a white dress with a black cross and stars representing the Black Cross Nurses and the Black Star Line. They drove around the town with music, accompanied by Nurses Hall and Thomas. The nurses looked smart in their white uniforms. The function was largely attended in spite of the unfavorable condition of the weather. There were various sources of amusements. The fancy stall, which was managed by Nurse Douglas; African pole, by Nurse Bliss; grab-bag, by Nurse Newton; postoffice, by Nurse Plunkett. The other sisters of mercy busied themselves in attending to the appetites of the attendants with ice-cream, cakes and sandwiches. It was indeed a pretty sight to see the folks as they danced gaily under the moonlit skies with every grace and comfort. The carnival came to a close at 12 o’clock, when the band played the Ethiopian anthem. All went away in the best of spirits after spending a good time. Too much cannot be said in praise of the nurses, under the able leadership of the acting matron, Mrs. M. Lewis. On Sunday our honorable delegate continued his report. He spoke of the happenings of the last week of the convention, the resignation of his Grace the Chaplain-General, the charges brought against the respective members of the Honorable Executive Council of the New York local and many other interesting things. He also gave an address entitled, “Ethiopia Shall Stretch Forth Her Hands Unto God and Princes Shall Come Out of Egypt,” which was both eloquent and instructive. On Monday night the 19th the Black Cross Nurses had a pink welcome and dance in honor of their matron and organiser, Mrs. H. A. Collins, to which they had the pleasure of inviting the ho[no]rable delegate, her husband. All the nurses, dressed in pink, met at Mrs. Lewis’ home at 7.30 o’clock for the royal reception. At 8 p.m. the nurses, numbering 21, gathered in the hall and encircled their matron, who came forward leaning on the arms of her husband. Standing thus in a circle the nurses and their matron made a never-to-beforgotten picture in the minds of the on-lookers. To add to this royal scene Nurse Dean then stepped forward and read with fluency the address of welcome to the matron, to which she suitably responded in her clear, calm, musical tone. The honorable delegate then escorted his wife to the dining hall, followed by the nurses. The table was tastily arranged in a reception style with flowers, cakes and wine by Nurses Dean and Douglas. The following toast was then given by Nurse Bliss. Ladies and Gentlemen:—The circumstances which have brought us together tonight affords us a golden opportunity of spending a happy time. We have amongst us, as our honored guest, our matron, Mrs. Collins, who has been away for a short time. In bidding her [welcome] back to her adopted home, I would remind you that she left at the call of duty. Duty to her race, duty to herself, as well as ourselves. 105
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We are thankful that God has watched over her and has brought her back to us once more. Ladies and gentlemen, I bid you fill your glasses and drink the health of our matron and bid her “Welcome home.” Other toasts were given by Nurses Newton, Dean, Lewis, Douglas and Morales and some noted gentlemen of the division. The Hon. H. A. Collin[s] replied to all the toasts on behalf of himself and his wife. At the end of this the band struck up the march and all arose from the table and marched to the ball hall, headed by the Hon. Mr. and Mrs. Collins. Taking the central position again, the nurses forming a larger circle, the band struck up the favorite waltz. Mr. and Mrs. Collins went gliding to and fro to the admiration of the guests present. Both the artist’s pen, brush and the painter’s pen would fail to put in picture or words the picture the two dancers made. Mr. Collins, neatly clad in black with gloved hands and manly stature, looking the image of chivalry, and Mrs. Collins, with sweeping dress, gloved hands, a queenly form and graceful steps, were the night’s picture. The next waltz was danced by the officers of the division and in honor of the acting matron, Nurse Lewis. Then the dancing became general. Everybody was highly delighted and were sorry when the dancing came to its close. Among the most beautiful dresses was the charming dress worn by Mrs. Collins, made of orange taffeta with a draped tunic of cream lace and a flowing train about three yards, made of the same material as the dress. The dress added new charm and beauty to the wearer. Mrs. Lewis was charmingly attired in a dress of pale pink silk which lent a queenly look to the wearer. Nurse Douglas was a charming belle with pink silk. The youthful charm of the dress made the wearer look the picture of youth and beauty. It was relieved at the waist by an artistic spray of roses, which added to its charm. Nurse Kinkead looked smart in a dress of pink satin decked with floral designs. Nurse Thomas was a picture of youth. She was charmingly attired in a pink dress with frills that started from the hem of the skirt, going over the blouse in pairs, making an oval effect. Mrs. Morales was a pink queen beautifully adorned in a pink satin charmeuse dress with white beaded trimming. Nurses Hall and Coombs were indeed sisters from Fairyland, wearing dresses of unique materials in accordance with youth and beauty. On Wednesday night Dr. Collins continued his report. He spoke of the laws framed by the convention, those governing the African legions and African Black Cross; the Bureau of Justice and the Bureau of Passports, the President General’s authority over all employees of the U.N.I.A., the Juvenile Department, the establishment of schools for children of African descent. The report given was very short, it being the night for business meeting, but will be continued on Sunday next. Yours truly, P. E. PLUNKETT Printed in NW, 5 November 1921.
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W. Stennett in the Negro World [[Manati, Cuba,1 ca. 10 October 1921]]
THE U.N.I.A. PROGRESSING IN MANATI, CUBA Monday, October 10, will long be remembered by the Negroes of Manati, and especially by the members of the U.N.I.A. in this town. The above mentioned date being the anniversary of the Cuban national independence, it was a day of rejoicing and merrymaking on all sides, and we were invited by the administrator of the Manati Sugar Co.2 to take part in the day’s proceedings. In accordance with previous arrangements we turned out at 2 p.m. in a big procession headed by a large band of music, followed by the executive and other officers, the Black Cross Nurses in full uniform, the African Legions3 and all the members, friends and well wishers of the association. In the procession we carried the flag of the Cuban Republic, the British flag, the greater part of the community being of that nationality, and also our dear Ethiopian flag—the Red, Black and Green. As stated above, we started at 2 p.m. along Calle E. known as Jamaica street, then on to Central street, which was gayly decorated with flags and bunting and evergreens; then on to the Central Square, opposite the big hotel in front of the post office. There we were met by the administrator and other officers, and after the Cuban and Ethiopian anthems were played by the band patriotic addresses were given. The first vice-president, Mr. B. B. Simms, acting for the president, spoke in Spanish on behalf of the association and congratulated the Cubans on their achievements and thanked the Manati Sugar Co. for their courtesy towards us. Three cheers were given for the prosperity of the Cuban Republic, the president of the Republic,4 Dr. Lazar, and the Manati Sugar Co. The [three] cheers were returned for Jamaica for Marcus Garvey and the U.N.I.A. The African Legions and ex-members of the British West Indies Regiment, under command of Captain V. L. James and Lieutenants Nash and Bryant of the U. A. Legions, then went through some drilling manoeuv[re]s with the Black Cross Nurses standing at attention, after which the whole procession, headed by the band, marched into the Big Fonda opposite the Almacen at the invitation of the administrator and had refreshments at his expense. This done, we again formed, the band playing the familiar tune, “Tipperary,”5 followed by the officers, the Legions, the Black Cross Nurses and members and friends, accompanied by some of the officials of the town and the Sugar Company. We marched along A street. In front of the administrator’s home we stopped and the band played the Cuban national anthem. He came out and wished us all good luck and prosperity. Cheers were given again and we marched on past the theatre, then opposite the hospital, across the lawn and on to Liberty Hall.
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After all were seated the president rose amid cheers and delivered a lively and stirring patriotic address on behalf of Cuba and Africa. He was cheered at various intervals. At the close the first vice president delivered an address in Spanish which was also heartily cheered. The officials present returned thanks and appreciation of the noble way in which we co-operated, stating that they ever entertained a kindly feeling towards Jamaica and the Jamaicans, chiefly on account of the help Jamaica gave to Cuba during the time of Cuba’s struggle for national independence. Jamaica twice gave refuge to General Antonio Maceo during the struggle.6 The playing of the Cuban and Ethiopian anthems by the band and organist brought the proceedings to a close. A membership enrollment campaign was then started and fifteen new members were enrolled. With the band we afterwards spent the evening in some fine outdoor sports, which ended at 5:30 p.m. All returned again at night for a concert which began at 8 p.m. with the president, Mr[.] Wm. Stennett in the chair. A lively and intensely interesting program was rendered. The behavior of all was good. Mr. Frank Legister, our local “Charlie Chaplin,” was again on the floor and our second vice president, Mr. V. L. James, almost carried the audience off their feet with their performances. Mr. J. S. Bryan, our general secretary, also gave an amusing and interesting performance, entitled “Jamaica Mountain Talk.” The proceedings terminated at 10 p.m. with the singing of the Ethiopian Anthem, all feeling that a profitable day was spent. W. STENNETT Printed in NW, 5 November 1921. 1. Manatí is a municipality and city in the northwestern part of the province of Las Tunas; it is located on the northern coast of Cuba, on the Manatí Bay. 2. Situated in the Oriente province (today Las Tunas province), the Manatí Sugar Company was owned by the U.S.-based Rionda family and employed a large number of Afro-Caribbean laborers during the sugar harvest. 3. Like the UNIA itself, the Universal African Legions, a military auxiliary of the UNIA and ACL, were composed of a number of local divisions or legions, with a local, regional, and national hierarchy of officers. Male members of the UNIA between the ages of eighteen and fifty-five were eligible to join, and thirteen- to sixteen-year-old members of Juvenile divisions could be trained as cadets. (Female UNIA members were eligible to join the UNIA Motor Corps, an auxiliary similar to the legion.) Many legion members were veterans of the First World War, attracted by the discipline and prestige of the paramilitary units. African Legion uniforms, drill procedures, officer titles, and oaths of allegiance were based on revised versions of U.S. Army regulations and protocol. The guards served a military dress function within the UNIA, appearing as marching units in convention parades, attendants during formal Liberty Hall ceremonies, and as peacekeepers or bodyguards at UNIA gatherings and conventions. 4. Mario García Menocal (1866–1941) was the president of the Republic of Cuba from 1913 to 1921; he was known for his strong support of business (Ismée A Bartels, “‘The good ruler?’: Mario García Menocal and the Exercise of Power in the Early Cuban Republic” [B.A. with honors thesis, Amherst College, 1995]). 5. This song written by Harry J. Williams and Jack Judge in 1912 became extremely popular during the First World War (“Tipperary,” The Oxford Companion to Music, Alice Latham, ed. [New York: Oxford University Press, 2002], http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?sub-
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OCTOBER 1921 view=Main&entry=t114.e6804; The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, Elizabeth Knowles, ed. [New York: Oxford University Press, 2003], s.v. “Judge Jack,” http://www.oxfordreference.com/ views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t91.e1359). 6. Antonio Maceo (1845–1896) traveled extensively throughout the Americas during his political exile from Cuba. Along with his family, he often resided in Jamaica while planning for Cuba’s independence. After his 1878 rejection of the peace treaty with the Spanish in his protest of Baraguá, Maceo was sent abroad to secure supplies and reinforcements for the insurrection. After arrangements were made with the Spaniards, Maceo and his family left for Jamaica in early May 1878. Because he arrived on a Spanish cruiser, he was seen with suspicion. He was able to raise only five shillings and recruit only seven volunteers in Kingston. Disillusioned with these results, Maceo departed for New York and arrived there on 23 May. After learning that the rebel government had accepted the Spanish peace terms on 21 May, that therefore the government he represented no longer existed, and that the fundraising program had subsequently been suspended, he went to Jamaica again in late June. From there, he corresponded with other rebels about a new revolution in Cuba. At a conference in Kingston on 5 August 1879, Maceo and Calixto García reached an understanding for a new uprising. While Maceo was still in Jamaica, a revolt broke out on 26 August 1879. Maceo issued a proclamation from Kingston on 5 September 1879, calling on all Cubans to fight for liberty. He also visited Haiti and the Dominican Republic to rally support for the revolution. There was a variety of setbacks as the Spanish captured various leaders. Maceo left for Cuba in June 1880, but he was detained in Haiti and sent to Turks Island. The English ordered him to leave, but Maceo refused. The governor of the Bahamas dispatched a warship from Jamaica with orders to take Maceo and his fellow conspirators to Kingston. Seeing the difficulty his presence caused, Maceo finally decided to leave for Jamaica. While in Jamaica, he had an affair with Amelia Marryatta, and they had a son. Over the next few years, he also traveled to Honduras, Mexico, New York, New Orleans, and Key West to gather money for his invasion. By 1886, Maceo once again settled in Kingston and worked out the final plans for the Cuban invasion. In an August 1886 conference in Jamaica, over Maceo’s objections, other rebel leaders decided to make one more effort to get the revolution started. Maceo went to work in Panama in late November 1886, but there was a scandal with the company for which he was working, and by 1889, he had returned to Kingston. He was permitted to return to Cuba in February 1890 but was deported in August. He returned to Kingston again before reaching an agreement with Costa Rica to settle a colony in 1891. In April 1895, Maceo finally returned to Cuba, where he fought until his death in 1896 (Philip S. Foner, Antonio Maceo: The “Bronze Titan” of Cuba’s Struggle for Independence [New York: Monthly Review, 1977], pp. 81–149; Magdalen M. Pando, Cuba’s Freedom Fighter, Antonio Maceo: 1845–1896 [Gainesville, FL: Felicity, 1980], pp. 22–24, 39, 130–133).
Cyril V. Briggs to J. R. Ralph Casimir A.B.B. 2229 7th Ave, N.Y.C., U.S.A. Oct 11th 1921 My dear Mr. Casimir, Your letter of the 21st Sept.—this morning received & will be used in the next number of the Crusader[.] I am glad you wrote & thank you for the expressions of esteem. I would have been writing you today, anyhow, since as you are one of the leaders of the New Negro movement in Dominica & de//ve//lopments are
109
OCTOBER 1921 view=Main&entry=t114.e6804; The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, Elizabeth Knowles, ed. [New York: Oxford University Press, 2003], s.v. “Judge Jack,” http://www.oxfordreference.com/ views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t91.e1359). 6. Antonio Maceo (1845–1896) traveled extensively throughout the Americas during his political exile from Cuba. Along with his family, he often resided in Jamaica while planning for Cuba’s independence. After his 1878 rejection of the peace treaty with the Spanish in his protest of Baraguá, Maceo was sent abroad to secure supplies and reinforcements for the insurrection. After arrangements were made with the Spaniards, Maceo and his family left for Jamaica in early May 1878. Because he arrived on a Spanish cruiser, he was seen with suspicion. He was able to raise only five shillings and recruit only seven volunteers in Kingston. Disillusioned with these results, Maceo departed for New York and arrived there on 23 May. After learning that the rebel government had accepted the Spanish peace terms on 21 May, that therefore the government he represented no longer existed, and that the fundraising program had subsequently been suspended, he went to Jamaica again in late June. From there, he corresponded with other rebels about a new revolution in Cuba. At a conference in Kingston on 5 August 1879, Maceo and Calixto García reached an understanding for a new uprising. While Maceo was still in Jamaica, a revolt broke out on 26 August 1879. Maceo issued a proclamation from Kingston on 5 September 1879, calling on all Cubans to fight for liberty. He also visited Haiti and the Dominican Republic to rally support for the revolution. There was a variety of setbacks as the Spanish captured various leaders. Maceo left for Cuba in June 1880, but he was detained in Haiti and sent to Turks Island. The English ordered him to leave, but Maceo refused. The governor of the Bahamas dispatched a warship from Jamaica with orders to take Maceo and his fellow conspirators to Kingston. Seeing the difficulty his presence caused, Maceo finally decided to leave for Jamaica. While in Jamaica, he had an affair with Amelia Marryatta, and they had a son. Over the next few years, he also traveled to Honduras, Mexico, New York, New Orleans, and Key West to gather money for his invasion. By 1886, Maceo once again settled in Kingston and worked out the final plans for the Cuban invasion. In an August 1886 conference in Jamaica, over Maceo’s objections, other rebel leaders decided to make one more effort to get the revolution started. Maceo went to work in Panama in late November 1886, but there was a scandal with the company for which he was working, and by 1889, he had returned to Kingston. He was permitted to return to Cuba in February 1890 but was deported in August. He returned to Kingston again before reaching an agreement with Costa Rica to settle a colony in 1891. In April 1895, Maceo finally returned to Cuba, where he fought until his death in 1896 (Philip S. Foner, Antonio Maceo: The “Bronze Titan” of Cuba’s Struggle for Independence [New York: Monthly Review, 1977], pp. 81–149; Magdalen M. Pando, Cuba’s Freedom Fighter, Antonio Maceo: 1845–1896 [Gainesville, FL: Felicity, 1980], pp. 22–24, 39, 130–133).
Cyril V. Briggs to J. R. Ralph Casimir A.B.B. 2229 7th Ave, N.Y.C., U.S.A. Oct 11th 1921 My dear Mr. Casimir, Your letter of the 21st Sept.—this morning received & will be used in the next number of the Crusader[.] I am glad you wrote & thank you for the expressions of esteem. I would have been writing you today, anyhow, since as you are one of the leaders of the New Negro movement in Dominica & de//ve//lopments are
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occur[r]ing that vitally affect that movement I shall have to seek your hearty & earnest co-operation. The facts are these: As you know there are two important sections of the Liberation Movement[.] Our Section is represented by the A.B.B. which is based upon secret organizing and quiet preparation for the tremendous task ahead and refuses to connect itself with any business to the fullest extent of its powers. We also have launched a few enterprises through members of the organization, but the organization has no open connection with these enterprises. Our reason for this policy is (1) that we do not believe //in// any business enterprise (2) that when you fight the other man you must expect that he will fight back no matter how just your own cause, and that to offer vulnerable spots such as business enterprises (especially in lines in which he dominates) for him to attack you [&] thus imperil of the morale of the movement is nothing less than folly. Now the [reason] our policy has [not] been followed by the other important section of the Liberation [movement?] and as a result the morale of that section is wholly at the mercy of the [enemy?] may succeed in destroying the commercial enterprises—unless we New Negroes [act?] NOW to save the morale. The commercial enterprises operate[d] by the other movement (to which you belong) are now in very bad shape. Today (Oct. 11) the sheriff is moving to attach the offices of the hall and all furniture etc of the steamship line. The only thing that can prevent that attachment is the payment to the sheriff of $22,000—the sum owed the dock company which has won the suit and in whose interest upon the order of the New York courts the sheriff will today move to attach. Now from reliable information brought us by members of the A.B.B. who are also members of the other movement & R employed in the offices of the SS. Line, it is virtually impossible to raise this sum. Secondly even if the impossible was accomplished and this $22,000 raised in time to stop the action of the sheriff there will be another attachment coming up next week in the matter of the U.S. govt & the back wages of the crew of the steamship which broke down in Santiago, Cuba, and had to be left there on a/c of inability of SS. Line to raise $30,000 for the new engines she needs. Now the U.S. gov’t [brought?] the crew back to New York & has put in a claim against the SS. Line for the expenses involved in that action. Under the marine laws of this country the U.S. govt is also demanding that [the] back wages of the crew be paid immediately. Now, the SS. Line has not been able to raise any money, because the members of the organization in New York who usually give the most support have stopped buying shares & making contributions and will not do anything until a new SS for which co. has been negotiating is obtained by co. On the other hand, the company being broke is not able to get the SS from the U.S[.] Shipping Board, which demands $20,000 down and bond of $100,000. No bonding company will go their bonds and the results seem to be certain collapse of the SS line within a few days[.] Bankruptcy proceedings etc. Now Mr. Casimir, you know what this will mean to the thousands of members 110
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who have been leed lead to invest in the SS line & whose splendid morale has been based almost wholly upon the foundation of a successful steamship line and operation of Negro ships by Negroes thro[ugh]out the //seven// seas. That splendid morale will be broken unless you & others will at once begin an era of cooperation with the A.B.B. in its strenuous efforts to save the morale of the people by showing them that there was nothing wrong with the movement, nothing wrong with Negro leaders as such, but that the whole responsibility for failure rests with the tactics that were used. [Mixing?] propaganda that must of necessity look oppose to the white man with a business that must of necessity look to the white man for the larger part of support in its early stage and be in fact at the mercy of the white man who completely dominates that line of business was very unwise, and we tried to point out this from the very beginning. But the spectacular feature of the enterprise—Negro ships on all the 7 seas, Negro ships to run between //all// Negro lands—won the attention of the people and their support. As one demonstration of the awful expenses and unnecessary costs that the white man was able to pile up against the steamship line, take the example of the Santiago incident some five months ago when one of the ships entering that port for the first time in the initial trip to develope trade with the West Indian Islands, was maliciously tied up and the company forced to expend in unnecessary expenditures the sum of $12,300 before the ship was able to get away from the grip of the enemy. But to get back to the necessity of saving the morale of the crowd: Will you not help us to the very best of your ability to do something along that line. In the U.S. we have splendid connections and strong posts and will be able to do much toward that end on this [note], but in some of the West Indian islands we have only the smallest connections and must therefore call upon all New Negroes who are really worthy of the term to help us in this colossal task. I know that you would not like to see the Liberation Movement go to pieces and the Negro drop back into a worse apathy than that from which he was aroused. You Can Help to save the morale. You can help to educate the Negro in proper tactics. Won’t you? Please start work at once, and write us later. The need of the [Assn?] is for action toward saving the morale. CYRIL V. BRIGGS JRRC. ALS.
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W. Noel Robinson to William H. Ferris [[Prince’s [Princes] Town,1 Trinidad, B.W.I, Oct. 13, 1921]]
GREETING FROM PANAMA Esteemed Sir: Permit me, a distant member of the mighty Universal Negro Improvement Association, to express my warmest congratulations to you on your elevation first to knight-hood in the sublime Order of the Nile, and secondly to the office of Assistant President-General. I feel, Sir William, that Ethiopia has begun to shed her light of splendor once again, and I know that thousands who erstwhile in faith believed in the potentialities of the race, now, confronted by the concrete manifestations of the U.N.I.A., are plucking up their spirits and pledging themselves to labor earnestly in order that ineffable glory may redound to our beloved Ethiopia. Press on, Sir William, and ever encourage the beautiful spirit within you whose urgings are making you a worthy and noble example. Yours sincerely, W[.] NOEL ROBINSON [Addressed to:] Sir Wm. H. Ferris, K.C.O.N., M.A., 56 W. 135th Street, New York Printed in NW, 12 November 1921. 1. Princes Town is a town in the heart of the sugar district of southern Trinidad.
Lieutenant-Colonel William C. Harllee,1 District Commander, Eastern District, Dominican Republic, to Brigadier General Harry Lee, Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S. Marine Corps OFFICE OF THE DISTRICT COMMANDER, EASTERN DISTRICT, U.S. MARINES,
San Pedro de Macoris, D.R., October 17, 1921 11TH ENDORSEMENT From: District Commander. To: Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S. Marines, Santo Domingo City, D.R. 112
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W. Noel Robinson to William H. Ferris [[Prince’s [Princes] Town,1 Trinidad, B.W.I, Oct. 13, 1921]]
GREETING FROM PANAMA Esteemed Sir: Permit me, a distant member of the mighty Universal Negro Improvement Association, to express my warmest congratulations to you on your elevation first to knight-hood in the sublime Order of the Nile, and secondly to the office of Assistant President-General. I feel, Sir William, that Ethiopia has begun to shed her light of splendor once again, and I know that thousands who erstwhile in faith believed in the potentialities of the race, now, confronted by the concrete manifestations of the U.N.I.A., are plucking up their spirits and pledging themselves to labor earnestly in order that ineffable glory may redound to our beloved Ethiopia. Press on, Sir William, and ever encourage the beautiful spirit within you whose urgings are making you a worthy and noble example. Yours sincerely, W[.] NOEL ROBINSON [Addressed to:] Sir Wm. H. Ferris, K.C.O.N., M.A., 56 W. 135th Street, New York Printed in NW, 12 November 1921. 1. Princes Town is a town in the heart of the sugar district of southern Trinidad.
Lieutenant-Colonel William C. Harllee,1 District Commander, Eastern District, Dominican Republic, to Brigadier General Harry Lee, Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S. Marine Corps OFFICE OF THE DISTRICT COMMANDER, EASTERN DISTRICT, U.S. MARINES,
San Pedro de Macoris, D.R., October 17, 1921 11TH ENDORSEMENT From: District Commander. To: Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S. Marines, Santo Domingo City, D.R. 112
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1. Returned. 2. The parties mention[ed] in the attached papers are sojourners in the Dominican Republic. 3. Since making the original request for deportation, the Provost Marshal has learned that [a] number of the members of the organization were led into it [by] the $75.00 death benefit.2 However the officers of the society, are nout and not [out and out?] agitators, and the request for deportation in their case is renewed. They are D. E. Phillips, William J. Butler, Charles E. [Charles A.] Henry and J. T. Carey, British subjects and J. N. Halley, Dutch subject. I also recommend the deportation of Jaime Cook[s], a leading agitator and worker in this society. All of the foregoing men have been convicted by the civil authorities, the last named man several times (reference Alcalde’s letter to Procurador Fiscal). WM. C. HARLLEE DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TL, copy. 1. Lieutenant-Colonel William C. Harllee was eastern district commander during the campaign against the guerrillas in 1921–1922. He was eventually court-martialed but acquitted for his failure to report and inquire into several cases of abuse (Bruce J. Calder, The Impact of Intervention: The Dominican Republic during the U.S. Occupation of 1916–1924 [Austin: University of Texas Press, 1984], pp. 166, 168–176, 181, 292). 2. Labor historian Roberto Cassá notes that impoverished urban workers first organized into mutual societies, which offered medical care and burial benefits, and that place of origin, rather than class, was the determining factor in their organization (Roberto Cassá, Movimiento obrero y lucha socialista en la República Dominicana: desde los orígenes hasta 1960 [Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic: Fundación Cultural Dominicana, 1990], pp. 70–71).
Enclosure: List of UNIA Members [Santo Domingo City, ca. 30 September 1921] MEMBERS OF THE U.N.I.A. AND A.C.L. OF THE WORLD, WHOSE DEPORTATION HAS BEEN AUTHORIZED PHILLIPS, D. E. BUTLER, W. J. HENRY, C. E. [C. A.] (BRITISH) CAREY, J. T. COOK[S], J. HALLEY, J. N. (DUTCH)
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MEMBERS OF THE U.N.I.A. AND A.C.L. OF THE WORLD MEMBERS CONFINED
— deportation authorized. BUTLER — ” ” HICKS — not authorized. Phillips — deportation authorized. Henry — ” ” HALLEY
MEMBERS WHO PETITIONED RELEASE OF ABOVE PERSONS
Vanderhorst, E. — deportation not authorized. Martinez, J. L. — ” ” ” Kennedy, J. — ” ” ” Caires, H. A. — ” ” ” Lucas, H. — ” ” ” Dunbavin, A. — ” ” ” Herbert, J. J. — ” ” ” DNA, RG 38, M-201-M202. TD.
Eduardo V. Morales to M. A. Figueroa, Spanish Section Editor, Negro World [[Banes-Oriente, Cuba, Oct. 22, 1921]]
A GREETING FROM CUBA Dear Sir: Permit me to congratulate you on your “Spanish Section,” which I have read with great satisfaction. If this great organization of the world must progress, it is necessary that it be published not only in the Spanish language, but in all the native tongues in which the members of the Negro race express themselves. I speak as a Negro. I speak with the deepest sympathy for Negroes the world over. I have seen them in all their misery, depreciated, ill treated, hated, spat upon, murdered, simply because they are Negroes. Negroes have suffered oppression and persecution for over three hundred years in all parts of the world. My blood boils at the thought of the belittlement and ravages to which they are subjected. In the United States of America they are burned alive; they are treated worse. In every country in the world we suffer from social and polit114
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MEMBERS OF THE U.N.I.A. AND A.C.L. OF THE WORLD MEMBERS CONFINED
— deportation authorized. BUTLER — ” ” HICKS — not authorized. Phillips — deportation authorized. Henry — ” ” HALLEY
MEMBERS WHO PETITIONED RELEASE OF ABOVE PERSONS
Vanderhorst, E. — deportation not authorized. Martinez, J. L. — ” ” ” Kennedy, J. — ” ” ” Caires, H. A. — ” ” ” Lucas, H. — ” ” ” Dunbavin, A. — ” ” ” Herbert, J. J. — ” ” ” DNA, RG 38, M-201-M202. TD.
Eduardo V. Morales to M. A. Figueroa, Spanish Section Editor, Negro World [[Banes-Oriente, Cuba, Oct. 22, 1921]]
A GREETING FROM CUBA Dear Sir: Permit me to congratulate you on your “Spanish Section,” which I have read with great satisfaction. If this great organization of the world must progress, it is necessary that it be published not only in the Spanish language, but in all the native tongues in which the members of the Negro race express themselves. I speak as a Negro. I speak with the deepest sympathy for Negroes the world over. I have seen them in all their misery, depreciated, ill treated, hated, spat upon, murdered, simply because they are Negroes. Negroes have suffered oppression and persecution for over three hundred years in all parts of the world. My blood boils at the thought of the belittlement and ravages to which they are subjected. In the United States of America they are burned alive; they are treated worse. In every country in the world we suffer from social and polit114
OCTOBER 1921
ical inequality. Being Negroes we cannot occupy high positions in our native lands. Though our Constitution offers us equal opportunity, we are not permitted to enjoy said equality, and if we should attempt to claim our constitutional rights we are hunted down like deer. For my part, I want to be free, free in the full sense of the word; free to exercise all rights offered by the Constitution of the country of which I am a citizen. For such reasons I made myself an active member of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League. I believe with Marcus Garvey that Europe should be for the European, Japan for the Japanese, America for the Americans and Africa for the Africans. With this belief I have resolved to follow with but one determination—with the sword of perseverance in one hand, and the Red, Black and the Green in the other. I shall march boldly onward to a free and redeemed Africa. EDUARDO V. MORALES [Addressed to:] Prof. M. A. Figueroa, 56 West 135th Street, New York City Printed in NW, 10 December 1921.
R. M. R. Nelson to the Negro World [[54 Calle Neptuno, Havana, Cuba, October 24, 1921]]
A WORD REGARDING SENOR RISQUET Distinguished Sir:— The enclosed poem by Hon. Juan F. Risquet1 has been praised to the highest by the Cuban press. I believe its publication on the Spanish page of the Negro World will increase its circulation among Cuban well wishers of the monumental work which the U.N.I.A. is pushing. I believe, if the poem is ably translated and published in English, it will add to our glory, because Senor Risquet is a black man. He is one of Cuba’s first black poets and a regular contributor to all of its leading publications. He ranks among the best LatinAmerican poets. The Diario De La Marvia2 is Cuba’s richest, oldest and most complete daily. Its editors-owner-managers were received socially by the King of Spain last week. When President-General Garvey was here Senor Risquet took him to see President-Elect Zayas, and through me offered his literary services to Mr. Garvey. At present he is willing to aid the Black Star Line in securing a load of sugar for the West Coast of Africa. With best wishes, I am, Yours sincerely, R. M. R. NELSON 115
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ical inequality. Being Negroes we cannot occupy high positions in our native lands. Though our Constitution offers us equal opportunity, we are not permitted to enjoy said equality, and if we should attempt to claim our constitutional rights we are hunted down like deer. For my part, I want to be free, free in the full sense of the word; free to exercise all rights offered by the Constitution of the country of which I am a citizen. For such reasons I made myself an active member of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League. I believe with Marcus Garvey that Europe should be for the European, Japan for the Japanese, America for the Americans and Africa for the Africans. With this belief I have resolved to follow with but one determination—with the sword of perseverance in one hand, and the Red, Black and the Green in the other. I shall march boldly onward to a free and redeemed Africa. EDUARDO V. MORALES [Addressed to:] Prof. M. A. Figueroa, 56 West 135th Street, New York City Printed in NW, 10 December 1921.
R. M. R. Nelson to the Negro World [[54 Calle Neptuno, Havana, Cuba, October 24, 1921]]
A WORD REGARDING SENOR RISQUET Distinguished Sir:— The enclosed poem by Hon. Juan F. Risquet1 has been praised to the highest by the Cuban press. I believe its publication on the Spanish page of the Negro World will increase its circulation among Cuban well wishers of the monumental work which the U.N.I.A. is pushing. I believe, if the poem is ably translated and published in English, it will add to our glory, because Senor Risquet is a black man. He is one of Cuba’s first black poets and a regular contributor to all of its leading publications. He ranks among the best LatinAmerican poets. The Diario De La Marvia2 is Cuba’s richest, oldest and most complete daily. Its editors-owner-managers were received socially by the King of Spain last week. When President-General Garvey was here Senor Risquet took him to see President-Elect Zayas, and through me offered his literary services to Mr. Garvey. At present he is willing to aid the Black Star Line in securing a load of sugar for the West Coast of Africa. With best wishes, I am, Yours sincerely, R. M. R. NELSON 115
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS Printed in NW, 26 November 1921. 1. This poem, “Canto A America,” was published in the Negro World, 17 December 1921. Juan Felipe Risquet was an Afro-Cuban poet and politician. In 1900 he published La cuestión políticosocial en la isla de Cuba (Havana: Tipografía “América”), a work which stressed that Cuba was a racial democracy. As a member of the Moderate Party he was elected to Congress in 1904. When the Moderates refused to put him up for re-election in 1906, a number of black voters supported him, albeit unsuccessfully, as an independent candidate. In 1908 he returned to Congress as a member of the Conservatives, the heirs of the Moderates. During his term in office, he supported the Morúa amendment, which was used to ban the Partido Independiente de Color in 1910 and was later used against some UNIA divisions in Cuba at the end of the 1920s (Aline Helg, Our Rightful Share: The Afro-Cuban Struggle for Equality, 1886–1912 [Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1995], pp. 186, 283; Alejandro de la Fuente, A Nation for All: Race, Inequality, and Politics in Twentieth-Century Cuba [Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001], pp. 63–65). 2. Diario de la Marina.
Ezel Vanderhorst, Secretary, UNIA Santo Domingo Division, to James Benjamin Yearwood, Assistant Secretary-General, UNIA [[Santo Domingo City, October 25, 1921]]
RT. HON. SYDNEY DE BOURG ACTIVE SOUTH [SANTO] DOMINGO CITY, R.D.
IN
Dear Sir— It is with great pleasure I am announcing to you the arrival to this republic and capital city of His Excellency Hon. J. Sydney de Bourg,1 leader of the western provinces of Central and South America and West Indies. He arrived at this port by the way of Porto Rico, having landed on Sunday, October 22. The officers and members who, on learning the news of the representative’s arrival, all got on a move to have prepared a good welcome to the Hon. Governor of the Negroes in the West Indies. A meeting was at once announced for 3.30 p.m., and an invitation was given to all people, irrespective of color. At 3.30 Liberty Hall was thronged, where His Excellency Hon. J. Sydney de Bourg was presented and introduced. All present united in welcoming His Excellency, who then addressed the people for an hour. An invitation was given for another lecture during the same evening at 7.30. A hymn was sung, prayer was offered and then the dismissal. After the 7.30 o’clock lecture, where His Excellency had a full house, he announced that he would be leaving for San Pedro de Macoris to see after the brothers in prison, and as soon as possible would return to the city of Santo Domingo to have Division No. 112’s work put in order, as he could see something was wrong.
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS Printed in NW, 26 November 1921. 1. This poem, “Canto A America,” was published in the Negro World, 17 December 1921. Juan Felipe Risquet was an Afro-Cuban poet and politician. In 1900 he published La cuestión políticosocial en la isla de Cuba (Havana: Tipografía “América”), a work which stressed that Cuba was a racial democracy. As a member of the Moderate Party he was elected to Congress in 1904. When the Moderates refused to put him up for re-election in 1906, a number of black voters supported him, albeit unsuccessfully, as an independent candidate. In 1908 he returned to Congress as a member of the Conservatives, the heirs of the Moderates. During his term in office, he supported the Morúa amendment, which was used to ban the Partido Independiente de Color in 1910 and was later used against some UNIA divisions in Cuba at the end of the 1920s (Aline Helg, Our Rightful Share: The Afro-Cuban Struggle for Equality, 1886–1912 [Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1995], pp. 186, 283; Alejandro de la Fuente, A Nation for All: Race, Inequality, and Politics in Twentieth-Century Cuba [Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001], pp. 63–65). 2. Diario de la Marina.
Ezel Vanderhorst, Secretary, UNIA Santo Domingo Division, to James Benjamin Yearwood, Assistant Secretary-General, UNIA [[Santo Domingo City, October 25, 1921]]
RT. HON. SYDNEY DE BOURG ACTIVE SOUTH [SANTO] DOMINGO CITY, R.D.
IN
Dear Sir— It is with great pleasure I am announcing to you the arrival to this republic and capital city of His Excellency Hon. J. Sydney de Bourg,1 leader of the western provinces of Central and South America and West Indies. He arrived at this port by the way of Porto Rico, having landed on Sunday, October 22. The officers and members who, on learning the news of the representative’s arrival, all got on a move to have prepared a good welcome to the Hon. Governor of the Negroes in the West Indies. A meeting was at once announced for 3.30 p.m., and an invitation was given to all people, irrespective of color. At 3.30 Liberty Hall was thronged, where His Excellency Hon. J. Sydney de Bourg was presented and introduced. All present united in welcoming His Excellency, who then addressed the people for an hour. An invitation was given for another lecture during the same evening at 7.30. A hymn was sung, prayer was offered and then the dismissal. After the 7.30 o’clock lecture, where His Excellency had a full house, he announced that he would be leaving for San Pedro de Macoris to see after the brothers in prison, and as soon as possible would return to the city of Santo Domingo to have Division No. 112’s work put in order, as he could see something was wrong.
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Next day, October 23, very early, His Excellency visited the military governor, who is a rear admiral of the U.S. Navy, with the purpose of saluting him and acquiring some information regarding the U.N.I.A. officers in prison, which was successfully carried out, and about 10.10 a.m. His Excellency boarded the steamer Mariana for San Pedro de Macoris. We have every belief that our Excellency will carry out one of the best campaigns, as everybody at first glance was very much pleased with his talk and way of saying things. There is but one thing to be sorrowful about and that is the disastrous financial condition of this republic.2 At all events, we hope to send you a good report. Fraternally, EZEL VANDERHORST Secretary [Addressed to:] Mr. J. B. Yearwood, Assistant Secretary-General, Parent-Body, U.N.I.A, New York Printed in NW, 3 December 1921. 1. John Sydney de Bourg arrived in the Dominican Republic in late 1921, shortly after the raid on the Liberty Hall and the imprisonment of UNIA Division 26 members. In 1922 he negotiated with plantation owners on behalf of laborers in Santo Domingo and later with U.S. military administrators for the return of confiscated UNIA property. He defied a decree prohibiting the holding of a public meeting by the UNIA and was arrested on 11 February by the Dominican authorities on a charge of disobeying the decree and selling stock in the BSL. Tried and sentenced to pay a fine of $300 or serve five months in prison, he was imprisoned for three days until the local UNIA division had raised the money to pay the fine. For his work he was awarded the UNIA “Gold Cross of African Redemption” and was elevated to the office of Knight Commander of the Nile and later Duke of Nigeria and Uganda. 2. With the destruction of European sugar-beet farms during the First World War, sugar prices rose to their highest level in history, from $5.50 in 1914 to $22.50 per pound in 1920. Dominican sugar exports increased from 122,642 tons in 1916 to 158,803 tons in 1920, earning a record $45.3 million. The name given to this period of inflated sugar prices was la danza de los millones. European beet sugar production soon recovered, however, which, coupled with the increase of global sugar cane production, glutted the world market, causing prices of sugar to plummet to approximately $2.00 by the end of 1921 (Bruce Calder, The Impact of Intervention in the Dominican Republic, 1916–1924 [Austin: University of Texas Press, 1984]), 93; Franklin Knight, The Caribbean: The Genesis of a Fragmented Nationalism, 3rd ed. [New York, Oxford University Press 1990]).
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Lieutenant-Colonel William C. Harllee, District Commander, Eastern District, Dominican Republic, to Brigadier General Harry Lee, Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S. Marine Corps HEADQUARTERS EASTERN DISTRICT,
San Pedro de Macoris, D.R., 28 October, 1921 Subject: Visit of a negro sojourner, presumably an English subject, who exhibited papers purporting to be an alien with declared intention of becoming a citizen of the United States, named De Bourg, to the office of the District Commander. Reference: (a) Radio quoted “Govt Harllee Macoris 8624 Mr De Bourg represent negro improvement society will arrive Macoris today period please grant any reasonable requests he makes and permit him to stay as long as his presence is not detrim[ent]al to good order period By command of the Military Governor [s] 1316 SecBrig.” Enclosure: Stenographic report of DeBourg’s interview with the District Commander. 1. Stenographic notes were taken of the interview of the person named and described in the subject. These notes relate the conversation of the interview, except—some statements interposed by the interviewer during the time the District Commander was also talking and which it was therefor[e] not possible for the stenographer to take. 2. This person’s bearing and attitude were contemptuous and insolent and bespoke a disposition to lead him into actions which might result in difficulties and inconvenience to himself. He was consequently advised for his own benefit. WM. C. HARLLEE DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD.
Enclosure: Interview with John Sydney de Bourg HEADQUARTERS FIFTEENTH REGIMENT, SECOND BRIGADE, U.S. MARINES,
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San Pedro de Macoris, D.R., 10:15 a.m., 25 October, 1921
INFORMATION MEMORANDUM Notes taken during an interview by Lieutenant Colonel Harllee with a representative of the Universal Negro Improvement Association of New York, at Regimental Headquarters, San Pedro de Macoris, D.R. Q. (By Col. Harllee) You have been sent here by whom? A. By the parent body, New York, of the Universal Negro Improvement Association of New York. Q. For what purpose? A. To find out what is the offense the men have committed, when is the hearing date, the date of the offense, whether the property of the organization has been seized and why, and whether the branch or division here has been closed down and by whom are they being persecuted. Q. Do you believe that you have been sent here to investigate me? A. Not you, sir. Q. Do you know that you are now in a country occupied by Military Forces and is under military law? A. I am applying to the Military Authorities. Upon landing at Santo Domingo City, I went to see the Admiral and he told me to proceed to Macoris. Q. Do you claim to be affiliated with the disorderly people who have misbehaved here and who were arrested, convicted and sentenced by the local authorities here? A. No, sir. Q. Did you come here to foster an organization of colored sojourners for the purpose of intimidating the citizens of this island and for the purpose of showing disrespect to the British flag or any other flag, except an African flag of donation. A. I do not know what they are doing. I have the constitution of the organization here, and I have come here to find out what they are doing. Q. You realize that you are now in a different country besides the United States, a country under Military Occupation and Military Law. A. Certainly.
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Q. I warn you that there will be no assemblages of sojourners in this part of the Dominican Republic of which I am District Commander. I call your attention to the impropriety of assembling or attempting to organize an assembly of men who have behaved such as some of your affiliates were convicted of behaving, and I furthermore, warn you, that I will permit no meetings of these men or any men affiliated, allied or associated with them. I give you this warning for your own interest and protection. Perhaps you are innocent of the knowledge of what these men have done, but on my part I decline to be investigated by you or anybody else associated with white or colored or any other association that is alien of //to// this island and not subject to the Military Authorities under which I serve. I warn you also that you are in dangerous business attempting to make investigations of aliens, being an alien to this Country yourself, in a country that is under Military Occupation and in a country where military operations are being carried out. You evidently have not read the literature and propaganda which emanated from your New York Office that was spread here. I warn you that as long as you remain peaceable and do not tend //attempt// to violate either the Military or Local Law, that you will not be bothered, but I also forbi[d] assemblages which you may desire to gather together to address. The people that are associated with this misconduct and reprehensible conduct which took place here by men, with whom you claim to be affiliated. As long as I am in command of this district, unless I receive orders from Superior Military Authorities, I will permit no meetings for the purposes I have seen in literature emanating from the office which you claim to represent and in that connection I warn you the third time that there will be no meetings held in this town in connection with any such order. Your very attitude is offensive. Your presumption, coming here to seek to investigate me is improper. You cannot investigate me, I am subject to investigation only by Military Authorities. Finally you are at perfect liberty to be at this town as long as you keep the peace, hold no assemblies and violate no laws or orders that I have given you during this talk this morning. The people who are confined are not excommunicado. You are perfectly at liberty to visit them, provided you do so under the regulations of the carcel [jail] where they are held, to now understand what you may do here and what you may not do. “Good-Morning![”] DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD.
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Charles S. McKenye [McKenzie] to the Negro World [[Céspedes, Camaguey, Cuba, ca. 29 October 1921]]
AFRICA OUR HOPE Dear Sir— Please grant me space in the most valuable paper of all to say a few words to my kin of the treatment that is accorded our brothers in alien lands. A few days ago a Negro by the name of Richard Dixter went into a Cuban’s business place to purchase his goods and there an insult was given to him by a white man, and he returned it back. The white man hit him in the head with a piece of iron, and he fell to the ground, bleeding. When the policeman came he (the policeman) and the other white man said, “That’s good; that is what the Negroes need.” After he was taken to the station he was—go away, you drunken nigger. The next cruel act was the death of a poor Negro whose name was Daniel Clarke, who was sick and sent to the hospital where he was badly treated and turned out by the doctor, and a few days later he died. A certificate was found on the deceased bearing the signature of the hospital doctor. When he was to be buried the doctor (white) and his confederate charged $25 for a certificate to bury the dead. Negroes, stop and think. Is this right? We Negroes left too much things to God, but we have come to the conclusion that the time has come for us to step forward. Another instance was the repa[t]riating of the Haytians. I was at the railway station when the train came with five coaches and the Haytians and the white Cubans stood on both sides of the coaches and spit on the poor Negroes and shouted, Get out of our country. My brother Negroes, fix your eyes toward Africa. A next outrage was on the farm of one Antonio Marty, a white Cuban, who had over five hundred Negro laborers working on his farm. He owed to these Negroes from $10 to $1,000 for work done on his farm. He left these poor Negroes for over four months without food or money while he led a life of luxury at a hotel in Ha[v]ana. And his major sent two of these British Negroes to jail for plucking sweet potatoes on this farm to save their lives. At Central Estrella conditions are such that about twenty-five Negroes had to work for only their meals as a stipend. At Central Cespedes also there are about fifty Negroes who were laid off without any payment of wages after five months of work, and do not know when they will be paid. White men were put back to work but the Negroes were left out. My brother Negroes: Is it not time for us to see that white men mean to kill us. May I say to you, my brethren, that we must take these things in consideration and rush to the call of our Moses. Give your $5 for the redemption of Africa, and remember the Construction Loan, so that we may build up a gov121
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ernment. Join the U.N.I.A., the only way for Negroes to be happy. So join and obey. Yours, Afro-West Indian, CHARLES S. MCKENYE [MCKENZIE] Printed in NW, 29 October 1921.
H. Leonard Ivey, Secretary, UNIA El Porvenir Division, to the Negro World [[El Porvenir, Honduras, October 31, 1921]] The regular weekly meetings of the Porvenir division having been washed out on October 23, Mr. T. A. Sinclair, chairman for the division, requested that the secretary draft a letter to be presented to Mr. Adolphus Gordon and wife, in behalf of the members of the division, to be ready against Sunday, October 30, when they would leave Monte Cristo1 to make ready for the next boat which leaves for the United States. On Sunday, October 30 the meeting was again wash[e]d out; but admidst incessant showers of rain a few members wended their way to Mr. Gordon’s residence to bid himself and wife good-bye. The letter was taken, read and delivered to Mr. Gordon, who thanked presentees and showed great appreciation of the efforts made by the members of the division to show such honor and respect to him. He said he is proud to know that his work had been so much appreciated. He promised to keep in touch with the division. He further said that under existing conditions he cannot tell whether he will return, though he is on leave for two months; but in case he cannot return he hopes to meet all his comrades in the Great Beyond, after they have all done their bit for the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L. Mr. Gordon had been the chief electrician for the Honduras Sugar and Distilling Co., La Ceiba division, for many years, and is much respected by everybody. He and his wife are members of the parent body, and are pioneer members in this vicinity of the U.N.I.A. They are also supporters of the Black Star Line Steamship Co. and in addition to their support to the aforementioned, they had been of very great help to this division. Their interest will remain in the minds of every member here. From the States they will leave for Costa Rica, Mrs. Gordon’s home. THE LETTER El Porvenir, October 30, 1921 Mr. Adolphus Gordon, Monte Cristo My Dear Mr. Gordon— 122
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ernment. Join the U.N.I.A., the only way for Negroes to be happy. So join and obey. Yours, Afro-West Indian, CHARLES S. MCKENYE [MCKENZIE] Printed in NW, 29 October 1921.
H. Leonard Ivey, Secretary, UNIA El Porvenir Division, to the Negro World [[El Porvenir, Honduras, October 31, 1921]] The regular weekly meetings of the Porvenir division having been washed out on October 23, Mr. T. A. Sinclair, chairman for the division, requested that the secretary draft a letter to be presented to Mr. Adolphus Gordon and wife, in behalf of the members of the division, to be ready against Sunday, October 30, when they would leave Monte Cristo1 to make ready for the next boat which leaves for the United States. On Sunday, October 30 the meeting was again wash[e]d out; but admidst incessant showers of rain a few members wended their way to Mr. Gordon’s residence to bid himself and wife good-bye. The letter was taken, read and delivered to Mr. Gordon, who thanked presentees and showed great appreciation of the efforts made by the members of the division to show such honor and respect to him. He said he is proud to know that his work had been so much appreciated. He promised to keep in touch with the division. He further said that under existing conditions he cannot tell whether he will return, though he is on leave for two months; but in case he cannot return he hopes to meet all his comrades in the Great Beyond, after they have all done their bit for the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L. Mr. Gordon had been the chief electrician for the Honduras Sugar and Distilling Co., La Ceiba division, for many years, and is much respected by everybody. He and his wife are members of the parent body, and are pioneer members in this vicinity of the U.N.I.A. They are also supporters of the Black Star Line Steamship Co. and in addition to their support to the aforementioned, they had been of very great help to this division. Their interest will remain in the minds of every member here. From the States they will leave for Costa Rica, Mrs. Gordon’s home. THE LETTER El Porvenir, October 30, 1921 Mr. Adolphus Gordon, Monte Cristo My Dear Mr. Gordon— 122
OCTOBER 1921
In behalf of the members of the Porvenir division of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L. I am requested to extend to you this letter which will, in part, assure you of the esteem in which you are held by members of this division, in appreciation of the instrument of help you had been to the division here and the U.N.I.A. in general for the past year and a half, when you linked yourself with the struggling stalwarts of our race; contributing all essential means at your disposal to the putting over of the race’s program, “A Free and Redeemed Motherland—Africa.” You have been everything to us; you have so kept every member of your race—active and inactive—aglow from time to time with the aims and purposes of the association, that your retired hours are always being encroached on. Then with all you[r] partial obligation to the whites you have lived in perfect harmony and peace with all men of every race and nationality. This is among the qualities that so impress our people and give them that conception that you are a true Garveyite, and that they, in like manner, imbued with the same principles, must likewise attain same success as you have attained, and possibly the true recognized value of the world. Whilst we have all reason to be glad that your leaving us is due largely to the improvement of your physical condition, reward being very little to a weary man; yet we truly loath your leaving, especially as you are undecided as to your return; but with that true and certain hope that you will contribute to the race’s Freedom, Recognition, Safety and Comforts wherever you may be—“We wish you God’s speed.” We are confident that you regard our present duty comparatively less than those of our forefathers—as they fought, suffered and died to make us what we are today, whilst we have only to work, which is a pleasure, with but few exceptions—The poet says: “Remember it is harder still To have no work to do.”2 But we are having evidences of pleasure, honor and other adherent virtue as result of work manifested to [us daily], therefore let us with one accord do the best we can. This work is ours; the praises will be ours, and all other glories attendant on honest labor will be piled up to our credit when we shall be gone to dwell in the Great Beyond. It is not strange; it is not hard; we have done it for others and we can do it for ourselves. There is but one God, and with united aims we are sure to have one destiny. We therefore hope you will leave not a single unturned stone in whichever be your field of labor, as you know that the U.N.I.A. is not in a position to sympathize with anyone doing too much good to its benefit. 123
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We would fail to find words to express our sorrow for Mrs. Gordon’s departure, but her name will go down with the history of this division as being the first lady member to give an address in our Liberty Hall, and her anticipations to black ladies in the near future is manifested, adding fresh lustre to our ladies in all parts of the world. We are only compelled to be satisfied with the hope that she will be in a wider field of labor, and we know that if it be Our Divine Master’s Will that you both be moored safely in the haven for which you will start and that health permits, we will all hear of your efforts. Unitedly we wish you both “Bon Voyage,” and hope the day will come when you again decide to work among us. Thanking you ever so much for space, Mr. Editor, I remain, Yours for the “Cause,” H. LEONARD IVEY Secretary for Division Printed in NW, 26 November 1921. 1. Monte Cristo, established in the mid-1910s, was located about fifteen miles west of La Ceiba. The Honduras Sugar and Distilling Company, with connections to sugar plantations owned by the forerunner of the Standard Fruit Co., the Vaccaro Bros. Co., was located there. Monte Cristo’s working population lived in a nearby town called “El Porvenir,” a few miles east of La Masica. Before the UFC founded its own sugar processing plant, the Ingenio La Lima, in 1921, the Monte Cristo works represented the first foreign-owned challenge to smaller Honduran sugar processing plants, and its higher wages attracted workers from afar, including Augusto César Sandino, the Nicaraguan revolutionary, if only briefly in 1921. By the mid-1920s Monte Cristo employed about between four and five hundred workers, about 16 percent of Standard Fruit Co.’s total plantation employment. Unlike the banana plantations, however, these sugar and distilling operations did not produce for foreign export, and their products were destined entirely for Honduran north coast markets (Roger Isaula, “Encantos y Desencantos de la Vida de Tio Pablo Motino,” Pensamiento Hondureno, no. 4 [July–December 1988]: 67–76; Darío A. Euraque, “La ‘Reforma Liberal’ en Honduras y la Hipótesis de la ‘Oligarquía Ausente’: 1870s–1930s,” Revista de Historia [Costa Rica], no. 23 [January–June 1991]: 17–27; Augusto César Sandino, Augusto C. Sandino: El Pensamiento Vivo, Tomo 2, comp. Sergio Ramírez [Managua: Editorial Nueva Nicaragua, 1981], p. 455). 2. Lucy Maud Montgomery, The Golden Road (1913), chap. 1.
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Letter from UNIA Penal Division No. 260 to the Officers and Members of the UNIA Roseau Division U.N.I.A. & A.C.L. Penal Division No. 260 31st October [19]21 Dear Brother & Sisters From this village [of] Penal & those who love liberty has send their greetings to Mr. [J. R.] Casimir & has asked him to extend same to you all in a most loving manner. Dear Brother I should of written you before, but //we// had expected to start a new [e]nterprise on 29 of October so I were awaiting to get the outcome to let you hear some of it but before starting, we ha[ve] received letter giving us to expect our President General here about the end of November. [T]herefore we have laid aside the plans unti[l] further. We here are sorry to learn, that you to[o] has got the same rascal in your midst, the same fraud has committed in our Division & Siparia & Tabaquite. Any way the Parent Body has taken the matter in hand & do intend to pro[se]cute the guilty ones. I hope same will take place in your Division, otherwise things are going alright[.] We are glad to hear of your movements & that of Barbad[os] & St. Vincent[.] Trinidad will wake up too, time will tell, for Negro[e]s to Know themselves, we must get [back to our basics?], & the 12 chp Daniel1 [1st & 2?] proves that every Negro Name must be found written down by us, so we know that it must Come. We were sorry to hear of your illness but hope by now you //are// much better and [can] carry out the duties as president as you should[.] I have made mention of your visit here to us to the P[arent] B[ody] & of your inspiring lecture. May God help you & the other officers to stand by your sid[e] & do the needful for the good of our future generations. [L]et us be alive & don[’]t lose hope. Remember God said heaven and earth shall [pass] but his words shall never pass[.] [W]e ask you again to extend our love to those good officers & members who lend you to us for [remainder missing] JRRC. AL, recipient’s copy. Handwritten letterhead: “One God, One aim[,] One Destiny.” 1. Daniel 12:1 reads, “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince who standeth for the children of thy people, and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time; and at that time thy people shall be delivered, everyone that shall be found written in the book.” Daniel 12:2 reads, “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (C. I. Scofield, ed., The New Scofield Reference Bible; Holy Bible, Authorized King James Version, with Introductions, Annotations, Subject Chain References, and Such Word Changes in the Text as Will Help the Reader [New York: Oxford University Press, 1967]).
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C. K. Ledger,1 British Chargé d’Affaires, Santo Domingo, to Lieutenant-Colonel F. A. Ramsey, Officer in Charge, Department of Justice and Public Instruction BRITISH LEGATION,
Santo Domingo, R.D. 1st November, 1921
Sir: I have the honour to advise you that a Mr. John Sidney Dubourg [Sydney de Bourg] a British Subject has appealed to me for advise and assistance with regard to certain members of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, who were arrested some two months ago in San Pedro de Macoris. Mr. Dubourg states that some 18 persons were arres[t]ed [and] tried before the Dominican Courts and that six were fined but that 13 are still under arrest by the Provost Marsha[l]. Mr. Dubourg has been sent from New York where the Association is incorporated to inquire into this case and to safeguard if necessary the property of the Association in San Pedro de Macoris. I have the honour to request you to be so good as to cause the necessary inquiries to be made and to inform me of the charges made against the persons arrested and also what disposition is to be made of the Society’s p[ro]perty or whether the Society can again take charge of their property. I wish to avail myself of this opportunity to renew to you the expression of highest respect and regard with which I have the honour to be, Sir, Your obedient servant /S/ C. K. LEDGER H. B. M. Chargé d’Affaires [Addressed to:] Lt-Col. F. A. Ramsey, U.S.M.C. in charge of the Department of Foreign Relations, Palace [Typed endorsements:] 1st Endorsement November 3, 1921 From: Department of Foreign Relations To: Department of Justice and Public Instruction Subject: Com[pla]int of [J]ohn Sidney Dubourg, British Su[b]ject etc. 1. Referred requesting that an investigation of this matter be made by proper authorities. 2. Please return papers. F. A. Ramsey Lieut-Colo. U.S.M.C. For the Military Government
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NOVEMBER 1921 Second endorsement.— Santo Domingo, D.R., 7 November 1921 From: Department of Justice and Public Instruction To: The Military Governor of Santo Domingo— Subject: Complaint of John Sidney Dubourg, British Subject, etc. 1.—It is requested that the attached papers be referred to the Commanding General, with the request that such information be given relative to the matter mentioned in the attached letter from the British Legation as is indicated in paragraphs 3 and 4. F. A. Ramsey Third Endorsement November 8, 1921 From: Military Governor of Santo Domingo To: Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S.M.C. Subject: Complaint of John Sidney Dubourg, British Subject, etc. 1. Forwarded for information requested in second endorsement. S. S. ROBISON 5th Endorsement OFFICE OF THE DISTRICT COMMANDER, EASTERN DISTRICT, U.S. MARINES, San
Pedro de Macoris, D.R., 15 November 1921 From: District Commander To: Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S. Marines, Santo Domingo, City, D.R. Subject: Complaint of John Sidney Dubourg Reference: (a) Original report of the arrest of members of the U.N.I.A. and A.B.B. Association. Enclosures: (2) Copy of Reference (a). 11th Endorsement to same.2 1. Returned. 2. The persons mentioned in the complaint of John Sidney Dubourg are held awaiting action upon a request for deportation from this office, as they are und[es]irable citizens and a menace to the peace of the community.
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS 3. The property of the society, consi[s]ting mostly of literature of infla[m]matory character (copies submitted with original request for deportation) together with some African Flags and Pin Buttons of the African Flag, and a few miscellaneous papers are in the office of the Alcalde of San Pedro de Macoris where they were taken when the persons mentioned herein were arrested. They are now being held in the same place awaiting action on the deportation request. 4. I am enclosing a copy of the original report in reference to this arrest together with the 11th endorsement from this office on that report. In the original report, the District Commander requested the deportation of all the persons arrested. [I]n the 11th endorsement to this communication, I eliminated all but the offi[c]ers and principle agitators as the Provost Marshal learned that a great many ignorantly joined the organization to procure the benefits of the $75.00 given upon death. 5. The U.N.I.A. is an invidious organization which has for its purpose the creation of intense racial hatred of the whites. All of its literature is inflammatory in character and the organization is a menace to the peace and order of any community. Wm. C. Harllee 7th Endorsement November 22, 1921 From: Military Governor of Santo Domingo To: Department of Justice and Public Instruction Subject: Complaint of John Sidney Dubourg, British Subject, etc. 1. Returned inviting attention to 5th endorsement. F. U. LAKE By direction DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD, copy. Extraneous endorsements elided. 1. C. K. Ledger was the British chargé d’affaires in San Pedro de Macorís in late 1921. On 4 November 1921 he sought in vain to have an in-depth investigation into the killing of a black worker from St. Kitts, and thus a British citizen, by the U.S. Marines (Bruce J. Calder, The Impact of Intervention: The Dominican Republic during the U.S. Occupation of 1916–1924 [Austin: University of Texas Press, 1984], pp. 131–132). 2. The enclosed original report has yet to be located. The enclosed 11th Endorsement to this report is included in this volume (William C. Harllee, District Commander, Eastern District, U.S.
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NOVEMBER 1921 Marines, to the Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S. Marines, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 17 October 1921).
J. L. Linwood in the Negro World [New York, 5 November 1921]
OFFICERS OF U.N.I.A. & A.C.L., TRIXVILLE BRANCH, BRITISH HONDURAS,1 VISIT THE MEMBERS ON THE DIFFERENT FARMS At 8 a.m. on Sunday, August 21, the officers of the above mentioned branch left Rincon to pay a visit to the many members of the outlying districts. Arriving at Corocito, we hurried on, only leaving notice of an afternoon meeting on our return. Taujica was our next stop, and dealt with in like manner, from thence to Tocoa, where we were heartily received and accommodated most hospitably by one of our members, Mr. Fitz Guy. Half an hour’s notice was given to be in readiness for a meeting, during which time we were refreshed. Meeting being called to order in the usual manner, our president, H. L. M. Cole, introduced his officers who were present: Messrs. R. M. Stockhausen, vice president, J. L. Thomas, general secretary, H. T. Hunter, treasurer and J. L. Linwood, reporter. Having but a short time to spend in each place, addresses had to be in brief. President Cole spoke first, followed by Vice President Stockhausen. Mr. J. L. Thomas was the next speaker, and last of all Mr. Hunter. Each of the officers spoke in well chosen words, thanking the enthusiastic workers for their aid in the past, and hoping for a continuance of same, to each and every call of this noble work; secondly, encouraging the workers to persevere to keep up the leaders, knowing the cause for which we are working. Our time being expired, the meeting was brought to a close, and again we were in the car on a move to Taujica. Arriving there, we were accommodated by Mr. Campbell, an ever-ready worker of the association, and in his residence a meeting was called. With much regret we have to state that here the members were few—they having to work at fruit cutting—however, we thank those that were present. After the president opened the meeting, Mr. Campbell spoke words of welcome to us, and hoped that we make a speedy return. Owing to our limited time, Messrs. Cole and Hunter were the only two that spoke, in a like manner as in Tocoa, after which our meeting was brought to a close. Again we took the car on our return to Corocito and as there were only a couple of members present, owing to fruit-cutting, we only shook hands and
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NOVEMBER 1921 Marines, to the Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S. Marines, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 17 October 1921).
J. L. Linwood in the Negro World [New York, 5 November 1921]
OFFICERS OF U.N.I.A. & A.C.L., TRIXVILLE BRANCH, BRITISH HONDURAS,1 VISIT THE MEMBERS ON THE DIFFERENT FARMS At 8 a.m. on Sunday, August 21, the officers of the above mentioned branch left Rincon to pay a visit to the many members of the outlying districts. Arriving at Corocito, we hurried on, only leaving notice of an afternoon meeting on our return. Taujica was our next stop, and dealt with in like manner, from thence to Tocoa, where we were heartily received and accommodated most hospitably by one of our members, Mr. Fitz Guy. Half an hour’s notice was given to be in readiness for a meeting, during which time we were refreshed. Meeting being called to order in the usual manner, our president, H. L. M. Cole, introduced his officers who were present: Messrs. R. M. Stockhausen, vice president, J. L. Thomas, general secretary, H. T. Hunter, treasurer and J. L. Linwood, reporter. Having but a short time to spend in each place, addresses had to be in brief. President Cole spoke first, followed by Vice President Stockhausen. Mr. J. L. Thomas was the next speaker, and last of all Mr. Hunter. Each of the officers spoke in well chosen words, thanking the enthusiastic workers for their aid in the past, and hoping for a continuance of same, to each and every call of this noble work; secondly, encouraging the workers to persevere to keep up the leaders, knowing the cause for which we are working. Our time being expired, the meeting was brought to a close, and again we were in the car on a move to Taujica. Arriving there, we were accommodated by Mr. Campbell, an ever-ready worker of the association, and in his residence a meeting was called. With much regret we have to state that here the members were few—they having to work at fruit cutting—however, we thank those that were present. After the president opened the meeting, Mr. Campbell spoke words of welcome to us, and hoped that we make a speedy return. Owing to our limited time, Messrs. Cole and Hunter were the only two that spoke, in a like manner as in Tocoa, after which our meeting was brought to a close. Again we took the car on our return to Corocito and as there were only a couple of members present, owing to fruit-cutting, we only shook hands and
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gave a few words of encouragement, and promised a speedy return, and a much longer visit. From Corocito we began our homeward ride, arriving quite safely at about 5:30 p.m. Much thanks is due to our ex-vice president, Mr. Neil, who helped us in procuring a motor car free of charge from the company. J. L. LINWOOD Reporter Printed in NW, 5 November 1921. 1. The Negro World headline is inaccurate; the places referred to are located in Spanish Honduras, not British Honduras.
Theodore Roosevelt Jr., Assistant Secretary, U.S. Navy, to Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic Washington, November 8, 1921 From: Assistant Secretary of the Navy. To: Rear Admiral S. S. Robison, Military Governor, Santo Domingo. Subject: Alleged persecution of several members of Universal Negro Improvement Association. Enclosures (2) 1. The enclosed is forwarded for investigation. /s/ THEODORE ROOSEVELT DNA, RG 38, M-201, M-202. TL.
Enclosure: UNIA and ACL to Theodore Roosevelt Jr., Assistant Secretary, U.S. Navy New York, U.S.A. November 2, 1921 My dear sir: I have the honor to represent, as Assistant Counsel-General, the Universal Negro Improvement Association, an organization with headquarters at 56 West 135th St., New York City, New York.
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gave a few words of encouragement, and promised a speedy return, and a much longer visit. From Corocito we began our homeward ride, arriving quite safely at about 5:30 p.m. Much thanks is due to our ex-vice president, Mr. Neil, who helped us in procuring a motor car free of charge from the company. J. L. LINWOOD Reporter Printed in NW, 5 November 1921. 1. The Negro World headline is inaccurate; the places referred to are located in Spanish Honduras, not British Honduras.
Theodore Roosevelt Jr., Assistant Secretary, U.S. Navy, to Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic Washington, November 8, 1921 From: Assistant Secretary of the Navy. To: Rear Admiral S. S. Robison, Military Governor, Santo Domingo. Subject: Alleged persecution of several members of Universal Negro Improvement Association. Enclosures (2) 1. The enclosed is forwarded for investigation. /s/ THEODORE ROOSEVELT DNA, RG 38, M-201, M-202. TL.
Enclosure: UNIA and ACL to Theodore Roosevelt Jr., Assistant Secretary, U.S. Navy New York, U.S.A. November 2, 1921 My dear sir: I have the honor to represent, as Assistant Counsel-General, the Universal Negro Improvement Association, an organization with headquarters at 56 West 135th St., New York City, New York.
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Our attention has been called to the arrest of sever[a]l of the members of this Organization who are the local officers of the division in San Pedro de Macoris, Santo Domingo, by a Provost Guard of the United States Marines Corps. You will find that the facts are substantially as follows: While on August 31st, 1921, a branch of the Univers[al] Negro Improvement Association at San Pedro de Macoris designated Branch No/26, was holding a parade in honor of the successful termination of the Second International Convention of Negroes, which on that [d]ay was convening in New York City, United States of A[m]erica, about a dozen or more members of said branch, men, women and children, were arrested by several native policemen, accompanied by two officers of the United States Marine Cor[ps]. No warrant was presented, and when the people asked why they were arrest[ed] they told them to shut their mouths, and were taken to the p[o]lice station. The Charter, books[,] papers and other paraphanalia were seized and taken by the authorities. Some of the women and children were set free on the next day, but the officers of the branch were kept prisoners, and a guard was p[l]ace[d] around Emancipation Hall, the meeting place of the organization, which guard stayed there five days after the arrest of the officers. Mr. C. A. Henry who went to see some of these people confined in prison was himself locked up. On the seventh day they were t[aken] before a Civil Magistrate, and returned to prison and again on the ninth day they were taken before a magistrate and questioned as to the aims, ob[j]ect and purposes of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, what their purpose was in joining the organization, and what benefit they would get from it. They were found guilty of operatin[g] a society without the knowledge or consent of the Government, and also of spreading race riot. On appeal these officers were dismissed by the Dominican Government. The men were rearrested by a Provost Guard of the United States Marine Corps, without charge, notwithstanding the fact that this division had been granted permission (which is a matter of record) by Admiral Snowden and by the local Dominican authorities to hold meetings in that city. I am writing to you at this time to ask for your co-operation in starting an investigation as to the cause of the continued detention of these persons by the officers of your department. From the enclosed constitution and liter[a]ture, which I am sending, you will note that this is a law-abiding friendly charitable and humanitarian organization, endeavoring to t[e]ach our people throughout the world, industrial and social independence. We preach to our followers everywhere, the love and support of their own particular countries. In view of the fact that these men have been incarcerated since the 9th of September, I would thank you to start an immediate investigation with the view of determining the true facts in the matter. I have the honour to be, Sir. 131
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS DNA, RG 38, M-201, M-202. TL.
Augustus Luis, President, UNIA St. Thomas Division, to the Negro World [[St. Thomas, V.I., Nov. 11, 1921]]
PRESIDENT OF ST. THOMAS LABOR UNION DIDN’T FORBID MEMBERS PARTICIPATING IN U.N.I.A. PARADE My Dear Sir: The president of the St. Thomas Labor Union, George A. Morehead,1 reputed to be an enemy of the U.N.I.A., called to see me about the article which deals with the St. Thomas labor union. The big man declared to me that he has never made such a statement, that, should any of his members take part in our liberty day parade, that such members would be expelled. As he has denied that he has ever made such a statement, and as the statement was misinformation, I would ask that you kindly publish in The Negro World another article dealing with the matter. It is true that this gentleman, ex-vice president, is reputed to be a strong enemy of the U.N.I.A., but inasmuch as he came to me and made a denial I believe that he felt it. I will inform the world that the small leaders here try to keep Negroes from Liberty Hall. Fraternally, AUGUSTUS LUIS President, Division No 84. St. Thomas, V.I., U.S.A. P.S. Editor’s note—We are glad for the above information, as The Negro World endeavors to be fair and just to those who are and are not members of the U.N.I.A. Printed in NW, 3 December 1921. 1. Founded in September 1916, the St. Thomas Labor Union was the largest union in St. Thomas. In December 1916, the union won a major strike that raised dockworkers’ wages and made the union a major factor in the political economy of St. Thomas. The union’s president, George A. Moorehead, was a loading-dock foreman noted for his flamboyant style and ability to negotiate deals with the shipping companies. Geraldo Guirty remembered Moorehead as: a showy actor. . . . In the public parades he looked like a general in some army. His khaki uniform coat, decorated with a red, white, and blue sash, was balanced by black boots and a black cap with a plume. The prancing of his chestnut gelding made him spectacular as the grand marshal ahead of the parade (Geraldo Guirty, Harlem’s Danish-American West Indians 1899–1864 [New York: Vantage Press, 1989], p. 3). Morehead’s relationship with the shipping companies provoked strong criticism from those labor leaders, most particularly Rothschild Francis, who took a more militant stance toward the island’s major employers, which might explain Morehead’s dislike of the St. Thomas UNIA division (Gregory R. LaMotta, “The Americanization of the Virgin Islands, 1917–1946: Politics and Class
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS DNA, RG 38, M-201, M-202. TL.
Augustus Luis, President, UNIA St. Thomas Division, to the Negro World [[St. Thomas, V.I., Nov. 11, 1921]]
PRESIDENT OF ST. THOMAS LABOR UNION DIDN’T FORBID MEMBERS PARTICIPATING IN U.N.I.A. PARADE My Dear Sir: The president of the St. Thomas Labor Union, George A. Morehead,1 reputed to be an enemy of the U.N.I.A., called to see me about the article which deals with the St. Thomas labor union. The big man declared to me that he has never made such a statement, that, should any of his members take part in our liberty day parade, that such members would be expelled. As he has denied that he has ever made such a statement, and as the statement was misinformation, I would ask that you kindly publish in The Negro World another article dealing with the matter. It is true that this gentleman, ex-vice president, is reputed to be a strong enemy of the U.N.I.A., but inasmuch as he came to me and made a denial I believe that he felt it. I will inform the world that the small leaders here try to keep Negroes from Liberty Hall. Fraternally, AUGUSTUS LUIS President, Division No 84. St. Thomas, V.I., U.S.A. P.S. Editor’s note—We are glad for the above information, as The Negro World endeavors to be fair and just to those who are and are not members of the U.N.I.A. Printed in NW, 3 December 1921. 1. Founded in September 1916, the St. Thomas Labor Union was the largest union in St. Thomas. In December 1916, the union won a major strike that raised dockworkers’ wages and made the union a major factor in the political economy of St. Thomas. The union’s president, George A. Moorehead, was a loading-dock foreman noted for his flamboyant style and ability to negotiate deals with the shipping companies. Geraldo Guirty remembered Moorehead as: a showy actor. . . . In the public parades he looked like a general in some army. His khaki uniform coat, decorated with a red, white, and blue sash, was balanced by black boots and a black cap with a plume. The prancing of his chestnut gelding made him spectacular as the grand marshal ahead of the parade (Geraldo Guirty, Harlem’s Danish-American West Indians 1899–1864 [New York: Vantage Press, 1989], p. 3). Morehead’s relationship with the shipping companies provoked strong criticism from those labor leaders, most particularly Rothschild Francis, who took a more militant stance toward the island’s major employers, which might explain Morehead’s dislike of the St. Thomas UNIA division (Gregory R. LaMotta, “The Americanization of the Virgin Islands, 1917–1946: Politics and Class
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NOVEMBER 1921 Struggle during the First Thirty Years of American Rule,” [Ph.D. diss., University of Maryland, 1992], pp. 51–55, 108–118; LaMotta, “Working People and the Transfer of the Danish West Indies to the United States, 1916–1917,” JCH 23, no. 2 [1989]: 180–181, 190–192; Isaac Dookhan, A History of the Virgin Islands of the United States [Kingston, Jamaica: Canoe Press, 1994], p. 240; William W. Boyer, America’s Virgin Islands: A History of Human Rights and Wrongs [Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic Press, 1983], p. 76).
Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic, to Ezel Vanderhorst, Secretary, UNIA Santo Domingo Division, et al. [Santo Domingo] 12 November 1921 Gentlemen: Your petition of 26 September, 1921, in regard to the imprisonment and persecution of certain members of the “United Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League of the World,” has been received. After due investigation of this complaint I find that upon being duly tried by the Alcalde for their offences, the members of your society who were imprisoned, justly merited the punishment inflicted upon them. Yours truly, S. S. ROBISON Rear Admiral, United States Navy, Military Governor of Santo Domingo [Addressed to:] Messrs. Ezel Vanderhorst, J. Kennedy, H. Lucas, Jose Lucia Martinez, A. Dunbavin, J. J. Herbert, H. A. Caires. San Pedro de Macoris, D.R. [Handwritten note on envelope:] Envelope returned marked “unknown.” Re-mailed addressed to Santo Domingo City. DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TL. Illegible handwritten note in Spanish appears on envelope.
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NOVEMBER 1921 Struggle during the First Thirty Years of American Rule,” [Ph.D. diss., University of Maryland, 1992], pp. 51–55, 108–118; LaMotta, “Working People and the Transfer of the Danish West Indies to the United States, 1916–1917,” JCH 23, no. 2 [1989]: 180–181, 190–192; Isaac Dookhan, A History of the Virgin Islands of the United States [Kingston, Jamaica: Canoe Press, 1994], p. 240; William W. Boyer, America’s Virgin Islands: A History of Human Rights and Wrongs [Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic Press, 1983], p. 76).
Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic, to Ezel Vanderhorst, Secretary, UNIA Santo Domingo Division, et al. [Santo Domingo] 12 November 1921 Gentlemen: Your petition of 26 September, 1921, in regard to the imprisonment and persecution of certain members of the “United Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League of the World,” has been received. After due investigation of this complaint I find that upon being duly tried by the Alcalde for their offences, the members of your society who were imprisoned, justly merited the punishment inflicted upon them. Yours truly, S. S. ROBISON Rear Admiral, United States Navy, Military Governor of Santo Domingo [Addressed to:] Messrs. Ezel Vanderhorst, J. Kennedy, H. Lucas, Jose Lucia Martinez, A. Dunbavin, J. J. Herbert, H. A. Caires. San Pedro de Macoris, D.R. [Handwritten note on envelope:] Envelope returned marked “unknown.” Re-mailed addressed to Santo Domingo City. DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TL. Illegible handwritten note in Spanish appears on envelope.
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M. A. Labega to the Negro World [[Consuelo, Dominican Republic, ca. 20 November 1921]]
RECEPTION OF HIS EXCELLENCY HON JOHN SYDNEY DEBOURG [DE BOURG] AT CONSUELO On Sunday, November 20, the Consuelo branch of Division No. 26 of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L. gave a reception in honor of his Excellency the Hon. John Sydney DeBourg, West Indian leader. Prior to this his Excellency held a lengthy conference with Administrators Bass1 & Kilbourne2 on Monday, November 14, who, after hearing the aims and objects explained by his Excellency, gave it their free permission and warmest approval for the continuation of the work of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L. on the estate. The enthusiasm of the members knew no bounds when they found themselves at liberty to hold a meeting, and on Sunday afternoon at about 3 o’clock great crowds were seen wending their way towards the hall. Punctually at 4.00 the meeting was called to order by its chairman, Mr. A. Labega, with the singing of “From Greenland’s Icy Mountains,” followed by prayer, “God of the right our battles to fight.” The credentials of his Excellency were then read by the chairman, who made some fitting remarks in explanation of the purpose of his mission, and introduced his Excellency to a crowded house of about 500, including members and visitors. More than 100 were compelled to stand outside the hall because of lack of room. Amid great applause his Excellency arose, selecting as his subject, “The Destiny of the Negroes Is in Their Own Hands.” In a bright and earnest manner he pointed out the many defects in us as a race and laid before us the only plan for our salvation. He exhorted us to have faith in the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L. and its glorious program. He told us that the U.N.I.A. would defend us here or in any other part of the world, and that when it failed to do that they would have to shut it down, even in the city of New York. He made a strong appeal for the Black Star Line and the other corporations. At the close of his address the band struck up “Ethiopia, Thou Land of Our Fathers,” the audience standing while the strains of the glorious anthem filled the house. It was a timely address at a timely season. The people were filled with a new spirit, new zeal for the cause and new determination to go forward. A cake bearing the colors of the association was then presented to his Excellency as a token of esteem. Ice cream and raspberry syrups were also served. The meeting came to a close by singing the “Doxology.” A collection amounting to $12.83 was taken up. Much credit must be given the Consuelo band for the splendid program rendered. Sincere thanks and deep gratitude are expressed by every member of this branch of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L. to the authorities of this plantation for 134
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their beneficence in allowing us to hold meetings at any time except during working hours. Great thanks must be given the officers and members as well as the Black Cross Nurses for their united efforts in making his Excellency’s visit a success. Deep regret is felt by all that, even though the authorities of the estate have given consent, the antagonism of the military against the organization is such that we are compelled to refrain from holding meetings, although the Dominican Government is in full accord with the aims and objects of our grand organization. Yours for race uplift, M. A. LABEGA Printed in NW, 7 January 1922. 1. William L. Bass (b. 1865) was the son of Alexander Bass, who, in the 1880s, established Ingenio La Duquesa, with F. Van Krosigh, and Ingenio La Fe, with J. E. Hatton, under the favorable terms granted to the sugar industry by President Ulises Heureaux. William L. Bass received Ingenio Consuelo as a gift from his father in the late 1880s. A poet, amateur astronomer, prolific activist, and writer on sugar matters, William L. Bass earned the nickname “Dutch Standard Bass.” His expansion plans included extending the railroad system towards the neighboring province of El Seybo, building a new sugar factory in La Romana, and purchasing lands and constructing another sugar factory in Humacao, Puerto Rico. He was described as “humanitarian; handles his employees with familiarity; and his workers with generosity” (Juan J. Sánchez, La caña de azúcar en Santo Domingo [Santo Domingo: Imprenta García Hermanos, 1893], p. 57). Bass campaigned vigorously for the annexation of Cuba and for the signing of a reciprocity treaty between the U.S. and the Dominican Republic. His better known published works are Azúcar de caña-Cane Sugar [New York: n.p., 1900] and Reciprocidad. Exposición presentada al Gobierno de la República Dominicana [Santo Domingo: Imp. La Cuna de América, 1902] (Humberto García-Muñiz, “The South Porto Rico Sugar Company: The History of a U.S. Multinational Corporation in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, 1900–1921” [Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, 1997], pp. 334–336; P. Mortimer Dalmau, William L. Bass y el ferrocarril del Este [Santo Domingo: Imp. La Cuna de América, 1909]; Manuel Moreno Fraginals, El ingenio: complejo económico social cubano del azúcar [1978; reprint, Editorial de las Ciencias Sociales, 1986], pp. 181– 182; José del Castillo and Walter Cordero, La economía dominicana durante el primer cuarto del siglo XX [Santo Domingo: Fundación García-Arevalo, Inc., 1980], pp. 21–23; Franc Báez Evertsz, La formación del sistema agroexportador en el Caribe: República Dominicana-Cuba 1515–1898 [Santo Domingo: Editora Universitaria de la Universidad Autónoma de México, 1986], p. 216; Jaime de Jesús Domínguez, La dictadura de Heureaux [Santo Domingo: Editora Universitaria de la Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, 1986], pp. 96–99; César J. Ayala, American Sugar Kingdom: The Plantation Economy of the Spanish Caribbean, 1898–1934 [Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999], pp. 102, 176, 194). 2. Edwin I. Kilbourne (d. 1968) served as assistant administrator when Central Consuelo belonged to the Bass interests. He became administrator when Bartram Brothers of New York City took over the sugar estate in the mid-1910s. He continued as administrator when the Cuban Dominican Sugar Development Syndicate acquired Consuelo in 1920 and remained in charge into the 1950s. He married a Dominican woman, Ana Rosa Santoni. In the early 1930s, in a fascinating travelogue, journalist Henry Phillips reflected on his month-long stay in Kilbourne’s Consuelo: “We find ourselves in the living and lively center of a self-contained little empire, over which our host rules as Mogul. It is in no sense a republic, for the ruler is supreme and his word is the law. An absolute monarchy—though never despotic—of the Land of Sugar” (Henry Albert Phillips, White Elephants in the Caribbean: Magic Journey through all the West Indies [New York: Robert M. McBride & Co., 1936], p. 440). Kilbourne’s acceptance of Garveyites in Consuelo extended to his own domestic service, in the person of Stanley J. Clarke. Phillips was apparently somewhat bewildered by Clarke, writing: He [Clarke] really deserves a chapter, for he represents and presents a glowing phase of not only the black problems of the islands, but also of the whole negro race floundering in a
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS white man’s world. Clarke belongs more properly in the section devoted to the British West Indies, for he was a native of Tortola, B.W.I. Nevertheless, his migration reveals the fluid state of the island’s populations in the economic plight that drives them hither and yon in an effort to better their sometimes deplorable condition. Incidentally, all the 2,500 blacks within Consuelo batey were British islanders; full-blooded negroes as a rule. Clarke was a rare bird of his species. His ambition was boundless and his progress most commendable considering the well-nigh insuperable handicaps under which he labored. He was a devoted followe[r] of Marcus Garvey (whose light seems to have been extinguished, for he appears to be living in domestic felicity in a well-feathered nest among his own people in the cottage section of Kingston, Jamaica) in the uplift of the negro and a fixed belief in the equality—if not the actual superiority—of the black race. Poet, intellectual, soaring far above his fellows; militant, yet fanatical on the subject of world peace (ibid., p. 49). Wilfred E. Rowland remembered that visits to Consuelo went off without harassment: “We used to go to Consuelo to preach. . . . To preach our gospel of Garvey! Garveyism. And we got a good many there, too. And Kilbourne, he was manager of Consuelo then. They never molested us” (Wilfred E. Rowland, interview by Humberto García Muñiz, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 11 May 1991; Salvador Alfau, Santo Domingo, to Humberto García Muñiz, San Juan, 23 August 1999; Melvin M. Knight, The Americans in Santo Domingo [New York: Vanguard Press, 1928], pp. 130–137).
Article in the Panama Star and Herald [Panama, 23 November 1921]
BLACK STAR LINE’S SHIP The New York Maritime Register publishes the following in connection with the latest ship of the Black Star Line Steamship Co.: The Black Star Line, a negro shipping corporation at New York, has bought from the United States Shipping Board1 the “Orion” paying $25,000 dollars, 10 per cent in cash and the balance in monthly payments of 10 per cent. The vessel has accommodation for about 150 first class passengers and 1,500 second class. The ship was formerly the “Prinz Oskar,” and is a twin screw steel ship of 6,026 tons, with a Lloyd’s rating of 100 A1. It is understood that the new owners will run the ship in the West Indies and West Coast of Africa trade, including Monrovia. Trade conditions on the West Coast justifies the venture, the new owners feel, and the opportunities for developing trade through a direct line has appealed to the executives of the Black Star Line Steamship Company. Printed in PS&H, 23 November 1921. In DNA, RG 185, 61-H-31/B. PD. On Panama Canal Periodical Reference form. 1. The United States Shipping Board (USSB), a federal regulatory and quasi-judicial body, was established by the Shipping Act of 7 September 1916, in order to facilitate the development of a merchant marine and a naval reserve to meet the needs of U.S. commercial ventures, and to lease and regulate U.S. ships engaged in international and interstate commerce. After the First World War, the board was also responsible for the disposition of German ships interned by the British and
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS white man’s world. Clarke belongs more properly in the section devoted to the British West Indies, for he was a native of Tortola, B.W.I. Nevertheless, his migration reveals the fluid state of the island’s populations in the economic plight that drives them hither and yon in an effort to better their sometimes deplorable condition. Incidentally, all the 2,500 blacks within Consuelo batey were British islanders; full-blooded negroes as a rule. Clarke was a rare bird of his species. His ambition was boundless and his progress most commendable considering the well-nigh insuperable handicaps under which he labored. He was a devoted followe[r] of Marcus Garvey (whose light seems to have been extinguished, for he appears to be living in domestic felicity in a well-feathered nest among his own people in the cottage section of Kingston, Jamaica) in the uplift of the negro and a fixed belief in the equality—if not the actual superiority—of the black race. Poet, intellectual, soaring far above his fellows; militant, yet fanatical on the subject of world peace (ibid., p. 49). Wilfred E. Rowland remembered that visits to Consuelo went off without harassment: “We used to go to Consuelo to preach. . . . To preach our gospel of Garvey! Garveyism. And we got a good many there, too. And Kilbourne, he was manager of Consuelo then. They never molested us” (Wilfred E. Rowland, interview by Humberto García Muñiz, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 11 May 1991; Salvador Alfau, Santo Domingo, to Humberto García Muñiz, San Juan, 23 August 1999; Melvin M. Knight, The Americans in Santo Domingo [New York: Vanguard Press, 1928], pp. 130–137).
Article in the Panama Star and Herald [Panama, 23 November 1921]
BLACK STAR LINE’S SHIP The New York Maritime Register publishes the following in connection with the latest ship of the Black Star Line Steamship Co.: The Black Star Line, a negro shipping corporation at New York, has bought from the United States Shipping Board1 the “Orion” paying $25,000 dollars, 10 per cent in cash and the balance in monthly payments of 10 per cent. The vessel has accommodation for about 150 first class passengers and 1,500 second class. The ship was formerly the “Prinz Oskar,” and is a twin screw steel ship of 6,026 tons, with a Lloyd’s rating of 100 A1. It is understood that the new owners will run the ship in the West Indies and West Coast of Africa trade, including Monrovia. Trade conditions on the West Coast justifies the venture, the new owners feel, and the opportunities for developing trade through a direct line has appealed to the executives of the Black Star Line Steamship Company. Printed in PS&H, 23 November 1921. In DNA, RG 185, 61-H-31/B. PD. On Panama Canal Periodical Reference form. 1. The United States Shipping Board (USSB), a federal regulatory and quasi-judicial body, was established by the Shipping Act of 7 September 1916, in order to facilitate the development of a merchant marine and a naval reserve to meet the needs of U.S. commercial ventures, and to lease and regulate U.S. ships engaged in international and interstate commerce. After the First World War, the board was also responsible for the disposition of German ships interned by the British and
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NOVEMBER 1921 U.S. governments during the war. The BSL had extensive dealings with the USSB during its many negotiations for possible purchase of ships (MGP 2).
F. Gregoire to the Negro World [[Cristóbal, Canal Zone, ca. 26 November 1921]]
MR. GREGOIRE STATES HIS CASE Dear Sir: I see in The Negro World of September 10 a communication signed Rip Van Winkle, I mean John H. Pilgrim, where I was expelled from the Colón division of the U.N.I.A. for disloyalty. That statement might appeal to some not knowing the circumstances. Now, Sir, this is my side of the story: Noticing some irregularities we got together on January 9, 1921, and drew up the following petition, which proved to be the gravamen of the offense: Mr. W. A. Brooks President of the Colón branch of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L. Sir: We, the undersigned members of the honorable Advisory Board, avail ourselves of the right conceded to members by section 56, page 34, of the constitution of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L., to question any officer or officers for the betterment of said association, and wanting to dispe[l] any erroneous impression, beg that the books of the association be submitted to the above board within twenty-four hours for examination. Mr. Editor, the intention of Rip Van Winkle (another lapsus linguæ: I mean John H. Pilgrim, of St. Lucia, Barbados, Trinidad and Grenada, in fact, he is from so many places that I wonder whether his name is John, Rip or Van) with that petition is to see if he can continue to exploit the poor people some more, and also to impress the court, forgetting that he is under a $600 bond for his loyalty. It seems, judging by that, that the court must have established a prima facie case, and no petition will save him from public opinion and what will be dealt out to him by the court, though he claims that the Panamanian authorities can be bought, inasmuch as I have been told that a certain officer of the Colón court has been seen around his pressing club. There is a Supreme Court where you can appeal to. This loyal gentleman, I mean Rip Van Winkle, had a resolution passed that the expenses incurred in this case should be borne by the association. Those members who agreed to that resolution are not like Balaam’s ass,1 for that one, at least, was the first to see the angel. Now, coming back to the St. Lucian, Barbadian, Trinidadian and Grenadian, he is a wander137
NOVEMBER 1921 U.S. governments during the war. The BSL had extensive dealings with the USSB during its many negotiations for possible purchase of ships (MGP 2).
F. Gregoire to the Negro World [[Cristóbal, Canal Zone, ca. 26 November 1921]]
MR. GREGOIRE STATES HIS CASE Dear Sir: I see in The Negro World of September 10 a communication signed Rip Van Winkle, I mean John H. Pilgrim, where I was expelled from the Colón division of the U.N.I.A. for disloyalty. That statement might appeal to some not knowing the circumstances. Now, Sir, this is my side of the story: Noticing some irregularities we got together on January 9, 1921, and drew up the following petition, which proved to be the gravamen of the offense: Mr. W. A. Brooks President of the Colón branch of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L. Sir: We, the undersigned members of the honorable Advisory Board, avail ourselves of the right conceded to members by section 56, page 34, of the constitution of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L., to question any officer or officers for the betterment of said association, and wanting to dispe[l] any erroneous impression, beg that the books of the association be submitted to the above board within twenty-four hours for examination. Mr. Editor, the intention of Rip Van Winkle (another lapsus linguæ: I mean John H. Pilgrim, of St. Lucia, Barbados, Trinidad and Grenada, in fact, he is from so many places that I wonder whether his name is John, Rip or Van) with that petition is to see if he can continue to exploit the poor people some more, and also to impress the court, forgetting that he is under a $600 bond for his loyalty. It seems, judging by that, that the court must have established a prima facie case, and no petition will save him from public opinion and what will be dealt out to him by the court, though he claims that the Panamanian authorities can be bought, inasmuch as I have been told that a certain officer of the Colón court has been seen around his pressing club. There is a Supreme Court where you can appeal to. This loyal gentleman, I mean Rip Van Winkle, had a resolution passed that the expenses incurred in this case should be borne by the association. Those members who agreed to that resolution are not like Balaam’s ass,1 for that one, at least, was the first to see the angel. Now, coming back to the St. Lucian, Barbadian, Trinidadian and Grenadian, he is a wander137
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ing prestidigitator, for in the twinkle of an eye he spirited away the dues book of the association. Thanking you for space, I remain yours, F. GREGOIRE Printed in NW, 26 November 1921. 1. A reference to Num. 22, where Balaam does not see an angel, but his donkey does (Donald Guthrie and J. A. Motyer, eds., The New Bible Commentary, 3rd ed. [Leicester: Inter-Varsity, 1970], pp. 190–191; James L. Mays, ed., Harper’s Bible Commentary [San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988], pp. 198–199).
Article in the Workman [Panama City, 26 November 1921]
UNVEILING OF A NEW CHARTER MONSTER CROWD WITNESS GREAT FUNCTION CHARTERED CHAPTER NO. 14, U.N.I.A. & A.C.L. SCORES BIG HIT Negroes on the Isthmus of Panama and especially those residing in the city of Panama will never forget Sunday Nov. 20th 1921, a day which will go down in negro history as a great and glorious one, a day that 2400 negroes, members of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League were eagerly looking forward to[.] There [we]re [hard] showers of rain which began about 11 o’clock and fell incessantly until 1 p.m.[,] the hour fixed for the great occasion. And as soon as opportunity allowed all roads led towards the Liberty Hall of the Guachapali Chapter No. 14 of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L., at the corner of 21st and 12th of October Streets, Guachapali and from all directions hundreds of men, women and children were seen wending their way towards Liberty Hall which was to be the scene of a great festivity in the annals of the Guachapali Chapter No. 14, viz—the unveiling of Charter No. 14 granted to the Chapter by the Honourable Marcus Garvey the President-General of the organization and the installation of the officers elect[.] The hall was tastily decorated for the occasion and from the outside one could see from a distance the colors of the association[,] the red, the black and the green, flying from the flagpole while the decorations in the interior of the building were something beautiful to behold and will long linger in the memories of those who were present. Overhanging the President’s chair was a huge silk flag of the association while on the right was the national colors of this beautiful republic[,] the Republic of Panama, and on the left that of the United States together with flags of the various allied nations. Long before the hour set for the opening of the function large crowds began to assemble in the hall and at 2.15 p.m. when the meeting was opened 138
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ing prestidigitator, for in the twinkle of an eye he spirited away the dues book of the association. Thanking you for space, I remain yours, F. GREGOIRE Printed in NW, 26 November 1921. 1. A reference to Num. 22, where Balaam does not see an angel, but his donkey does (Donald Guthrie and J. A. Motyer, eds., The New Bible Commentary, 3rd ed. [Leicester: Inter-Varsity, 1970], pp. 190–191; James L. Mays, ed., Harper’s Bible Commentary [San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988], pp. 198–199).
Article in the Workman [Panama City, 26 November 1921]
UNVEILING OF A NEW CHARTER MONSTER CROWD WITNESS GREAT FUNCTION CHARTERED CHAPTER NO. 14, U.N.I.A. & A.C.L. SCORES BIG HIT Negroes on the Isthmus of Panama and especially those residing in the city of Panama will never forget Sunday Nov. 20th 1921, a day which will go down in negro history as a great and glorious one, a day that 2400 negroes, members of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League were eagerly looking forward to[.] There [we]re [hard] showers of rain which began about 11 o’clock and fell incessantly until 1 p.m.[,] the hour fixed for the great occasion. And as soon as opportunity allowed all roads led towards the Liberty Hall of the Guachapali Chapter No. 14 of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L., at the corner of 21st and 12th of October Streets, Guachapali and from all directions hundreds of men, women and children were seen wending their way towards Liberty Hall which was to be the scene of a great festivity in the annals of the Guachapali Chapter No. 14, viz—the unveiling of Charter No. 14 granted to the Chapter by the Honourable Marcus Garvey the President-General of the organization and the installation of the officers elect[.] The hall was tastily decorated for the occasion and from the outside one could see from a distance the colors of the association[,] the red, the black and the green, flying from the flagpole while the decorations in the interior of the building were something beautiful to behold and will long linger in the memories of those who were present. Overhanging the President’s chair was a huge silk flag of the association while on the right was the national colors of this beautiful republic[,] the Republic of Panama, and on the left that of the United States together with flags of the various allied nations. Long before the hour set for the opening of the function large crowds began to assemble in the hall and at 2.15 p.m. when the meeting was opened 138
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there were over 3,000 men and women of the negro race assembled in the vast auditorium which was taxed to its utmost seating capacity whilst hundreds had to turn away disappointed unable to obtain even standing room and were compelled to join the vast concourse downstairs which packed the sidewalks, in some instances 8 and 19 [8 and 9?] deep. A striking feature of this unique gathering was the picturesque note struck by the members of the African Black Cross Society who in their white dresses with flowing veils on which the insignia of their organization was placed reminded one of some ancient druid festival when the vestal virgins led the stately processions in their sacrificial services. Their deportment was exemplary throughout the function and on the whole there was a most appreciable body. In the musical reservation circle was to be seen the Black Star Line Band; the Panam[a] Capital and the Chapter’s choir neatly robed and their clerical caps whilst directly behind them and most pleasingly contrasting with them were the members of the White and Blue Choral Union attired like the lilies of the field. Seated on the platform were the representatives from the Colón Division No. 4; Gamboa1 Division No. 5; (Division No. 3 although invited did not send any representative)[;] Commandant Morris from the Salvation Army; Mr. H. N. Walrond, Editor of Workman Newspaper[;]2 together with the delegates from the various Fraternal societies in the city of Panama. The meeting was called to order at 2.15 precisely by Mr. R. N. Whittaker[,] Chaplain elect when the processional hymn—From Greenland’s Icy Mountains—was sung by the congregation and choir which was followed by a prayer by the Chaplain. The Panama Capital then rendered the Panamanian and Ethiopian National Anthems after which the Chaplain read the evening’s lesson which was taken from Exodus 40th Chapter verse 15.3 He then gave an address of admonition to the officers and invoked the blessing of the Almighty on their labours. A hymn was then Sung by the Choir after which Brother J. A. Stevens delivered the address of welcome and introduced Bro. R. F. Millington, Chaplain of the Colón Division No. 4 as the Master of Ceremonies. Bro. Stevens said:— MR. STEVENS ADDRESS Fellowmen of the Negro race, We as officers and members of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L. are very glad to welcome you in our midst this evening. The long looked for day has arrived (Cheers) and looking over this rostrum viewing the brilliant faces of the ladies and gentlemen who are overcrowding this Liberty Hall at this moment, has filled me with enthusiasm. This evening we are very glad that in spite of many sayings that have transpired we are here in this most august moment; a time that shall go down in the history of the negro race[.] We are here this evening to allow you to see clearly that the negro has struck out on a new era. A few years ago they would have said that it would be highly impossible to have a gathering of this kind but we as negro people has been awakened from 139
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our dormant sleep and are moving forward unto the goal. It has been said that the negro has never been on the initiative but this evening we are sending it down on the pages of history that the negro is on the scene. I don’t feel like infringing upon your time but it has been appointed to me to name to you a gentleman in our midst, or a brother if we should go further home, in whose hands shall be entrusted a very important part of this evening’s program and one whom we believe that you will learn to obey and to respect and I have the great pleasure of calling upon Mr. R. F. Millington, Chaplain of the Colón Division to be Master of Ceremonies. MR. MILLINGTON’S ADDRESS Mr. Millington in replying to the last speaker said— Mr. President, Officers, Ladies and Gentlemen also members of Chapter 14[.] It is with feelings or mingled feelings I should say that I stand before you this evening and my first feeling is that of appreciable surprise. Indeed it has been to me a revelation to be here this afternoon and I go further and say that in all my future life it shall be to me an inspiration. Little did I expect when called upon by my president, the president of the Colón Chartered Division, who as you know is in very deep sympathy with this chapter and represents a part of the work of the U.N.I.A.[,] I say little did I expect that I would stand before such an audience as this, this afternoon. An audience of which Liberty Hall in the New York headquarters could not be ashamed of. I go further and say that if ever there was anything wanting to make me have confidence in my race and to make me to believe that the negroes on the Isthmus of Panama and in these islands of the Car[ibb]ean are coming into one united whole, I say this evening[’]s function is that which will make me believe that this is possible. I am no[t] here this afternoon to make so much a speech. I am not very much of an orator[.] I am[,] as Mark Anthony said in his oration over the body of C[ae]sar[,] a plain blunt man who only speaks his mind4 and you can rest assured Mr. President, Officers, members and visiting friends that whatever comes from me this evening by way of eulogy or by way of sympathy is indeed from the very depths of my heart and let me say that as far as it has gone I am indeed happy to be here. The first thing that impressed me was your enthusiasm. Enthusiasm that seems to overcome any difficulty, that will rent any obstacle and that is determined to surmount and overcome whatever may stand in its way in striving to reach the goal set down by his Excellency the Honourable Marcus Garvey. Again let me say that as far as the Colón Chartered Division is concerned we are in deep sympathy with you and the very fact that you see myself and the First Lady Vice President of the Ladies Division here this afternoon is proof of this. We have had a little difficulty in getting here but we 140
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feel more than amply repaid by the sea of faces and the deep sympathy and the shower of appreciation which has been expressed to us when we first entered this hall. I found that you have made stren[u]ous efforts in order to approach and in order to heal that which has been broken in order to bring together and cement the bands of love which hitherto has not existed between the Chartered Division of this city but I am persuaded that so far as I have discovered that you have done your level best and that you intend still to do your level best in order to heal the wounds that has been inflicted (cheers). And now brothers and sisters let me say in conclusion keep up in this good work. Keep on in your endeavours to cement yourselves with the chartered division. Keep on in your endeavours in fostering this good movement so that it can be said of you “See how these people love one another[.]” I thank you for having listened to me so patiently and I will take back to the Colón Division who have sent you their utmost best wishes also rejoice with your success, I shall take back to them your financial success and it shall be the duty of my life in as much as my position in that division warrants it, that from now on and whenever the[y] seem to be illspirited I will tell them, if you want inspiration go to Panama and see Chapter No. 14. UNVEILING OF CHARTER This uniq[u]e and pretty ceremony which was the piece de resistence of the evening having been reached[,] a curious physic silence fell over the audience who craning forward eager to have a primary glance of their duly authorised Charter yet maintained perfect order. The Master of Ceremonies then called upon little Miss V. Niles who rendered a pretty recitation which was followed by a short address by Master W. W. Alvarez[,] son of the first Vice-President[,] who was dressed in the uniform of a naval officer said: Mr. President, Officers and Members, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am very glad of the honor to unveil the Charter of this Chapter of which my father is one of the founders. Having done so in my naval uniform I hope God will help me to live to command the great Negro Fleet as its first Admiral under the colors of the Red, the Black and the Green[.] Miss V. Niles together with Master Alvarez then sung in unison a special composition entitled “AFRICA” composed by Brother B. Franklin, and set to music by Brother Carl Elliot especially for the occasion and at the words: Then may this Chart’s unveiling teach To all assembled here that each May strive to conquer and to reach Thee, Africa
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the curtains which covered the charter and whose color were Red, Black and Green, were dramatically parted amidst the uproarious cheers and thunderous handclaps from the vast concourse of people assembled in the hall. When order had once more been restored the chairman in a laudatory manner enunciated the facts that we were advancing from a point to a line, from a line to a superficies[,] from a superficies to a circle ever pressing forward to our objective, the [“]Summum Bonum of our ideals[”]—Africa[.] The charter was then taken up and held before the audience for view after which Secretary-elect Smith read aloud the inscription and the Preamble of the constitution thereon setting forth the objects and aims of this world wide organization which was formed by a negro for negroes. This being done the Chapter’s choir rendered a beautiful anthem entitled “Sing Praise to God” which was well done and was the cause of loud applause from the audience. This closed the first part of the program and the chairman then announced that the installation of the officers would then take place. INSTALLATION OF OFFICERS This was a most impressive ceremony and the members of the choir who robed in clerical caps and gowns marched up the long aisle led by General Mayers and his staff together with the Admiral5 of the “Iron Duke”6 while behind him were the officers to be installed. The Chaplain who was attired in his gown was installed by the Master of Ceremonies, he in turn installing the remaining officers, all of whom appeared in immaculate white attire with the exception of the Male President who wore conventional evening dress and the Lady President who was attired in a charming creation of clinging black silk which accentuated her special type of beauty most picturesquely. During the installation of each of the officers the Chapter’s choir rendered several songs which were very appropriate for the occasion. The officers who were installed into office are as follows:— J. E. GADSBY,
President. CHARLES A. ALVAREZ, first Vice-President. J. A. CONWAY, 2nd Vice-president. J. LEON BAPTISTE, 3rd Vice-president. ALFRED O. SMITH, Executive [Sec]retary. JOHN H. ST. LOUIS, General Secretary. R. C. AUSTIN, Associate Secretary. F. A. SUTHERLAND, Treasurer. R. N. WHITTAKER, Chaplain. MRS. BRIDGET A. AIRD[,] Lady president. MRS. W. NILES, 1st Vice-president.
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NOVEMBER 1921 MRS. A[.] BROOMS,
2nd Vice president MRS. I. HENRY, 3rd Vice President. MISS AGNES CLARKE, General Secretary. MRS. FLORENCE BATSON, Asst. Treasurer, TRUSTEES Messrs. R. Ward, C. A. Richards, C. Allen, A. Fitzherbert and A. N. Jones. ADVISORY BOARD C. E. Lewis, A. C. Bishop, W. E. Craig[,] E. A. Squires, W. A. Rouse, R. F. Gittans[,] W. E. Joseph, C. O. Skeete, A. E. Charles, Chas. Scott, H. Fogherty, E. Taylor, H. Downes, James McPhun, James Phillips, S. L. Aird, H. Worrell, E. Bourne, E. Hill, D. Morris, J. Alce[e,] J. A. Bellisare, E. McLean and D. F. Cooper. The honour of welcoming the Lady President was given to Mrs. Doris F. Richardson, the first Lady Vice President of the Colón Division who in welcoming her said— I have very much pleasure in welcoming you. It is a distinguished honor to be elected as Lady President of such a chapter as this. I must say a few words to you regarding your duty. As the Lady President of the Chartered Chapter No. 14[,] I congratulate you and remember it is your duty to shepherd the women of our race. It is indeed a very honourable position and I trust that you will not only look upon it as an honour but also as a pleasure to serve this noble race of ours. At the conclusion of the installation of officers the choir rendered an anthem which was highly appreciated by the audience. PRESIDENT GADSBY’S ADDRESS The President who was serious throughout the ceremony then gave a thrilling address and held his audience spell bound wafting them over the wide area which he occupies in the oratori[c]al world. He said:— Mr. Chairman, Officers, Members and friends of the Guachapali Chapter, No. 14, I am indeed glad to be in your presence this evening[,] I have at this moment to thank you for the showers of esteem you have oversh[ad]owed me with[.] Little did I think I was so much esteemed, but from the other night I saw from the handwriting on the wall, I found that I was very much esteemed. This evening is exemplary for that! I have to thank you very much for the amount of esteem you have showered
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down upon me in that you have made me President of this Guachapali Chapter No. 14, of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L., I want to assure you that owing to the authority vested in me through the constitution, I want to assure you that from this moment onward I shall go forward to use my authority and not usurp it. Standing as I do from this rostrum and gazing over the audience, taking a view of this gay throng, indeed it at this moment fills me with an air of philanthrophy. It causes me to think of the Hon Sir Conrad Reeves.7 It causes me to think that we have reached somewhere on the ladder and that we are looking down on the lesser mortals. Listen to me clearly. When I say the lesser mortals I don’t mean individuals. I mean the other branches of this grand movement. I mean that we were the least amongst the apostles and at this moment we are the greatest of the apostles. Gazing as I do over this audience I am persuaded to ask you one question, what come ye out for to see? a reed shaken by the wind, a man clothed in a long coat or the beautiful faces of the gay ladies? I say no, these three things are not what you have come out to see. You have come to see, to hear and to help carry on a grand enterprise,—the unveiling of our charter. An enterprise I say, that has as its basis three great factors, an enterprise that has benevolence, beneficence and magnificence. An enterprise started nine months and fourteen days ago and today we stand second to none over the Car[ibb]ean waters. I shall not weary you out any longer; but I am only asking of you that you be loyal because I alone can do nothing. I want you to be loyal to the Honourable Marcus Garvey who is the cause of this colossal movement. He is the one who has got the vision and I am saying that I want to keep it up and the longer you keep the more we shall be able to conquer. Again, I have to thank you very much for the amount of esteem you have showered down upon me. I have to thank the Chaplain of the Colón Division No. 4 for the very valuable services he has performed here this evening and I sincerely hope that he shall take back to his division the kind regards of the Guachapali Chapter No. 14 and let them know that we are with them and at every call we shall be with them until the muffled drums and calls shall beat their last tattoo. We mean to go on in this good work and let me say it would be easier to stop the sun in its daily course, it would be easier to shave the dust from a cyclone with a safety razor or it would be easier to wear the aurora borealis as an evening gown than to stop the onward march of this Guachapali Chapter No. 14 and we shall go on from gay heights to giddier heights and our eternal habitat shall be Africa. (Loud and prolonged cheers)
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The Chairman commented on the brilliant address which was delivered by the President, and then called upon Mrs. Bridget E. Aird[,] the Lady President[,] who made the following address:— LADY PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS Fellowmen of the Negro Race and longing ones to enter the shores of Africa. Greetings: To be among you this evening and to receive the honour of being your Lady President has stirred my feelings to such depths that words are weak to describe[.] I must thank you for the great honour you have conferred on me, that you have so unanimously elected me for this Lady Presidency. Little did I dream that to me would have been this great honour and now that it has been duly conferred on me, I can assure you that by the help of God I will be as ardent a worker as possible for the good of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L. as long as life lasts. This evening it is almost with unbounded joy that I am attempting to speak to you for a few moments and my address would be summed up in these few words— “I have come that ye may have life and that more abundantly.”8 In these few words are summed up many instances or references both heavenly and moral. I have come. In the first instance let us refer to the Birth of Christ. When that birth came the heavens declared the glories of God that meant new life, unbounded life. At His resurrection the heavens broke forth into joy saying, “Christ is risen.” That also was unbounded joy, and then we come down to the three and a half years when God through Marcus Garvey sent us life, and today we have it evinced. We have life and that more abundantly. Now we have come to the other motive of these words,—“I have come that ye may have life and that more abundantly.” I want to especially refer this evening to our charter. In it is vested our authority and we have to look to this with joy this evening. Deep down in our career we must think of it for without it we were pilgrims and wanderers but with it we have the assurance that we can go to it and accomplish anything for the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L. This is our receipt, we are sure that we have paid a sum or that we have paid a debt. I have come that ye may have life, we have had life, for if we did not we could not have been numbering 2400. Right here, I have come that ye may have life and that more abundantly, and now that you are satisfied, my dear brothers and sisters, that you have got life since this charter has been unveiled, we appeal to you in the name of our leader and as new negroes to have a new life and to have it abundantly. We have worked in the past but I want to tell you that we have to work and do double work now, for we stand on a platform where we must not fear that we will fall. We are a chartered Chapter, No. 14, and I want every member of this chapter irrespective of anything to work as true members[,] build up the organization[,] push it up and as we have given forth before the end of one year an example
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never yet recorded may we yet go forward, and I can assure you that I will do all in my capacity to help you. (Loud cheers) (Continued in our next issue) Printed in the Workman (Panama City), 26 November 1921. 1. A small town in the Republic of Panama, Gamboa is one of a handful of permanent Canal Zone townships, originally built to house employees of the Panama Canal and their dependents. It was built in 1911, during the Canal construction, and was initially populated by “silver roll” (AfroAntilleans and other non-U.S., non-white) workers and their dependents. It is located on a sharp bend of the Chagres River at the point which feeds Lake Gatun. Just south of Gamboa, Lake Gatun and the Chagres meet the Culebra Cut where the Canal cuts through the Continental Divide (“Your Town-Gamboa,” The Panama Canal Review, September 4, 1953; Miles P. DuVal Jr., And the Mountains Will Move: The Story of the Building of the Panama Canal [Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1947]) 2. H. N. Waldron, an immigrant from St. Lucia, was the founder in 1912 of The Workman, a weekly newspaper that served the interests of English-speaking community in Panama (the bulk of the work force) until 1930, when it was replaced by the Panama Tribune newspaper (http://thesilverpeoplechronicle.com/2008/08/english-language-press-in-panama.html#sthash.iM1RFrTw.dpuf). 3. In Exod. 40:1–15, God instructs Moses to build a tabernacle. God also instructs Moses in verse 15, “And thou shalt anoint them, as thou didst anoint their father, that they may minister unto me in the priest’s office: for their anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations.” 4. A reference to Mark Antony’s oration in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar: I am no orator, as Brutus is, But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man That love my friend, and that they know full well That gave me public leave to speak of him For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth, Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech 5. The reference to “Admiral of the ‘Iron Duke’” would imply the presence of the Barbados Landship, a cultural movement and important icon of Barbadian artisan culture, in the meeting. That the Landship had a Garveyite connection has often been hinted at in the literature of the movement (“friends of the movement” were key members of the UNIA in Barbados), but the current reference provides the first explicit historical evidence of the connection. Known for its ceremonial parades and performances, in which members mimic officers of the British navy, dressed in naval uniforms and marching and dancing to music, the Landship organization mirrors the structure of the British navy, with each unit known as a “ship,” based at its own “dock” (a wooden house similar to a Barbadian ‘chattel house’). The leaders are known as Lord High Admiral, Admiral, Captain, Boatswain, Quarter Master, Commander, Doctor, Matron, Engineer and other navy ranks. The Barbados Landship was traditionally made up of several ships, with each unit named after an actual naval ship—in this case, HMS Iron Duke. Each community group or “ship” was named after a British vessel, preferably a British man-of-war. The first Landships to be registered as friendly societies in 1898 were Nelson and Victory Naval. Continuing the naming tradition, three of the Landships launched by 1911 were called Indefatigable, Dreadnought, and Queen Mary. The members of the Landship engage in manoeuvres and execute commands. These manoeuvres are unique to the individual Landship and every movement is supposed to signify some exercise of historical significance. The two main components of a Landship comprise the performers and the tuk band, known as the “engine” of the Landship, which provides the musical rhythm for the various dance maneuvers, depicting both the movement of the ship and the activities of the ship’s officers and crew (such as engineers, quartermaster, doctors, nurses and sailors) that keep it afloat and steadied at sea. The drum rhythms of the tuk band are a musical form which evolved during slavery in Barbados, but its roots lay within the genre of African musical expression.
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NOVEMBER 1921 The Barbados Landship also operated as a friendly society, the earliest form of organization for charitable purposes in Barbados. Landships were community groups based in the tenantries and villages of Barbados for most of their existence. A post-emancipation development, the popular date given for their genesis is the 1860s, though exact historical evidence is yet to be found for this periodization. Landships came to the fore in the late nineteenth century organized as friendly societies; their trademark was to wear naval livery and perform “naval maneuvers” during their parades. Popular understanding has it that Landships were formed by Moses Wood, a Barbadian seaman who decided to reenact on land the camaraderie and discipline he had experienced at sea. However, though early Landship members would have been retired sailors, or sailors between stints at sea, membership also included persons from other occupations. Plantation laborers, artisans, and men working around the docks all belonged to Landships. By 1920 women were also members of the Landships. By the early 1930s several prominent members of the black and colored middle-class community, such as Dr. Hugh Cummins and C. A. Brathwaite, were associated with Landships. These “friends of the movement” assisted in the formation of the Barbados Landship Association, the umbrella organization that coordinated the activities of the thirty-five Landships that existed at that time. Its core membership, however, remained firmly rooted in the working class (Marcia P. A. Burrowes, “The Barbados Landship: The Cloaking of a Heritage,” in “History and Cultural Identity: Barbadian Space and the Legacy of Empire,” Ph.D. diss., University of Warwick, 2000; Aviston Downes, “Sailing from Colonial into National Waters: A History of the Barbados Landship,” Journal of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society, vol. 46 [2000]: 93–122; “Searching for Admiral Moses Wood: Oral Tradition and the History of the Landship,” ibid., vol. 48 [November 2002]: 64–78; George Bernard, Wayside Sketches: Pen Pictures of Barbadian Life [Bridgetown, 1934], pp. 15–18; H. A. Vaughan, “Some Local and Political Changes, 1910–1935,” in J. M. Hewitt, ed., Jubilee Magazine [Bridgetown, 1935], pp. 31–32, 57–61; A. F. Wells, Friendly Societies in the West Indies; report on a survey by A. F. and D. Wells, and a dispatch from the Secretary of State for the Colonies to the West Indian governors dated 15th May, 1952, Issue 15 of Colonial Research Publication [London: H. M. Stationery Office, 1953], 9). 6. HMS Iron Duke, of which there have been three, was a famous frigate of the British Royal Navy. The first Iron Duke was built in 1870. The second and most famous Iron Duke, a super Dreadnought-class battleship ordered under the 1911 program and built by HM Dockyard, Portsmouth, was the legendary First World War battleship which served as the flagship of the Grand Fleet. It was from the bridge of the Iron Duke that Admiral Jellicoe directed the famous Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916. The ship remained on active service through the 1920s until she became a training vessel in the 1930s (N. J. M. Campbell, Jutland: An Analysis of the Fighting [New York: Lyons Press, 2000]; “HMS Iron Duke,” http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/our-organisation/thefighting-arms/surface-fleet/frigates/hms-iron-duke). 7. Sir Conrad Reeves (1821–1902), a journalist who worked under the radical leader Samuel J. Prescod, became solicitor general of Barbados in 1874, attorney general in 1882, and the first black chief justice in 1886. He was also the first black to be knighted in the British Empire. Unlike Prescod, Reeves developed a commitment for institutions rather than for the people they served. Thus, during the confederation crisis and rebellion in Barbados, he sided with the white planter class (Bruce Hamilton, Barbados and the Confederation Question, 1871–1885 [London: Government of Barbados, 1956], p. 38; F. A. Hoyos, Builders of Barbados [London: Macmillan Caribbean, 1987], pp. 61–75). 8. In John 10:10 Jesus says, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
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J. Gilman Horsford, Acting President, UNIA San Juan Division, to the Negro World [[San Juan, ca. 26 November 1921]]
SAN JUAN CELEBRATES Dear Mr. Editor: Please allow me space in your priceless paper to publish an account of the reception staged by the San Juan Division No. 45 to celebrate our international holiday. On the night of August 31, under a splendid sky, our noble sisters were decking our Liberty Hall with an abundance of flowers, which produced a most heavenly scene. The serving table was also bountifully supplied with a variety of cakes, ice cream, soft drinks, etc., which had been donated voluntarily for the occasion. At 8:30 p.m. members and friends packed our hall to its utmost capacity. At 9 p.m. Mr. John Matthews, chairman, called the gathering to order and opened the program to order with the hymn “Onward Christian Soldiers,” followed with prayer by the same. The chairman then delivered his opening address, and in brilliant words outlined the meaning of the reception and the objects of the U.N.I.A. At the close of the address the national anthem, “Ethiopia,” was sung. The choir did their part splendidly, and among the pieces rendered was “Tell It Out Among the Nations that Marcus Garvey Reigns,” which aroused great applause. During intermission refreshments were served to the delight of all present. The program was carried through with success. At the closing the chairman again addressed the gathering. Then came the singing of the national anthem to close the program. I must need say here that never in my life have I ever heard an anthem sung with such energy, enthusiasm and sincerity as was “Ethiopia, Thou Land of Our Fathers,” which was sung on the night of August 31 by members and friends of Division No. 45 of the U.N.I.A. It made one feel proud to be a Negro and also proud of the organization and of its founder, His Excellency the Hon. Marcus Garvey. At the close of the singing the chairman commanded three cheers for the Red, Black and Green, and three for His Excellency the Hon. Marcus Garvey. In reply to this command the hall vibrated with the hurrahs. The reception terminated with exultation at 1 a.m. and will ever be remembered by those present. Thanking you in advance for your kind favor. Yours for racial uplift, J. GILMAN HORSFORD, Acting President Printed in the NW, 26 November 1921.
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Puerto Rico
Samuel Percival Radway, et al., to the District Attorney, Camagüey Provincial Court Camagüey, 1 December 1921 Honorable Sir: Those of us who subscribe appear before you and respectfully submit:— That during the celebration of a meeting of religious nature in a hall called Liberty Hall of the Universal [N]egro Improvement and African Communities League of the World, that unites men and women of the same citizenship and having obtained permission or authorization from the Mayor, to celebrate said meeting previously, a group of four municipal policemen of the District of Florida incited by one Federico White entered our hall creating a big scandal, and in a disorderly manner and with violence, displaying revolvers and threatening with clubs, forced more than four hundred individuals of both sexes, of our race, to abandon the hall. Some of us knowing that the disorder had not been instigated by us, faithful observers of the Laws of Cuba, remained in our seats for which reason we were brutally mistreated[.] Mr. Ellis, one of the undersigned, received a strong blow from one of the policemen, caused with the club, on his arm, [a] wound that the accompanying medical certificate classifies and which disables [him] from work. The Dr. organizer of our society
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Puerto Rico
Samuel Percival Radway, et al., to the District Attorney, Camagüey Provincial Court Camagüey, 1 December 1921 Honorable Sir: Those of us who subscribe appear before you and respectfully submit:— That during the celebration of a meeting of religious nature in a hall called Liberty Hall of the Universal [N]egro Improvement and African Communities League of the World, that unites men and women of the same citizenship and having obtained permission or authorization from the Mayor, to celebrate said meeting previously, a group of four municipal policemen of the District of Florida incited by one Federico White entered our hall creating a big scandal, and in a disorderly manner and with violence, displaying revolvers and threatening with clubs, forced more than four hundred individuals of both sexes, of our race, to abandon the hall. Some of us knowing that the disorder had not been instigated by us, faithful observers of the Laws of Cuba, remained in our seats for which reason we were brutally mistreated[.] Mr. Ellis, one of the undersigned, received a strong blow from one of the policemen, caused with the club, on his arm, [a] wound that the accompanying medical certificate classifies and which disables [him] from work. The Dr. organizer of our society
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here, was flung from a height of more than a yard by one of the Agents of Authority and would have been badly injured had he not fallen on top of the hall’s chairs and benches. [En multiples esceriaciones?] And greater consequences would have occurred had the people not left the hall. Various chairs belonging to the association ended up broken by the Police damaging the property of the Association. We enclose the authorization that we had to celebrate the party. The Mayor was at the meeting moments before it [was] to begin. We await of your honorable person that you serve, as in all case it is accustomed, strict justice. S. P. RADWAY CHAS. J. ELLIS CHAS. THOMAS CECILIA ELLIS RUPERT BAILEY T. L. MAHONEY J. S. MORGAN AHPC, RA, leg. 134, exp. 1663. TLS. Translated from Spanish.
Article in the Workman [Panama City, 3 December 1921]
THE UNVEILING OF CHAPTER CHARTER NO. 14 U.N.I.A.—INTERESTING SPEECHES DELIVERED (Continued From our Last Issue) The next speaker was Brother Charles Alvarez the first Vice-president of the chapter who spoke as follows: VICE-PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS May it please Brother President, members of the respective delegations. Ladies and gentlemen, friends of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L., I am indeed very glad to be here this evening and particularly so in being able to say a word to you and in saying that word I wish to thank you from the bottom of my heart, for the great confidence you have placed in me in electing me first vice-president. In this capacity I hope, with the power of God, to work more stren[u]ously than I have done in the past so that the 2400 now on our list shall be 2800 before the end of the year. There is one 150
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here, was flung from a height of more than a yard by one of the Agents of Authority and would have been badly injured had he not fallen on top of the hall’s chairs and benches. [En multiples esceriaciones?] And greater consequences would have occurred had the people not left the hall. Various chairs belonging to the association ended up broken by the Police damaging the property of the Association. We enclose the authorization that we had to celebrate the party. The Mayor was at the meeting moments before it [was] to begin. We await of your honorable person that you serve, as in all case it is accustomed, strict justice. S. P. RADWAY CHAS. J. ELLIS CHAS. THOMAS CECILIA ELLIS RUPERT BAILEY T. L. MAHONEY J. S. MORGAN AHPC, RA, leg. 134, exp. 1663. TLS. Translated from Spanish.
Article in the Workman [Panama City, 3 December 1921]
THE UNVEILING OF CHAPTER CHARTER NO. 14 U.N.I.A.—INTERESTING SPEECHES DELIVERED (Continued From our Last Issue) The next speaker was Brother Charles Alvarez the first Vice-president of the chapter who spoke as follows: VICE-PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS May it please Brother President, members of the respective delegations. Ladies and gentlemen, friends of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L., I am indeed very glad to be here this evening and particularly so in being able to say a word to you and in saying that word I wish to thank you from the bottom of my heart, for the great confidence you have placed in me in electing me first vice-president. In this capacity I hope, with the power of God, to work more stren[u]ously than I have done in the past so that the 2400 now on our list shall be 2800 before the end of the year. There is one 150
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thing that struck me very forcibly this evening and that is when Christ gave the parable of the ten lepers1 who were cleansed he said “were they not ten cleansed one has come to worship but where are the nine?[”] Today I must say Are they not five, four have come to worship, but where is the one? That one is the other branch, but for the grand and noble purpose of the U.N.I.A. and for the desirability of the race we would ask you to go to that brother or that one and tell him like the words of the fond mother to her wayward son, “with all thy faults I love thee still” go and tell them that despite all their faults we No. 14 love them still[.] Just for a few minutes I want to talk to you of something which you might not have noticed. While our charter lay obscured under the colors of the red, the black and the green, one very serious thought struck me and that is that while obscured we as a people, we as Chapter No. 14, had all our differences obscured and now that the charter is unveiled we have arisen with a new determination to let things of the past die in the past and go forward to do the things which are right and essential, for the future. In all these things I ask you as a people to go with us for without you we can do nothing. The negro has suffered for 250 years and now that God three and a half years ago, through Marcus Garvey has given us new life so that we know today that no man in the sight of God is better than the negro, will you come? Anyone of you here who have not yet joined this grand and noble association, we are entreating you to join us and help make this cause a great one. At the close of his address the first Vice-President was loudly applauded and the Chairman commented very strongly on his remarks. The next speaker was the first Lady Vice President of the Colón Division, Mrs. Doris F. Richardso[n] who gave a very brilliant address as follows:— MRS. RICHARDSON’S ADDRESS Mr. Chairman, Mr. President, Lady President, Officers and members of this noble race of ours I greet you. I greet you from the depths of my heart[.] As a representative from the Colón Chartered Division No. 4 I really never anticipated the pleasure that was awaiting me here. The beautiful and bright faces that I now see, I think is sufficient to take me on to Colón to do greater work for the U.N.I.A. I must congratulate you[.] Words really fail me to express my joy and appreciation, to think that just a couple of months you all came together and now you have amassed over 2,400 members. I must say in a whisper that you have put us, the Colón Division, No. 4, to shame, and I want to assure you that we are a bit jealous. It is good to be jealous. When we are jealous of good works I think jealousy is right, and as I have already told you as first vice-President of the Ladies Branch in Colón, I mean to get back and tell my president and fellow officers that we must keep our eyes wide open else we won’t be 151
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able to keep pace with you. I was very much impressed with your president, your first vice president, your other officers and your Lady President and the members of the Advisory Board, they all appear to me [to be] the very, very intelligent men and women, I am very proud of them for they are those who are supposed to settle the differences of this division and I must exhort them to stand by their president. Without the support of the members and officers, the president will not be able to accomplish anything. I was very pleased also with the first vice president’s address. It filled me with great delight, it showed that he is broadminded. We must be broadminded. We cannot afford to allow any dissension to get into our midst and we must remember the motto of the U.N.I.A. is “one God, one Aim, one Destiny” and that when we have one aim let us sink our differences and putting aside whatever it may be take a brother or a sister by the hand and say as a man or a woman let bygones be bygones and let us all join together in unity. I don’t know what is the cause for this dissension but I shall endeavour to see the president and other officers of the chartered division in Panama and use my feeble efforts in bringing you all together. Friends, this is what we want, this is what the Honourable Marcus Garvey wants. We can’t afford to be divided, we have to keep in line for the other race is looking steadfastly at us and when they see us divided they are going to laugh and scorn us, so please bear that in mind, and let us be loyal one to the other. I thank you very much for listening to me, and I do not feel I could sit down without congratulating those noble women of our race, the Black Cross Nurses. They are they who are supposed to take care of the sick of our race, yes more than that, they are supposed to go to Africa to help our men on the battlefields where they shall care for them, and I want the other members to appreciate them. And then last but not least the choir. How will we be able to get along without the sweet strains of music. Friends, I must tell you, this is a red letter day in my life,—the unveiling of our Charter—which I shall never forget, and I shall take back to Colón your good wishes, and I ask that you too accept ours, and I want you to realize that we are with you. We are out for a cause. Too much is at stake, dear friends, to stop at trifling matters. Let us push forwa[r]d. May God help you so to do, and I trust in the near future that I shall be privileged to come back to you. The speaker took her seat amidst a thunderous uproar of applause from the large audience, and when order had been restored the chairman in commenting on her address said heretofore it had been the attitude of the men to treat the women as inferiors, but now they have to be treated as equals. The Chapter’s choir then rendered an Anthem “Sun of My Soul,” which was loudly applauded. This was followed by a recitation by Miss A. D. Henry, a 152
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member of the Chapter, entitled “The Last Hymn.” The graphic delineation with which she rendered it together with the musical part, which added to the beauty of the piece stamp her as one with that rare gift of rhetorical emotion. The chairman then called upon the representative of the Gamboa Division No. 5 of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L, who spoke as follows: GAMBOA DIVISION NO[.] 5 Mr. Chairman, President of the Guachapali Chapter No. 14, Officers and Members, Visiting friends, Ladies and Gentlemen, In the first place I am asking you to bear with me because I am a small man, small in statue and you must expect my voice to be small. I am here this evening as a representative from the Gamboa Division and I must say that that division is the smallest division on the Isthmus. We have a membership of forty and when I say forty members I want it understood that we have 100%[.] There are no more there. We have enlarged our field and we have gone to Darien2 and organized the people and just a week ago we sent a pioneer to Las Cascadas3 where we found pioneers from the Guachapali Chapter No. 14[.] Allow me therefore to congratulate you on the wonderful work that you are now doing, when I look back on your nine months work and see that you are 2400 strong. Your president has said that you are going to take in David and, the outlying districts and I can see by his earnestness that he means it. You are here this evening on an auspicious occasion. The unveiling of the charter of the Guachapali Chapter No. 14. The charter is a symbol of authority and with it the Guachapali Chapter can go ahead with the good work it has been doing which caused the eyes of the whole Isthmus to look upon it and we of the Gamboa Division although a small one and although we can boast of a 100% membership yet we have to respect this Guachapali Chapter No. 14[.] A few years ago the negroes were looked upon as inferiors, and never could accomplish anything, we had to be under the leadership of the white man, but today we find that the negro has awakened from his sleep and are doing things for himself. Continuing the speaker paid a glowing tribute to the wonderful work that has been accomplished by the Honourable Marcus Garvey when he started this world wide movement and gave words of encouragement to both the officers and members of the Guachapali Chapter to go ahead in the good work of organizing and keeping together the thousands of negroes on the Isthmus of Panama, and assured them of the support of the Gamboa Division No. 5. He concluded by saying that “Mother Africa is crying out for help.” She is suffering at the hands of foreigners and we as part and parcel of the 400 million negroes of the world we must do our part in answering the call. The speaker took his seat and was loudly applauded. The Panama Capital Band then rendered a selection entitled “Holiness Becometh Thy House” and
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was followed with an address by Commander Morris of the Salvation Army who said in part as follows:— COM. MORRIS’ ADDRESS Mr. President, Mr. Chairman and I want to open my heart and say my brothers and sisters for as I stand here this afternoon I am a 100% negro and indeed I am very glad to be here. I feel like saying the same thing as was once said of a speaker who in addressing an audience said before he began, I really don’t know where to begin and before he was finished he said, well I really don’t know where to stop; but with all the smiles and with all the jokes and with all the pleasures there may be with us this afternoon, to me as far as I am concerned, this is a reality. If we were told two years ago that we could have arranged in such a manner to get such an energetic crowd of our people together we might have not believed it but thanks be to God we are here together this evening under our own vine and fig tree. We are here as a race, we are here as a people to encourage one another to stand by one another to get hands and hearts together and to push forward this grand cause with one God, one Aim, one Destiny, One object with God first and our race next. This is the bible (holding a large bible before the audience) and I am glad to see this book here. Others are books but this is the book and in coming here this afternoon I have one thought and I have gone through that book and found something that will help us. One question that was asked by Christ to the Apostle and I refer to the Apostle Paul when Christ in asking him the question said “If God be for us who can be against us?”4 Dare [not] what others may say or do wherever God is, there is success, and as a negro I feel that God is on my side and wherever I meet a boy of my race, a girl of my race[,] a lad of my race, a lass of my race, a man of my race or a woman of my race, wheresoever I meet them and look upon them I have to say there is the image of God, and since God is there, and since God is here, and since he is on our side, we are going to achieve great things. I want to speak to you about our children the coming fathers and mothers of our race. We as a people should do our best for them, we must work for the education of our children to bring them up intelligently so that they can climb and be in a position to make us feel proud. We are here this afternoon listening to our own people rendering musical strains, looking at their sunny faces. We don[’]t have to go to the other races to listen to their musical talent, we have our own. Continuing the speaker spoke about the great future that is in store for the negro race and gave striking examples of the great deeds done by negroes and paid glowing tributes to the movement which was fostered by the Honourable Marcus Garvey and concluded his address by saying “May God bless this chartered chapter of the Universal Negro Improvement Association 2400 members strong and may [H]e crown your every effort with success and 154
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may we move on in that spirit until when time for us shall be no more we may be able to say like the great Admiral I have done my duty. The speaker was given a hearty applause by the audience. The next item was an address by Mr. H. N. Waldrond [Walrond], Editor of the Workman Printery[,] who said MR. WALDROND’S [WALROND’S] ADDRESS Mr. President, Officers and members of the U.N.I.A. Ladies and Gentlemen. It is indeed [a] great pleasure for me to be with you this afternoon. It is the first time that I have had the pleasure of being invited to a meeting of the U.N.I.A. since it has been established on the Isthmus of Panama. It is also a greater pleasure for me, for the first time to speak to such a stupendo[u]s convocation of our race and I believe it is the first time such a gathering of the race has ever come together at any one time on the Isthmus of Panama. As a newspaperman I have had to be very reticent in the past; I have had to steer clear of many things[.] There is another division under the auspices of the U.N.I.A. I have watched the operations of that carefully. I have endeavoured to do what I could in its behalf and if I didn’t do a great deal it is because I didn’t know any thing about its inner workings. Since you have invited me here this afternoon, and I am pleased with the invitation I will be able in my own feeble way to do a great deal more for your organization. Newspaper men in many instances imagine many things. In fact very often we create things but when we have facts and we can substantiate them we are able to do a great deal more. I am pleased to be here especially in an organization of the U.N.I.A. The basic principles of this organization is I understand, the consolidation of the Negro race. I am a Negro and I greet you as Negroes like myself, and I believe that every fairminded negro and any negro with any principle should be proud to know that the race is able to stand together. One of the chief principles of the Workman newspaper since it has been established is for the consolidation of the Negro race. And if we have not been able to do much in this connection in the past it was because the race was not what it is today. There has been a sudden awakening and this has been only in the past year or two. That coming together has started to consolidate the race as a people and I want to tell you this evening that I am with you and will ever stand with you as a united people. Mr. President I want to repeat to you that your invitation was a pleasure to me, I am glad that I have had the opportunity to come among you and to be able to see and hear for myself. I have heard a great deal this evening, and the noble addresses which you gave inspired me also your vice-president’s [a]ddress and the splendid address that was handed down by one of the gentler sex, no less a person than the repre-
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sentative from the Colón Division. I feel if we had more of her kind in speaking as she did it would be a wonderful asset for the race. Continuing the speaker referred to the good work that the organization has done in the past in organizing such a large number of members in just nine months, and said that he is looking forward for greater things in the future. In conclusion he said, I hope for your organization all prosperity and may you go on from success to success, for the noble purpose of this organization, the consolidation of the negro race. The speaker took his seat amidst a loud applause from the audience and was followed by an anthem by the White and Blue Choral Union entitled the “Hallelujah Chorus.” This was very nicely rendered and was the cause of thunderous applause. A special feature of the evening’s program was a miniature ship which was built by Brother William Crichlow a member of the Chapter which was placed on exhibition in the hall. The dimensions of the ship is as follows. Length over 14 all 4 feet 7 inches; Beam, 11 inches; Depth 9 inches[;] Draught, 6 inches fo[rw]ard and 7 inches aft. Fitted out with one set3 of compound engines using 3 34 oil burning system. Size of engine x 1 x8 1 8 inches with air pump, feed pump, condenser suitable for driving twin screws. Boilers pressure 56 pounds per square inch. Speed four knots per hour. Built of sheet metal. There were several representatives from the various fraternal societies present who gave short addresses which were very appropriate. The f[u]nction came to a close at about 10:30 p.m. and will be a day long to be remembered by negroes in the city of Panama. The following is a copy of the composition rendered at the unveiling of the charter. AFRICA We do not love thee for thy gold Nor for thy mysteries untold, Our heritage—tis ours to hold O Africa. All of thy children dream of Thee And have begun to see Thee free O may we live that day to see Our Africa Then may this chart’s unveiling teach To all assembled here that each
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May strive to conquer and to reach Thee Africa. When on thy golden shores we meet Transported there by our own fleet, God grant our lives be pure and sweet In Africa. (Composed by B. F. Fraser, Music by Carl Elliot) Printed in the Workman (Panama City), 3 December 1921. 1. “And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?” (Luke 17:11–19). 2. Darién, a province in Panama, is located at the eastern end of the country. The area surrounding the border with Colombia is known as the Darién Gap, a large swath of undeveloped swampland and forest. 3. Las Cascadas was a colony of West Indians established in late 1919 by the Canal authorities as a reserve pool of labor. Vulnerable to pressure by the Canal authorities by virtue of the fact that they lived within the Canal Zone and could, therefore, be expelled from their homes at any time, they were expected to be useful in breaking strikes. Many West Indians opposed the Las Cascadas settlement for this reason. The Workman itself denounced it as a means of making the Canal strikeproof (Workman, 22 November 1919; Michael Conniff, Black Labor on a White Canal: Panama, 1904–1981 [Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh, 1985], p. 55–56). 4. “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). Contrary to what the document suggests, Jesus did not speak it to Paul; rather, Paul said it to the Romans in his letter (Robert Carroll and Stephen Prickett, eds., The Bible: Authorized King James Version [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997]).
E. A. Scarlett, Third Vice-President, UNIA Morón Division, to the Negro World [[Morón, Camagüey, Cuba, ca. 10 December 1921]]
PROGRAM OF A.B.B. SPELLS RUIN, SAYS CUBAN WRITER INTELLIGENT ANALYSIS OF TWO MOVEMENTS BY MORON OFFICER SETTLES FOR ALL TIME QUESTION AS TO SUPERIORITY OF ORGANIZATIONS Dear Mr. Editor: Be good enough to allow me space in your paper to inform Mr. Cyril V. Briggs, one of the high priests of the A.B.B., that whereas, in my opinion, only a very small ratio of the “Old Negro” and none of the “New” accept his doctrines, which he is revealing to the reading public in the shape of a “program to lead the Negro to his God-designed destiny” he and the rest of his accomplices in that scheme had better surrender at once to the overwhelming force of the U.N.I.A., the only agent capable of putting the Negro into his rightful place in the sun. Referring to the October issue of the “Crusader,”1 may I ask how dare 157
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May strive to conquer and to reach Thee Africa. When on thy golden shores we meet Transported there by our own fleet, God grant our lives be pure and sweet In Africa. (Composed by B. F. Fraser, Music by Carl Elliot) Printed in the Workman (Panama City), 3 December 1921. 1. “And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?” (Luke 17:11–19). 2. Darién, a province in Panama, is located at the eastern end of the country. The area surrounding the border with Colombia is known as the Darién Gap, a large swath of undeveloped swampland and forest. 3. Las Cascadas was a colony of West Indians established in late 1919 by the Canal authorities as a reserve pool of labor. Vulnerable to pressure by the Canal authorities by virtue of the fact that they lived within the Canal Zone and could, therefore, be expelled from their homes at any time, they were expected to be useful in breaking strikes. Many West Indians opposed the Las Cascadas settlement for this reason. The Workman itself denounced it as a means of making the Canal strikeproof (Workman, 22 November 1919; Michael Conniff, Black Labor on a White Canal: Panama, 1904–1981 [Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh, 1985], p. 55–56). 4. “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). Contrary to what the document suggests, Jesus did not speak it to Paul; rather, Paul said it to the Romans in his letter (Robert Carroll and Stephen Prickett, eds., The Bible: Authorized King James Version [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997]).
E. A. Scarlett, Third Vice-President, UNIA Morón Division, to the Negro World [[Morón, Camagüey, Cuba, ca. 10 December 1921]]
PROGRAM OF A.B.B. SPELLS RUIN, SAYS CUBAN WRITER INTELLIGENT ANALYSIS OF TWO MOVEMENTS BY MORON OFFICER SETTLES FOR ALL TIME QUESTION AS TO SUPERIORITY OF ORGANIZATIONS Dear Mr. Editor: Be good enough to allow me space in your paper to inform Mr. Cyril V. Briggs, one of the high priests of the A.B.B., that whereas, in my opinion, only a very small ratio of the “Old Negro” and none of the “New” accept his doctrines, which he is revealing to the reading public in the shape of a “program to lead the Negro to his God-designed destiny” he and the rest of his accomplices in that scheme had better surrender at once to the overwhelming force of the U.N.I.A., the only agent capable of putting the Negro into his rightful place in the sun. Referring to the October issue of the “Crusader,”1 may I ask how dare 157
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their presumption run so high as to throw out to the world such drastic, vicious and unwarranted, though, I am pleased to say, ineffective, remarks about your lord? Do you know that you have committed “high treason”? Launching irrelevant attacks against a man who is morally, socially, intellectually, racially and in every respect your master! But no wonder. There was Lucifer bringing about his own downfall, due to his jealousy against the throne of God. May I ask what as yet has your scheme set forth to the colored world with sympathetic suggestive and ameliorative views since its birth? Where is your expansive program which speaks better things than a re-entry into slavery’s chain? Yes, all such fools as the members of the A.B.B. would feign loyalty to a country while living under its flag and abide the consequences, even if Alexander the Great or Napoleon were its war lord. The A.B.B. is the minor by many million times and the U.N.I.A. the major, hence the senior of these two organizations. We are moving forward. What are you talking about when you say “You do not have to give up your other organizations, etc.” How on earth can we join you in your servile act and still say we are determined to march to liberty? Away with your propaganda! We have had enough of this tomfoolery. Your propaganda spells r-u-i-n! The U.N.I.A. with all its present strength dare not speak of rendering immediate protection of Negroes everywhere, but look at the A.B.B. telling the New Negro such thundering lies! One of Mr. Garvey’s reasons for not indorsing the sentiments of the A.B.B. is because he foresees the end of its policy. This man wishes that his coffers should contain what he earns by merit for service and that neither the A.B.B. nor any other propagandist be enriched with the hard-earned moneys of the Negro while he still remains in partial exile and serfdom. I am, Sir, Yours obediently, E. A. SCARLETT Third Vice-President Moron Division Printed in NW, 10 December 1921. 1. The October 1921 issue of the Crusader was filled with editorials and articles dealing directly with Garvey and/or the UNIA, as well as many references to other matters. Garvey was the main subject in the editorials. The first convicts him as a traitor on these counts: for repudiating social equality, for ignoring recent black contributions to civilization, for giving the United States endorsement for future wars, for advising blacks to be loyal to their resident countries, for sabotaging race unity, and for not denouncing the U.S. occupation of Haiti. In the next editorial, Briggs asserts that Garvey began the agitation of “Africa for the Africans,” and he condemns Garvey’s position as potentate of Africa. Briggs writes that he envisions a free Africa but “[n]ot an Africa whose white capitalist-imperialist bonds have been exchanged for the capitalist or feudalist bonds of a Negro Potentate, with a piratical court and an antiquated system of knights, lords and other potential parasites upon the Negro workers” (“A Free Africa,” Crusader 5, no. 2 [1921]: 9). In the editorial “Garvey Upholds Ku Kluxism,” Briggs discusses Garvey's opposition to social amalgamation among the races. Briggs concludes in this piece that “his friends better appoint a guardian for Marcus Garvey—a guardian that will exercise an intelligent censorship over his unintelligent and maniacal ravings and servile surrender of Negro rights” (Crusader 5, no. 2 [1921]: 10). In the following editorial, Briggs does not specifically name Garvey or the UNIA, but he criticizes those in the liberation struggle who have business enterprises. Briggs asserts that white businessmen will attack the black businesses affiliated with organizations working against white world
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In an analysis of the UNIA financial reports, W. A. Domingo concludes the following: that the money collected proves a small membership of the organization (not four and one half million), that only less than 3 percent of the money raised for the Liberian Construction Loan actually went to Liberia, and that the UNIA did not own stock in the Black Star Line until funds from the construction loan were available. This issue of the Crusader also contains the “Program of the A.B.B.,” which warns that “[t]here has developed among our people the naïve belief that permanent employment, better conditions and our salvation as a race can be accomplished through the medium of Negro factories, steamship lines and similar enterprises. We wish to warn against putting too great dependence along this line as sudden financial enterprise may break the whole morale of the Liberation Movement” (Crusader 5, no. 2 [1921]: 17). The program suggests that organizations may develop enterprises, but in that case they should be owned cooperatively and not in a corporation, for a corporation “lifts a few men on the shoulders and life-savings of the many,” while a cooperative is “of equal benefit to all” (Crusader 5, no. 2 [1921]: 17). The program also alludes to the first editorial in nonspecific terms by saying that pledging loyalty to the flags of our oppressors is “nothing less than cowardice and the blackest treason to the Negro race and our sacred cause of liberation” (Crusader 5, no. 2 [1921]: 18). The piece concludes with another attack on many devices and strategies used by the UNIA but without specific terms: To be kidded along with the idea that because a few hundreds of us assemble once in a while in a convention that therefore we are free to legislate for ourselves; to fall for the bunk that before having made any serious effort to free our country, before having crossed swords on the field of battle with the oppressors, we can have a government of our own, with presidents, potentates, royalties and other queer mixtures; to speak about wasting our energies and money in propositions like Bureaus of Passports and Identifications, diplomatic representatives, etc., is to indulge in pure moonshine and supply free amusement for our enemies. Surely, intelligent, grown-up individuals will not stand for such childish nonsense if at all they are serious about fighting for Negro liberation! We must come down to earth, to actual practical facts and realities and build our strength upon solid foundations-and not upon titled and decorated tomfollery. (ibid.) Under the title “Garvey Shows His Hand,” the ABB relates that they sent a delegation to the UNIA convention but were expelled from it after circulating a program for the needs of the black race. The article again calls attention to Garvey’s suggesting loyalty to the U.S. government, but also advises that the UNIA and ABB should unite because they both seek liberation. At the end of this article is the reference made by Casimir that people do not have to give up their other organizations to join the ABB. In another piece, Briggs refutes Garvey’s claim that the ABB works under the auspices of the Communist party and denies that they seek the destruction of all governments. On the following page, the Crusader prints a letter from “An Old Mother” in which the writer rebukes Briggs for not letting infants enjoy the happy thoughts of African dukedoms and knighthoods. Briggs was probably happy to print this since the writer alternatively calls these ideas the “lies and nonsense of Marcus Garvey” and his followers as “the faithful followers of Don Quixote de Africa and his daring pranks” (Crusader 5, no. 2 [1921]: 26). Briggs also denies another claim by Garvey in the “Facts, Fun and Fancies” section. Here, Briggs assures his readers that he doesn’t “pass for white” in the South, as Garvey alleged (Crusader 5, no. 2 [1921]: 29). As part of this section, another piece reveals that Garvey put $12,500 in escrow, and that it then disappeared. “More Wobbling Leadership” is the headline of the next page. This piece
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS contains an open letter sent to Garvey and William H. Ferris that refers to a Negro World article of 3 September that attempted to “explain away the cowardly, compromising and pussy-footing tactics of Marcus Garvey” (Crusader 5, no. 2 [October 1921]: 30). This refers to Garvey’s challenge to Briggs to state that in the event of war, blacks should join in arms with Japan and should form a Japanese and anti-American society. In response, Briggs reprints a statement from his December 1920 issue in which he defines the duty of the black race as filling the prisons of the white man or facing his firing squads rather than joining in arms against Japan or Mexico in a war with the United States. Briggs also suggests a few cases in which Ferris contradicts himself. In one example, Ferris supports loyalty to white governments, and in another instance, he criticizes an author for suggesting this loyalty. The letter ends by suggesting that Ferris publish the letter because, if not, the ABB can reach the public through other means and, as Briggs stated at the beginning of the article, his letter was not published in the past two issues of the Negro World. The paper ends with a page of advertisements and another page with an application for the ABB, but before these two pages, the final pieces related to Garvey appear. The first briefly states that the Black Star Line came up with the idea of giving “power of attorney” to a firm that has its offices in the same city as your own. The item goes on to say that “it’s thoroughly unbusiness-like, judged by regulation standards, but then Marcus is nothing if not original in his methods of offering opportunities to white men to line their pockets at the Negro’s expense” (Crusader 5, no. 2 [1921]: 32). The second and last piece again refutes the claim that the ABB is Bolshevist unless the definition is that they are determined to free Africa and liberate the Negro peoples of the world by any means.
John Sydney de Bourg to the Senatorial Commission of Inquiry for the Dominican Republic1 Barrio, S, Calle 14[,] casa 91. San Pedro de Macoris, Santo Domingo, R.D., December 12th, 1921 Honourable Commissioner//s//, I have the distinguished honour as one of the duly elected leaders of the Negro race to which I ha[v]e the proud honour to belong to most respectfully and in all seriousness beg to present to your Honourable Body the appended documents in which are formally set out certain complaints against the conduct of the United States Military authorities in this Republic particularly in this Province—San Pedro de Macoris. My most fervent and respectful request is that your Hon: Body would take immediate steps to prove the truthfulness of the several very serious allegations therein contained. The said allegations could be proved by the sworn testimony of persons of the greatest credibility. I now take the present opportunity of appealing to your Honourable Body for the immediate release pending your inquiry of one of the prisoners named James Halley still confined in the said Public Prison as one of the officers of the said association for depor-
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS contains an open letter sent to Garvey and William H. Ferris that refers to a Negro World article of 3 September that attempted to “explain away the cowardly, compromising and pussy-footing tactics of Marcus Garvey” (Crusader 5, no. 2 [October 1921]: 30). This refers to Garvey’s challenge to Briggs to state that in the event of war, blacks should join in arms with Japan and should form a Japanese and anti-American society. In response, Briggs reprints a statement from his December 1920 issue in which he defines the duty of the black race as filling the prisons of the white man or facing his firing squads rather than joining in arms against Japan or Mexico in a war with the United States. Briggs also suggests a few cases in which Ferris contradicts himself. In one example, Ferris supports loyalty to white governments, and in another instance, he criticizes an author for suggesting this loyalty. The letter ends by suggesting that Ferris publish the letter because, if not, the ABB can reach the public through other means and, as Briggs stated at the beginning of the article, his letter was not published in the past two issues of the Negro World. The paper ends with a page of advertisements and another page with an application for the ABB, but before these two pages, the final pieces related to Garvey appear. The first briefly states that the Black Star Line came up with the idea of giving “power of attorney” to a firm that has its offices in the same city as your own. The item goes on to say that “it’s thoroughly unbusiness-like, judged by regulation standards, but then Marcus is nothing if not original in his methods of offering opportunities to white men to line their pockets at the Negro’s expense” (Crusader 5, no. 2 [1921]: 32). The second and last piece again refutes the claim that the ABB is Bolshevist unless the definition is that they are determined to free Africa and liberate the Negro peoples of the world by any means.
John Sydney de Bourg to the Senatorial Commission of Inquiry for the Dominican Republic1 Barrio, S, Calle 14[,] casa 91. San Pedro de Macoris, Santo Domingo, R.D., December 12th, 1921 Honourable Commissioner//s//, I have the distinguished honour as one of the duly elected leaders of the Negro race to which I ha[v]e the proud honour to belong to most respectfully and in all seriousness beg to present to your Honourable Body the appended documents in which are formally set out certain complaints against the conduct of the United States Military authorities in this Republic particularly in this Province—San Pedro de Macoris. My most fervent and respectful request is that your Hon: Body would take immediate steps to prove the truthfulness of the several very serious allegations therein contained. The said allegations could be proved by the sworn testimony of persons of the greatest credibility. I now take the present opportunity of appealing to your Honourable Body for the immediate release pending your inquiry of one of the prisoners named James Halley still confined in the said Public Prison as one of the officers of the said association for depor-
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tation. I hav[e] the honour to be Honoured Sirs Your most humble and obedient Servant. JNO:. SYDNEY DE BOURG Leader of the Negroes of the Western Province of the West Indies and of Central and South America [Addressed to:] Their Honors The Honourable Senatorial Commissioner//s// of inquiry, Santo Domingo City. R.D. DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TLS. 1. A Select Committee of the U.S. Senate, under the chairmanship of Sen. Joseph Medill McCormick, was established on February 1921 to obtain information as to the manner in which the military occupation of the Dominican Republic and Haiti had been conducted. Except for hearing the legal counsel of the Junta Nacionalista, Horace Knowles, a New York lawyer and former minister of the United States to the Dominican Republic and Bolivia, and one on behalf of the military government, the committee dedicated almost no time to the Dominican Republic until their arrival in Santo Domingo in December of that year. Hearings were held from 10 December to 15 December 1921, when they were interrupted suddenly and the senators returned without explanation to the United States, and without giving audience to many witnesses. As their itinerary had called for them to depart on 20 December, their hasty and early departure suggested that the investigation was a whitewash. The committee held no more hearings, took no more evidence, and finally decided to postpone its report on the Dominican Republic in view of the negotiations for the termination of the military occupation that were being held between the Department of State and several Dominican leaders (U.S. Senate, “Inquiry into the Occupation and Administration of Haiti and Santo Domingo,” Hearings before a Select Committee on Haiti and Santo Domingo, 2 vols. [67th Cong., 1st and 2nd sess., 1922]; Antonio Hoepelman and Juan A. Senior, ed., Documentos históricos que se refieren a la intervención armada de los Estados Unidos de Norte-América y la implantación de un gobierno militar americano en la República Dominicana [1922; reprint, Santo Domingo: Colección Pensamiento Dominicano, 1974]; Sumner Welles, Naboth’s Vineyard: The Dominican Republic, 1844–1924, vol. 2 [New York: Payson & Clarke, Ltd., 1928], pp. 806–810; Edward B. McConnell, Chains of Gold: A Story and a Study of Imperialism [Philadelphia: Dorrance & Co., 1929], pp. 118–123; Bruce J. Calder, The Impact of Intervention: The Dominican Republic during the U.S. Occupation of 1916–1924 [Austin: University of Texas Press, 1984], pp. 132, 168, 207, 212–219, 221–224).
Enclosure: Report on U.S. Marine Corps in San Pedro de Macorís1 [San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic, ca. 12 December 1921] AS
PENNING OF HUMAN BEINGS; MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN, ANIMALS BY UNITED STATES MARINES IN SAN PEDRO DE MACORIS, R.D.
The following are some of the atrocities to which my attention has been called as now being inflicted on peaceful law-abiding and in-offensive persons of the 161
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race to which I belong by a certain portion of the United States marines in the said province of San Pedro de Macoris. (2) On the Sugar Plantation of Santa Fe, there is a great pen such as is made for swines and other animals, having neither flooring nor roofing. (3) Whilst these marines are sheltered in tents these members of my race are cast together in this pen comprising native men, women and children, French and English speaking subjects as well who came here for the honest purpose of working as agricultural labourers for this and other plantations, are subjected to worse treatment than animals of the lowest order by being beaten, kicked, and starved without any cause or reason being given by these marines. They are kept sometimes two or three days without water being given them to quench their insatiable thirst brought about by extreme exposure principally to the heat of the sun. (4) These unfortunate Negroes are made to work at hard labour all day by these marines with scarcely any food. The first batch of these unfortunates was on the 26th, day of November last kidnapped by a troop of said Military Marines. (5) These marines went out and without any show of reason indiscriminately arrested a large number of those who were actually engaged in carrying on the business of selling vegetables and all sorts of other ground provisions reaped fro[m] their own gardens in the two colonials [colonias] called Diego and Guaza. (6) On the day following these arrest[s] many of the women and children from their cries of starvation were set free, but others were in like manner arrested in their stead. Up to the present time others are daily arrested and in like manner brought in and placed in this pen. (7) All these vegetable garden-lands are guarded by armed marines so that even the liberated Negro owners of these gardens and their relatives cannot venture to enter them. In an abundance of cases the produce of these gardens not yet fit for reaping are wickedly destroyed by the said marines. (8) By such intimidation [a]nd terrorism these Negroes //are compelled// to either stay away from their homes and starve or surrender and in many cases be //re-//arrested. And even those who happen to escape arrest have to undergo the like tortuous and extreme exposure. The latest information is that a woman gave birth to a baby in the open plain pasture of this pen. //(9)// Quite recently two of the Military marines entered the premis//e//s of a Negro woman (a French subject) residing in one of the colonials [colonias] called Diego and seeing a saddle at her house sternly demanded it which she refused to give up giving as her reason that the owner who //is// alleged to be her husband was out; but they pushed her aside and tried to gain forcibl//e// entran//c//e into the house. (10) As they were forcing their way in she held on to them and a wrestling ensued between them. At this prevention they grew enraged and one of them finding they could not get easy entrance called her a d——d b——h. 162
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(11) She then retorted by telling him that he was the son of a b——h when both of them inflicted several cuffs and kicks on //her// to their full satisfaction she having been then alone and unprotected. (12) She subsequently went to their Captain and formally laid her complaint to him against them. After the Captain had listened to her complaint he told her that she had no right to abuse the marines. (13) Upon her insisting that the marines did not only abuse her in the first instance, but had inflicted a severe beating with cuffs and kicks on her he sternly told her to “shut up” and further said to her “if any marines were to abuse you again return and complain to me. But see that you never attempt to again insult the marines” and there the matter ended to her utter dissatisfaction. DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD. 1. This report, presumably from John Sydney de Bourg, coincides with one of the most furious attempts by the military government to crush the guerrilla insurgency in eastern Dominican Republic. In September 1921, the abduction of a manager of the Ingenio Angelina, Thomas J. Steele, a British citizen, by the guerrilla group of Ramón Natera prompted the application of the cordoningoff technique, by which the marines and the Guardia Nacional rounded up a large number of suspects for identification purposes and imprisoned them. Sumner Welles blamed both the “operations of the American forces” and “the frequent raids of the ‘gavillero’ [guerrilla forces fighting the U.S. military occupation] chieftains” for the “reign of terror . . . suffered by the inhabitants of the Seybo and a portion of the Province of San Pedro de Macoris” (Sumner Welles, Naboth’s Vineyard: The Dominican Republic, 1844–1924, vol. 2 [New York: Payson & Clarke, Ltd., 1928], pp. 805–806; Bruce J. Calder, The Impact of Intervention: The Dominican Republic during the U.S. Occupation of 1916–1924 [Austin: University of Texas Press, 1984], p. 170). Repression throughout the nation increased toward the latter part of the Marine government. In 1922 U.S. marines executed a popular faith healer, Olivorio Mateo (alias Dios Olivorio), in the southwestern border town of San Juan de la Maguana. Olivorio’s movement, like the UNIA, aroused consternation among local pastors and was assumed to be political. The best account of the Olivorio episode is Jan Lundius and Mats Lundahl, Peasants and Religion: A Socioeconomic Study of Dios Olivorio and the Palma Sola Movement in the Dominican Republic [New York: Routledge, 2000].
Enclosure: Statement of Zachariah Rawlins and David Hicks [San Macorís de Pedro, Dominican Republic, ca. 12 December 1921] STATEMENT OF TWO PRISONERS ZACHARIAH RAWLINS AND DAVID HICKS WHO ARE NON-MEMBERS OF THE UNIVERSAL NEGRO IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION AND AFRICAN COMMUNITIES LEAGUE On Sunday morning the 4th, day of September last I Zacariah Rawlins was called from my bed-room by the police and interpreter Randolph Adams and Dr. Larkeque, Adams saying “Rawlins come go to the commissario with me.”
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(2) Dr. La[r]keque joined in this statement and said “You are one of the Black Star Line.//”// //“//Come on!//”// “Where is the queen” upon this I came out and they accompanied me down. (3) We continued and on our way down they stopped and I continued walking while they spoke to Hicks and arrested him. A short time after they overtook me with Hicks under arrest they then went in search or their alleged //“//queen//”// taking us with them. Not finding her they continued conducting us down but Dr. Larkeque said to Hicks “You all take the picture of Marcus Garvey and are worshipping it. But if he should come here I will be the first man to lock him to hell up.” Nearing the station Dr. Larkeque separated from us and left us in charge of the policeman and he took us to the station and locked us up for two hours. (4) After this we were taken to the Public Jail and were then asked to give up our belongings. We had none, whereupon we were locked up in the room with those who were arrested the evening previously. (5) Although that day was a visiting day yet we were all kept in close confinement and not allowed to be seen by our relatives and friends whilst all other prisoners—convicted criminals included—were allowed the prescribed one and a half hours in the open yard of the prison to receive their visitors. (6) During the afternoon though still confined Dr. La[r]keque came to the prison and ordered out two of the prisoners viz:—Anthony Bastian and James Halley who were instantly taken out by a prison orderly to him. He made certain insulting remarks about us amongst which he characterized us as //“//a dirty, and nasty race of Negroes//”// who[m] he said he felt he could just line off on the roof of the prison and shoot down with machine guns. DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD.
Enclosure: Statement of Joseph Welch [San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic, ca. 12 December 1921] (1) About a month [a]fter we were in prison order was given that we be vaccinated I along with my brother-prisoners was vaccinated and the day follo[w]ing I fell sick with fever and was removed and taken to the hospital where I stayed a day; when it was found that I was threatened with the epidemic that was then prevalent. I was again removed from the hospital and placed into a cell with nothing to lie upon just on the bare concrete floor; spending one day locked sick in that cell; [d]uring the night they took me out to a place on the outskirts of the town called the //“//Hippodromo.//”//
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(2) While there though sick I was compelled to sleep on the ground. One night about s[e]ven O[’]clock the Sergeant in charge commanded me to come out and sleep in the yard, whereupon the other guards remonstrated with him saying “Poor old man let him come in he is sick[.]” //H//e answered //“//I have nothing to do with that he must remain where he is//”// and I was compelled to stay there for the night. (3) Subsequently he gave orders to the sentry that at a certain hour he would move with me outside of the range and shoot me saying that he had been given orders to shoot all who did not have a certain kind of paper. Up to now I do not know the nature of that paper. The guards seemed to sympathize with me and said it was against them to carry out such an order[.] (4) From certain conversation I overheard, it seemed as if he was resolved to carry out his design and then report that I had gone crazy why he did it. (5) The food they gave me was so unwholesome //that// I could not eat it. //And// some days I was so hungry that I had to beg little boys who passed the road. //A//nd sometimes they would get bits of bread and give to me. (6) During this time though sick I was compelled to clear the yard and bring water to prevent them beating me. I remained there about a month and a half when I was again taken to the Public Prison until the 22nd, day of November last when I was released. DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD.
Enclosure: Report on Treatment of UNIA San Pedro de Macorís Division Members [San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic, ca. 12 December 1921] A STATEMENT OF THE ARREST AND IMPRISONMENT OF OFFICERS AND MEMBERS OF THE MACORIS DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSAL NEGRO IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION AND AFRICAN COMMUNITIES LEAGUE AND OF OTHERS BY THE WHITE STATES MILITARY GOVERNMENT AND THEIR TREATMENT AT THE PUBLIC PRISON AND ELSEWHERE BY THE SAID GOVERNMENT About 8[.]p.m. on the 3rd, day of September last and during the practice at the hall of the said Division for the next day business of the association two Military marines entered the said hall accompanied by ten Dominican Policemen and walked up to the President—Rev: D. E. Philips. One of the marines said to him “You are arrested!” The President asked him “For what?” This marine replied 165
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“You are not to question me!” The President then said to him “If I am arrested let the others go!” The marine shouted to the President “Shut up! They are under your influence[.]” The President then asked him “Is it legal to be arrested without a warrant?” The marine blurted out “You are under arrest by the United States Military Government! Shut up!!” (2) The first thing taken down was the Charter the house was then stripped of all its ornaments. One of the marines went to the press and finding it locked asked for the key. The President told him that the Secretary has it. He left the house and returned with the Secretary. The secretary then gave up the key on entering the hall and one of the marines said to him “You are arrested!” After this arrest the said marine went to the press opened it and removed an abundance of books, association materials, and other documents. (3) During this time some one queried one of the Dominican Policemen as to his knowledge of the cause of the procedure and upon his replying saying that he did not see any reason for it and thought it a very high-handed procedure he was threatened with arrest by one of the marines. (4) The hall was decorated with the Stars and Stripes of America, the flag of the Dominican Republic, the flag of England, the Danish flag, the French flag, the flag of the association etc. Two members Messrs Orlando H[a]ynes and John Carey on reaching the threshold of the door of the hall and on being perceived by one of the marines were told “You too are under arrest!” [“]You may as well come in!” They were then arrested and made the bearers of the Charter. (5) The six females a little boy nine years of age one of the Women in a very advanced delicate state of health and nine men were taken from the hall to the prison. The females were sent in front. On our way down to the prison Jane Williams one of the female prisoners rapped at the door of Charles Henry 3rd, Vice-President of the organization and informed him of our arrest. Within five minutes after this intimation he came down to the prison to inquire the cause and was told by one of the marines “You are one of the officers of this Black Star Gang. You too are arrested” and he was then made a prisoner. (6) One of the marines then informed the Provost Marshal through the telephone of our arrest in these words “We have just pulled off that raid and I[’]ve got them all right here.” About ten minutes after an American Military officer with the Chief of police and some others of the United States Military Force entered the room in which we were and one of them asked “Who is the President of this association?[”] Rev: Philips stood up and said, “I am.” The officer asked again What is your name? The President answered “Rev: D. E. Philips.” The officer again asked “What is the object of this association?[”] The President replied “It is a Humanitarian, Edu[ca]tional; an Institution[al] Organization.[”] The officer took up the Charter and asked the President “Where did you get this from?[”] The President said from New York. And you can see by its seal that it is incorporated in the United States of America.
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(7) The President approached this officer and on attempting to point out the seal to that officer he made a gesture with the Charter as if to strike the President with it and at the same time in a stern tone of voice said “Damned it to hell this is your own seal.” He then ordered us to be taken to the public prison and be there incarcerated and kept in confinement. (8) We were then conducted Men and Women by armed escort to the Public Prison. On reaching the prison we were taken to the Jailors office our names were taken and we were then called upon to deliver up whatever we had money and other articles. While they were taking our belongings the little boy of nine years and a young girl a minor were released. (9) The said articles which were then delivered up on that occasion have not since our release been returned to us. (10) Orders were given by the United States Military marine that we be kept apart from the other prisoners and in consequence of which we were clubbed together in a concrete room 20 x 12 ft, and in a most filthy condition where we spent a wretched and uncomfortable night. (11) About 8.a.m. the secretary of the jail came to us all, and presented us with a receipts of our belongings that if we wanted anything for meals we could purchase them at the prison store-room with our receipts[.] //A//t the same time expressing his sympathy with us as one of our race. We were hungry and we purchased of what the store-room contained. (12) Next the cook came and gave us some coffee and plaintains. //T//his being visiting day the sisters brought their offerings in the shape of meals and in these gifts the brothers also contributed. (13) On monday morning 5th, September last at about 9[.]30. a.m. the American Captain of the Guardia National came to the room and as he approached the cell a Dominican prisoner a sort of orderly of the prison by the name of Juan Valera gave the order to stand in file. We obeyed the command. //T//he President who had to be awakened from his sleep then got into line. (14) The officer asked for Miss. Mercedes Durio [Duruo] one of the minors and non-member who was locked in with us //and// on presenting herself he asked “Are you one of the Black Star gang[?]” [S]he said no[.] He then turned to Rawlins and asked him “Do you know anything of the Black Star gang?” Rawlins hesitated, and Reverend Philips said “no//!”// //T//he Captain asked Rev: Philips “Do you know to whom you are speaking[?] I am the Captain of the Guardia[.]” Rev: Philips replied //“W//e are no gang here;//”// [H]e answered //“//Well you know that a gang means any number of persons.” (15) He again turned to Rawlins and said “Look me in the eyes, do you know anything about the Black Star gang[?]” Rawlins replied; //“//No, I know of the Universal Negro Improvement Association.//”// (16) He then asked Mercedes Durio; “To whom were you employed?//”// She said //“T//he Colonel.//”// //H//e then left and about one hour after she was released. And on the following day another minor, Margaret Webster[,] was also released. 167
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(17) On Thursday 7th, //September last// we were taken out and placed before the Judge, who upon stating that he found no cause of action sent us away. We were then given to understand that we were acquitted, but instead of which we were returned to the prison and kept in confinement. Two days after, that is the 9th, day of said month we were again removed from the prison and placed before the said Judge. (18) The secretary then read the charge as is set out in a certain paper writing purporting to be the judgment of the said court a true and correct copy of which is hereunto appended and marked “A” published in the offic[i]al gazette of this Republic and in the Listin Diario1 of the City of Santo Domingo. (19) At this stage of the case our counsel Liedo: Santiago Lamela Diaz2 entered the court room and intimated to the judge that he had been retained by us and was appearing in our defence. (20) We were then questioned in order by the judge as to our connection with the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League of this province. (21) Our counsel applied for an adjournment in order as he then said to produce the necessary written //“//permits//”// which had been already granted by the Dominican Government and the United States Military Government, during the two years’ activities of the association. (22) The adjournment was in consequence granted to a day to be fixed. We were then sent back to the prison. On the 15th, day of said month of September last we were all again taken and again placed before the said judge. On this day no witnesses were called, for nor against us but simply a discussion of the judge and our counsel took place over the //“//permits//”// which were produced to the judge. //A//nd on seeing them and verifying them postponed it to deliver his judgment at 3[o’]clock that afternoon at which time he did not appear—meanwhile we were taken back to the prison. (23) On the 16th, day of the said month at about 11[.]30 a.m. we were all taken and again placed before said judge. //H//e left the court and remained away for about 15 to 20 minutes. During his absence the secret[a]ry or clerk of this judge then pronounced the sentence of a conviction [a]nd a fine of $4.00. upon six of the officers as appears in said attached document marked “A” without any alternative. And that the others be forthwith released. (24) Our counsel then gave to this officer of the court formal notice of his intention to appeal and demanded a certified copy of the judgment which that officer had just then delivered. (25) Whilst under discussion as to the reason of the conviction by the said officer the judge re-entered into the court-room and joined in the discussion and approved of the appeal. (26) We were then taken back to the prison for release in accordance with statement of the said secretary or clerk pending our appeal. But to our utter surprise and disappointment we were detained and kept in confinement by the 168
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authority of the United States Military government without any further charge being read to us or any offence committed by us, yet all our cards bore on the face of them the words “For Investigation.” (27) We were then removed from the room in which we twelve men and three women were night and day sleeping on in-sufficient bunks indiscriminately from the night of our arrest, on the 3rd, day up to this night of the 15th, day of the said month of September last—being a period of fully twelve days and nights. (28) The women were left into that room and we were placed then with the condemned civil prisoners for about one hour we were then removed and placed in the carpenters shop without bed or bedding and exp[os]ed to the inclemency of the weather and often got drenched by showers of rain at nights. We were forced to use the concrete flooring for fully three weeks, as our beds. (29) We were subsequently removed to the Military criminal room in which bunks are provided for another three weeks. At the end of which we were removed to the civil quarters in which there were bunks, where we remained for fully ten days at the end of which we were placed in an upper story of the prison this time again without any bed or bedding—another room with a concrete flooring. And in this room we were kept up to the time of our release. (30) On one occasion an attempt was made to turn us out in the streets to work at hard labour. For that purpose we were already lined up for marching out by authority of the United States Military Government but for the intervention of the jailor who informed the United States Provost Marshal by telephone that he could not accede to the illegal order of putting to hard labour prisoners who are not convicted and under no sentence. (31) At a certain period although we were neither charged, convicted, nor sentenced our cards bearing on its face the words “For Investigation” yet when our food were brought to us from our relatives and friends it was thrown away by the prison officials so as to compe[l] us to eat the unwholesome food provided at the prison for convicted criminals. (32) It may be well to mention here that the Captain of the Guards on three nights visited the room in which the female prisoners were left //and// on one of those occasions after waking them up used very indecent language to them and removed one of them from the bunk on which she slept unto another bunk in the same room. (33) And the British Vice-Consul visited the prison on two occasion[s] and although we had applied to him for some protection yet on each occasion that he visited the prison he took no notice of us British Subjects but interviewed and conferred privately with two Danish Subjects who were prisoners with us under said circumstances. (34) And previously to our release that is on the 19th, day of November last our President the Reverend D[.] E[.] Philips after some very insulting language //were// used to him by the E[mi]gration officer against which he protested he [was] committed to the cells by order of the said E[mi]gration officer 169
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but an orderly of the prison who was present during this incident feeling the injustice removed him from the cell he having been already kept there for three hours up to that time. (35) One of the female prisoners a respectable member of the community was placed in a room with the vilest of the other women prisoners where she suffered many indignities and despite her protestations she was forced to remain up to the time of her release. (36) And another female prisoner //a// very respectable member of the community and a married woman named Mrs. Jane Williams being the person [referred] to herein in paragraph 5. as being then in a very delicate state of health through the intervention of the President obtained her release by order of the [prison] Doctor. And the other a minor was also released. (37) On Monday 21st day of November last the E[mi]gration officer along with the American Military Doctor and his assistant came to the prison and called for the four officers who are now deported and had them vaccinated[.] (They are British Subjects). (38) After the vaccination the E[mi]gration officer ordered them to prepare themselves as he would send for them in the next half hour for deportation. //T//his order was not carried out. But on the following morning about nine O[’]clock three armed United States Marines with the E[mi]gration officer came and called for the said four men. (39) Reverend Philips was at that time in the back yard of the prison[.] [He was] called [a]nd upon his approaching them the E[mi]gration officer— Negro—pointing to Reverend Philips also a Negro said aloud “This is the guy that is trying to raise an army here[.]” Reverend Philips made no reply. The four men were then ordered to get their luggage which they did and were hustled out of the prison. (40) As they were leaving the prison gate certain persons offered to assist them in carrying their luggage to the pier, but this was refused by the armed [e]scort, who compelled the men to carry said luggage. (41) One of the men—John Carey—on his way down to the pier tipped his hat to a friend and he was violently chucked from behind by one of the marines. Reverend Philips whilst about entering the launch to get to the sloop was [p]oked by the E[mi]gration officer in the ribs with his revolver. And it is credibly stated that a revolver was given with 16 cartridges with the strict instruction to the Captain of the sloop to shoot any of the men who showed the least sign of even an attempt [at] disobedience of his orders on the voyage. (42) Just here we must state upon the evidence of witnesses of the greatest credibility who could testify [o]n oath that the day on which Captain Luke Vlaun master of the sloop on board which these men were deported m[a]de these positive statements that he had stubbornly refuse//d// to accept these men for deportation on board his sloop. And were it not [f]or the offic[i]al persuasion coer//c//ion and intimidation of the Reverend Pastor Archibald Beer3 of the
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American Episcopal Church and who is also British Vice-Consul in this Republic he never would have taken any part in their deportation. (43) This Reverend British Vice-Consul assured him that if he refused the men on that sloop which carried a British Flag that he as British Vice-Consul will use the offic[i]al powers vested in him as such and prevent his vessel leaving the port. Through this he was unwillingly forced to obey the mandate of the Reverend as British Vice-Consul. (46) And as if to more greatly intimidate the Negroes who were present on the pier on this occasion the E[mi]gration officer gave instruction publicly that all Negroes particularly British Subjects should be kept away fr//om// the pier. And on a respectable married woman named Eudarie James pointing to her skin and remarking that this officer seems to forget that he is of the same colour of her skin he ordered her arrest. And she was arrested and kept in custody for one hour. (47) In the afternoon of that day abou//t// 5[.]p.m. //T//he remaining prisoner with the exception of James M. Halley were released but he is still under confinement in the prison for deportation whenever another of the officers one James Cooks //may// be arrested. (48) The said James Cooks has been caused from these acts of tyranny and ter//ro//rism on us without any offence, charge, trial, or conviction to be in hiding since after our arrest and imprisonment. He also is set down for deportation by the deportation ord[er] issued by the Military Government and published in the public news paper the Listin Diario of Santo Domingo City. (49) A true and correct copy of this order is here unto appended and marked “B” which speaks for its high-handedness and illegality. (50) This James Cooks is a building contractor and carries on a large amount of transactions in the erecting of dwellings and other houses. And is put in the greatest embarrassed position by having to abandon his interest in several unfinished buildings in San Pedro de Macoris in this Republic. (51) These buildings he was at that time erecting under specific contract as could be seen by the buildings themselves and by a notice duly published in the La Prensa4 newspaper of San Pedro de Macoris. The said James Cooks is a Dutch Subject and James M. Halley still detained in the prison is a Danish Subject. (52) The whole cause of the arrest[,] imprisonment and deportation principally of the President and his officers of this Association is seemingly due to Reverend Philips having renounced the Pastorate of the Moravian Church and these officers having withdrawn their membership from said church and are professing to show a leaning towards the promoting of an //“//African Orthodox Church//”// in this Republic. (53) Of course this seem to be distasteful and injurious to the financial interest of the white clergymen including this Rev: British Vice-Consul, Rev: Van Vleck, Rev: Brown and Rev: Dr; L[ar]keque. The latter being the principal active figure in the deportation epidemic inflicted on the Negro Ra[c]e of San 171
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Pedro de Macoris hence his activities and antagonism and of the other Reverend Ge[n]tlemen. (54) Since the day of our release from the said prison one of the female prisoners—a very respectable married woman named Ellen Potter—is seriously ill in bed with fever etc contracted in the prison and brought about by extreme exposure whilst in the said prison. DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD. 1. Listín Diario (1889–1942, 1963–present) is the oldest and most influential newspaper in the Dominican Republic. Arturo Pellerano Alfau, founder and director of the paper, opposed the U.S. military occupation (Alberto J. Rodríguez y Rodríguez, 18 décadas de periodismo dominicano, vol. 2 [Santo Domingo: SUSAETA, Ediciones Dominicana, C. x A., n.d.], pp. 109–112; Bruce J. Calder, The Impact of Intervention: The Dominican Republic during the U.S. Occupation of 1916–1924 [Austin: University of Texas Press, 1984], pp. 218, 225). 2. Santiago Lamela Díaz (d. 1967), a lawyer and professor of civics and morals, was the son of Julio Lamela, a Spaniard, and Carmen Díaz, a Puerto Rican, both of whom left Puerto Rico when it was conquered by the United States in 1898. In 1916 Lamela Díaz and poet Federico Bermúdez actively opposed the U.S. military occupation in San Pedro de Macorís. In 1921 Lamela Díaz became a writer of Patria, a newspaper founded by the internationally known intellectual and statesman, Dr. Américo Lugo, that defended the “interests of the Republic against the abuses of the Intervenor” (Sergio Augusto Beras Morales, Telesforo A. Zuleta y de Soto, and Luis H. Dalmau Febles, ed., Album del cincuentenario de San Pedro de Macorís, 1882–1932 [San Pedro de Macorís: Talleres Tipográficos Fémina y La Orla, 1933], p. 5). Because of his forceful defense of the arrested UNIA members, Lamela Díaz was “kicked out” of the courthouse, “given blows with the rifle butts,” locked up and only taken out “dressed with Palm Beach cloth to sweep the streets of the city, [which] provoked a massive protest of the people, intellectuals and lawyers,” forcing the military authorities eventually to free him (Fermín Alvárez, América Bermúdez and George Hazim, “Pagina literaria,” El Mesopotomio Año 1, no. 3 [July 1996]: 20; América Bermúdez, Manual de historia de San Pedro de Macorís [San Pedro de Macorís: Editora Edwin, 1991], pp. 132–133; Rodríguez y Rodríguez, 18 décadas, p. 269). 3. Rev. Archibald Henry Beer, an Anglican priest, was born in Plymouth, England, on 21 November 1887. He decided at an early age that he wanted to become a missionary; after being invited to conduct mission work in Fargo, ND, he arrived in the United States in 1911. Ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church in 1919, he was sent to Santo Domingo in 1920, where he ended up spending the next thirty-four years of his life. In 1923, he built the first Protestant church in Santo Domingo. He arrived in San Pedro de Macorís on 1 October 1920; he came with his wife, who was an American, and his son, Kenneth Henry Beer, who was born in North Dakota. The official title of the society under which Reverend Beer worked as pastor in San Pedro de Macorís was the Protestant Episcopal church in the United States, but it was also known as the American Anglican church (he changed the name of the church from San Miguel y Todos los Santos to San Esteban). Besides his church duties, Beer served in the east of the country as British consul and as commissioner of Pan American Airways, whose flights landed in the Higuamo River in San Pedro de Macorís. Beer applied for and was appointed to the post of British vice-consul at San Pedro de Macorís on 1 April 1921. C. K. Ledger recommended him for the position, noting favorably that his church members were mainly West Indian blacks: The major portion of the work at San Pedro de Macoris is in connection with the British Coloured laborers arriving from West India[n] Islands for the Sugar Estates. Mr. Beer in his work comes in contact with this people and is really in a better position to judge on the rights and wrongs of the coloured people who are frequently arrested for trivial reasons, often due to their ignorance of Spanish language, than an ordinary business man. Mr. Beer is well acquainted with both the American and Dominican Officials and is very energetic and would I am sure do his best to maintain the dignity of the Office (TNA: PRO FO 369/1672). An inspection visit by a British official lauded Beer’s work as vice-consul: “Mr. Beer is on excellent terms with the local authorities and enjoys locally the highest prestige. He is of great use in
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DECEMBER 1921 protecting the interests of the very numerous British West Indians employed in the district” (TNA: PRO FO 369/2408). The Rev. Beer worked extensively in the company towns in the east of the country where West Indian migrant sugar-mill workers lived (bateyes) in Consuelo, Santa Fe, and Porvenir, and in the city of La Romana. He took charge of the Moravian school in Santa Fe and established St. Stephen School in San Pedro de Macorís in 1922, and other schools in Consuelo, Porvenir, and La Romana. By the mid-1930s, Beer owned and managed five schools in San Pedro de Macorís, one in the city and the others in the mill yards of various sugar factories. Cocolo and Dominican children attended these schools, which gave instruction in English and religion. Beer was also responsible for organizing a troop of Boy Scouts who gained recognition by the organization’s central office in London. He lived in San Pedro de Macorís and ministered in the east of the country until 1953. The Rev. Beer gained great prestige as the minister of the Anglican Church, school principal, and at the same time consul of the British government in the country. He was awarded an MBE (Member of the British Empire) in June 1933 at birthday honors for King George V (Edinburgh Gazette, June 6, 1933, p. 476), and raised to the position of Canon in the Anglican Church in January 1935. His political influence was confirmed and strengthened further by his collaboration with the dictator Raphael Trujillo following the latter’s rise to power in 1930. Beer was placed in charge of importing West Indian laborers to work as cane-cutters for Trujillo’s privately owned sugar plantations in the Dominican Republic (Rev. Telesfóro Isaac, Ms., “A History to Tell the Presence of the Episcopal-Anglican Church in the Dominican Republic,” http://dominicandevelopmentgroup.org/docs/history-isaac.pdf; Fermín Alvárez, Héroes anónimos: cien años de magisterio en San Pedro de Macorís [San Pedro de Macorís: Impresos de León, 1997], pp. 84–85). He returned to the U.S. in 1954 and settled in Galveston, TX, where he died on Sunday, 27 September 1964; he is buried in the Forest Park West Cemetery in Houston, TX (Galveston News, 28 September 1964). Philip Van Putten denounced Beer for conspiring with the U.S. military authorities in the “arrest of twelve of His Majesty’s subjects, people whom he was place[d] there to protect and defend!” (NW, 29 October 1921). Wilfred Rowland also accused Beer—“He [Beer] was the man with the Americans that made the plot to do that [the arrest]” (Wilfred E. Rowland, interview by Humberto García Muñiz, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 11 May 1991). Juan Niemen, a cocolo journalist and labor leader born and raised in San Pedro de Macorís, described him as “racist in his way of being . . . mean, irritating in his way of life, indifferent to the complaints of the English colored,” particularly those relating to their wages in the sugar industry (Juan Niemen, interview by Humberto García Muñiz, San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic, 5 December 1997). 4. La Prensa (1918–1923) was a general newspaper founded and administered by Miguel Rodríguez Objío and directed by Dr. Américo Lugo, with the collaboration of Alvaro Luna, Angel R. Delgado, Francisco Augusto Caminero, and lawyers Santiago Lamela Díaz, Floilán Tavares, and Persio C. Franco. Its motto was: “A daily of the people, by the people and for the people” (Rodríguez y Rodríguez, 18 décadas, p. 268).
Enclosure: Statement of Charge Brought Against UNIA San Pedro de Macorís Division Members San Pedro de Macorís, 21 September 1921 A TRUE AND CORRECT COPY. “A.” I, Manuel Joaquin Jimenes, secretary of the Alcaldia of the commune [comun]1 of San Pedro de Macoris, certify that among the files under my charge there is a penal record which states: In the name of the Republic in the City of San Pedro de Macoris, on the sixteenth day of the month of September of the year nineteen hundred and twenty one, year 78 of the Independence and 58 of the resto173
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ration. The Alcaldia of this common, duly constituted in the locale where its hearings are celebrated, composed of Magistrate Jose Pedemonte, Jr., Judge Alcaldia of this commune [comun], the Municipal Police Lieutenant acting for the Public Ministry, assisted by the above-mentioned Secretary acting in his penal capacity, has issued the following sentence in the action brought against those named below, James W. Halley W. J. Butler Orlando Hynes Josep[h] E[.] Welch D. E. Philips [J. T.] Carey Edgar Bridgewater Charles A. Henry Anthony Bastian Ellis Esdaile Becoriah Rollings [Zachariah Rawlins] Jane Williams Ellin Potter Violette H[o]llingsworth
married married single married single single single married married single single
weigher of canes Tailor silversmith farmer2 Reverend Professor Tailor merchant3 Mechanic tailor cartman4
born in St. Thomas born in Nevis born in St. Croix born in Barbados born in Tobago born in St. Kitts born in Nevis born in Antigua born in St. Croix born in St. Kitts born in St. Martin
married married single
domestic domestic domestic
born in St. Thomas born in St. Martin born in St. Croix
Accused of having established in this city, without prior authorization, an institution whose purpose is prejudicial to the social atmosphere, since it seeks the preeminence of the Black race over the white race, and also for having established a fee collection system which abuses [people’s] credulity. Having heard the reading of the action, having heard the defendants’ account and defense. Having heard the Public Ministry in its presentation of facts and its petitions that the defendants be judged in accord with article 479, section 12 of the Penal code. Actions. Heard. With the result that on the seventh day of September of this current year, the Commissary of the Municipal Police of this city brought before these Alcaldia those named below. James W. Halley Joseph E[.] Welch Edgar Bridgewater Ellis Esdaile Jane Williams
W. J. Butler D. E. Philips Charles A. Henry Becoriah Rollins Ellen Potter
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Orlando Hynes John [T.] Carey Anthony Bastian David Hicks Violette H//o//llingsworth
DECEMBER 1921
Charged with having established in this city, without prior authorization, an institution whose purpose is prejudicial to the social atmosphere, since it seeks the preeminence of the Black race over the white race, and also for having established a fee collection system which abuses [people’s] credulity. With the result that, on the seventeenth day of the month of September of the current year, they appeared [before the court] accompanied by Santiago Lamela Diaz, Esq., an attorney from this domicile, who concluded in his defense actions by requesting that if his clients had committed any crime they should be sent before the Tribunal of first Instance of this Judicial District. After deliberating, the Alcaldia[:] Considering: that Reverend D. E. Philips appointed himself President of a group and along with Misters William J. Butler, Charles E. [Charles A.] Henry, Anthony Bastian, James W. Halley and J. [T]. Carey charged contributions and fees to a number of individuals in the towns as well as in the sugar mills, for supposedly charitable aims. Considering: that all the books, papers and everything that has been confiscated manifests and proves that their aim was to gain money from all members using the improvement of the black race as a slogan. Considering: that motivated by profit, they made predictions and divinations, or that in any case they abused the credulity of others, as in this case, they are committing a violation. For those reasons and considering articles 479, paragraph 12 of the penal code, and 159 of the Criminal Procedures, which were read at the hearing by the Magistrate Judge Alcaldie and which state: Art. 479. Shall be punished with a fine from 4 to 5 pesos. Paragraph 12. Those who motivated by profit interpret Dreams making predictions and divinations or; who in any other way abuse credulity.5 Art: 159 When the facts do not present a crime [nor] contravention of the Police, the judge will annul the charges and all that has been carried out, knowing through the sentence of the injuries and prejudices, the Alcaldia of the common, administering justice in the name of the Republic with the authority of the law behind its verdict and in accord with the cited articles, finds: that it must and does condemn the defendants named below: D. E. Philips, William J. Bu[tl]er, James W. Halley, Charles E. [Charles A.] Henry, Anthony Bastian, and J. [T]. Carey, whose generals are known6 shall be fined four pesos each. That it must discharge and discharges all of those named Orlando Hynes, Joseph Welch, Edgar Bridgewater, Ellis Esdaile, Becoriah Rollins, David Hicks, Jane Williams, Ellen Potter, Violett[e] H[o]llingsworth whose generals are known because they have committed no violation according to this our sentence. We thus declare it, order it and sign it[.] The Republic commands and orders all deputies legally required to execute the present [sentence?] and legal prosecutors to watch over them and all civil and military authorities, who have been entrusted with public force, to assist them in this as long as they are legally compelled the Judge Alcalde (signed) J. Pedemonte H. The Secretary (signed) M. J. Jimenes. The past sentence was given 175
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and signed by the Magistrate Judge Alcalde in the public hearing of today which was read and signed by my secretary, which I certify. Dated ut supra. (Signed) M. J. Jimenes Secretary. Registered in San Pedro de Macoris today, September 20, 1921 in the book of judicial Letter A. Folio 130 No. 79 Rights [words illegible]. The Director of the Register (Signed) Elias Vargas, Jr. This is an exact copy of the original, which may be reviewed, and which I issue at the request of an interested party in San Pedro de Macoris today, September 20, 1921. The envio7 at the margin is valid. M. J. JIMENEZ Secretary of the Alcaldia DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD, copy. Translated from Spanish. 1. The term comun used in the original is a term of art and the translation (commune) is uncertain; it refers to the town or a larger administrative unit. 2. The Spanish term used in the original is agricultor, which is ambiguous. It could mean farmer, hired farmhand, agricultural worker, or even peasant, depending on the context. 3. The Spanish term used in the original is comerciante, which is also ambiguous. It could be translated as businessman, shopkeeper, trader, or the more generic, but somewhat grandiose, merchant. 4. “Cartman” appears in English in the original. 5. With the Dominican hispanophile elite attempting to suppress the culture of Haitian migrants, non-Christian religious practices were restricted in the first decade of the twentieth century (Patrick E. Bryan, “The Question of Labor in the Sugar Industry of the Dominican Republic in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries,” in Between Slavery and Free Labor: The Spanish-Speaking Caribbean in the Nineteenth Century, ed. Manuel Moreno Fraginals, Frank Moya Pons, and Stanley L. Engerman [Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985], pp. 247–248). 6. This is a literal translation of some kind of legal formula, perhaps meaning “whose testimony has been recorded.” 7. The meaning of the term envio is uncertain in this context.
Enclosure: Military Government Deportation Order Military Government of Santo Domingo, [4 November 1921] A TRUE AND CORRECT COPY “//B//” ORDER NO. 79 CONSIDERING that those named here, D. E. Philips, William J. Butler, Charles E. [Charles A.] Henry, J. T. Carey and Jaime Cooks, born in the English colonies, and J. N. Halley, born in a Dutch colony, all residents of San Pedro de Macoris, do not observe an unimpeachable moral and legal conduct, for which
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they have been convicted as agitators in said city, which imperils the peace and tranquility of the Republic. CONSIDERING that Article 7 of the Immigration law1 establishes that the right of foreigners to live in the country is limited by the obligation to maintain an unimpeachable moral and legal conduct, and that in case of a violation of this obligation, a foreign violator may be expelled with no more than providing proof of said violation, this department. DETERMINES 1. That those named D. E. Philips, William J. Butler, Charles E. [Charles A.] Henry, J. T. Carey, Jaime Cooks, and J. M. Halley be expelled from Dominican territory in the manner established in the first Article of executive order No. 695. 2. The Immigration Inspector of the port of San Pedro de Macoris is charged with the exact execution of this Order. Given in Santo Domingo on the 4th day of the month of November of 1921. R. M. WARFIELD Lt. Comdr. C.E.C.n U.S. Navy in charge of the department of Agriculture and Immigration under the Military Government Approved by: S. S. ROBINSON Rear-Admiral U.S. Navy Military Governor of Santo Domingo DNA, RG 38, M-210-M-202. TD, copy. Translated from Spanish. 1. The Immigration Law of 1912 was the first attempt to regulate the immigration of black laborers to work in the sugar industry. It required a license from the Executive for the immigration of “those native from the European colonies of America . . . and those workers whose race is not the caucasian” (“Núm. 5074. Ley de inmigración, 11 de mayo de 1912,” Colección de leyes, decretos y resoluciones de los poderes legislativo y ejecutivo de la República 1912, vol. 21 [Santo Domingo: Impresora ONAP, 1983], pp. 59–61).
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Enclosure: Signatures and Addresses of Those Imprisoned [[Santo Domingo] ca. 4 November 1921] NAME
ADDRESS
David Hicks Jane Williams Zechariah A[.] Rawlins Ellen Potter Orlando Haynes Ellis Erdaile Violet Hollingsworth Mercedes Duruó Joseph E[.] Welch Edgar W[.] Bridgewater Margaret Webster (no prisoner)
Zayas Bazan P-118 Trinidad Sanchez Calle Bazan Cosseu [illegible] Barrio S Calle 14 Calle Amechaguirra Casa 33 Calle Locomotora Casa 20 Calle Locomotora Casa 20 Calle 14 Casa 128 Amachoguirra No. 47 Calle Locomotora Casa No. 24 ” ” [strikeout illegible]
DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. AD.
Attlee Pomerene,1 U.S. Senator, to John Sydney de Bourg [Santo Domingo City] 13 December, 1921 My dear sir: The communication which you handed me Monday evening as I was leaving the Palace has been carefully read. I have taken this subject up with the Military Governor and his associates. I find that this subject is being very carefully investigated. As the Senatorial Committee will be leaving the Republic within the next two or three days I respectfully suggest that you address any further communications on this subject to the Military Governor here at Santo Domingo City. You can rest assured that your letters will be given every consideration. Neither the Government of the United States nor the military authorities here will submit to any injustice being perpetrated against either citizens or sojourners in the Republic. Our sole desire is to preserve peace and order and
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Enclosure: Signatures and Addresses of Those Imprisoned [[Santo Domingo] ca. 4 November 1921] NAME
ADDRESS
David Hicks Jane Williams Zechariah A[.] Rawlins Ellen Potter Orlando Haynes Ellis Erdaile Violet Hollingsworth Mercedes Duruó Joseph E[.] Welch Edgar W[.] Bridgewater Margaret Webster (no prisoner)
Zayas Bazan P-118 Trinidad Sanchez Calle Bazan Cosseu [illegible] Barrio S Calle 14 Calle Amechaguirra Casa 33 Calle Locomotora Casa 20 Calle Locomotora Casa 20 Calle 14 Casa 128 Amachoguirra No. 47 Calle Locomotora Casa No. 24 ” ” [strikeout illegible]
DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. AD.
Attlee Pomerene,1 U.S. Senator, to John Sydney de Bourg [Santo Domingo City] 13 December, 1921 My dear sir: The communication which you handed me Monday evening as I was leaving the Palace has been carefully read. I have taken this subject up with the Military Governor and his associates. I find that this subject is being very carefully investigated. As the Senatorial Committee will be leaving the Republic within the next two or three days I respectfully suggest that you address any further communications on this subject to the Military Governor here at Santo Domingo City. You can rest assured that your letters will be given every consideration. Neither the Government of the United States nor the military authorities here will submit to any injustice being perpetrated against either citizens or sojourners in the Republic. Our sole desire is to preserve peace and order and
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to do everything which may be for the benefit of the Dominican people. [W]ith every respect and consideration, Very sincerely yours, The Senatorial Committee (Sgd) A. POMERENE United States Senator DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TLS. 1. Attlee Pomerene (1863–1937), journalist, lawyer, and banker, was a senator from Ohio for twelve years (1911–1923). After leaving the Senate, he gained national recognition as special prosecutor of the Teapot Dome and the Elk Hills Oil lease scandal. Pomerene was mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in 1928 (NYT, 13 November 1937; Antonio Hoepelman and Juan A. Senior, ed., Documentos históricos que se refieren a la intervención armada de los Estados Unidos de Norte-América y la implantación de un Gobierno Militar americano en la República Dominicana [1922; reprint, Santo Domingo: Colección Pensamiento Dominicano, 1974], p. 30).
John Sydney de Bourg to Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic Barrio S. Calle 14, Casa 91., San Pedro de Macoris, Santo Domingo, December 16, 1921 Your Excellency: I have the honor to state that in //c//onsequence of the [im]pos[s]ibility to have obtained the necessary consideration in the matter of the illegal raid on the Liberty Hall of a Division of our association here and the arrest and imprisonment of officers, members, and others on the 3rd and 4th days of September last and the deportation on the 22nd day of November last of four of our officers by the United States Military Government by false presentations I felt constrained to have formally laid said grievances as a complaint before the Senatorial Committee of inquiry. (2) The Honorable Senator McCormick1 has formally informed me that your Excellency has been officially direct[ed] to hold a thorough investigation into all the facts and circumstances connected with said incident which I must ter[m] a very regret[t]able and un[-]American imposition on these members of my race. 3. In accordanc[e] with the Honorable Senators request I beg to assure your Excellency that I am prepared to attend at the time and place of said investigation and there tender the necessary evidence of my self and several witnesses of credubility [credibility] who would testify on oath as to the facts that disprove substantially the cu[lp]ability of those who have been thus mal-treated by the United States Military Government here as if to avenge the cause of certain white persons. 179
DECEMBER 1921
to do everything which may be for the benefit of the Dominican people. [W]ith every respect and consideration, Very sincerely yours, The Senatorial Committee (Sgd) A. POMERENE United States Senator DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TLS. 1. Attlee Pomerene (1863–1937), journalist, lawyer, and banker, was a senator from Ohio for twelve years (1911–1923). After leaving the Senate, he gained national recognition as special prosecutor of the Teapot Dome and the Elk Hills Oil lease scandal. Pomerene was mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in 1928 (NYT, 13 November 1937; Antonio Hoepelman and Juan A. Senior, ed., Documentos históricos que se refieren a la intervención armada de los Estados Unidos de Norte-América y la implantación de un Gobierno Militar americano en la República Dominicana [1922; reprint, Santo Domingo: Colección Pensamiento Dominicano, 1974], p. 30).
John Sydney de Bourg to Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic Barrio S. Calle 14, Casa 91., San Pedro de Macoris, Santo Domingo, December 16, 1921 Your Excellency: I have the honor to state that in //c//onsequence of the [im]pos[s]ibility to have obtained the necessary consideration in the matter of the illegal raid on the Liberty Hall of a Division of our association here and the arrest and imprisonment of officers, members, and others on the 3rd and 4th days of September last and the deportation on the 22nd day of November last of four of our officers by the United States Military Government by false presentations I felt constrained to have formally laid said grievances as a complaint before the Senatorial Committee of inquiry. (2) The Honorable Senator McCormick1 has formally informed me that your Excellency has been officially direct[ed] to hold a thorough investigation into all the facts and circumstances connected with said incident which I must ter[m] a very regret[t]able and un[-]American imposition on these members of my race. 3. In accordanc[e] with the Honorable Senators request I beg to assure your Excellency that I am prepared to attend at the time and place of said investigation and there tender the necessary evidence of my self and several witnesses of credubility [credibility] who would testify on oath as to the facts that disprove substantially the cu[lp]ability of those who have been thus mal-treated by the United States Military Government here as if to avenge the cause of certain white persons. 179
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4. I now earnestly plead for the immediate release of the General Secretary James Halley who is still detained in the public prison here as one ordered to be deported on said false representations and further for the restoration of the charter, books and other effects of the said association. 5. Anxiously awaiting your early reply for which I thank your excellency, in advance, I have the honor to be Your Excellency most humble and obedient servant (Signed) SYDNEY DE BOURG Leader of the Western Province of the West Indies and Central and South America DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD, copy. 1. Sen. Joseph Medill McCormick (1877–1925), a graduate of Yale University, served as war correspondent for the Chicago Tribune in the Philippine Islands and as a correspondent for several newspapers during the Mexican revolution. McCormick entered political life with the Progressive Party (Bull Moose Party) of Theodore Roosevelt, but by 1916 he had joined the Republican party in Illinois (NYT, 26 February 1925; Antonio Hoepelman and Juan A. Senior, ed., Documentos históricos que se refieren a la intervención armada de los Estados Unidos de Norte-América y la implantación de un gobierno militar americano en la República Dominicana [Santo Domingo, R. D.: Impr. De J. R. vda. Garcia, 1922], p. 35).
Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic, to Brigadier General Harry Lee, Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S. Marine Corps SANTO DOMINGO CITY, R.D.
17 December 1921 1ST ENDORSEMENT1 From: Military Governor of Santo Domingo. To: Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S. Marines. SUBJECT: Alleged prosecution of several members of the Universal Negro Improvement Association 1. Forwarded; please submit complete report in connection with the alleged prosecution of several members of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. The correspondence now on file in the Office of the Military Governor does not make sufficient distinction between the Universal Negro Improvement Association and the African Blood Brotherhood and it is requested that the proper distinction be made in this report. 2. Return all papers. S. S. ROBISON 180
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4. I now earnestly plead for the immediate release of the General Secretary James Halley who is still detained in the public prison here as one ordered to be deported on said false representations and further for the restoration of the charter, books and other effects of the said association. 5. Anxiously awaiting your early reply for which I thank your excellency, in advance, I have the honor to be Your Excellency most humble and obedient servant (Signed) SYDNEY DE BOURG Leader of the Western Province of the West Indies and Central and South America DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD, copy. 1. Sen. Joseph Medill McCormick (1877–1925), a graduate of Yale University, served as war correspondent for the Chicago Tribune in the Philippine Islands and as a correspondent for several newspapers during the Mexican revolution. McCormick entered political life with the Progressive Party (Bull Moose Party) of Theodore Roosevelt, but by 1916 he had joined the Republican party in Illinois (NYT, 26 February 1925; Antonio Hoepelman and Juan A. Senior, ed., Documentos históricos que se refieren a la intervención armada de los Estados Unidos de Norte-América y la implantación de un gobierno militar americano en la República Dominicana [Santo Domingo, R. D.: Impr. De J. R. vda. Garcia, 1922], p. 35).
Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic, to Brigadier General Harry Lee, Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S. Marine Corps SANTO DOMINGO CITY, R.D.
17 December 1921 1ST ENDORSEMENT1 From: Military Governor of Santo Domingo. To: Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S. Marines. SUBJECT: Alleged prosecution of several members of the Universal Negro Improvement Association 1. Forwarded; please submit complete report in connection with the alleged prosecution of several members of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. The correspondence now on file in the Office of the Military Governor does not make sufficient distinction between the Universal Negro Improvement Association and the African Blood Brotherhood and it is requested that the proper distinction be made in this report. 2. Return all papers. S. S. ROBISON 180
DECEMBER 1921 [Typed endorsement:] 2nd indorsement Headquarters 2nd Brigade, U.S. Marines, Santo Domingo City, D.R. 19 December, 1921 From: Commanding General. To: District Commander, Eastern District. 1. Forwarded for immediate compliance. By command of Brigadier General Lee. C. J. Miller Chief-of-Staff DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TDS. 1. The covering document for this series of endorsements marked “Subject: Alleged prosecution of several members of the Universal Improvement Association” has not been identified.
John Sydney de Bourg to LieutenantCommander R. M. Warfield, Commissioner, Department of Agriculture and Immigration Barrio S, Calle 14, Casa 91, San Pedro de Macoris, Santo Domingo. R.D., December 19th, 1921 Honourable Commander:— I have the honour to respectfully request that you would not regard this as an attempt to give you any un-ne[ce]ssary worry and annoyance in this matter of an un-American imposition on th[e] grandest of all Negro Associations, and on some few unfortunate members of my race by your //G//overnment here. (2) Since my arrival here on Thursday morning last the 15th, Inst: I have instituted the most searching investigation into the allegatio[n] contained in the causes given you for instigating the deportation order against our six officers of said association. (3) My very strenuous efforts in this direction have enabled me to be not only satisfied of the falsity and maliciousness of certain evil designing Negrophobist-participants in this quasi national raid upon these in-offensive, peaceful, and Law-abiding unfortunates but I was enabled to boldly and conscientiously in all seriousness offer Admiral Robison to produce to that high dignitary the necessary evidence to disprove the false representations by which such atrociti[es] were actuated on this association. (4) As I have already appealed to you in person and to Admiral Robison in writing for the immediate release of our General Secretary pending said investi181
DECEMBER 1921 [Typed endorsement:] 2nd indorsement Headquarters 2nd Brigade, U.S. Marines, Santo Domingo City, D.R. 19 December, 1921 From: Commanding General. To: District Commander, Eastern District. 1. Forwarded for immediate compliance. By command of Brigadier General Lee. C. J. Miller Chief-of-Staff DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TDS. 1. The covering document for this series of endorsements marked “Subject: Alleged prosecution of several members of the Universal Improvement Association” has not been identified.
John Sydney de Bourg to LieutenantCommander R. M. Warfield, Commissioner, Department of Agriculture and Immigration Barrio S, Calle 14, Casa 91, San Pedro de Macoris, Santo Domingo. R.D., December 19th, 1921 Honourable Commander:— I have the honour to respectfully request that you would not regard this as an attempt to give you any un-ne[ce]ssary worry and annoyance in this matter of an un-American imposition on th[e] grandest of all Negro Associations, and on some few unfortunate members of my race by your //G//overnment here. (2) Since my arrival here on Thursday morning last the 15th, Inst: I have instituted the most searching investigation into the allegatio[n] contained in the causes given you for instigating the deportation order against our six officers of said association. (3) My very strenuous efforts in this direction have enabled me to be not only satisfied of the falsity and maliciousness of certain evil designing Negrophobist-participants in this quasi national raid upon these in-offensive, peaceful, and Law-abiding unfortunates but I was enabled to boldly and conscientiously in all seriousness offer Admiral Robison to produce to that high dignitary the necessary evidence to disprove the false representations by which such atrociti[es] were actuated on this association. (4) As I have already appealed to you in person and to Admiral Robison in writing for the immediate release of our General Secretary pending said investi181
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gation directed by the Senatorial Commission of inquiry I humbly beg that you would now give forthwith effect to my appeal the more so as I am fully convinced that there is nothing known in this Republic nor in any other country against the character of this man—James Halley. (5) And as for the man James Cooks his conviction in this Republic in one solitary case committed by him in his own defence took place quit[e] nearing four years and the circumstances were such that through the intervention of one of the highest officials of the United States Military Government then here he was set at liberty after a very short confinement in the Public Prison. (6) I again appeal to you and the Admiral even in your common humanity as the representatives in this Republic of that great Republic whose principles of Government are founded on the sound basis of the stability of [P]eace, Justice, Freedom, and Liberty to all mankind that you would [exe]rcise those [p]rinciples forthwith in this behalf. Thanking you in anticipation for your very prompt and favourable attention. I have the honour to be Honourable Sir, Your most humble and obedient ser[vant] J. SYDNEY DE BOURG Leader of the [W]estern Province of the West Indies and of Central and South America [Addressed to:] Honourable R. M. Warfield Lieut-Commander C.S.C., United States Navy Commissioner of the Department of Agriculture and Immigration to the Military Governor DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TLS, recipient’s copy.
H. S. Blair, Division Manager, United Fruit Company, to Victor M. Cutter, Vice-President, United Fruit Company PANAMA DIVISION ALMIRANTE, R.P. December twentieth, Nineteen Twentyone Dear Sir:— I am in receipt of your letter of the fifth instant, enclosing a copy of a letter from West relative to the treatment he received in the dining room of the “Heredia.” About all we can say is that negroes are always seated at a table by themselves in a portion of the dining room at a distance from white passengers 182
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gation directed by the Senatorial Commission of inquiry I humbly beg that you would now give forthwith effect to my appeal the more so as I am fully convinced that there is nothing known in this Republic nor in any other country against the character of this man—James Halley. (5) And as for the man James Cooks his conviction in this Republic in one solitary case committed by him in his own defence took place quit[e] nearing four years and the circumstances were such that through the intervention of one of the highest officials of the United States Military Government then here he was set at liberty after a very short confinement in the Public Prison. (6) I again appeal to you and the Admiral even in your common humanity as the representatives in this Republic of that great Republic whose principles of Government are founded on the sound basis of the stability of [P]eace, Justice, Freedom, and Liberty to all mankind that you would [exe]rcise those [p]rinciples forthwith in this behalf. Thanking you in anticipation for your very prompt and favourable attention. I have the honour to be Honourable Sir, Your most humble and obedient ser[vant] J. SYDNEY DE BOURG Leader of the [W]estern Province of the West Indies and of Central and South America [Addressed to:] Honourable R. M. Warfield Lieut-Commander C.S.C., United States Navy Commissioner of the Department of Agriculture and Immigration to the Military Governor DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TLS, recipient’s copy.
H. S. Blair, Division Manager, United Fruit Company, to Victor M. Cutter, Vice-President, United Fruit Company PANAMA DIVISION ALMIRANTE, R.P. December twentieth, Nineteen Twentyone Dear Sir:— I am in receipt of your letter of the fifth instant, enclosing a copy of a letter from West relative to the treatment he received in the dining room of the “Heredia.” About all we can say is that negroes are always seated at a table by themselves in a portion of the dining room at a distance from white passengers 182
DECEMBER 1921
and this is the first formal complaint I have heard on the subject. On this particular trip of the “Heredia” there were fi[v]e Company employe[e]s, including Messrs. Brewer, Lothrop, and [Nathan?], the Bocas Alcalde, the Almirante Inspector of Police (both somewhat off-color); Capt. and Mrs[.] Wright, of Coco Plum, and their four children and West, a total of fourteen first-class passengers. This man West is here alleging to be the representative of the Black Star Line, etc. He has been trying to get Saunders who has been collecting for the Black Star people for some time, to turn over to him (West) what funds Saunders possesses, but thus far without success. He probably feels his importance, in this position. He has been in to see me once, but did not mention the occurrence. If he does later, I think we can satisfy him that his treatment should not have caused him the embarrassment he felt at the time he wrote you. I do not know whether it could be done or not, but it has seemed to us that if the Company had some sort of so-called Intermediate Class of passage at a slight reduction over regular fare, for colored passengers such complaints as this could be avoided. The Intermediate Class should be made to understand they are to eat at the second table or at separate tables and this could be clearly shown on the ticket. If they pay the regular first-class fare they naturally object to other than first-class accommodations in all respects. Very truly yours, [no signature] Manager UFC. TL, copy. On UFC letterhead.
Edward H. Bouello to the Negro World [[Puerto Padre, Oriente, Cuba, December 20, 1921]]
A RINGING MESSAGE FROM PUERTO PADRE, ORIENTE[,] CUBA Dear Sir: Please allow me, through your most valued Negro Journal, to express to the critics and followers of this, our noble movement, the opinion of the Puerto Padre Branch No. 163. We have read from time to time, the praises and criticisms of lovers and enemies of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L., and our to-be-honored Hon. Marcus Garvey whom every Negro should respect. In all our lives as Negroes, this side, we have never heard of any organizations to do any real good for Negroes, and I believe few Negroes ever, before the U.N.I.A. came on the scene, nor have we ever noticed anything that was
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DECEMBER 1921
and this is the first formal complaint I have heard on the subject. On this particular trip of the “Heredia” there were fi[v]e Company employe[e]s, including Messrs. Brewer, Lothrop, and [Nathan?], the Bocas Alcalde, the Almirante Inspector of Police (both somewhat off-color); Capt. and Mrs[.] Wright, of Coco Plum, and their four children and West, a total of fourteen first-class passengers. This man West is here alleging to be the representative of the Black Star Line, etc. He has been trying to get Saunders who has been collecting for the Black Star people for some time, to turn over to him (West) what funds Saunders possesses, but thus far without success. He probably feels his importance, in this position. He has been in to see me once, but did not mention the occurrence. If he does later, I think we can satisfy him that his treatment should not have caused him the embarrassment he felt at the time he wrote you. I do not know whether it could be done or not, but it has seemed to us that if the Company had some sort of so-called Intermediate Class of passage at a slight reduction over regular fare, for colored passengers such complaints as this could be avoided. The Intermediate Class should be made to understand they are to eat at the second table or at separate tables and this could be clearly shown on the ticket. If they pay the regular first-class fare they naturally object to other than first-class accommodations in all respects. Very truly yours, [no signature] Manager UFC. TL, copy. On UFC letterhead.
Edward H. Bouello to the Negro World [[Puerto Padre, Oriente, Cuba, December 20, 1921]]
A RINGING MESSAGE FROM PUERTO PADRE, ORIENTE[,] CUBA Dear Sir: Please allow me, through your most valued Negro Journal, to express to the critics and followers of this, our noble movement, the opinion of the Puerto Padre Branch No. 163. We have read from time to time, the praises and criticisms of lovers and enemies of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L., and our to-be-honored Hon. Marcus Garvey whom every Negro should respect. In all our lives as Negroes, this side, we have never heard of any organizations to do any real good for Negroes, and I believe few Negroes ever, before the U.N.I.A. came on the scene, nor have we ever noticed anything that was
183
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ever done by these so-called Negro organizations to advance our race, therefore let me ask these so[-]called leaders this question. If you are for the advancement of our race and not aiming at self-advancement “why on earth do you try to crush someone who came on the scene to give a helping hand?” Answer this, or you are only a barrier in the way of our progress. We are proud of the U.N.I.A. (1) Because all are Negroes, leading Negroes to a higher sphere. (2) Because the Hon. Marcus Garvey is fulfilling the 41st chapter of Isaiah and 1st verse, that says, “Keep Silence before me, oh Islands, and let the people renew their strength.”1 EDWARD H. BOUELLO Puerto Padre, Oriente, Cuba Printed in NW, 14 January 1922. 1. Isaiah 41:1 reads, “Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment” (Donald Guthrie and J. A. Motyer, eds., The New Bible Commentary, 3rd ed. [Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity, 1970], p. 612; James L. Mays, ed., Harper’s Bible Commentary [San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988], pp. 574–575; Robert Carroll and Stephen Prickett, eds., The Bible: Authorized King James Version [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997]).
J. R. Ralph Casimir to the Negro World A
[[Roseau, Dominica, Dec. 21, 1921]] MESSAGE FROM SANTO DOMINGO1
Fellowmen of the Negro Race: On behalf of the Negroes of Dominica I send you greetings. It is a regrettable fact that many Negroes throughout the world are not working in earnest for a free Africa and the upliftment of the race. By the time you read this the year 1921 will be no more. Before you should pass away from this world it is your duty to do all that is in your power to help our struggling, down-trodden race. Remember that you shall pass through this world but once. Any good thing, therefore, that you can do or any kindness you can show to any member of the race, do it now. Defer not nor neglect it, for you shall not pass this way again.2 The wide-awake must give the sleeping ones a strong pull that they might wake up from their unfortunate slumber. Those of you who continually “knock” Mr. Garvey, his followers and his works are harming yourselves. It’s time for you to get sense. If you look with the “eye of common sense” you will find out that it is better for us all—“white” Negroes, “brown” Negroes, “yellow” Negroes, “black” Negroes, Negroes of whatever color everywhere—to unite together and instead of knocking against Negroes we should as an organized whole knock against somebody else. Fellowmen, we are keeping back ourselves simply with words which we should forget: “It can’t be done,” “Negroes know nothing” and all such rot. 184
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ever done by these so-called Negro organizations to advance our race, therefore let me ask these so[-]called leaders this question. If you are for the advancement of our race and not aiming at self-advancement “why on earth do you try to crush someone who came on the scene to give a helping hand?” Answer this, or you are only a barrier in the way of our progress. We are proud of the U.N.I.A. (1) Because all are Negroes, leading Negroes to a higher sphere. (2) Because the Hon. Marcus Garvey is fulfilling the 41st chapter of Isaiah and 1st verse, that says, “Keep Silence before me, oh Islands, and let the people renew their strength.”1 EDWARD H. BOUELLO Puerto Padre, Oriente, Cuba Printed in NW, 14 January 1922. 1. Isaiah 41:1 reads, “Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment” (Donald Guthrie and J. A. Motyer, eds., The New Bible Commentary, 3rd ed. [Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity, 1970], p. 612; James L. Mays, ed., Harper’s Bible Commentary [San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988], pp. 574–575; Robert Carroll and Stephen Prickett, eds., The Bible: Authorized King James Version [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997]).
J. R. Ralph Casimir to the Negro World A
[[Roseau, Dominica, Dec. 21, 1921]] MESSAGE FROM SANTO DOMINGO1
Fellowmen of the Negro Race: On behalf of the Negroes of Dominica I send you greetings. It is a regrettable fact that many Negroes throughout the world are not working in earnest for a free Africa and the upliftment of the race. By the time you read this the year 1921 will be no more. Before you should pass away from this world it is your duty to do all that is in your power to help our struggling, down-trodden race. Remember that you shall pass through this world but once. Any good thing, therefore, that you can do or any kindness you can show to any member of the race, do it now. Defer not nor neglect it, for you shall not pass this way again.2 The wide-awake must give the sleeping ones a strong pull that they might wake up from their unfortunate slumber. Those of you who continually “knock” Mr. Garvey, his followers and his works are harming yourselves. It’s time for you to get sense. If you look with the “eye of common sense” you will find out that it is better for us all—“white” Negroes, “brown” Negroes, “yellow” Negroes, “black” Negroes, Negroes of whatever color everywhere—to unite together and instead of knocking against Negroes we should as an organized whole knock against somebody else. Fellowmen, we are keeping back ourselves simply with words which we should forget: “It can’t be done,” “Negroes know nothing” and all such rot. 184
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Who first enjoyed civilization? To what race does the richest continent belong? Who first crossed the Atlantic? Who was Euclid?3 Who was Hermes?4 Who first made needles in England?5 What country in Africa has never been controlled by whites and whose people have always inflicted severe punishment on the armies of England, France and Italy?6 Can the white man do without the Negro? What on earth, if the Negro is given a chance, cannot he do, provided that such thing can be done by man? The trouble with many Negroes is that they have eyes, yet cannot see; ears yet cannot hear; brains, yet cannot think. Such Negroes can do very little. Let us not give up hope in our fight for freedom. We have examples of the past by which we can act. One of the latest examples we have is the case of Ireland, whose people have been struggling for centuries. We have not struggled for even a quarter of a century, yet there are some who say it’s impossible. We must not expect it to be a light task. Many of our foreparents during the days of slavery fought hard for freedom and died without enjoying even the partial freedom that we enjoy today. What we enjoy today is the result of their struggles. What about your children—the coming generation, the future navigators, lawyers, doctors, professors, etc? Who knows whether his son shall not one day be President or King somewhere in Africa or admiral of an African navy? Must we not open the way for the future men and women? Tho’ the road be dreary and long Keep a-plugging away. For the hours shall surely come When we will gladly sing: “Rejoice, rejoice, victory is won, Africa is free! Rejoice, the foe is conquered Through the might of the Red, the Black and the Green.” In conclusion, fellowmen, let me beseech you to work in earnest for the upliftment of our race and the redemption of our motherland, Africa. All that is required is organization, and through unity it will not be any hard task to bring about the aims and objects of the greatest Negro movement for the Negro and by the Negro—the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Let us resolve to put our race and country (Africa) higher up the ladder of progress in the year 1922. Wait not a moment longer. The time for action is now. Therefore begin now. Go forward, fearing God and Him alone. With very best wishes for a bright and prosperous future, I am, fellowmen, Yours for one God, one aim, one destiny, J. R. RALPH CASIMIR President U.N.I.A., No. 85 Printed in NW, 14 January 1922.
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS 1. On Casimir’s copy, the headline is corrected by hand to read “A Message From Dominica” (JRRC). It was not uncommon that the Dominican Republic was confused with Dominica. 2. These lines draw heavily on verse written by a Quaker missionary, Stephen (Ettiene) De Grellet (1773–1885). 3. Euclid (c. 300 B.C.), a Greek mathematician, is best known for his collection of geometrical theorems, the Elements. According to the Greek philosopher Proclus, Euclid taught at Alexandria, Egypt, during the reign of Ptolemy I Soter, which lasted from 323 to 285/283 B.C. Euclid probably compiled the Elements from various works of earlier mathematicians. Other surviving works of his are Data, On Division, Phaenomena, and Optics. There are also other works attributed to him by other writers, such as Conics, Porisms, Pseudaria, and Surface-loci (Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed., vol. 5 [Detroit: Gale, 2004], pp. 327–329; NEB). 4. Probably a reference to Hermes Trismegistus, a combination of the Egyptian god Thoth and the Greek Hermes. He was believed to be the inventor of the alphabet, music, athletics, astronomy, and writing and the patron of all arts dependent on writing. Hermes was often also seen as a practitioner of magic and was ascribed with the Hermetic writings, which probably date from the middle of the first to the end of the third century A.D. They are generally divided into two main classes called “popular” Hermetism, which discusses astrology and the other occult sciences, and “learned” Hermetism, which deals with theology and philosophy. Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499) claimed in his Argumentum that the Egyptian Hermes was founder of an ancient or pagan theology that contained significant prefigurations of Christian doctrine (Florian Ebeling, The Secret History of Hermes Trismegistus: Hermeticism from Ancient to Modern Times [Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2007], pp. 3, 23–25, 47–48; Brian Curran, The Egyptian Renaissance: The Afterlife of Ancient Egypt in Early Modern Italy [Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007], pp. 20, 92–93, 94; NEB). 5. The earliest record of needle making in London is from the year 1545. General knowledge claimed the trade was introduced by a Spanish Moor. A tailor in the sixteenth century, John Stow, chronicled that needles were sold in Cheapside and London by a Spanish Negro during the reign of Queen Mary I, 1553 to 1558. In Survey of London and Westminster (1598), Stow states that this manufacturer refused to disclose the secrets of his art. The industry was later developed by other immigrants (Michael T. Morrall, History and Description of Needle Making [Manchester: Abel Morall, 1862], pp. 2–4; Sylvia Groves, The History of Needlework Tools and Accessories [London: Country Life, 1966], pp. 19–20; Mary C. Beaudry, Findings: The Material Culture of Needlework and Sewing [New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006], pp. 47–48). 6. A reference to the success of Ethiopia in its battle against European influence in the Horn of Africa. In 1868, the British clashed with Emperor Tewodros II because he had taken several British men hostage. Tewodros was angry with the British for not helping the Ethiopian cause against Muslim influence. In the late 1890s, Emperor Menelik was able to manipulate and sabotage French and British troops as they attempted to gain a foothold in the region. Menelik misguided the French in 1897 during their campaign to gain access to the Red Sea. In 1896, Ethiopia defeated the Italians in the Battle of Adwa (David Levering Lewis, The Race to Fashoda: European Colonialism and African Resistance in the Scramble for Africa [New York: Weidenfield and Nicholson, 1988]; Bahru Zewde, A History of Modern Ethiopia 1855–1991 [Oxford: Currey, 2001]).
Statement of Joseph Thomas San Pedro de Macoris, December 29, 1921
VERBAL STATEMENT OF JOSEPH THOMAS JOS[EP]H THOMAS—ENGLISH SUBJECT FROM ANTIGUA, B.W.I., SHOEMAKER, ADVISORY BOARD, U.N.I.A. “I was called on the afternoon of the 19th date, by Captain Garcia who sent the top sergeant of the Guardia, Eaminito, by name, for me. When I came to the 186
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS 1. On Casimir’s copy, the headline is corrected by hand to read “A Message From Dominica” (JRRC). It was not uncommon that the Dominican Republic was confused with Dominica. 2. These lines draw heavily on verse written by a Quaker missionary, Stephen (Ettiene) De Grellet (1773–1885). 3. Euclid (c. 300 B.C.), a Greek mathematician, is best known for his collection of geometrical theorems, the Elements. According to the Greek philosopher Proclus, Euclid taught at Alexandria, Egypt, during the reign of Ptolemy I Soter, which lasted from 323 to 285/283 B.C. Euclid probably compiled the Elements from various works of earlier mathematicians. Other surviving works of his are Data, On Division, Phaenomena, and Optics. There are also other works attributed to him by other writers, such as Conics, Porisms, Pseudaria, and Surface-loci (Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed., vol. 5 [Detroit: Gale, 2004], pp. 327–329; NEB). 4. Probably a reference to Hermes Trismegistus, a combination of the Egyptian god Thoth and the Greek Hermes. He was believed to be the inventor of the alphabet, music, athletics, astronomy, and writing and the patron of all arts dependent on writing. Hermes was often also seen as a practitioner of magic and was ascribed with the Hermetic writings, which probably date from the middle of the first to the end of the third century A.D. They are generally divided into two main classes called “popular” Hermetism, which discusses astrology and the other occult sciences, and “learned” Hermetism, which deals with theology and philosophy. Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499) claimed in his Argumentum that the Egyptian Hermes was founder of an ancient or pagan theology that contained significant prefigurations of Christian doctrine (Florian Ebeling, The Secret History of Hermes Trismegistus: Hermeticism from Ancient to Modern Times [Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2007], pp. 3, 23–25, 47–48; Brian Curran, The Egyptian Renaissance: The Afterlife of Ancient Egypt in Early Modern Italy [Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007], pp. 20, 92–93, 94; NEB). 5. The earliest record of needle making in London is from the year 1545. General knowledge claimed the trade was introduced by a Spanish Moor. A tailor in the sixteenth century, John Stow, chronicled that needles were sold in Cheapside and London by a Spanish Negro during the reign of Queen Mary I, 1553 to 1558. In Survey of London and Westminster (1598), Stow states that this manufacturer refused to disclose the secrets of his art. The industry was later developed by other immigrants (Michael T. Morrall, History and Description of Needle Making [Manchester: Abel Morall, 1862], pp. 2–4; Sylvia Groves, The History of Needlework Tools and Accessories [London: Country Life, 1966], pp. 19–20; Mary C. Beaudry, Findings: The Material Culture of Needlework and Sewing [New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006], pp. 47–48). 6. A reference to the success of Ethiopia in its battle against European influence in the Horn of Africa. In 1868, the British clashed with Emperor Tewodros II because he had taken several British men hostage. Tewodros was angry with the British for not helping the Ethiopian cause against Muslim influence. In the late 1890s, Emperor Menelik was able to manipulate and sabotage French and British troops as they attempted to gain a foothold in the region. Menelik misguided the French in 1897 during their campaign to gain access to the Red Sea. In 1896, Ethiopia defeated the Italians in the Battle of Adwa (David Levering Lewis, The Race to Fashoda: European Colonialism and African Resistance in the Scramble for Africa [New York: Weidenfield and Nicholson, 1988]; Bahru Zewde, A History of Modern Ethiopia 1855–1991 [Oxford: Currey, 2001]).
Statement of Joseph Thomas San Pedro de Macoris, December 29, 1921
VERBAL STATEMENT OF JOSEPH THOMAS JOS[EP]H THOMAS—ENGLISH SUBJECT FROM ANTIGUA, B.W.I., SHOEMAKER, ADVISORY BOARD, U.N.I.A. “I was called on the afternoon of the 19th date, by Captain Garcia who sent the top sergeant of the Guardia, Eaminito, by name, for me. When I came to the 186
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office, Captain Garcia, asked me what do I know about the occurrences which I was called about. I told him that about [all?] I could tell him was that I saw the Immigration Officer, Trancoso, with a revolver in his hand running after another man named Garvey1 and the man ran between the all[e]y between the two houses in the yard with the muzzle of the gun pointing toward the man Garvey. The said afternoon of the occurrence, the 19th, Captain Garcia called me to give evidence as pertaining to the Immigration Officer and the matter of the revolver. Well there was three of us who gave evidence in that matter, and what leads me to believe I was arrested on that occurrence was, I was simply only the one out of the three who was sent for and arrested because Trancoso said that I am one of the Black Star Line men. I was arrested at nine o[’]clock the morning of the 20th and was released the 28th day of December 1921. I had //heard// [initialed: J. E. W.] Trancoso’s woman send for him at his office by a neighbor girl of hers and when he returned he had a policeman with him. When I went to the door I saw Trancoso running out of his house with a gun behind Garvey.” Certified a true copy. JAMES E. WHITMIRE Second Lieutenant U.S. Marine Corps DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD. 1. Without any documentary evidence to support the claim, the tale has recently begun to be propagated that Marcus Garvey arrived in San Pedro de Macorís in May 1918 “following the report of maltreatment given to the black immigrants” (Rafael Antonio Jarvis Joseph, “The Black Star Line y Marcus Garvey en San Pedro de Macorís” [paper presented at the III Festival de Culturas Afroamericanas, Centro Cultural Hispánico, Santo Domingo, República Dominicana, 21 November 1996], p. ix; Angela Peña, “Marcus Garvey, el gran defensor de los negros, es admirado apasionadamente por los ‘cocolos’,” El Siglo, 20 October 1990, p. 12; Fermín Alvárez, América Bermúdez and George Hazim, “Pagina literaria,” El Mesopotomio Año 1, no. 3 [Julio de 1996]).
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Lieutenant-Colonel William C. Harllee, District Commander, Eastern District, Dominican Republic, to Brigadier General Harry Lee, Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S. Marine Corps OFFICE OF THE DISTRICT COMMANDER, EASTERN DISTRICT, U.S. MARINES, SAN PEDRO DE MACORIS, D.R.,
29 December 1921 3RD INDORSEMENT From: District Commander. To: Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S. Marines, Santo Domingo City, D.R. Subject: Alleged prosecution of several members of Universal Negro Improvement Association References: (a). Original report from Provost Marshal, San Pedro de Macoris, re: the U.N.I.A., dated 21 September 1921 and 11th endorsement thereon. (b). Preamble and Manifesto African Blood Brotherhood to the Second Negro International held in New York August 1–31, 1921. (c). Report of U.N.I.A., December 7, 1919 to December 7, 1920. Enclosures: (1). Copy of reference (a), without enclosures. (2). One copy reference (b) bearing seal of United Negro Improvement Association and 14 other copies. (3). Copy of “THE NEGRO WORLD,” official paper of the U.N.I.A., dated March 5, 1921. (4). Copy of “THE NEGRO WORLD,” official newspaper of the U.N.I.A., dated 11 September 1920. (5). Copy of “THE NEGRO WORLD,” official newspaper of the U.N.I.A., dated February 5, 1921. (6). Original and three copies of reference (c). (7). “NEGRO WORLD,” dated October 29, 1921. 1. Returned. 2. The United Negro Improvement Association is an organization presumably formed for the uplift of the negro race. The African Blood Brotherhood is a separate negro society presumably formed for the same purpose. The U.N.I.A. has an auxiliary the “BLACK STAR LINE STEAMSHIP CORPORATION,” organized for the purpose of transporting the negro race to Liberia Africa. 188
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“THE NEGRO WORLD,” is the official newspaper of the U.N.I.A., with Marcus Garvey, president of the U.N.I.A., as its managing editor. This organization is endeavoring to engulf all negro orders and lodges into the U.N.I.A. (see advertisement, enclosure (5).), in order to strengthen its power and organization. To further this plan, the First Negro International was called. This convention met in New York City in August, 1920, and consisted of delegates from the United States, West Indies and South America, Africa and other places. All negro societies were invited to send delegates, and the African Blood Brotherhood sent delegates. In August, 1921, the Second Negro International (similar to the first) met. All negro societies, lodges, etc, were again invited to send delegates (enclosure (3), page 7, advertisement) and the African Blood Brotherhood sent delegates who presented the manifesto, copies of which are attached hereto marked enclosure (2). I understand that the delegates of the African Blood Brotherhood to the Second Negro International were expelled for some cause. This is the general distinction between the U.N.I.A. and African Blood Brotherhood. 3. Whatever distinction there may be between the U.N.I.A. and A.B.B., in the United States or whatever distinction there may be in the doctrines taught, they were one and the same in the local chapter of the U.N.I.A. which existed in San Pedro de Macoris in September, 1921. The name “D. S. Hennessey” appears on the printed copies of all these manifestoes of the African Blood Brotherhood, over fifty copies of which were found in the archives of the local chapter of the U.N.I.A., when Emancipation Hall (the Chapter’s meeting place) was raided in September 1921. D. S. Hennessey was one of the founders of the U.N.I.A. in this city, and a book containing the membership roll of the organization bears this inscription on its cover sheet, “SAN PEDRO DE MACORIS, D.R., division of the UNIVERSAL NEGRO IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION and AFRICAN COMMUNITIES LEAGUE OF THE WORLD,—organized by—David S. Hennessey—in the—A.M.E. CHURCH, Sunday, December 7, 1919[.] Also the yearly report found in the archives at the same time (enclosure (6).) re-iterates this fact. The advance sheet of “The Crusader” (enclosure (5), reference (a).) was also found among the local chapter’s papers at the time of the raid. “THE CRUSADER” is the official newspaper of the African Blood Brotherhood. It is obvious from these facts, and from the attitude of the members of the Chapter of the U.N.I.A., at San Pedro de Macoris, D.R., that the two societies were closely affiliated at this place. D. S. Hennessey, was General Secretary of the Macoris Chapter, U.N.I.A., from its organization, December 7, 1919, until June 1921, a few months before the raid took place. I understand that he then resigned because the chapter was in arrears in his pay as General Secretary. 4. It is apparent that there exists now a great split between the African Blood Brotherhood and the U.N.I.A. This is manifested by the expulsion of the A.B.B. delegates from the Second Negro International and the li//ti//gation
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between Cyril Briggs, editor of the “THE CRUSADER,” and Marcus Garvey, editor of the “THE NEGRO WORLD,” (enclosure (7).). WM. C. HARLLEE DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TDS.
Enclosure: Major G. M. Kincade, Provost Marshal, San Pedro de Macorís, to William C. Harllee, District Commander, Eastern District, Dominican Republic [Dominican Republic] 21 September 1921 4TH ENDORSEMENT From: Provost Marshal. To: District Commander, Eastern District. Subject: United Negro Improvement Association at San Pedro de Macoris— Petition of re impriso[n]ment of members. Enclosures: 1.—(2) Copies of Preamble and Manifesto issued at the Second Negro International. 2.—(1) Copy of Congress Bulletin. 3.—Address to U.N.I.A. of San Pedro de Macoris by the President, C. E. Phillips. 4.—Address to U.N.I.A. of San Pedro de Macoris by the President, C. E. Phillips. 5.—Advance sheet of Crusader for January 1921. 1. [F]rom time to time during the last four months, I have received various reports of a society called the “United Negro Improvement Association,” and the [“]African Blood Brotherhood.” These reports indicated that this society was inciting the members (mainly Englis[h] negroes) to class hatred, and a defiance of law and order. Not a few of these reports came from the British Consul at San Pedro de Macoris, and the Comisario of Police. On Wednesday, September 7, 1921, this society held a parade, through the streets of San Pedro de Macoris. This parade was nothing more than a demonstration to procure recruits for their organization, and to flaunt their ideas to the public. In this parade, the British flag was carried upside down. The British Consul remonstrated and it was placed right side up, until he left. It was then turned upside down again, and when the parade reached Emancipation Hall, which is the 190
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name given to the place where they hold their meetings, the British flag was trampled and spit upon. 2. Realizing that such an organization, if allowed to grow, inculcating Bolshivistic ideas to the ignorant, would soon become a menace to the peace of the com[m]unity, I consulted with the Comisario of Police on Saturday, September 10, 1921, as to the best method of procuring the leaders of this organization. The Comisario of Police informed me that this society was operating without a charter, and unlawfully, and that, the members were liable to arrest. As Saturday was their meeting night, I advised him to do it that night. He did, and fourteen were arrested and submitted to the Alcalde for trial. Among them was the president and rest of the officers. The trial lasted the week September 11–17, when the members were convicted, and their sentence having expired Saturday September 17, they were to be released. Upon hearing this I ordered them reconfine[d] awaiting action in a request for deportation. At the time of the arrest by the Civil Authorities, their papers were seized and are now in hands of the Alcalde. 3. The history of the organization is as follows: Mr. Phillip Van Putten, a negro worker, inaugurated the society about a year and a half ago, and obtained a charter from the central organization of New York, which is headed by Marcus Garvey. From appearances, it is society for the uplift of the negro, but its ulterior motive is to engender racial hatred with an idea to ultimate domination of the white race. While this would be impossible in the United States, it is not at all impossible here after the occupation ceases.1 Shortly after the inauguration of the society here the president, Van Putten, made himself so obnoxious, that the District Commander decided to request his deportation. Hearing of this, he fled the country. C. E. Phillips, who came here about that time as a Moravian Minister, decided that he could increase his finances by being made President of the U.N.I.A. and A.B.B. As a Moravian Minister, he received a salary of $50 monthly, and as President of the U.N.I.A. and A.B.B. he would receive $125 monthly. So he deserted his post as Moravian minister, and became president of the U.N.I.A. and A.B.B. He has attained a leadership among the English negroes here, which has made him arrogant, with little respect for the law. This is the attitude of all the officers of this society. As a consequence, Phillips and others have been submitted to the Alcalde several times for infractions of the law, and have become habitual offenders. These [their] arrogance at their recent trial manifested an utter indefference [indifference] to the law, and they have disseminated the report throughout the city that they do not fear the Alcalde or the Military Government. By the constitution of the society, when a member dies, his relatives are supposed to receive the sum of $75. Various reports have come to the Comisario of Police that this money has not been paid. 4. I invite attention to the enclosures (1), (2), (3), (4), and (5) which are in themselves enough to condemn the organization as one of anarchistic and bolshevistic tendencies. 191
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5. I submit that the following named persons, members of the U.N.I.A. and A.B.B. are undesirable citizens, and a menace to the com[m]unity, and recommend that they be deported: D. E. Phillips, William Butler, Charles E. [Charles A.] Henry, Anthony Bastian, James W. Halley, J. T. Carey, Orland[o] Hynes, Joseph [E]. Welch, Edgar Bridgewater, Ellis Esdaile, Becoriah Rollins [Zachariah Rawlins], David Hicks, James William, Ellis Potter and Violtette Hollinsworth, Jaime Cook[s]. 6. I cannot but feel that if the above named people are not deported, as they have boasted that they could no[t] be, that it will be tantamount to raising the Red Flag in this city, as they have already succeeded in raising the African Flag. G. M. KINCADE [Typed endorsement:] 5th Endorsement OFFICE OF THE DISTRICT COMMANDER, EASTERN DISTRICT, U.S. MARINES,
San Pedro de Macoris, D.R., September 22, 1921 From: District Commander. To: Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S. Marines, Santo Domingo, City, D.R. 1. Forwarded inviting attention to the investigation made by the Provost Marshal as contained in the 4th Endorsement hereon. 2. There have been several reports repeatedly received in this office relative to the activities displayed by the members of this organization all which tended to the disturbance of law and order. Van Putten was admonished last year by the chief Steward of the S.S. Iroquois for his utterances from the upper deck of that vessel, Van Putten was addressing an assemblage on the dock. 3. The recommendation made in paragraph 5, 4th endorsement is approved as it is apparent that these individuals are parasites on the com[m]unity. J. McE. Huey DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD, copy. 1. Starting in 1922, the U.S. military began gradually moving out of the Dominican Republic. Elections were held in July of 1924, and a new government took over the country. The last U.S. marines left the Dominican Republic on 18 September 1924 (Bruce Calder, The Impact of Intervention in the Dominican Republic, 1916–1924 [Austin: University of Texas Press, 1984]); Robert L. Scheina, Latin America’s Wars: The Age of the Professional Soldier, 1900–2001 [Washington, D.C.: Brassey, Inc., 2003]).
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Second Lieutenant James E. Whitmire, U.S. Marine Corps, to Lieutenant-Colonel William C. Harllee, District Commander, Eastern District, Dominican Republic HEADQUARTERS, FIFTEENTH REGIMENT, SECOND BRIGADE, U.S. MARINE CORPS, SAN PEDRO DE MACORIS, D.R.,
30 December 1921 From: Second Lieutenant James E. Whitmire, U.S.M.C. To: District Commander, Eastern District. Subject: Report of investigation of imprisonment of Joseph Thomas, member U.N.I.A., at Macoris. Reference: (a) Letter Department of Agriculture and Immigration, No. 2107, dated 22 December 1921. (b) Telegram attached to above. (c) Orders of District Commander, Eastern District, 668–GMK, dated 29 December 1921. 1. Investigation of this case has been made and the facts appear to be as follows: Jo[se]ph Thomas, a negro from Antigua, B.W.I., and a member of the Advisory Council, U.N.I.A., was summoned to Captain Garcia’s Office in connection with an alleged disorder at the residence of Senor Trancoso, the Immigration Officer. At this time he testifi[ed] that he saw Senor Trancoso enter his house, together with a polic[e] man, and there saw a man named Garvey leave the house pursued by Senor Trancoso, who he alleged had a gun. The testimony of other witnesses was contradictory to that of Thomas and so Captain Garcia did not submit the matter to the Alcalde for action. Captain Garcia states that he had no knowledge of the man, Joseph Thomas or his affiliations with any society. The day following this occurrence, December 20th, this man, Joseph Thomas, in an interview with the Immigration Officer in th[e] Immigration Office, created a disturbance in which he denounced Senor Trancoso and called him a “damned liar.” Senor Trancoso cal[l]ed a policeman to arrest him and this was done. On the day following this, one John Sidney De Bourg, appeared before Captain Garcia and told him that Joseph Thomas was locked up for giving evidence before him. Captain Garcia at this time [did] not 193
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know either De Bourg or Thomas. However, he answered De Bourg stating that of course the Immigration Officer had no right to lo[ck] Thomas up for giving testimony. At this time the case had not com[e] to his attention beyond the original breach of the peace affair. In De Bourg’s telegram, sent two days later, he states that Thomas was held, “for giving truthful evidence before Captain Garcia proving, Immigration Officer, through a woman pursued one Garvey with a revolver.” This statement is unfounded as the testimony of Thomas was contradictory to that of the other people present and no action could be taken on it. He, De Bourg, further states that “Captain Garcia declares to the Provost, the jailer, me and other[s] a revengeful travesty of justice.” Captain Garcia says he did not make that statement. De Bourg’s telegram states that, “Thomas is now at hard labor in the street.” This is false. Thomas did absolutely no work other than helping to clean his own quarters in the jail. Shortly after Thomas’ arrest for disorderly conduct in the Immigration Office a man named De Bourg went to Captain Garcia, P.H.D., and to the Provost Marshal, representing the case as in the telegram to Commander Warfield, and declaring himself to be the head of the U.N.I.A. here. When it was learned that Thomas was one of the officers of this organization and that De Bourg was misrepresenting the facts in such a manner as to bring discredit on the government, Thomas was held pending the investigation of the case. JAMES E. WHITMIRE DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD.
Telegram from Henry Clay von Struve,1 U.S. Consul, Antilla, to the Black Star Line Antilla, Cuba, Dec. 31, 1921 Money again exhausted Vonstruve Consul Vonstruve Consul Americano DNA, RG 84, 885. TG, copy. 1. Henry Clay von Struve (1874–1933) had a distinguished career with the U.S. consular service. His postings included U.S. consul at Curacao, Dutch West Indies (1914); consul at Havana, Cuba (1918); La Guairia, Venezuela (1919); Antilla, Cuba (1920); and Mexicali, Mexico (1922) (WWWA). He exchanged correspondence with the BSL and Marcus Garvey after the crew of the BSL’s S.S. Kanawha, which arrived at Antilla, Cuba, in August 1921, abandoned the yacht. On 26 August 1921, the BSL informed von Struve that the company did not hold itself responsible for the crew’s action, and three days later it asked von Struve to ship the stranded passengers to New York
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know either De Bourg or Thomas. However, he answered De Bourg stating that of course the Immigration Officer had no right to lo[ck] Thomas up for giving testimony. At this time the case had not com[e] to his attention beyond the original breach of the peace affair. In De Bourg’s telegram, sent two days later, he states that Thomas was held, “for giving truthful evidence before Captain Garcia proving, Immigration Officer, through a woman pursued one Garvey with a revolver.” This statement is unfounded as the testimony of Thomas was contradictory to that of the other people present and no action could be taken on it. He, De Bourg, further states that “Captain Garcia declares to the Provost, the jailer, me and other[s] a revengeful travesty of justice.” Captain Garcia says he did not make that statement. De Bourg’s telegram states that, “Thomas is now at hard labor in the street.” This is false. Thomas did absolutely no work other than helping to clean his own quarters in the jail. Shortly after Thomas’ arrest for disorderly conduct in the Immigration Office a man named De Bourg went to Captain Garcia, P.H.D., and to the Provost Marshal, representing the case as in the telegram to Commander Warfield, and declaring himself to be the head of the U.N.I.A. here. When it was learned that Thomas was one of the officers of this organization and that De Bourg was misrepresenting the facts in such a manner as to bring discredit on the government, Thomas was held pending the investigation of the case. JAMES E. WHITMIRE DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD.
Telegram from Henry Clay von Struve,1 U.S. Consul, Antilla, to the Black Star Line Antilla, Cuba, Dec. 31, 1921 Money again exhausted Vonstruve Consul Vonstruve Consul Americano DNA, RG 84, 885. TG, copy. 1. Henry Clay von Struve (1874–1933) had a distinguished career with the U.S. consular service. His postings included U.S. consul at Curacao, Dutch West Indies (1914); consul at Havana, Cuba (1918); La Guairia, Venezuela (1919); Antilla, Cuba (1920); and Mexicali, Mexico (1922) (WWWA). He exchanged correspondence with the BSL and Marcus Garvey after the crew of the BSL’s S.S. Kanawha, which arrived at Antilla, Cuba, in August 1921, abandoned the yacht. On 26 August 1921, the BSL informed von Struve that the company did not hold itself responsible for the crew’s action, and three days later it asked von Struve to ship the stranded passengers to New York
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JANUARY 1922 at the expense of the company. Although the BSL remitted $1,100 to the American consulate, Antilla, on 31 August 1921 to cover these and other expenses related to the S.S. Kanawha, it would appear from this telegram that more money was needed (MGP 3: 697, 708, 714; MGP 4: 582). In his dealings with the S.S. Kanawha, von Struve seems to have sided with the crew, informing the BSL on 1 September 1921 that “charge piracy destruction appears absolutely unfounded unquestionably crew entitled wages and transportation” (MGP 4: 5; see also MGP 4: 7–11, 15–16, 71, 77, 101). When Horace J. Dickinson replaced von Struve as American consul, Antilla, Cuba, on 10 March 1922, he found that there were no funds left to pay the chief engineer and watchman. In a dispatch dated 21 March 1922 Dickinson enclosed accounts of the payments made by von Struve on behalf of the BSL, which included payments to Sydney Tullock and to John Garret, the chief engineer aboard the S.S. Kanawha (for these accounts see MGP 4: 582–586). The S.S. Kanawha remained at Antilla, “uncared for and practically abandoned,” and by March 1924 was almost a total wreck and in danger of sinking (Horace J. Dickinson to Charles Evans Hughes, 31 March 1924, DNA, RG 59, 53604; DNA, RG 32, 1091-3520; MGP 4: 77, n. 1).
Payment made by Henry Clay von Struve to Sydney Tullock (Source: DNA, RG 84, 885)
Richard S. Dunbar to the Negro World [[Céspedes Div., Cuba, January 3, 1922]]
A RINGING MESSAGE FROM CESPEDES, CUBA Sir— Kindly allow me space in your valuable paper, The Negro World, to say a few words of congratulations to the new branch of Falmouth,1 Jamaica. To the Falmouth Division of the U.N.I.A., Greetings! When I saw in the papers of The Negro World the great start you have made my heart went out in rejoicing to send to you congratulations, being a native of the said parish, Trelawny, Wakefield District. I am truly proud to see the names of those men mentioned. I sincerely hope they will be consistent and follow the command of our
195
JANUARY 1922 at the expense of the company. Although the BSL remitted $1,100 to the American consulate, Antilla, on 31 August 1921 to cover these and other expenses related to the S.S. Kanawha, it would appear from this telegram that more money was needed (MGP 3: 697, 708, 714; MGP 4: 582). In his dealings with the S.S. Kanawha, von Struve seems to have sided with the crew, informing the BSL on 1 September 1921 that “charge piracy destruction appears absolutely unfounded unquestionably crew entitled wages and transportation” (MGP 4: 5; see also MGP 4: 7–11, 15–16, 71, 77, 101). When Horace J. Dickinson replaced von Struve as American consul, Antilla, Cuba, on 10 March 1922, he found that there were no funds left to pay the chief engineer and watchman. In a dispatch dated 21 March 1922 Dickinson enclosed accounts of the payments made by von Struve on behalf of the BSL, which included payments to Sydney Tullock and to John Garret, the chief engineer aboard the S.S. Kanawha (for these accounts see MGP 4: 582–586). The S.S. Kanawha remained at Antilla, “uncared for and practically abandoned,” and by March 1924 was almost a total wreck and in danger of sinking (Horace J. Dickinson to Charles Evans Hughes, 31 March 1924, DNA, RG 59, 53604; DNA, RG 32, 1091-3520; MGP 4: 77, n. 1).
Payment made by Henry Clay von Struve to Sydney Tullock (Source: DNA, RG 84, 885)
Richard S. Dunbar to the Negro World [[Céspedes Div., Cuba, January 3, 1922]]
A RINGING MESSAGE FROM CESPEDES, CUBA Sir— Kindly allow me space in your valuable paper, The Negro World, to say a few words of congratulations to the new branch of Falmouth,1 Jamaica. To the Falmouth Division of the U.N.I.A., Greetings! When I saw in the papers of The Negro World the great start you have made my heart went out in rejoicing to send to you congratulations, being a native of the said parish, Trelawny, Wakefield District. I am truly proud to see the names of those men mentioned. I sincerely hope they will be consistent and follow the command of our
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leader, the Hon. Marcus Garvey, then, and when, it shall not be long when we shall see the flag of the Red, Black and Green floating on the hilltops of Africa. What a glorious moment I now enjoy To see the names of persons whom I know Taking the Garvey movement in their hand To redeem our Motherland. Brothers of Falmouth, awake this new year. Quiet your slumber, the old year is past. Look! the sun is dawning. And the hours are gliding past. Now you hear our leader pleading, Day and night, for men of might. You are leaving your age-long dreaming— We are seeking for freedom and right. Wake up, oh, ye brothers of Falmouth. Afric’s blossoms kiss the breeze. Join the ranks and face the danger— Brothers of Falmouth, I’m looking to thee. RICHARD S. DUNBAR Auditor Printed in NW, 4 February 1922. 1. Situated on north coast of Jamaica, Falmouth is the chief town and capital of the parish of Trelawny and noted for being one of the Caribbean’s best-preserved Georgian towns. Founded by Thomas Reid in 1769, Falmouth flourished as a market center and port when Jamaica was the world’s leading sugar producer. It was named after Falmouth, Cornwall, in England, the birthplace of Sir William Trelawny, the Governor of Jamaica who was instrumental in its establishment. The town was meticulously planned from the start, with wide streets in a regular grid, adequate water supply, along with public buildings. It even boasted of piped water before New York City had it (Rebecca Tortello, “Pieces of the Past—The History of Falmouth: Boom Town of the 19th Century,” http://old.jamaica-gleaner.com/pages/history/story0051.htm, posted 23 June 2003; Pieces of the Past: a Stroll Down Jamaica’s Memory Lane [Jamaica, Miami: Ian Randle Publishers, 2007]).
“G. F. B.” in the Clarion [British Honduras, January 5th 1922]
THE U.N.I.A. EXHIBITION The U.N.I.A. Exhibition was an [eye] opener to many; as a demonstration of native initiative, mechanical ingenuity and industry, it was a surprise. Local ini196
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leader, the Hon. Marcus Garvey, then, and when, it shall not be long when we shall see the flag of the Red, Black and Green floating on the hilltops of Africa. What a glorious moment I now enjoy To see the names of persons whom I know Taking the Garvey movement in their hand To redeem our Motherland. Brothers of Falmouth, awake this new year. Quiet your slumber, the old year is past. Look! the sun is dawning. And the hours are gliding past. Now you hear our leader pleading, Day and night, for men of might. You are leaving your age-long dreaming— We are seeking for freedom and right. Wake up, oh, ye brothers of Falmouth. Afric’s blossoms kiss the breeze. Join the ranks and face the danger— Brothers of Falmouth, I’m looking to thee. RICHARD S. DUNBAR Auditor Printed in NW, 4 February 1922. 1. Situated on north coast of Jamaica, Falmouth is the chief town and capital of the parish of Trelawny and noted for being one of the Caribbean’s best-preserved Georgian towns. Founded by Thomas Reid in 1769, Falmouth flourished as a market center and port when Jamaica was the world’s leading sugar producer. It was named after Falmouth, Cornwall, in England, the birthplace of Sir William Trelawny, the Governor of Jamaica who was instrumental in its establishment. The town was meticulously planned from the start, with wide streets in a regular grid, adequate water supply, along with public buildings. It even boasted of piped water before New York City had it (Rebecca Tortello, “Pieces of the Past—The History of Falmouth: Boom Town of the 19th Century,” http://old.jamaica-gleaner.com/pages/history/story0051.htm, posted 23 June 2003; Pieces of the Past: a Stroll Down Jamaica’s Memory Lane [Jamaica, Miami: Ian Randle Publishers, 2007]).
“G. F. B.” in the Clarion [British Honduras, January 5th 1922]
THE U.N.I.A. EXHIBITION The U.N.I.A. Exhibition was an [eye] opener to many; as a demonstration of native initiative, mechanical ingenuity and industry, it was a surprise. Local ini196
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tiative and creature [creative?] art advertised the dormant possibilities awaiting development. Staged by men and women who had never seen an exhibition its arrangement reflects credit on the management. While there may have been much to be desired in laying out of exhibits, for a first effort and the shortness of time in which it was projected it revealed no inconsiderable amount of organizing ability, and the management must be congratulated on the successful outcome. Arriving some time after the opening ceremony I was told that His Excellency the Governor, who gracefully consented to open the proceedings, in a felicitous speech expressed himself as greatly pleas[e]d with what he saw. The popularity of the Association was seen in the varied exhibits from many quarters the outdistricts vying with each other in sending in exhibits, Corozal, Northern River, Sibun, Manatee, Stann Creek and other places all sent in their quota.1 Mechanical devices, wearing apparel, drawn needlework, fancy work, upholstering, articles flowers, water colours, models, confectionery of local manufacture, locally tinned products, nursing, agricultural produce, ornamental hardwoods and other natural productions such as cotton, silk grass and fibre and other lines were all on exhibition. A number of prizes were awarded by the judges for merit and excellence of construction. Some of the exhibits deserve especial mention, chief of which were a motor engine constructed of wood by a Carib,2 whose name I forget, hailing from Sibun, this won a first prize. Next was a superbly rigged two masted schooner which won a second prize; two battleships showing infinite pains in their construction, one hailing from Northern River by a Mr. McKoy, a beautifully ornamented mahogany bedstead with mattress covered with drawnwork from the well[-]known firm of Pilgrim & Sons, a number of excellently made chairs from the prison, made by men who, before entering the prison knew not how to handle a tool—one of them being the notorious Tony Hamilton of the late riots. While not of high merit the paintings were remarkable as the production of artists who, I understand, had no training whatever in drawing. Tinned salted peanuts and other confectionery were from the well-known manufacturer Mr. Henry Wagner, a budding industry capable of great development. A sprig of flowers made of a few strands of copperwire and some coloured thread by Mrs. G. Bennett and Miss Elvira Sterling excited considerable comment; and lastly but not least the nursing department in which the black-cross nurses, a purely U.N.I.A. organization but trained at the public hospital, showed the value of their training in pr[e]paring a menu for an imaginary invalid. Each nurse was given twenty-five cents with which to prepare her dish. The first prize was given to the nurse who actually spent only twenty two cents, and I was told that the judge of this department (Dr Cran) said that better could not be done or some words to that effect. The exhibits were displayed in the upper flat of the U.N.I.A[.] building (the local Liberty Hall) while the lower storey was occupied by the refreshment stalls. 197
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Two bands of music (one, the U.N.I.A[.] band) and an orchestra, all the members of which I was told were composed of one family of Flowers, enlivened the proceedings with beautiful music. Quite a large concourse of people visited the building during the three evenings of the exhibition. Among the crowd one noticed members of the Legislative Council and Town Board and other prominent members of the community. The exhibition was instructive as showing what could be done by native talent pr[o]viding steps were taken to develop it in scientific lines. The arrangement of exhibits could have been more systematically displayed but taking into consideration the shortness of time and the fact that the promoters were guided by no prec[e]dent the affair reflects credit on, rather than detracts from the ability of those responsible. The defects of experiment can be remedied in succeeding ventures. Messrs Mortley and Campbell, president and vice-president respectively, the latter with whom I believe, the idea originated, the officers, and the U.N.I.A. [remainder missing] . . . Printed in Clarion, 5 January 1922. 1. Corozal is the most northern district of Belize; Sibun River is located in the central district; and Stann Creek is in the south. Hence the claim being made was that items came from all over British Honduras. 2. The primary community of Garifuna, earlier called Caribs or Black Caribs, in Belize is Dangriga, in Stann Creek district.
Eduardo V. Morales to the Negro World [[Cuba, Jan. 5, 1922]]
A GREETING FROM CUBA Sir— It is most regrettable that you cannot see it possible as yet to dedicate at least two pages of your most valuable paper to the Spanish-speaking element of our noble race, and have some of your historical and indisputable editorials translated into the Spanish tongue. I have noticed that the colored Cubans are becoming very much interested [i]n the doctrine of the U.N.I.A. throughout the entire Republic[.] Whenever I announce that I will be speaking in Spanish, hundreds flock in and around the Liberty halls eager to hear the glad tidings of the U.N.I.A. and its wonderful program; many becoming members. In Santiago, Guantanamo, Banes and Camaguey there are to be found a large amount of Cuban members who are proud to wear the colors of the Red, the Black and the Green, among whom are to be found men and women of local and national fame, as Senores Americus Portuondo,1 Eligio Dilu,2 Felix Moncada [Machado],3 Luis Raymon [Raymond]; Senorita Luisa Raymon 198
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Two bands of music (one, the U.N.I.A[.] band) and an orchestra, all the members of which I was told were composed of one family of Flowers, enlivened the proceedings with beautiful music. Quite a large concourse of people visited the building during the three evenings of the exhibition. Among the crowd one noticed members of the Legislative Council and Town Board and other prominent members of the community. The exhibition was instructive as showing what could be done by native talent pr[o]viding steps were taken to develop it in scientific lines. The arrangement of exhibits could have been more systematically displayed but taking into consideration the shortness of time and the fact that the promoters were guided by no prec[e]dent the affair reflects credit on, rather than detracts from the ability of those responsible. The defects of experiment can be remedied in succeeding ventures. Messrs Mortley and Campbell, president and vice-president respectively, the latter with whom I believe, the idea originated, the officers, and the U.N.I.A. [remainder missing] . . . Printed in Clarion, 5 January 1922. 1. Corozal is the most northern district of Belize; Sibun River is located in the central district; and Stann Creek is in the south. Hence the claim being made was that items came from all over British Honduras. 2. The primary community of Garifuna, earlier called Caribs or Black Caribs, in Belize is Dangriga, in Stann Creek district.
Eduardo V. Morales to the Negro World [[Cuba, Jan. 5, 1922]]
A GREETING FROM CUBA Sir— It is most regrettable that you cannot see it possible as yet to dedicate at least two pages of your most valuable paper to the Spanish-speaking element of our noble race, and have some of your historical and indisputable editorials translated into the Spanish tongue. I have noticed that the colored Cubans are becoming very much interested [i]n the doctrine of the U.N.I.A. throughout the entire Republic[.] Whenever I announce that I will be speaking in Spanish, hundreds flock in and around the Liberty halls eager to hear the glad tidings of the U.N.I.A. and its wonderful program; many becoming members. In Santiago, Guantanamo, Banes and Camaguey there are to be found a large amount of Cuban members who are proud to wear the colors of the Red, the Black and the Green, among whom are to be found men and women of local and national fame, as Senores Americus Portuondo,1 Eligio Dilu,2 Felix Moncada [Machado],3 Luis Raymon [Raymond]; Senorita Luisa Raymon 198
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[Raymond], Marcelino Wilson, Salustiano Casamayer, Iluminada Anencio, Juan Castillo, Artuso Garcia, Rafael Landrian and many others. These Cubans have begun a historical research re: The works accomplished by notable Cuban Negroes such as Antonio Maceo (founder of the Cuban Republic); General Moncada,4 Brindis de la Sala (famous violinist),5 etc. They are also asking for historical facts about Africa and other great leaders of the race, past and present. I also hope that before this year of racial progress shall have ended I may be privileged to see at least one page of the Negro World printed in French,6 which will make it the leading newspaper of the world, irrespective of race[.] Hoping my anxious desires will meet your approval, I remain as ever, Yours for the unificatio[n] [of] the 400,000,000 throughout the world, and the ultimate redem[pt]ion of the motherland, Africa, EDUARDO V. MORALES [Addressed to:] Sir William H. Ferris, Editor Negro World Printed in NW, 11 February 1922. 1. Américo Portuondo Hardy was an Afro-Cuban leader of the Liberal Party in the province of Oriente. He was elected as a council member in Oriente in 1920, congressional representative from Oriente in 1922, delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1928, and representative again in 1932 (Mario Riera, Cuba política, 1899–1955 [Havana: Impresora Modelo, 1955], pp. 290, 308, 357, 403; León Primelles, Crónica cubana, 1919–1922. Menocal y la Liga nacional. Zayas y Crowder. Fin de la danza de los millones y reajuste [Havana: Editorial Lex, 1957], p. 514). 2. Eligio Dilú was a labor leader and UNIA organizer in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba during the 1920s. Dilú served as president of UNIA division 71, a Spanish-speaking division for Cuban members, in the mid-1920s. He helped to organize the Unión de Obreros Antillanos, which struggled for the rights of Afro-Caribbean immigrant workers, in Santiago in 1924, and later served as general secretary and first vice president of this labor union. In addition, he was director of the local Santiago newspaper La Luz and a member of the Unión de Empleados de Cafés y Fondas (NW, 13 October 1923, 28 March 1925; La Voz Obrera [Santiago de Cuba], 9 September 1924, 25 January and 9 February 1927; Diario de Cuba [Santiago de Cuba], 23 June 1928). 3. Félix Machado was general secretary of UNIA division 71 during the 1920s. In addition, he was a representative of the planchadores (ironers) in the city of Santiago de Cuba and helped to organize the Unión de Obreros Antillanos, serving as a delegate for this union in 1928 (Cayetano Monier, President, and Félix Machado, General Secretary, UNIA Cuban chapter 71, to Governor of the Province, Santiago de Cuba, 17 March 1927, AHPSC, GP, leg. 2452, exp. 9; NW, 13 October 1923, 24 January 1925; La Voz Obrera, 9 September 1924; Diario de Cuba, 23 June 1928). 4. Guillermo (or Guillermón) Moncada (1841–1895) was an Afro-Cuban military leader during the wars for independence. He was born in Santiago de Cuba, the son of a free black woman and later worked as a carpenter. He fought in many of the important battles of the Ten Years’ War (1868–1878) and participated in the Protest of Baraguá in 1878 along with Antonio Maceo. In the war beginning in 1895 he shared leadership of the independence movement with the wealthy white planter Bartolomé Masó in order to prevent mislabeling of the movement as a race uprising (Aline Helg, Our Rightful Share: The Afro-Cuban Struggle for Equality, 1886–1912 [Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1995], pp. 48–49, 56; Instituto de Historia de Cuba, Historia de Cuba: Las luchas por la independencia nacional y las transformaciones estructurales, 1868–1898 [Havana: Editora Política, 1996], p. 328). 5. Born in Havana, the legitimate son of a free black sergeant in the artillery corps, Claudio Brindis de Salas (1800–1872) was an “internationally renowned violinist and composer, who formed the orchestra La Concha de Oro” (Robin D. Moore, Nationalizing Blackness: Afrocubanismo and Artistic Revolution in Havana, 1920–1940 [Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1997], pp. 18–19). He was the most prominent Cuban musician of the nineteenth century, and his
199
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS orchestra reportedly contained one hundred musicians and a fifty-voice chorus. After the failed conspiracy of La Escalera in 1844, de Salas, like other prominent free persons of color, was imprisoned, after which he fled Cuba. He eventually returned to the island, but died poor and blind in Havana (Pedro Deschamps Chapeaux, El negro en la economía habanera del siglo XIX [Havana: Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba, 1971], pp. 105–109; Robert L. Paquette, Sugar Is Made with Blood: The Conspiracy of La Escalera and the Conflict between Empires over Slavery in Cuba [Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1988], p. 228). 6. The Negro World did occasionally print columns in French during the mid-1920s.
Brigadier General Harry Lee, Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S. Marine Corps, to Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic Headquarters 2nd Brigade, U.S. Marines, Santo Domingo City, D.R., 5 January, 1922 4TH INDORSEMENT From: Commanding General. To: The Military Governor. SUBJECT: Alleged prosecution of several members of Universal Negro Improvement Association 1. Returned in compliance to the 1st indorsement hereon. 2. Since the receipt of the communication from the District Commander, Eastern District, an interview was granted to Mr. Du Bourg [de Bourg] in accordance to your instructions. Mr. Du Bourg was given an opportunity to fully explain the situation existing at San Pedro de Macoris. He made a complete denial that the United Negro Improvement Association was in any way affiliated with the African Blood Brotherhood, and further contended that the principles upon which the United Negro Improvement Association were founded are purely altruistic in character and for the uplift of the negro race; that the United Negro Improvement Association advocated religious freedom and loyalty to those constituted governments of which the negro race formed a part; whereas the African Blood Brotherhood is bolshevistic in its tendencies and aimed at the destruction of all governments, where whites predominate. Much of the trouble, he states, that has been created in San Pedro de Macoris has had its incipiency in the bitter antagonism of certain members of the African Blood Association against the United Negro Improvement Association, particularly D. S. Hennesy [Hennessey], who was the founder of the United Negro Improvement Association in Macoris, and who later withdrew from the United Negro Improvement Association and joined the African Blood Brother200
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS orchestra reportedly contained one hundred musicians and a fifty-voice chorus. After the failed conspiracy of La Escalera in 1844, de Salas, like other prominent free persons of color, was imprisoned, after which he fled Cuba. He eventually returned to the island, but died poor and blind in Havana (Pedro Deschamps Chapeaux, El negro en la economía habanera del siglo XIX [Havana: Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba, 1971], pp. 105–109; Robert L. Paquette, Sugar Is Made with Blood: The Conspiracy of La Escalera and the Conflict between Empires over Slavery in Cuba [Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1988], p. 228). 6. The Negro World did occasionally print columns in French during the mid-1920s.
Brigadier General Harry Lee, Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S. Marine Corps, to Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic Headquarters 2nd Brigade, U.S. Marines, Santo Domingo City, D.R., 5 January, 1922 4TH INDORSEMENT From: Commanding General. To: The Military Governor. SUBJECT: Alleged prosecution of several members of Universal Negro Improvement Association 1. Returned in compliance to the 1st indorsement hereon. 2. Since the receipt of the communication from the District Commander, Eastern District, an interview was granted to Mr. Du Bourg [de Bourg] in accordance to your instructions. Mr. Du Bourg was given an opportunity to fully explain the situation existing at San Pedro de Macoris. He made a complete denial that the United Negro Improvement Association was in any way affiliated with the African Blood Brotherhood, and further contended that the principles upon which the United Negro Improvement Association were founded are purely altruistic in character and for the uplift of the negro race; that the United Negro Improvement Association advocated religious freedom and loyalty to those constituted governments of which the negro race formed a part; whereas the African Blood Brotherhood is bolshevistic in its tendencies and aimed at the destruction of all governments, where whites predominate. Much of the trouble, he states, that has been created in San Pedro de Macoris has had its incipiency in the bitter antagonism of certain members of the African Blood Association against the United Negro Improvement Association, particularly D. S. Hennesy [Hennessey], who was the founder of the United Negro Improvement Association in Macoris, and who later withdrew from the United Negro Improvement Association and joined the African Blood Brother200
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hood, because he was not in harmony with the liberal policies of the United Negro Improvement Association. Mr. Du Bourg further claims subterfuge on part of members of the African Blood Brotherhood in Macoris against certain other members of the United Negro Improvement Association, in order to seek vengeance and escape punishment unjustly charged at the door of the United Negro Improvement Association at Macoris. 3. Your attention is invited to a copy of the Fortnightly Bulletin issued by Supreme Council of the African Blood Brotherhood and delivered to the undersigned by Mr. Du Bourg which makes reference to the situation in Macoris, together with contention of the African Blood Brotherhood against the United Negro Improvement Association. 4. On January 4, 1922, a radiogram was sent to the District Commander, Eastern District, requesting recommendation as to release on bond of J. N. Halley, local President of the United Negro Improvement Association at Macoris, now held awaiting deportation and the return of charter and records of this Society at Macoris. HARRY LEE DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TDS.
Enclosure: African Blood Brotherhood Supreme Council Bulletin [New York, September 1921] Division No.26 of the U.N.I.A., in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic, has appealed to the A.B.B. for aid against marine repression and persecution. The S.C. has responded by sending out a release to the press in an effort to rouse the liberal and radical public against marine atrocities in Santo Domingo and Haiti. A letter of protest has also been sent to Harding and his secretaries of State and Navy. Incidentally, the experience of the San Pedro de Macoris division of the U.N.I.A. demonstrates the correctness of our position in organizing SECRETLY and operating quietly for the work of liberation and protection. Sixty-three former members of the U.N.I.A. have severed their connection with that organization and have made application for membership in the A.B.B. Most of them give as reason for their action that they are convinced that the tactics of the U.N.I.A. are ab[s]olutely wrong. Others are disgusted with the quite too evident unwillingness of Mr. Garvey to quit fooling and get down to business. Still others give as reason for their action the act of Mr. Garvey in pledging loyalty to all governments which might happen—justly or unjustly— to exercise jurisdiction over the Negro.
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A bloc of [98?] members of the U.N.I.A. in ——— Ill., is negotiating for entrance into the A.B.B. Another block of over 200 in ——— Mo., has expressed desire to come into A.B.B. In both cases matters are somewhat complicated by a request for special privileges which the Supreme Council refuses to grant. The A.B.B. has had strong nuclei at work in the U.N.I.A. for months and directly after the fiasco of the second Garvey Congress, which convinced us that nothing was to be expected of the present leadership of the U.N.I.A., instructions were sent out to our nuclei to do their utmost to bring over to the A.B.B. those members who are really in earnest about the liberation of Negroes. The incidents quoted above are the results so far. The Supreme Council issues the following statement to the membership: This body could no longer ignore the shameful compromises and damaging surrenders of race rights being made by Marcus Garvey in his jockeying for white reco[g]nition of his leadership of Negroes, and as a result the A.B.B. has opened fire on Mr. Garvey. The fight is purely one of PRINCIPLES and is to be waged by this organization on strictly tactical lines. We leave the abuse stuff to Mr. Garvey. The October Crusader will give a full account of Mr. Garvey’s compromises and surrenders as made over his own signature in the white press or in his own personal organ, The Negro World. His treason to the Race is ABSOLUTELY AND EXCLUSIVELY PROVED BY HIS OWN STATEMENTS. His large fol[l]owing makes him a factor and because he is a factor his compromises and surrenders of VITAL PRINCIPLES AND RIGHTS are too serious to be ignored. Mr. Garvey must be made to stop his comrising//promising// and surrendering of race rights, or must be destroyed! This is a case where we must clean up on the inside first in order to present a strong and united front to the [illegible] foe. Every man to his guns in the fight, but aim at Mr. Garvey—not at the U.N.I.A. We have no fight with the noble rank and file members of that organization who are really in earnest about the Liberation Struggle and whose misfortune it is to be so grossly mislead. Aim at the diseased spot! Not at the entire body. DNA, RG 38, M-201-M 202.
Frederick G. A. Butler,1 Finance Officer, Foreign Office, to C. K. Ledger FOREIGN OFFICE, S.W.1.,
5th January, 1922 Sir, I am directed by the Marquess Curzon of Kedleston to transmit herewith in original a complaint which has been received from Mr. Z. S. de Zourg [J. S. de Bourg], relative to the actions of the Reverend A. H. Beer, Vice-Consul at San Pedro de Macoris. 202
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A bloc of [98?] members of the U.N.I.A. in ——— Ill., is negotiating for entrance into the A.B.B. Another block of over 200 in ——— Mo., has expressed desire to come into A.B.B. In both cases matters are somewhat complicated by a request for special privileges which the Supreme Council refuses to grant. The A.B.B. has had strong nuclei at work in the U.N.I.A. for months and directly after the fiasco of the second Garvey Congress, which convinced us that nothing was to be expected of the present leadership of the U.N.I.A., instructions were sent out to our nuclei to do their utmost to bring over to the A.B.B. those members who are really in earnest about the liberation of Negroes. The incidents quoted above are the results so far. The Supreme Council issues the following statement to the membership: This body could no longer ignore the shameful compromises and damaging surrenders of race rights being made by Marcus Garvey in his jockeying for white reco[g]nition of his leadership of Negroes, and as a result the A.B.B. has opened fire on Mr. Garvey. The fight is purely one of PRINCIPLES and is to be waged by this organization on strictly tactical lines. We leave the abuse stuff to Mr. Garvey. The October Crusader will give a full account of Mr. Garvey’s compromises and surrenders as made over his own signature in the white press or in his own personal organ, The Negro World. His treason to the Race is ABSOLUTELY AND EXCLUSIVELY PROVED BY HIS OWN STATEMENTS. His large fol[l]owing makes him a factor and because he is a factor his compromises and surrenders of VITAL PRINCIPLES AND RIGHTS are too serious to be ignored. Mr. Garvey must be made to stop his comrising//promising// and surrendering of race rights, or must be destroyed! This is a case where we must clean up on the inside first in order to present a strong and united front to the [illegible] foe. Every man to his guns in the fight, but aim at Mr. Garvey—not at the U.N.I.A. We have no fight with the noble rank and file members of that organization who are really in earnest about the Liberation Struggle and whose misfortune it is to be so grossly mislead. Aim at the diseased spot! Not at the entire body. DNA, RG 38, M-201-M 202.
Frederick G. A. Butler,1 Finance Officer, Foreign Office, to C. K. Ledger FOREIGN OFFICE, S.W.1.,
5th January, 1922 Sir, I am directed by the Marquess Curzon of Kedleston to transmit herewith in original a complaint which has been received from Mr. Z. S. de Zourg [J. S. de Bourg], relative to the actions of the Reverend A. H. Beer, Vice-Consul at San Pedro de Macoris. 202
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2. I am to request that you will return the letter to this department together with your observations on the subject. I am, Sir, Your obedient Servant, (Sd.) F. G. A. BUTLER [Addressed to:] C. K. Ledger, Esq., White Thorn, Fort Road, Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex TNA: PRO FO 369/1672. TD, recipient’s copy. 1. Sir Frederick George Augustus Butler (1873–1961) was finance officer of the Foreign Office from 1922 to 1938. Educated at Oxford, Butler served as private secretary to several secretaries of state for the colonies, including Winston Churchill, Lewis Harcourt, and Andrew Bonar Law. During his Foreign Office tenure, Butler also served as assistant under secretary of state from 1933 to 1938. After an initial retirement in 1938, he returned to the Foreign Office for Second World War work in September 1939 before finally retiring in September 1940 (WWW).
Enclosure: John Sydney de Bourg to Winston S. Churchill, Secretary of State, Colonial Office San Pedro de Macoris, Barrio S, Calle 14, Casa 91, Santo Domingo, R.D., 25th November, 1921 May it please your Lordship, I have the honour as one of the duly elected Leaders of my race to address this memorial to your Lordship in the behalf of certain of them loyal subjects of His Most Gracious Majesty Our Most Beloved Good and Noble King and Emperor George V. 2. There is an organization known, doubtless, throughout the world as the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League incorporated principally in the United States of America with its head office in New York City having divisions, Chapters, and Branches all over the world and an active membership of five million negroes of all nationalities[.] 3. The aims and objects of this association could be best understood by the perusal of the preamble to its constitution which are as follows:— The Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League is a social, friendly, humanitarian, charitable, educational, institutional, constructive and expansive Society, and is founded by persons desiring to the utmost to work for the general good and uplift of the Negro Peoples of the World. And the members pledge themselves to do
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all in their power to conserve the rights of their noble race and to respect the rights of all mankind believing always in the brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God. The motto of the organization is One God, One Aim, One Destiny. Therefore, let justice be done to all mankind realizing that if the strong oppress the weak confusion and discontent will ever mark the path of man, but with Love, Faith and Charity towards all, the reign of Peace and Plenty will be heralded into the World and the generations of men shall be called blessed. 4. This country San Domingo is a Dominican Republic chiefly inhabited by Negroes in the majority of a population of fully eight hundred thousand persons of Spanish descent and a mixed race of European, African, and Indian blood having an area of eighteen thousand and forty five square miles. And amongst its population there are many Turks, Syrians and Americans—The United States Military Authorities are controlling the Government. 5. The British Vice-Consul is the Reverend Archibald Beer who is also the Pastor of the American Anglican Church here and resides in his church-house with office therein at San Pedro de Macoris, and the British Consul is Mr. C. K. Ledger whose office is at the British Legation in Santo Domingo the City of this Republic but is not a Pastor of any denomination and is therefore independent in his actions. 6. From information received the Pastor British Vice-Consul Reverend Beer derives no pecuniary emoluments from his post from the British Government for any services that this official may be called upon to render to any of us negroes and British subjects, but obtains all the necessary financial means of subsistence from funds principally from the United States of America. And it is a matter of grave speculation as to whether this official is either a British born subject, an American born subject, a naturalized American citizen or the descendant of British parentage resident in America. 7. This speculation is the more greatly accentuated by the part which this official prominently plays in the oppression and injustices unrestrainedly perpetrated by himself and the United States Military Authorities on inoffensive, loyal, peaceful and law-abiding British subjects in this portion of God’s Earth some of which as in this case is chiefly instigated to bring about religious predominance and subjugation. 8. Through the official activities of Reverend Mr. Beer and other white Ministers of this Republic a sort of national raid was made in the hall of a division of our Association in this Town by the United States Marines of the Military Government on the night of Saturday the third day of September last at a time when some few members of said division were peacefully engaged in the musical preparation for the Sunday meeting and the whole of those present numbering fourteen male and female were arrested and imprisoned, the Charter and all other movable properties, books and other documents were removed and the building put into the possession of guards, and subsequently upon the 204
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appearance at the prison gates of one of our prominent officers he was also dealt with in like manner. 9. On the following morning two non-members—male—were sent for at their respective residence and also treated in the same manner as the former fifteen persons thereby committing seventeen inoffensive persons all negroes to prison for imaginary offences against certain white Parsons engineered as it is alleged by this Reverend British Vice Consul. 10. These high-handed and arbitrary acts are the more greatly aggravated when Your Lordship is assured that the Domin[i]can Government has not [only?] given its written consent, but now welcomes the continued activities of this organization for the upliftment and general betterment of the condition of my race. 11. The United States Military Government here had also given its consent to this Association for quite two years of its career, but this antagonism has only begun since the Reverend British Vice-Consul and the other Parsons have had cause, rightly or wrongly, to take a stand against Rev. D. E. Phillips[,] a negro once a Pastor of the Church of the Moravian Mission controlled by white religious superiors, the said Reverend Phillips having recently retired from their services and became the duly elected President of this Division here. The feelings seemed to have extended to other officers of said Division who have also severed their connection from the said Church. 12. The Civil Court of this Republic presided over by the Dominican Government Officials inflicted a fine of four dollars on six of the officers without any specific offense, charge or trial and this is due to strong Military pressure brought to bear on the Dominican judiciary. This, however, did not meet the desire and self-religious preservation of the Reverend Gentlemen so that to satisfy them twelve men and one female prisoners were detained in the prison for seventy-nine days that is up to Tuesday last when the four officers whom the Reverend Gentlemen consider are religious obstructionists were deported to a neighbouring British Colony. During the afternoon, seven male and one female prisoners were set at liberty but the other, the General Secretary is still retained as a prisoner for deportation. 13. Previously to the deportation by the sloop “Miranda” the Captain publicly stated that but for the intimidations used on him by this Reverend British Vice-Consul he would have refused taking these respectable unoffending negroes as the other Captain did, but this Reverend British Vice-Consul threatened him with all sorts of embarrassments to his departure if he disregarded his high official commands as His Britannic Majesty’s Vice-Consul in this Republic to a ship carrying the British Flag, so that he was constrained from Loyalty to the flag to obey this command. 14. At the hour of 9.30 a.m. on the 22nd instant Reverend D. E. Phillips the President and three other officers of the Association were conducted to the pier under an armed escort of six United States military marines and the Immigration Agent amidst the greatest disgust and consternation of the entire com205
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munity. A revolver and cartridges were handed the captain with strict orders to shoot any of the men for any act which he may think amounts to disorder or disobedience on the voyage. 15. Your Lordship is surely in accord with Mr. Lloyd George when that greatest of Prime Ministers lays it down that “No greater calamity could overtake the world than the further accentuation of the world’s divisions upon the line of race.”1 And every intelligent member of my race fully approves of that particular portion of Your Lordship’s ever memorable speech delivered some day in the month of June last in which Your Lordship stated amongst other things “I think there is only one ideal that the British Empire can set before itself and that is that there should be no barrier to race, colour or creed which should prevent any man by merit from reaching any station if he is fitted for it.”2 16. Turning now to the Republic of America President Harding in a speech3 at Birmingham Alabama amongst other things said, “I would accept that a black man cannot be a white man and that he does not need and should not aspire to be as much like a white man as possible in order to accomplish the best that is possible for him. He should seek to be, and he should be encouraged to be the best possible black man, and not the best possible imitation of a white man. I can say to you people of the South both white and black that the time has passed when you are entitled to assume that this problem of races is peculiarly and particularly your problem. It is the problem of democracy everywhere if we mean the things we say about democracy as the ideal political state.” 17. Your Memorialist is a British subject of the full age of sixty-eight years and is a very prominent member of the High Executive Body of the Organization and has been duly elected at a convention held in the City of New York in the United States of America at which there were present twenty-five thousand negroes from all parts of the world, who voted your memorialist into the responsible position of “Leader of the Western Province of the West Indies and of Central and South America”—this Republic being one of the Provinces. 18. Having arrived here since the 23rd day of October last and having presented the necessary official credentials to the United States Military Authorities and the Dominican Republican Authorities which were duly received and all the courtesies exchanged on all sides, your memorialist after the most careful investigation into this matter at issue is satisfied that it is because of the dissatisfaction of the Reverend British Vice-Consul, another Reverend Mr. Brown, Reverend Mr. Van Fleck and his wife—all white persons—against Reverend Phillips President of the Division and other officers for their separation from the churches of the religious persuasion of these Reverend gentlemen hence this military persecution. 19. In fact the Reverend British Vice-Consul made a strong point of this to me, and assured me that it was a barefaced falsehood in the rumour that he has charged them or either of them with trailing the British flag in the dust at 206
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their procession on the 31st day of August last. And their arrest and imprisonment was never in any manner instigated by him for he was quite willing to give them all the necessary protection if he were called upon by them or either of them. 20. Although this Reverend British Vice-Consul has made the foregoing statements yet, from reliable information of his activities throughout this procedure adverse to them your memorialist still maintains that such conduct of a representative of the British Crown, a Crown which is unquestionably revered by all the members of my race, more particularly of this Organization loyal to Our Most Gracious and Beloved Majesty the King can do nothing less than tend to annihilate our loyalty and affection for our King his Crown and Dignity and engender the curse of race hatred amongst us and other British officials who may be placed in lawful authority in this and other parts of the world. Your memorialist, therefore, humbly prays that the necessary investigation may be held into the truthfulness of the statements herein made so as to bring about mutual confidence in the negro subjects of His Majesty the King in the Consuls appointed for the protection of Negroes British subjects in these parts of the Western Hemisphere. And your memorialist as in duty bound will ever humbly pray. (Signed) Z SYDNEY DE ZOURG Leader of the Western Province of the West Indies and of Central and South America [Handwritten minutes:] ? Await Mr. Ledger’s arrival. He should be here in a few days and will be able to tell us about the facts. [J. C. Fisher?] 20.12.21. American Dept. [initials illegible] 20/12/21 The Universal Negro Improvement Association is run by a certain Marcus Garvey & is regarded with a good deal of suspicion. I should like to hear Mr. Ledger’s views about all this. [signature illegible] 23/xii Ask Mr. Ledger for his views [initials illegible] 29/12/21 TNA: PRO FO 369/1672. TD, copy. 1. Lloyd George delivered the speech quoted to the Imperial Conference of 20 June 1921 in London (Arthur Berriedale Keith, ed., Speeches and Documents on the British Dominions 1918–1931 [London: Oxford University Press, 1932], p. 43).
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS 2. Sir Winston Churchill (1874–1965) delivered this speech on 21 June 1921 at the Imperial Conference on imperial affairs in London. For the full speech, see Winston S. Churchill: His Complete Speeches, 1897–1963, vol. 3 (ed. Robert Rhodes James [New York: Chelsea House, 1974], p. 3112). 3. On 26 October 1921, President Harding delivered a speech about race relations in Birmingham. Declaring that the race problem was international, he urged an adjustment of relations between the two races so that both could enjoy full citizenship. Harding recommended that recognition and reward be distributed in proportion to the individual regardless of race, and he suggested a way out of the difficulty posed by the question of social equality. He suggested that social equality be disregarded and, instead, that economic equality, political equality, and equal educational opportunities be given to black people (Monroe N. Work, ed., Negro Year Book, An Annual Encyclopedia of the Negro: 1921–1922 [Tuskegee, AL: Negro Year Book in Association with Tuskegee Institute, 1922], s.v. “President Harding in Address to South Declares against Social Equality But Urges Economic and Political Equality”).
I. Augustus Brown in the Negro World [[Guaro, Cuba, ca. 7 January 1922]]
“A PRESIDENT’S DAY” IN GUARO, CUBA The Guaro Division No. 172 welcomed its officers, members and well-wishers most gratefully in the form of a pleasant afternoon, styled as “The President’s Day.” Very fine was the weather, and indeed lovely it was as we watched the crowd strolling all in one direction—to the Guaro Liberty Hall. Despite all inconveniences our hall was full to overflow. At 4 p.m. the hall was called to order. The choir, under the supervision of Mr. C. G. Hall, choirmaster; Mr. Philip Johnson, assistant choirmaster; Mr. H. A. White, director-general, and Mrs. Julia Hilman, organist, were all seated with bright smiling faces, eagerly awaiting to welcome their president, knights, officers, members and friends. Mr. N. A. Williams, first vice-president, on calling the house to order, gave a hearty welcome to all, and at the end of a short, yet inspiring address, introduced Mr. H. E. Williams to the Chair. Very attentively did the audience listen to the interesting words which fell from the chairman’s lips who, at the close of his first address, directed the audience’s attention to the following: 1. A song by the choir, entitled “Invitation.” 2. A march by the hand of the U.N.I.A. 3. A duet, “What Art Thou Sowing,” Misses Bailey and Allison. 4. Aims and Objects of the U.N.I.A., by the U.N.I.A. Band. 5. A quartet, “Anniversary Greetings,” by Misses D. Jones and D. Young, accompanied by Mr. H. White and I. Brown. 6. Duet and quartet, “Joyfully Sing,” Misses D. Jones and A. Gilbert, accompanied by I. Brown and H. A. White. 7. Solo and quartet, “Dark Below, But Light Above,” Miss D. Jones assisting. 8. Solo, “As We Sow, We Reap,” by Misses Bailey and Veria Allison, assisted by Messrs. Brown and White. 9. An address by Mr. Samuel Reid. 10. Duet and quartet, “I Will Sing Unto the Lord,” by Mrs. Holness (lady president) and Miss Jones. 11. Solo, “Watching for Father,” by Miss D. Young 12. Song, by choir, “He That
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS 2. Sir Winston Churchill (1874–1965) delivered this speech on 21 June 1921 at the Imperial Conference on imperial affairs in London. For the full speech, see Winston S. Churchill: His Complete Speeches, 1897–1963, vol. 3 (ed. Robert Rhodes James [New York: Chelsea House, 1974], p. 3112). 3. On 26 October 1921, President Harding delivered a speech about race relations in Birmingham. Declaring that the race problem was international, he urged an adjustment of relations between the two races so that both could enjoy full citizenship. Harding recommended that recognition and reward be distributed in proportion to the individual regardless of race, and he suggested a way out of the difficulty posed by the question of social equality. He suggested that social equality be disregarded and, instead, that economic equality, political equality, and equal educational opportunities be given to black people (Monroe N. Work, ed., Negro Year Book, An Annual Encyclopedia of the Negro: 1921–1922 [Tuskegee, AL: Negro Year Book in Association with Tuskegee Institute, 1922], s.v. “President Harding in Address to South Declares against Social Equality But Urges Economic and Political Equality”).
I. Augustus Brown in the Negro World [[Guaro, Cuba, ca. 7 January 1922]]
“A PRESIDENT’S DAY” IN GUARO, CUBA The Guaro Division No. 172 welcomed its officers, members and well-wishers most gratefully in the form of a pleasant afternoon, styled as “The President’s Day.” Very fine was the weather, and indeed lovely it was as we watched the crowd strolling all in one direction—to the Guaro Liberty Hall. Despite all inconveniences our hall was full to overflow. At 4 p.m. the hall was called to order. The choir, under the supervision of Mr. C. G. Hall, choirmaster; Mr. Philip Johnson, assistant choirmaster; Mr. H. A. White, director-general, and Mrs. Julia Hilman, organist, were all seated with bright smiling faces, eagerly awaiting to welcome their president, knights, officers, members and friends. Mr. N. A. Williams, first vice-president, on calling the house to order, gave a hearty welcome to all, and at the end of a short, yet inspiring address, introduced Mr. H. E. Williams to the Chair. Very attentively did the audience listen to the interesting words which fell from the chairman’s lips who, at the close of his first address, directed the audience’s attention to the following: 1. A song by the choir, entitled “Invitation.” 2. A march by the hand of the U.N.I.A. 3. A duet, “What Art Thou Sowing,” Misses Bailey and Allison. 4. Aims and Objects of the U.N.I.A., by the U.N.I.A. Band. 5. A quartet, “Anniversary Greetings,” by Misses D. Jones and D. Young, accompanied by Mr. H. White and I. Brown. 6. Duet and quartet, “Joyfully Sing,” Misses D. Jones and A. Gilbert, accompanied by I. Brown and H. A. White. 7. Solo and quartet, “Dark Below, But Light Above,” Miss D. Jones assisting. 8. Solo, “As We Sow, We Reap,” by Misses Bailey and Veria Allison, assisted by Messrs. Brown and White. 9. An address by Mr. Samuel Reid. 10. Duet and quartet, “I Will Sing Unto the Lord,” by Mrs. Holness (lady president) and Miss Jones. 11. Solo, “Watching for Father,” by Miss D. Young 12. Song, by choir, “He That
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Walked Righteously.” 13. Solo, “Wake the Song,” by Mrs. J. Hilman. 14. Quartet, “We Praise Thee,” Miss Veria Allison and Miss Bailey, assisted by Messrs. I. Brown and H. A. White. 15. Duet and quartet, “Beautiful Land,” Misses Jones and Bailey, assisted. 16. A most inspiring address by SecretaryGeneral of above-named division, impressing on the members of the aims and object of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L. 17. Duet, “Be Not Weary in Well Doing,” by Misses Holness and Howell. 18. Solo, “Not Lost, But Gone Before” by Mr. S. Reid. 19. Closing address by chairman, who wonderfully showed officers and members their obligations to the association and asked that they faithfully continue in their well doing. 20. A very short address by the president of the division. 21. Ethiopian National Anthem, by the U.N.I.A. Band. Congratulations and thanks are extended to the above-named managers and members of the choir, who so nicely entertained us. In addition, we beg to thank the visiting ladies and gentlemen whose solos and recitations assisted in making our President Day a success. All thanks to the Hon. Marcus Garvey, who has brought Garveyism about. May Him who led the children of Israel from Egypt into Canaan through Moses, Aaron1 and Joshua, also lead the Hon. Marcus Garvey and us into a free and redeemed Africa—there to behold with our eyes the colors of the Red, the Black and the Green gleaming its banners on the land which God Himself deemed fit for us. Thanking your for space, Yours benevolently, I. AUGUSTUS BROWN General-Secretary Printed in NW, 7 January 1922. 1. Along with their sister Miriam, Moses and Aaron led the Israelites out of Egypt through the wilderness. Aaron is depicted in the Old Testament as a prophet, particularly as one who announces the divine will, though earlier traditions in the Pentateuch also portray him negatively in rebellion against God or Moses. Aaron, like Moses, suffered hostility from the Israelites, was denied entrance to Canaan for the sin of striking the rock, and died on a mountain outside it. In later priestly sources of the Pentateuch, Aaron is more prominent and appears as the ancestor of Aaronite priests. His successors are given supreme authority even over secular leaders. In later Jewish thought, Aaron is the most prominent figure in the list of Israel’s great men and the high-priestly vesture is bequeathed with symbolic and cosmic significance (Paul J. Achtemeier, ed., Harper’s Bible Dictionary [San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1985], s.v. “Aaron”; David Noel Freedman, ed., Eerdman’s Dictionary of the Bible [Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000], s.v. “Aaron”].
Brigadier General Harry Lee, Acting Military Governor, Dominican Republic, to the Department of Interior and Police1 [Santo Domingo] 10 January, 1922 From: Acting Military Governor of Santo Domingo. To: Department of Interior and Police. 209
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Walked Righteously.” 13. Solo, “Wake the Song,” by Mrs. J. Hilman. 14. Quartet, “We Praise Thee,” Miss Veria Allison and Miss Bailey, assisted by Messrs. I. Brown and H. A. White. 15. Duet and quartet, “Beautiful Land,” Misses Jones and Bailey, assisted. 16. A most inspiring address by SecretaryGeneral of above-named division, impressing on the members of the aims and object of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L. 17. Duet, “Be Not Weary in Well Doing,” by Misses Holness and Howell. 18. Solo, “Not Lost, But Gone Before” by Mr. S. Reid. 19. Closing address by chairman, who wonderfully showed officers and members their obligations to the association and asked that they faithfully continue in their well doing. 20. A very short address by the president of the division. 21. Ethiopian National Anthem, by the U.N.I.A. Band. Congratulations and thanks are extended to the above-named managers and members of the choir, who so nicely entertained us. In addition, we beg to thank the visiting ladies and gentlemen whose solos and recitations assisted in making our President Day a success. All thanks to the Hon. Marcus Garvey, who has brought Garveyism about. May Him who led the children of Israel from Egypt into Canaan through Moses, Aaron1 and Joshua, also lead the Hon. Marcus Garvey and us into a free and redeemed Africa—there to behold with our eyes the colors of the Red, the Black and the Green gleaming its banners on the land which God Himself deemed fit for us. Thanking your for space, Yours benevolently, I. AUGUSTUS BROWN General-Secretary Printed in NW, 7 January 1922. 1. Along with their sister Miriam, Moses and Aaron led the Israelites out of Egypt through the wilderness. Aaron is depicted in the Old Testament as a prophet, particularly as one who announces the divine will, though earlier traditions in the Pentateuch also portray him negatively in rebellion against God or Moses. Aaron, like Moses, suffered hostility from the Israelites, was denied entrance to Canaan for the sin of striking the rock, and died on a mountain outside it. In later priestly sources of the Pentateuch, Aaron is more prominent and appears as the ancestor of Aaronite priests. His successors are given supreme authority even over secular leaders. In later Jewish thought, Aaron is the most prominent figure in the list of Israel’s great men and the high-priestly vesture is bequeathed with symbolic and cosmic significance (Paul J. Achtemeier, ed., Harper’s Bible Dictionary [San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1985], s.v. “Aaron”; David Noel Freedman, ed., Eerdman’s Dictionary of the Bible [Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000], s.v. “Aaron”].
Brigadier General Harry Lee, Acting Military Governor, Dominican Republic, to the Department of Interior and Police1 [Santo Domingo] 10 January, 1922 From: Acting Military Governor of Santo Domingo. To: Department of Interior and Police. 209
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS SUBJECT:
African Blood Brotherhood (Secret Organization) of Macoris, D.R., and Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League, San Pedro de Macoris, D.R. 1. Please furnish this office with a report from the civil authorities at San Pedro de Macoris as to the character, etc., of the following names, who are members of one or both of the above mentioned organizations, and also of any other prominent members and officers who take an active part in the affairs of these organizations D. E. Phillips Wm. J. Butler Chas. E. [Charles A.] Henry
J. T. Carey Jaime Cooks J. N. Halley
2. Information is also requested as to whether these organizations should be allowed to continue in operation, providing they are now operating in accordance with the law and have been properly chartered, etc. 3. On Sept. 10, 1921, the Headquarters of the U.N.I.A. & A.C.L. was raided by the Municipal police and definite information is requested as to [w]hat action was taken as a result of the arrests made on this occasion. DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202.TD. 1. A very similar set of requests was also sent on 10 January 1922 by the Acting Military Governor of Santo Domingo to the Department of Justice and Public Instruction (DNA, RG 38, M-201M-202).
Lieutenant-Colonel F. A. Ramsey, Officer in Charge, Department of Justice and Public Instruction, to Fernando A. Brea, Procurador Fiscal [District Attorney], MacorísSeybo Judicial District, San Pedro de Macorís Santo Domingo, R.D., 14 January 1922. From: Officer in Charge of the State Department of Justice and Public Instruction. To: Procurador Fiscal of the Macoris-Seybo Judicial District, San P. de Macorís.— Re: “Brotherhood of African Blood” (Secret Association), and “Universal Negro Improvement Association;” and “African Community League,” All of San Pedro de Macoris, R.D. 210
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS SUBJECT:
African Blood Brotherhood (Secret Organization) of Macoris, D.R., and Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League, San Pedro de Macoris, D.R. 1. Please furnish this office with a report from the civil authorities at San Pedro de Macoris as to the character, etc., of the following names, who are members of one or both of the above mentioned organizations, and also of any other prominent members and officers who take an active part in the affairs of these organizations D. E. Phillips Wm. J. Butler Chas. E. [Charles A.] Henry
J. T. Carey Jaime Cooks J. N. Halley
2. Information is also requested as to whether these organizations should be allowed to continue in operation, providing they are now operating in accordance with the law and have been properly chartered, etc. 3. On Sept. 10, 1921, the Headquarters of the U.N.I.A. & A.C.L. was raided by the Municipal police and definite information is requested as to [w]hat action was taken as a result of the arrests made on this occasion. DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202.TD. 1. A very similar set of requests was also sent on 10 January 1922 by the Acting Military Governor of Santo Domingo to the Department of Justice and Public Instruction (DNA, RG 38, M-201M-202).
Lieutenant-Colonel F. A. Ramsey, Officer in Charge, Department of Justice and Public Instruction, to Fernando A. Brea, Procurador Fiscal [District Attorney], MacorísSeybo Judicial District, San Pedro de Macorís Santo Domingo, R.D., 14 January 1922. From: Officer in Charge of the State Department of Justice and Public Instruction. To: Procurador Fiscal of the Macoris-Seybo Judicial District, San P. de Macorís.— Re: “Brotherhood of African Blood” (Secret Association), and “Universal Negro Improvement Association;” and “African Community League,” All of San Pedro de Macoris, R.D. 210
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1.—It is requested that the Procuraduría Fiscal [District Attorney’s Office] send a complete account of all matters related to and all sentences imposed against members of the “Brotherhood of African Blood” of San Pedro de Macorís, as well as against members of the “Universal Negro Improvement League,” and the “African Community League”; making particular reference to the following persons: D. E. Phillips Wm. J. Butler
Chas E. [Charles A.] Henry J. T. Carey
Jaime Cooks J. N. Halley
2.—It is also requested that you submit information as to whether both societies have complied with the legal requirements for obtaining the necessary licenses, etc., and if this were the case, whether one or both societies should be allowed to continue operating. 3.—This Department of State has received reports stating that approximately on 10 September 1921, the headquarters of the UNIA (Universal Association, etc.) and the ACL (African Community League), were raided by the Municipal Police. Definitive reports [taken?] as a consequence of the [word missing] are requested. 4.—State if any of the individuals mentioned have been tried for breaking the laws of the Republic, and if so, state the date, the crime committed, and sentence imposed. Also state if, in the opinion of the judicial authorities of that District, these individuals deserve to be permitted to continue residing in the country, or if, on the contrary, they should be deported.— 5.—You are required to obtain the reports indicated above, whether these are from your own office, from the Alcaldía or from the Juzgado de Primera Instancia [Court of First Recourse]; your reply is urgently awaited. 6.—If on the date when they were recently imprisoned, they had any sort of documents in their hands, it would be appreciated if you stated which those were and if it is convenient to permit the dissemination of such papers throughout the country.— F. A. RAMSEY DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD. Translated from Spanish. Marked “9804.”
Joseph E. Gadbsy to the Workman [[Panama R.P., ca. 14 January 1922]]
GARVEYISM AND WHAT IT MEANS Fellow-men of the race greetings. Again I approach you in [the] name of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L. As ambassador of the cause and representative of a movement 4,000 strong, namely the “Guachapali Chapter,” No. 14[,] I feel it is 211
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1.—It is requested that the Procuraduría Fiscal [District Attorney’s Office] send a complete account of all matters related to and all sentences imposed against members of the “Brotherhood of African Blood” of San Pedro de Macorís, as well as against members of the “Universal Negro Improvement League,” and the “African Community League”; making particular reference to the following persons: D. E. Phillips Wm. J. Butler
Chas E. [Charles A.] Henry J. T. Carey
Jaime Cooks J. N. Halley
2.—It is also requested that you submit information as to whether both societies have complied with the legal requirements for obtaining the necessary licenses, etc., and if this were the case, whether one or both societies should be allowed to continue operating. 3.—This Department of State has received reports stating that approximately on 10 September 1921, the headquarters of the UNIA (Universal Association, etc.) and the ACL (African Community League), were raided by the Municipal Police. Definitive reports [taken?] as a consequence of the [word missing] are requested. 4.—State if any of the individuals mentioned have been tried for breaking the laws of the Republic, and if so, state the date, the crime committed, and sentence imposed. Also state if, in the opinion of the judicial authorities of that District, these individuals deserve to be permitted to continue residing in the country, or if, on the contrary, they should be deported.— 5.—You are required to obtain the reports indicated above, whether these are from your own office, from the Alcaldía or from the Juzgado de Primera Instancia [Court of First Recourse]; your reply is urgently awaited. 6.—If on the date when they were recently imprisoned, they had any sort of documents in their hands, it would be appreciated if you stated which those were and if it is convenient to permit the dissemination of such papers throughout the country.— F. A. RAMSEY DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD. Translated from Spanish. Marked “9804.”
Joseph E. Gadbsy to the Workman [[Panama R.P., ca. 14 January 1922]]
GARVEYISM AND WHAT IT MEANS Fellow-men of the race greetings. Again I approach you in [the] name of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L. As ambassador of the cause and representative of a movement 4,000 strong, namely the “Guachapali Chapter,” No. 14[,] I feel it is 211
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devolve[d] upon me at this crucial moment, to take up the gauntlet, and punch favour out the fighting arena into the land of “was” any sordid, cringing sycophant, who wishes to exhibit ignorance publicly, relative to Garveyism[.] “Fools madly rush where angels would not even tip-toe[.]” “Even a fool when he holds his peace is counted wise.” This first axiom applies nicely to some of our people in this community who are getting “besides themselves,” I mean stupid. The second applies to Nations. When nations like Great Britain and France refused to give their opinion about “Garveyism” when a request was made in Buckingham Palace, and in the French Administrative Parlours by the intrepid Leaders of our race for a Christmas Message. They said to reply per request “would be inconsistent to rule,” and therefore reserved their opinion. Technically speaking, does not the action of these Governmen[t]s teach us that “Silence is Go[lden]” and that a fool can do and say anything? “Let him that think he standeth, take heed lest he fall flat” never to rise again to kick against the pricks, is to lose your foot, “to cut the branch you are resting on, a collapse is inevitable.” GARVEYISM AS THE NEW NEGRO UNDERSTANDS IT Is a dogma, an indisputable doctrine of truth, urged authoritatively upon the world of Negroes, because of its palpability, it is a ph[il]osophy which not only treats on the Psychological relationship between man and his Creator, but it dives at the innate consciences of men, and tells them whether their demeanor is becoming or not—a doctrine which has given the world the clear understanding, that “out of flesh and blood, God Almighty created all men equals to dwell upon the face of this earth” and it is absolutely pugnacious [word illegible], and audacious in any nation, people, or individual to be posing himself or themselves as superiors to their fellow men. I believe in giving honor to whom honor is due. I believe in giving unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God those things that are God’s. For this cause I cohere with the immortal Garvey in toto, in every sentiment, in every word, in every action. Yes I say in every thought and idea, and I know I have got millions back of me, not foolish Virgins, without oil in their lamps, but some, sound live wires who can at any time throw on the “introspect” upon any “kerosine oil burners” and “Silhouette” them forever, financially Socially and Racially. The doctrine of Garvey is so great, it has turned the hearts of 400,000,000 Negroes into new channels, and not only Negroes, but even some of the white, Yellow and grey men have caught the “raise[.]” WHAT GARVEYISM STANDS FOR It stands for Liberty, Justice and Love. Liberty because of those inalienable rights of mankind out of which should flow the pursuit of happiness. “Freedom is one thing but Liberty is another.[”] I concur firmly with Patrick Henry in saying “Give us Liberty or give us death” justice because of the pleasing feature which it presents before God in seeing his children extend that vir212
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tue which consist in giving everyone what is due to him or her that candid impartiality, that inexorable Equity so indispensable for this world of ours, when every person regardless of color or creed or nationality could under “jusgentium” find one common equipoise, and thus receive that vindictive retribution so essential for us in these Central parts of the Americas, Love because of that tender affection seen among our people today universally. There was once a time before Garveyism was evident when you dared not call some Negroes, Negroes, you would be liable for an action or a fight might have ensued, but now, please call a Negro, a Negro, or he will see that you call him so, and nothing else. Garvey’s Philosophy is Ideal, it is Real, and It is practical. The United Fruit Co., built up a “Great White Fleet[”] in about 28 years from a sailing vessel, if even half of 400 millions of Negroes don’t build a “Greater Black Fleet” in a quicker time, then that, amount of men should die sudden. Africa is a possibility. Hold up the hand of our Leader perpetually don[’]t allow it to drop, support your own enterprises, build up your own industries, read your own periodicals first and then any other, let us walk together, work together, pull together, to thine ownselves be true and it must follow as night the day that the complete program of the U.N.I.A. will be put “over the top” and our posterity if not ourselves, shall enjoy the benefits wrought by their ancestors. Wishing you continued success in your march. I remain fraternally yours, JOSEPH E. GADBSY Pres. of the Guachapali Chapter No. 14 Printed in the Workman (Panama City), 14 January 1922.
Telegram1 from Marcus Garvey to Edgar West New York, January 14th, 1922 My arrest2 a frameup by enemies of movement. Assure members all well. The fight for African freedom starts. Hold continuous meetings. See Negro World NAACP. Men Briggs, McGuire, Gordon, Brooks, Crichlow traitors to negro cause. The fight is on for negro liberty. Depend that we shall triumph. Raise defense fund and cable to New York. Have no fear. MARCUS GARVEY 901 am UFC. TG, recipient’s copy. On Tropical Radio Telegraph Company letterhead. 1. The fact that this telegram was intercepted by the UFC demonstrates the resources that were available to the company’s managers in monitoring the activities of the UNIA. 2. Garvey was arrested for fraudulent use of mails on 12 January 1922.
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tue which consist in giving everyone what is due to him or her that candid impartiality, that inexorable Equity so indispensable for this world of ours, when every person regardless of color or creed or nationality could under “jusgentium” find one common equipoise, and thus receive that vindictive retribution so essential for us in these Central parts of the Americas, Love because of that tender affection seen among our people today universally. There was once a time before Garveyism was evident when you dared not call some Negroes, Negroes, you would be liable for an action or a fight might have ensued, but now, please call a Negro, a Negro, or he will see that you call him so, and nothing else. Garvey’s Philosophy is Ideal, it is Real, and It is practical. The United Fruit Co., built up a “Great White Fleet[”] in about 28 years from a sailing vessel, if even half of 400 millions of Negroes don’t build a “Greater Black Fleet” in a quicker time, then that, amount of men should die sudden. Africa is a possibility. Hold up the hand of our Leader perpetually don[’]t allow it to drop, support your own enterprises, build up your own industries, read your own periodicals first and then any other, let us walk together, work together, pull together, to thine ownselves be true and it must follow as night the day that the complete program of the U.N.I.A. will be put “over the top” and our posterity if not ourselves, shall enjoy the benefits wrought by their ancestors. Wishing you continued success in your march. I remain fraternally yours, JOSEPH E. GADBSY Pres. of the Guachapali Chapter No. 14 Printed in the Workman (Panama City), 14 January 1922.
Telegram1 from Marcus Garvey to Edgar West New York, January 14th, 1922 My arrest2 a frameup by enemies of movement. Assure members all well. The fight for African freedom starts. Hold continuous meetings. See Negro World NAACP. Men Briggs, McGuire, Gordon, Brooks, Crichlow traitors to negro cause. The fight is on for negro liberty. Depend that we shall triumph. Raise defense fund and cable to New York. Have no fear. MARCUS GARVEY 901 am UFC. TG, recipient’s copy. On Tropical Radio Telegraph Company letterhead. 1. The fact that this telegram was intercepted by the UFC demonstrates the resources that were available to the company’s managers in monitoring the activities of the UNIA. 2. Garvey was arrested for fraudulent use of mails on 12 January 1922.
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Edgar W. Bridgewater, Reporting Secretary, UNIA San Pedro de Macorís Division, to John Sydney de Bourg Calle Locomotorio, Casa [No. 24?] San Pedro de Macoris, Santo Domingo, R.D., January 16th, 1922 Honourable Sir:— I have the honour to report to you the following inciden[t] which took place on the morning of the 10th, Instant. 1. On Tuesdays morning January 10th, at about 9.45/A.M. while at my school, which is held at the hall of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League. An American marine entered the hall and asked if my name was Edgar Bridgewater. I answered, “Yes” he said “the Provost Marshal wants to see you[.]” I said alright, I[’]ll go but not until the next teacher who is teaching with me shall have arrived, so that I may be able to leave the school under her charge. 2. I sent in search of this teacher who appeared at about ten minutes later. I thereupon left the school under her charge and started for the Provost Marshal accompanied by the marine. On reaching the Provost Marsha[l’]s office I had to wait about ten minutes before I was interviewed. 3. At the termination of the ten minutes the Provost Marshal be//ckoned me// to follow him from his office unto the veranda of same building. After we reached he began by saying; “I see you are [a] U.N.I.A.” I replied “Yes I am and you can see plainly by the button upon my coat.” He continued “Where do you meet now?” I said “I do not understand what he meant.” He repeated, “Where do you keep your meetings now.” I said “I do not know what meetings you are speaking about.” 4. He asked; “What[’]s your occupation?” I replied “I am a Tailor but at present I am keeping school.” He asked; “And where do you keep school?” [“]In the hall[”] I said. He asked; “What hall?” I replied; [“]The hall of the Universal Negro Improvement Association.[”] He asked “Where did you get it from?” I replied; [“]It was contracted by Negroes for Negroes.[”] He asked; “Where? Do you mean Emancipation Hall?” I replied; “Yes[.]” He asked; “Who opened it?” I replied; [“]I do not know who opened it but I simply saw it open, and [knowing] it is the hall of the Universal Negro Improvement Association I know I had a right to be in it so I went in.[”] 5. He continued “Have you a typewriter?” I said “No[.]” He said; [“]Alright: Do you know one Bowman?[”] I answered “Yes[.”] He is a loyal member of our association. He conducted me back to his office where I saw Bowman sitting close to his desk.
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6. He called to a Sergeant Major of the Marine corps who was in the office to bear testimony to the procedure. The Provost then turned to Bowman and said “Did[n’]t you tell me that Bridgewater wrote the letter.” I replied; [“]I did typewrite the letter[.]” [“]How much did he pay you for it?” I replied [“]nothing I did it on the [t]erms of Brotherly love.[”] The Provost turned to the Sergeant Major present and asked “Did[n’]t you hear him say he paid a dollar to have it done?[”] That latter replied “Yes.” 7. The Provost asked me. “Who did you borrow that typewriter from?” “I said a gentleman down [town whose] typewriter is always at my disposal.” He turned to the Sergeant Major and Said; “I see we did not do any good in deporting Philips and those fellows[.]” The Sergeant Major then said; “I believe Provost that all attacks upon the marines in the town are being done by members of that Negro Organization.” The Provost then said; “I am going to arm every God damned marine and let them shoot them down.” 8. He further stated I think I better lock every member up and have them deported, I said I do not care much about being arrested as I spent 79 days in prison already without being tried by the Government under which we were taken up and it would do no harm if I was sent back[.] He asked; “You were locked up too eh?” “And do you know I sent your release?” I replied; “I do not know who sent it, what I know is that the release came and I kno[w] I had to be released.[”] 9. He further said “I made a mistake when I released you.” I answered “You may deem it to be a mistake but I do not think it is.[”] Alright he said; [“]I will think the matter over. Anyway I believe the two of you are lying, Get out![”] Both Bowman and I were driven from the office. I have the honour, to be Your Excellencys most humble and obedient Servant. EDGAR W. BRIDGEWATER DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TLS.
Emiliano García B., Chief, San Pedro de Macorís Police, to Fernando A. Brea, Procurador Fiscal [District Attorney], Macorís-Seybo Judicial District, San Pedro de Macorís San Pedro de Macorís, 17 January 1922 From: Chief of Police of Macoris To: Procurador Fiscal, D.J. [Judicial District] Macoris-Seybo
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6. He called to a Sergeant Major of the Marine corps who was in the office to bear testimony to the procedure. The Provost then turned to Bowman and said “Did[n’]t you tell me that Bridgewater wrote the letter.” I replied; [“]I did typewrite the letter[.]” [“]How much did he pay you for it?” I replied [“]nothing I did it on the [t]erms of Brotherly love.[”] The Provost turned to the Sergeant Major present and asked “Did[n’]t you hear him say he paid a dollar to have it done?[”] That latter replied “Yes.” 7. The Provost asked me. “Who did you borrow that typewriter from?” “I said a gentleman down [town whose] typewriter is always at my disposal.” He turned to the Sergeant Major and Said; “I see we did not do any good in deporting Philips and those fellows[.]” The Sergeant Major then said; “I believe Provost that all attacks upon the marines in the town are being done by members of that Negro Organization.” The Provost then said; “I am going to arm every God damned marine and let them shoot them down.” 8. He further stated I think I better lock every member up and have them deported, I said I do not care much about being arrested as I spent 79 days in prison already without being tried by the Government under which we were taken up and it would do no harm if I was sent back[.] He asked; “You were locked up too eh?” “And do you know I sent your release?” I replied; “I do not know who sent it, what I know is that the release came and I kno[w] I had to be released.[”] 9. He further said “I made a mistake when I released you.” I answered “You may deem it to be a mistake but I do not think it is.[”] Alright he said; [“]I will think the matter over. Anyway I believe the two of you are lying, Get out![”] Both Bowman and I were driven from the office. I have the honour, to be Your Excellencys most humble and obedient Servant. EDGAR W. BRIDGEWATER DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TLS.
Emiliano García B., Chief, San Pedro de Macorís Police, to Fernando A. Brea, Procurador Fiscal [District Attorney], Macorís-Seybo Judicial District, San Pedro de Macorís San Pedro de Macorís, 17 January 1922 From: Chief of Police of Macoris To: Procurador Fiscal, D.J. [Judicial District] Macoris-Seybo
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Re: Reports regarding the persons belonging to the Universal Negro Improvement Association and the “African Community” League societies who were arrested by the police on the evening of 10 Sept. 1921. I—In compliance with your letter of the 16th of this month, marked as number 92, regarding a report requested by the Attorney General’s Office about the persons belonging to the Universal Association and the African Community League Societies of this City who were arrested by the police on the evening of September 10, 1921. II—It is proper to inform you that according to the books of this Office, the following persons appear to have been brought to Justice, these persons being only some of those whose presence was noted by this Office, because there [were] more whose names are unknown because they were released the day after being arrested. III— Jaime M. Halley. W. J. Butter. Olando Hynes [Orlando Haynes]. Josepf E. Wilk [Joseph E. Welch]. D. E. Phillips. J. [T]. Carey. Edgar Bridgwater [Bridgewater]. Charles A. Henry Antoney [Anthony] Bastian. Ellis Esdaile. Becariack Rollins [Zachariah Rawlins?]. David Hisck [Hicks]. Jane Willians [Williams]. Ellin [Ellen] Potter. Truly Yours, EMILIANO GARCÍA B. Chief of the Municipal Police DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TLS. Translated from Spanish. On Municipal Police of San Pedro de Macorís letterhead. Marked “No. 82.”
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Lieutenant-Colonel William C. Harllee, District Commander, Eastern District, Dominican Republic, to Brigadier General Harry Lee, Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S. Marines Corps OFFICE OF THE DISTRICT COMMANDER, EASTERN DISTRICT, U.S. MARINES, SAN PEDRO DE MACORIS, D.R.,
18 January 1922 3RD INDORSEMENT From: District Commander. To: Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S. Marines, Santo Domingo City, D.R. Subject: Complaint of Sydney de Bourg against U.S. Military Forces 1. Returned. 2. The statements of Mr. Sydney de Bourg given in paragraphs 8 to 14 inclusive are erroneous, and misrepresented. This case was given a thorough investigation by the Provost Marshal, and the statements of the principles in the squabble are contradictory. They are in variance in the following respects: Paragraph (8). From about 9:30 p.m. to 12:00 midnight, the negroes at Porvenir1 were celebrating Christmas Eve on the Estate, marching around, playing musical instruments, visiting different houses and drinking. Charles Brooks a negro from Macoris, who had given the Military Authorities information concerning bandits, Philip Hamlet, John Charles, negroes and another negro named “Jimmie,” (all wards of the Sydney de Bourg) were participants in these festivities. Philip Hamlet, shortly before midnight, left the festivities and went to his house on the Porvenir Estate. Hamlet had a guitar, and was one of the musicians in the celebration. About midnight Charles Brooks, one ward of Sydney de Bourg arrived at the house of Philip Hamlet, another ward of Sydney de Bourg. Paragraph (9). Brooks tried to obtain entrance into the house of Hamlet, and when he was refused, he attempted to force entrance. Hamlet was in the house, and Charles and “Jimmie” were on the outside. All present were wards of Sydney de Bourg. When Brooks tried to force his entrance, Hamlet objected, and in the fight which followed Brooks was stabbed on the left side of the neck. Both men [had] knives and Hamlet stated in the investigation of the Provost Marshal that he did not know whether it was his knife or Brooks’ own knife which cut Brooks. The latter had the wound treated at the Field Hospital, Fifteenth Regiment, and had two stitches taken in it.
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Paragraph (10). Brooks was uncon[s]cious from his stab wound for a couple of hours, and upon recovering went to the Marine Camp at San Pedro de Macoris. He there reported that he was attacked by bandits at Porvenir to Sergeant Saunders of the Special Scouting Detachment. Brooks claimed that the attack on him was made because he had given information to the Military Authorities. Sergeant Saunders, with three men of his detachment, and Brooks as guide went to Porvenir Sugar Estate and arrested the participants of the squabble. The Provost Marshal states that, at his investigation held on the second morning following the affair, neither Hamlet, Charles or “Jimmie,” showed any effects of being beaten, while Brooks’ head was all bandaged up. Paragraphs, (11, 12, 13, 14). The only investigation held on this affair was held by the Provost Marshal at the Office of the Provost Marshal on the morning of the 27th of December 1921, (the 26th being a holiday), and after a thorough investigation by the Provost Marshal, he recommended to me that all be released as it was a squabble incident to the Christmas festivities, in which all participants had been drinking. WM. C. HARLLEE DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD. 1. Ingenio Porvenir was founded in 1879 by Santiago Mellor, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Cuba. At the turn of the century, Hugh Kelly & Co. of Wall Street purchased the sugar estate. Hugh Kelly & Co., which also owned Central Ansonia in Azua, devoted themselves to the brokerage of Porvenir sugar before acquiring a managing interest. By 1912 the Porvenir Sugar Company, registered in New Jersey and controlled by Hugh Kelly & Co, was the nearest sugar estate to the city of San Pedro de Macorís. Wilfred E. Rowland, whose first job was in Ingenio Porvenir, recalled: “The Garvey movement really began in 1921. . . . I came here in the country in 1918, I spent a month in town, then I went to Porvenir. . . . A few, not many in Porvenir, joined” (Wilfred E. Rowland, interview by Humberto García Muñiz, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 11 May 1991; Antonio Ramón Lluberes, “The Sugar Industry: Emergence and Development of Capitalism in the Dominican Republic, 1872–1930” [M.A. thesis, George Washington University, 1982], pp. 103, 132; NYT, 31 October 1908; Alberto Rodríguez y Rodríguez, El azúcar como hacedor de historia y de comunidades [Santo Domingo: Editora Universitaria de la Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, 1985], pp. 69–70).
Brigadier General Harry Lee, Acting Military Governor, Dominican Republic, to J. I. Bowman Santo Domingo City, R.D., 18 January, 1922 Dear Sir: Your complaint of December 21, 1921, against a member of the Military Forces of Occupation has been thoroughly investigated. It has been found that, upon being summoned to the office of the Provost Marshal at San Pedro de Macoris, you were unable to prove any of the charges made in your letter nor 218
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Paragraph (10). Brooks was uncon[s]cious from his stab wound for a couple of hours, and upon recovering went to the Marine Camp at San Pedro de Macoris. He there reported that he was attacked by bandits at Porvenir to Sergeant Saunders of the Special Scouting Detachment. Brooks claimed that the attack on him was made because he had given information to the Military Authorities. Sergeant Saunders, with three men of his detachment, and Brooks as guide went to Porvenir Sugar Estate and arrested the participants of the squabble. The Provost Marshal states that, at his investigation held on the second morning following the affair, neither Hamlet, Charles or “Jimmie,” showed any effects of being beaten, while Brooks’ head was all bandaged up. Paragraphs, (11, 12, 13, 14). The only investigation held on this affair was held by the Provost Marshal at the Office of the Provost Marshal on the morning of the 27th of December 1921, (the 26th being a holiday), and after a thorough investigation by the Provost Marshal, he recommended to me that all be released as it was a squabble incident to the Christmas festivities, in which all participants had been drinking. WM. C. HARLLEE DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD. 1. Ingenio Porvenir was founded in 1879 by Santiago Mellor, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Cuba. At the turn of the century, Hugh Kelly & Co. of Wall Street purchased the sugar estate. Hugh Kelly & Co., which also owned Central Ansonia in Azua, devoted themselves to the brokerage of Porvenir sugar before acquiring a managing interest. By 1912 the Porvenir Sugar Company, registered in New Jersey and controlled by Hugh Kelly & Co, was the nearest sugar estate to the city of San Pedro de Macorís. Wilfred E. Rowland, whose first job was in Ingenio Porvenir, recalled: “The Garvey movement really began in 1921. . . . I came here in the country in 1918, I spent a month in town, then I went to Porvenir. . . . A few, not many in Porvenir, joined” (Wilfred E. Rowland, interview by Humberto García Muñiz, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 11 May 1991; Antonio Ramón Lluberes, “The Sugar Industry: Emergence and Development of Capitalism in the Dominican Republic, 1872–1930” [M.A. thesis, George Washington University, 1982], pp. 103, 132; NYT, 31 October 1908; Alberto Rodríguez y Rodríguez, El azúcar como hacedor de historia y de comunidades [Santo Domingo: Editora Universitaria de la Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, 1985], pp. 69–70).
Brigadier General Harry Lee, Acting Military Governor, Dominican Republic, to J. I. Bowman Santo Domingo City, R.D., 18 January, 1922 Dear Sir: Your complaint of December 21, 1921, against a member of the Military Forces of Occupation has been thoroughly investigated. It has been found that, upon being summoned to the office of the Provost Marshal at San Pedro de Macoris, you were unable to prove any of the charges made in your letter nor 218
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were you able to identify your alleged assailant. Under these circumstances no action can be taken in this matter. This investigation also revealed the fact that your complaint contains many false statements. If you have any further complaint to make, founded on facts, you are advised to take the matter up with the local Provost Marshal at San Pedro de Macoris. Yours truly, FANRY [HARRY] LEE Brigadier General, U.S. Marine Corps, Acting Military Governor of Santo Domingo [Addressed to:] Mr. J. I. Bowman, calle Amechazurra, No.58, San Pedro de Macoris, R.D. DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD, copy.
Juez Alcalde [Town Judge], San Pedro de Macorís, to Fernando A. Brea, Procurador Fiscal [District Attorney], Macorís-Seybo Judicial District, San Pedro de Macorís San Pedro de Macoris, January 18, 1922 From: Juez Alcalde To: Proc. Fiscal, D.J. [Judicial District] Macoris-Seybo Re: Brotherhood of the African Blood (Secret Association) and [“]Universal Negro Improvement Association” and “African Community League.[”] San Pedro de Macoris. 1st. In reference to your letter of the 15th of the current month, marked as number 93, we find it proper to notify you of the following: (a) The Association mentioned above has not been incorporated in this Alcaldía [court]. We have no knowledge of its constitution. (b) Reverend D. E. Philipps and Mr. Teófilo Nicholl were brought before this Alcaldía on April 20th of last year, for celebrating a commercial dance after obtaining license for a family dance. . . . This festival acquired an aggressive and riotous character; so that, with great difficulty, a police squad headed by the Chief had to intervene in order to reestablish order. There were [people] wounded and bruised.
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were you able to identify your alleged assailant. Under these circumstances no action can be taken in this matter. This investigation also revealed the fact that your complaint contains many false statements. If you have any further complaint to make, founded on facts, you are advised to take the matter up with the local Provost Marshal at San Pedro de Macoris. Yours truly, FANRY [HARRY] LEE Brigadier General, U.S. Marine Corps, Acting Military Governor of Santo Domingo [Addressed to:] Mr. J. I. Bowman, calle Amechazurra, No.58, San Pedro de Macoris, R.D. DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD, copy.
Juez Alcalde [Town Judge], San Pedro de Macorís, to Fernando A. Brea, Procurador Fiscal [District Attorney], Macorís-Seybo Judicial District, San Pedro de Macorís San Pedro de Macoris, January 18, 1922 From: Juez Alcalde To: Proc. Fiscal, D.J. [Judicial District] Macoris-Seybo Re: Brotherhood of the African Blood (Secret Association) and [“]Universal Negro Improvement Association” and “African Community League.[”] San Pedro de Macoris. 1st. In reference to your letter of the 15th of the current month, marked as number 93, we find it proper to notify you of the following: (a) The Association mentioned above has not been incorporated in this Alcaldía [court]. We have no knowledge of its constitution. (b) Reverend D. E. Philipps and Mr. Teófilo Nicholl were brought before this Alcaldía on April 20th of last year, for celebrating a commercial dance after obtaining license for a family dance. . . . This festival acquired an aggressive and riotous character; so that, with great difficulty, a police squad headed by the Chief had to intervene in order to reestablish order. There were [people] wounded and bruised.
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(c) Reverend D. E. Philipps was brought before this Alcaldía for hiring a car for five $5.00, and after employing it for four hours (4) until midnight, then refusing to pay the twenty pesos ($20.00) and wanting to pay only three pesos and eighty cents ($3.80). (d) Mr. Jaime Cooks was brought in last year on July 30th for running a factory without turning on a lamp; and on August 9th of the same year (1921) for having animals loose in town. (e) Mr. José Matiú was brought in for disorderly conduct at a dance of Reverend Philipps’ and Mr. Nicholl’s. (f) On 7 September 1921, Reverend D. E. Philipps, James V. Halley, J. Butler, —J. [T]. Carey, —Orlando Jaime [Haynes?], Joseph Welch, Edgar Brigertar [Bridgewater], Charles A. Henry, Antony Bastian, Elli[a]s Esdaile, Becriach Rollins [Zachariah Rawlins?], David Hicks, James [Jane] Williams, Ellin Porter, Violette Helingsworth [Hollingsworth] were brought in. Accused of //“//establishing a society in this City without prior authorization, an institution whose principal purpose was prejudicial, since it aims to establish the preeminence of the black race over the white race; moreover, because it had established a tribute payment system which takes advantage of [people’s] credulity,//”// and for this reason the following persons were fined $4.00 each: Reverend D. E. Philipps, Williams J. Butler, James J. Halley, Charles E. [Charles A.] Henry, Antony Bastian and J. [T]. Carey, and the rest were released. 2nd. This is all of the information that we can provide. Yours truly, [signature illegible] JUEZ ALCALDE DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TLS. On Dominican Republic Judicial Service letterhead. Translated from Spanish.
D. Erastus Thorpe, President, UNIA Tela Division, to the Negro World [[Tela, Jan. 19, 1922]]
A CORDIAL GREETING FROM TELA, SPANISH HONDURAS Your Excellency.— The Negro peoples of Tela desire at this epoch to extend their heartfelt sympathy to you in the recent criticism of you through the mal-intentions of fellow members of our race. We feel deeply concerned in the entire proceedings, and we can assure you that we share with you in the sufferings you are undergoing for the benefit of our downtrodden race. We further assure you that our aspiratio[n] towards the goal of our success is unanimous in sentiment and endeavors.
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(c) Reverend D. E. Philipps was brought before this Alcaldía for hiring a car for five $5.00, and after employing it for four hours (4) until midnight, then refusing to pay the twenty pesos ($20.00) and wanting to pay only three pesos and eighty cents ($3.80). (d) Mr. Jaime Cooks was brought in last year on July 30th for running a factory without turning on a lamp; and on August 9th of the same year (1921) for having animals loose in town. (e) Mr. José Matiú was brought in for disorderly conduct at a dance of Reverend Philipps’ and Mr. Nicholl’s. (f) On 7 September 1921, Reverend D. E. Philipps, James V. Halley, J. Butler, —J. [T]. Carey, —Orlando Jaime [Haynes?], Joseph Welch, Edgar Brigertar [Bridgewater], Charles A. Henry, Antony Bastian, Elli[a]s Esdaile, Becriach Rollins [Zachariah Rawlins?], David Hicks, James [Jane] Williams, Ellin Porter, Violette Helingsworth [Hollingsworth] were brought in. Accused of //“//establishing a society in this City without prior authorization, an institution whose principal purpose was prejudicial, since it aims to establish the preeminence of the black race over the white race; moreover, because it had established a tribute payment system which takes advantage of [people’s] credulity,//”// and for this reason the following persons were fined $4.00 each: Reverend D. E. Philipps, Williams J. Butler, James J. Halley, Charles E. [Charles A.] Henry, Antony Bastian and J. [T]. Carey, and the rest were released. 2nd. This is all of the information that we can provide. Yours truly, [signature illegible] JUEZ ALCALDE DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TLS. On Dominican Republic Judicial Service letterhead. Translated from Spanish.
D. Erastus Thorpe, President, UNIA Tela Division, to the Negro World [[Tela, Jan. 19, 1922]]
A CORDIAL GREETING FROM TELA, SPANISH HONDURAS Your Excellency.— The Negro peoples of Tela desire at this epoch to extend their heartfelt sympathy to you in the recent criticism of you through the mal-intentions of fellow members of our race. We feel deeply concerned in the entire proceedings, and we can assure you that we share with you in the sufferings you are undergoing for the benefit of our downtrodden race. We further assure you that our aspiratio[n] towards the goal of our success is unanimous in sentiment and endeavors.
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We glory in you the more for your intrepidity in leading us on to success. We are cognizant of the fact that with such a fearless and visionary captain as you at the helm of our vessel of state, we shall reach the glorious sunlit shores of Africa. The standard of the Red, Black and Green shall never trail the dust nor the cause of the redemption of Africa, for which the U.N.I.A. is organized, go down in defeat before the terrific bombardment of enemies of our own race. We are with you, sir, through thick and thin, and we pledge our all and, if needs be, our lives, in the support of you and the cause you are marshaling. We desire further to express to you that we are not daunted nor discouraged in the least, as we are proud of the fact that your pathway to glory and success is so secured that no action on the part of the traitors in our midst can cast a reflection upon your personality and attitude in this glorious fight. Yes, “The fight for Negro liberty is on,” and we offer up our sincere prayer to the Great Omnipotent and Grand Architect of the Universe and all races for your speedy triumph, realizing that your triumph is our triumph. Long may you live to fight for this glorious cause is the fervent desire of THE NEGRO PEOPLES OF TELA, Per D. ERASTUS THORPE Divisional President and Commissioner [Addressed:] To His Excellency the Hon. Marcus Garvey, Provisional President of Africa, 56 W. 135th St. Printed in NW, 4 March 1922.
Fernando A. Brea, Procurador Fiscal [District Attorney], Macorís-Seybo Judicial District, San Pedro de Macorís, to Lieutenant-Colonel F. A. Ramsey, Officer in Charge, Department of Justice and Public Instruction San Pedro de Macoris, January 19, 1922 From: Procurador Fiscal of the Judicial District of Macoris-Seybo To: Officer in Charge of the Department of Justice and Public Instruction Subject: “Brotherhood of African Blood” (Secret Association), “Universal Negro Improvement Association;” and “African Community League,” all of San Pedro de Macoris, R.D.
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We glory in you the more for your intrepidity in leading us on to success. We are cognizant of the fact that with such a fearless and visionary captain as you at the helm of our vessel of state, we shall reach the glorious sunlit shores of Africa. The standard of the Red, Black and Green shall never trail the dust nor the cause of the redemption of Africa, for which the U.N.I.A. is organized, go down in defeat before the terrific bombardment of enemies of our own race. We are with you, sir, through thick and thin, and we pledge our all and, if needs be, our lives, in the support of you and the cause you are marshaling. We desire further to express to you that we are not daunted nor discouraged in the least, as we are proud of the fact that your pathway to glory and success is so secured that no action on the part of the traitors in our midst can cast a reflection upon your personality and attitude in this glorious fight. Yes, “The fight for Negro liberty is on,” and we offer up our sincere prayer to the Great Omnipotent and Grand Architect of the Universe and all races for your speedy triumph, realizing that your triumph is our triumph. Long may you live to fight for this glorious cause is the fervent desire of THE NEGRO PEOPLES OF TELA, Per D. ERASTUS THORPE Divisional President and Commissioner [Addressed:] To His Excellency the Hon. Marcus Garvey, Provisional President of Africa, 56 W. 135th St. Printed in NW, 4 March 1922.
Fernando A. Brea, Procurador Fiscal [District Attorney], Macorís-Seybo Judicial District, San Pedro de Macorís, to Lieutenant-Colonel F. A. Ramsey, Officer in Charge, Department of Justice and Public Instruction San Pedro de Macoris, January 19, 1922 From: Procurador Fiscal of the Judicial District of Macoris-Seybo To: Officer in Charge of the Department of Justice and Public Instruction Subject: “Brotherhood of African Blood” (Secret Association), “Universal Negro Improvement Association;” and “African Community League,” all of San Pedro de Macoris, R.D.
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1.—In answer to your communication #9804 dated January 14th 1922 in regard to informing about the “AFRICAN BROTHERHOOD” (secret association) and of the “NEGRO IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION AND AFRICAN COMMUNITY LEAGUE” established in this City, we have to inform you as follows: 2.—As you will see by enclosures 1 and 2, we have obtained the information you asked for from the Municipal Police Office and from the Alcaldia of this Commune.1 3.—Paragraph 1, 2 and 3 of your communication are answered by enclosure 1 and 2 which are belonging to the Municipal Police Office and to the Alcaldia, which are the only Offices that have a record of this matter. 4.—In answer to paragraph 4 which request of us to state “whether or not in the opinion of the Judicial authorities of this District, these individuals are worthy to be permitted to continue living in the country, or if to the contrary they should be deported”? We have to inform you that we do not know what are the real tenden[c]ies of those associations; but, let us admit that we do; we believe that such associations are dangerous in this country where never has been known race discrimination in the way it is known in other countries, and especially in the manner that these associations want to have it introduced. 5.—Our opinion is, in case the afore mentioned associations for their functioning in this City have not acquired the necessary authority from the Government, thus violating the legal formality established, the members should be deported. 6.—In answer to paragraph 6th of your communication we have to inform you that the papers and documents found in the associations mentioned are deposited in the Alcaldia of this Commune, and also some books and some flags. 7.—In our opinion the propagation of such documents and newspapers in the Republic are dangerous and therefore should not be allowed to circulate. 8.—By mail we //are// sending a copy of the association’s newspaper[.] Signed FERNANDO A. BREA Procurador Fiscal DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD. Original is an English translation of a Spanish document. 1. The word translated as “Communue” was “Común” not “Comuna” in the original Spanish version of this document.
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Enclosure: Emiliano García B., Chief, San Pedro de Macorís Police, to Juan Félix Peguere, Governor of the Province, Santo Domingo San Pedro de Macorís, 19 January 1922 From: Chief of Municipal Police To: Governor of the Province Subject: Police report about the members of the Society of the African Community League who were arrested 1.—In compliance with the request of that Governor’s Office for all information that this Police Office may have obtained in connection with the arrests of a number of members of the Society of the African Community League, I enclose the solicited data, as well as a copy of the official incarceration order sent by the Provost Marshal1 to this Office. Yours truly EMILIANO GARCIA B. Chief of the Municipal Police DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TDS. On Municipal Police of San Pedro de Macorís letterhead. Translated from Spanish. Marked “No. 97.” 1. “Provost Marshal” is in English in the original.
Enclosure: Report by Emiliano García B., Chief, San Pedro de Macorís Police San Pedro de Macorís, 19 January 1922
REPORT REGARDING THE PERSONS ARRESTED WHO BELONG TO THE AFRICAN COMMUNITY LEAGUE SOCIETY It must have been 8 in the evening on [illegible] September 1921 when an American Lieutenant and two Marines of the occupation forces deployed in this city, accompanied by a Lieutenant and a number of agents of the Municipal Police, appeared in person, and following orders by the Provost Marshal,1 they went to a house that is located around the place in Ensanche2 Parra called Pueblo Nuevo, and then they found there a group of persons congregated who were celebrating very decently a session or a very honest ceremony [conducted] with all propriety, which group they arrested and a number of which were taken to the Public Jail, later the following persons were brought before the Alcaldia, Jaime M. Halley, W[.] J[.] Butter, Olando Hynes [Orlando Haynes], Josofp E. Wilk [Joseph E. Welch], D. [E]. Phillips, [J. T.] Carey, Edgar Bridgwater [Bridgewater], Charles A. Henry, Antoney [Anthony] Basian, Ellis Esdaile, 223
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Becariack Rollins [Zachariah Rawlins?], David Hisck [Hicks], Jane Willian [Williams] and Ellin [Ellen] Potter, after being processed they were fined and incarcerated again as per superior order of the Chief of Immigration [the following] were expelled from this city and sent abroad, W[.] J[.] Butter, D[.] E[.] Phillips, [J.] [T.] Carey, Charles A[.] Henry. [A]ll others were released, with the exception of Jaine [Jaime] [M.] Halley, who is still imprisoned in the Public Jail. EMILIANO GARCIA B. Chief of the Municipal Police DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TDS. On Municipal Police of San Pedro de Macorís letterhead. Translated from Spanish. Marked “No. 97.” 1. “Provost Marshal” is in English in the original. 2. Land dedicated to new construction on the outskirts of a town; “ensanche” literally translates as “expansion.”
Juan Félix Peguere, Governor of the Province, Santo Domingo, to Emiliano García B., Chief, San Pedro de Macorís Police [San Pedro de Macorís, 20 January 1922] From: Governor of the Province To: Chief of Municipal Police Subject: Your official letter and enclosures #97 dated yesterday. 1.—The report submitted by that Police Station regarding the individuals you arrested on the evening of 10 September 1921, who belonged to the African Community, has been received by this Governor’s Office. 2.—This Governor’s Office has found the said report unsatisfactory because the following information is missing: 1—. The report only says that they were arrested, but it does not say if any items belonging to said Society were confiscated. 2—. And, if said items were confiscated whom were they handed to. 3.—Awaiting that you will submit that information as soon as possible, Yours: (signed) JUAN FELIX PEGUERE Governor of the Province DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TL, copy.
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Becariack Rollins [Zachariah Rawlins?], David Hisck [Hicks], Jane Willian [Williams] and Ellin [Ellen] Potter, after being processed they were fined and incarcerated again as per superior order of the Chief of Immigration [the following] were expelled from this city and sent abroad, W[.] J[.] Butter, D[.] E[.] Phillips, [J.] [T.] Carey, Charles A[.] Henry. [A]ll others were released, with the exception of Jaine [Jaime] [M.] Halley, who is still imprisoned in the Public Jail. EMILIANO GARCIA B. Chief of the Municipal Police DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TDS. On Municipal Police of San Pedro de Macorís letterhead. Translated from Spanish. Marked “No. 97.” 1. “Provost Marshal” is in English in the original. 2. Land dedicated to new construction on the outskirts of a town; “ensanche” literally translates as “expansion.”
Juan Félix Peguere, Governor of the Province, Santo Domingo, to Emiliano García B., Chief, San Pedro de Macorís Police [San Pedro de Macorís, 20 January 1922] From: Governor of the Province To: Chief of Municipal Police Subject: Your official letter and enclosures #97 dated yesterday. 1.—The report submitted by that Police Station regarding the individuals you arrested on the evening of 10 September 1921, who belonged to the African Community, has been received by this Governor’s Office. 2.—This Governor’s Office has found the said report unsatisfactory because the following information is missing: 1—. The report only says that they were arrested, but it does not say if any items belonging to said Society were confiscated. 2—. And, if said items were confiscated whom were they handed to. 3.—Awaiting that you will submit that information as soon as possible, Yours: (signed) JUAN FELIX PEGUERE Governor of the Province DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TL, copy.
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Juez Alcalde [Town Judge], San Pedro de Macorís, to Juan Félix Peguere, Governor of the Province, Santo Domingo San Pedro de Macoris, 20 January 1922 From: Juez Alcalde To: Governor of the Province, City Re: Your communication No. 3271 of the date1 1st.-In compliance with the request you made in said letter, it is our pleasure to inform you that on the seventh day of September of the past year, the following persons were brought before this Alcaldía: Reverend D. E. Philipps, J. Butler Orlando Jaime [Haynes?] Edgar Brigertar [Bridgewater] Antony Bastian Becriach Rollins [Zachariah Rawlins?] James William [Jane Williams] and Violette Helingsworth [Hollingsworth]
—James V. Hally —J. [T]. Carey —Joseph Welch —Charles A. Henry —Ellins Esdaile —David Hicks —Ellins Porter
accused of establishing a society in this City without prior authorization, an institution whose principal purpose was prejudicial, since it aims to establish the preeminence of the black race over the white race; moreover, because it had established a tribute payment system which takes advantage of [people’s] credulity, and for these reasons the following persons were sentenced: Reverend D. E. Philipps James J. Halley Antony Bastian and
—William J. Butler —Charles E. [Charles A.] Henry —J. [T]. Carey.
to –––$4.00–– in fines each, and the rest were released. Yours truly, [signature illegible] JUEZ ALCALDE. DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TLS. On Dominican Republic Judicial Service letterhead. Translated from Spanish. 1. On 20 January 1922, Juan Félix Peguere wrote to the Juez Alcalde asking for a copy of the sentence issued by the court against “Jaime M[.] Halley; W[.] J[.] Butler; Olando Hynes; Joseps E[.] Wilk; D[.] E[.] Philips etc” (DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202).
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Emiliano García B., Chief, San Pedro de Macorís Police, to Juan Félix Peguere, Governor of the Province, Santo Domingo San Pedro de Macorís, 20 January 1922 From: Chief of Municipal Police To: Governor of the Province Subject: Additional reports about the African Community League Society 1—This office finds it is proper to note to you that the following were among the items confiscated from the African Community League Society. A framed portrait of the Institution’s Delegate, framed certificate or title of the Society, a quantity of buttons with the Society’s [insignia], a seal, and two books. All of these objects were sent to the Alcaldía from the Police Office. Yours Truly, EMILIANO GARCIA B. Chief of the Municipal Police DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TLS. On Municipal Police of San Pedro de Macorís letterhead. Translated from Spanish.
J. A. Keloo, Executive Secretary, UNIA Banes Division, to Eduardo V. Morales [[Banes, Cuba, January 26, 1922]] Respected Sir— Your communication of the 19th to hand. Thanks for same. We are in deep sympathy with our “Chief.” After reading of his arrest in the New York World of the 13th inst., our first step was to send him a letter of condolence in the form of a resolution, expressing our sympathy and assuring him of the fact that we are with him in the “fight” to remain. The president is at home, but somewhat sick. Our efficient first vice-president has taken up the cudgels. The division is at boiling point now. Garvey is boosted now more than ever. Defense fund started. In spite of the financial depression, rest assured Banes will do its bit. Yours for the race, J. A. KELOO Executive Secretary Printed in NW, 4 March 1922.
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Emiliano García B., Chief, San Pedro de Macorís Police, to Juan Félix Peguere, Governor of the Province, Santo Domingo San Pedro de Macorís, 20 January 1922 From: Chief of Municipal Police To: Governor of the Province Subject: Additional reports about the African Community League Society 1—This office finds it is proper to note to you that the following were among the items confiscated from the African Community League Society. A framed portrait of the Institution’s Delegate, framed certificate or title of the Society, a quantity of buttons with the Society’s [insignia], a seal, and two books. All of these objects were sent to the Alcaldía from the Police Office. Yours Truly, EMILIANO GARCIA B. Chief of the Municipal Police DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TLS. On Municipal Police of San Pedro de Macorís letterhead. Translated from Spanish.
J. A. Keloo, Executive Secretary, UNIA Banes Division, to Eduardo V. Morales [[Banes, Cuba, January 26, 1922]] Respected Sir— Your communication of the 19th to hand. Thanks for same. We are in deep sympathy with our “Chief.” After reading of his arrest in the New York World of the 13th inst., our first step was to send him a letter of condolence in the form of a resolution, expressing our sympathy and assuring him of the fact that we are with him in the “fight” to remain. The president is at home, but somewhat sick. Our efficient first vice-president has taken up the cudgels. The division is at boiling point now. Garvey is boosted now more than ever. Defense fund started. In spite of the financial depression, rest assured Banes will do its bit. Yours for the race, J. A. KELOO Executive Secretary Printed in NW, 4 March 1922.
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A. B. C. in the Listín Diario [Dominican Republic, 27 January 1922]
MARCUS GARVEY, BLACK APOSTLE MARCUS GARVEY is a mulatto of the African type who lives in New York and who . . . gets away with being clever. Look if not. Since some years ago he has proclaimed himself chief organizer for the constitution of the REPUBLIC OF ALL THE BLACKS of the world, based in Africa. The idea was welcomed by many of that race and there has been a great deal of propaganda. From his newspaper The Negro World [he] preaches against negro-phobia (hatred against blacks) and claims for the equality of the human species, although in truth [he] advocates the separation of the races, but without any devaluation or disregard of the other. Marcus Garvey under the title of Provisional President of Africa has even addressed the Chief of the White House. He names Ministers, Princes, Ambassadors; bestows high-flying titles, adopts pompous clothes of royal dignitaries, etc. His emissaries are in every place flaunting green and red badges on their chests. They sell stocks of a great enterprise of steamers, of another colossal venture of universal cleaning and things of that nature for the enrichment of the poor blacks unjustly belittled and scorned. But here you see that everything has an end and the sweetness of SIR Marcus is going to end. He has just been detained in his residence of 130th Street and has been accused of fraud and deceit using the mail bags for his dishonest propaganda. The propaganda carried out to this date has provided him with about 4 million adepts who pay dues of 35 cents each. One can calculate and see that this means $1,400,000. Is not this Ethiopian magnate clever? His somnolent followers rejoice because he has been freed under a bail of some thousand dollars. But they await the trial soon under the appropriate Court. Is there anyone who will allow this continuing deceit?
Printed in the Listín Diario (Dominican Republic), 27 January 1922. Translated from Spanish.
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Louis I. Gonzales to the Negro World [[San Pedro de Macoris, ca. 28 January 1922]]
A MESSAGE FROM SANTO DOMINGO Dear Sir— Kindly allow me space in your indispensable journal to make known one of the greatest atrocities of the age committed in San P. Macoris by the American military occupation in Santo Domingo. On September 3, at 9.30 p.m., while Branch No. 26 of the U.N.I.A[.] and A.C.L. was meeting in its hall a detachment of American officers, aided by civil policemen, entered and demanded the arrest of all within. The president, Rev. D. E. Philips, thereupon asked upon what ground was the arrest? He was quickly informed that the arrests were to be made and that he was to ask nothing at all. Our poor brothers and sisters, fifteen in number, were coolly marched to the prison, where they have been kept to the present in the most menial way. They have been tried several times, but cannot be condemned, as the God of Ethiopia knows that these our people are guilty of nothing. After about three sittings the unjust judge, for a few paltry cents, I dare say, sentenced our poor people to $4 fine, although their barrister at the bar declared them not guilty. Thereupon our president declared an appeal, and immediately it was drafted along with a bail for release by our heroic barrister. At this juncture they were marched back to the prison walls to be released, but, unfortunately, up to the present they are not free, for in the meanwhile the provost marshal stated that they must not be released until he says so. We are now awaiting the sitting of the appeal. My dear brothers, we are living in an envious and treacherous period when mankind seeks our hurt without a cause. Our alien brother has always dominated us, and today, because he sees the turning of the tide, he is striving for the mastery still. Ethiopia is stretching forth her hands. We are coming 400,000,000 strong. My dear friends, our predicament here, according to what we have learned, is a matter of greed and self-aggrandizement against our people by certain ministerial parties. But nevertheless our God of the Red, the Black and the Green shall champion our cause and lead us safely to the shores of our dear fatherland, there to sing Ethiopia’s praises forevermore. Till we reach the Ethiopian shore, But there it will not be denied us, Equality to reign forevermore. LOUIS I. GONZALES Printed in NW, 28 January 1922.
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Editorial in the Workman [[Kingston, 28 January 1922]]
MARCUS GARVEY TO ANSWER GRAVE CHARGE LACK OF BUSINESS IDEAS CLAIMED HE MIXED RACE PROPAGANDA WITH BUSINESS MATTERS We publish below a very impartial editorial comment from the Daily Gleaner of the 28th ulto[.] The writer has shown a commendable amount of human sympathy for Mr. Marcus Garvey, who, however misguided[,] has accomplished an alarming amount of success as a propagandist. We endorse the remarks of our contemporary, that Mr. Garvey’s principal set back is, that he has demonstrated a very inefficient knowledge of business. But we refuse to believe that he has any intention to defraud. We sincerely hope, that Mr. Garvey for the benefit of those concerned, and because of our profound West Indian sympathy to the cause[,] will emerge from this legal struggle triumphant and be a wiser man. The article from the Gleaner1 reads as follows;— MARCUS GARVEY To be arrested on a charge of fraud in England is a serious thing; what it may be in America we do not know. For in America one can fight a case from court to court if one has money and the man with money seems often to have the victory. But Marcus Garvey has a hard row to hoe. He has powerful enemies. One of them shot at him some time ago. Some of them tried to prevent his return to the United States when he was in Jamaica (he told us this himself.) He is nothing of a business man, but a propagandist of recognized rhetorical power, and it is significant that a month or two ago a writer in the Magazine section of the New York World predicted that Garvey would shortly find he had made a mistake in mixing up race propaganda with business[.] He will be called upon to account for the money he has received, said the writer, and if he cannot satisfactorily do so his influence will suddenly come2 to nothing and he may have to defend himself against serious charges. Evidently this was an instance of coming events casting their shadows before; certain it is that Garvey will have a great deal of trouble to contend with in the next few weeks or month. It is not for any of us to say that there has been fraud on his part in connection with the Black Star Line. We know nothing about it. But we can say that the Black Star Line has never been a success, and from the first it was easy to see that the venture was doomed to failure. Dr. Du Bois knew and said that it would fail.3 After all, what did Marcus know
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about business? And especially a business requiring great technical knowledge and experience? That the Line has lost money we can well believe; there was no alternative in the circumstances. But the lost may be accounted for quite honestly; we for one are not going to suggest fraud in this connection[.] As we have said, Garvey has some bitter enemies in the States, and these would not hesitate about trying to ruin him; they have previously shown how far they could go. He ought to have been warned: perhaps he was. He had arrived at a stage when he was much talked of: magazines were referring to him; considerable attention was being paid to him. That was a dangerous eminence for any man; we are therefore not surprise[d] to hear that disaster has overtaken him. That sort of a thing happens often; to climb high is to risk the greater fall. Yet we confess to hoping that Marcus will prove that if there has been any fraud in connection with the Black Star Line, he at least has had nothing to do with it. We have always liked the courage he has shown in fighting his way onwards. His idea of a great Negro Republic in Africa is impossible, and those who subscribed to it knew it was impossible. Yet they played with it as one plays with a great hope because of the satisfaction it gives, and perhaps it made them happier[.] To that extent it was useful, and we are not aware that it did anyone any harm. So we hope that Marcus will emerge out of this his latest difficult position with nothing worse than the loss of the money he will have to spend on his defence. Meantime no one here should start assuming that he is guilty. That would be both uncharitable and unjust. Printed in the Workman (Panama City), 4 February 1922. 1. The editorial, entitled “Marcus Garvey,” appeared in the 24 January 1922 issue of the DG. 2. Herbert J. Seligmann, “Negro Conquest,” New York World Magazine, 4 December 1921 (see MGP 4: 239–244). According to Seligman, “If the holders of Marcus Garvey’s shares are all idealists intent on turning over their money to him, this sort of financing may be all very well. Otherwise there may come a time of intense financial stringency in Mr. Garvey’s ventures.” Seligman’s article concluded: Despite all of Marcus Garvey’s protestations, however, despite even the faith which he may have in himself, the ventures about him are found to impress many as neither realistic nor sound. They are not commerce undiluted. They are not competent politics. Nor are they passionately devoted to the ideal undefiled. They are a dangerous mixture of all of these elements, most dangerous of all for Mr. Garvey and for the individuals who are moved to give him their confidence and their funds. He has, for the moment, dramatized the conflict of races, of black man against white, as it has been precipitated by the white man; and has given voice to the aspirations of many of the oppressed of the world. But the bill has not yet been presented to Mr. Marcus Garvey. It may be a heavy one on the day of payment. 3. An assessment of Garvey’s “industrial enterprises and the feasibility of his general plans” was provided by W. E. B. Du Bois, “Marcus Garvey,” The Crisis: A Record of the Darker Races, 21, 2 (1920–21): 58–60; “Marcus Garvey,” ibid., 21, 3 (January 1921): 112–115.
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Brigadier General Harry Lee, Acting Military Governor, Dominican Republic, to Theodore Roosevelt Jr., Assistant Secretary, U.S. Navy [Santo Domingo City, R.D.] 31 January, 1922 1ST ENDORSEMENT From: Acting Military Governor of Santo Domingo. To: Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Subject: Alleged persecution of several members of Universal Negro Improvement Association 1. Returned. 2. During the period from June to September, 1921, many reports were received by the Provost Marshal at San Pedro de Macoris, D.R., against certain members of the organization known as the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League. These reports indicated that this society was inciting its members, mostly English negroes, to class hatred and defiance of law and order. A few of these reports were made by the British Consul at San Pedro de Macoris and also by the Chief of Police at that place. On September 7, 1921, the society held a parade through the streets of San Pedro de Macoris and during this period the British flag was carried upside down and later trampled upon. 3. From appearances this society is for the uplift of the negro, but its ulterior motive here is to foster race hatred with the idea of ultimately dominating the white race. While this would be impossible in the United States, it would not be at all impossible here after the Occupation ceases. [It is] realized that if such an organization is allowed to spread its ideas it would become a menace to the community. 4. Fourteen members of this society were arrested by Dominican civil authorities on September 10, 1921, and tried in Dominican civil courts for operating unlawfully without a charter. After completing their sentences these people were released but were reconfined by the Provost Marshal to await action on their deportation as undesirables, having failed to observe good moral and legal conduct and for committing acts prejudicial to law and order. The officers of this society here have little respect for the law and they had been arrested several times prior to this. This society also disseminated a report throughout the city of San Pedro de Macoris that they had no fear of the Alcalde of the Military Government. It might be stated here that the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League, in order to strengthen its power and organization, is endeavoring to engulf all negro 231
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orders and lodges into its organization. The African Blood Brotherhood is one of these orders in San Pedro de Macoris and the president of that organization was also president of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League in San Pedro de Macoris. All the literature of this society is inflammatory in character and the organization is a menace to the peace and order of the community. 5. Four members of this organization were deported on November 22, 1921, upon the request of Dominican civil authorities for not observing good moral and legal conduct; and two other cases are pending. 6. A Board of Investigation is now being held in San-Pedro de Macoris to investigate the activities of this organization and as soon as completed the record of proceedings will be forwarded to the Department with the request that it be brought to your personal attention. HARRY LEE Brigadier General, U.S.M.C. DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD.
John Grayson-Carey,1 Charles A. Henry, and W. J. E. Butler to John Sydney de Bourg Central [Mc.] Knight, Basseterre St. Kitts, 31st, January, 1922 Honoured Sir:— We the undersigned deported officers of Branch No. 26 San Pedro de Macoris, do hereby beg to inform you of our whereabouts. First we beg to apologise for our long silence and seeming neglect and ask that our error be overlooked as we were not quite aware of your abode after our deportation, for we thought you might have left for U.S.A. altho did not seem the right to do, yet we were in doubt as to your location. We knew that at first you were in doubt as to our [dep]ortation, for from what we heard, it did not seem probable, but in order to carry out their evil intent, they have formulated a lie that we were a menace to the Dominican Government, who solicited their aid towards our deportation. However it has been done, but we are none the worst for those adventures as know to what end is our suffering. To relate: We were taken from prison on November 22nd, by three American Guards whose injunction was very restrictive as follows; First. Compelled to carry along the streets our prison accoutrements, altho members offered aid; Second. Not allowed to speak, smile, or even wave goodbye to any of our fellow-members or friends; or we would be mal-treated according to their word. 232
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orders and lodges into its organization. The African Blood Brotherhood is one of these orders in San Pedro de Macoris and the president of that organization was also president of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League in San Pedro de Macoris. All the literature of this society is inflammatory in character and the organization is a menace to the peace and order of the community. 5. Four members of this organization were deported on November 22, 1921, upon the request of Dominican civil authorities for not observing good moral and legal conduct; and two other cases are pending. 6. A Board of Investigation is now being held in San-Pedro de Macoris to investigate the activities of this organization and as soon as completed the record of proceedings will be forwarded to the Department with the request that it be brought to your personal attention. HARRY LEE Brigadier General, U.S.M.C. DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD.
John Grayson-Carey,1 Charles A. Henry, and W. J. E. Butler to John Sydney de Bourg Central [Mc.] Knight, Basseterre St. Kitts, 31st, January, 1922 Honoured Sir:— We the undersigned deported officers of Branch No. 26 San Pedro de Macoris, do hereby beg to inform you of our whereabouts. First we beg to apologise for our long silence and seeming neglect and ask that our error be overlooked as we were not quite aware of your abode after our deportation, for we thought you might have left for U.S.A. altho did not seem the right to do, yet we were in doubt as to your location. We knew that at first you were in doubt as to our [dep]ortation, for from what we heard, it did not seem probable, but in order to carry out their evil intent, they have formulated a lie that we were a menace to the Dominican Government, who solicited their aid towards our deportation. However it has been done, but we are none the worst for those adventures as know to what end is our suffering. To relate: We were taken from prison on November 22nd, by three American Guards whose injunction was very restrictive as follows; First. Compelled to carry along the streets our prison accoutrements, altho members offered aid; Second. Not allowed to speak, smile, or even wave goodbye to any of our fellow-members or friends; or we would be mal-treated according to their word. 232
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The next part of our embarkation etc: You know as related by the eyewitness, so we need not explain. On board the sloop we were shown a revolver by the Captain, who told us it was given him by the Colonel and he was authorized to wound or kill any of the deported men who tried to kill any of the Captain or crew. Our voyage was somewhat eventful, insufficiency of provisions, bad weather, and the like, which compelled us to put in at Tortola for supplies. We were also told that they said to give us raw food and if we did not want it we could go to hell; consequently we suffered materially during the voyage. December 2nd, we arrived at St. Kitts, but not permitted to land, there being a 21 day quarantine and we, only notified as to 12. We would be admitted if the Captain would deposit $25.00. each for his twelve passengers to defray expenses at quarantine station for remaining days; this he refused, so we turned for St. Martin to spend following days. Just here we may say that we pushed their hands in St. Martin for we threatened to swim ashore to the Governor if proper rations were not sent to us. It was there too we heard of wireless message from Beer and Tatem who said “Do as you like, but for God’s sake don[’]t bring them back.” This was after our refusal in St. Kitts. December 12th, turned for St. Kitts got in 14th, landed with little or no trouble. The Captain was compelled by the authorities of St. Kitts to defray expenses of Rev. Philips until he sailed for his home on the 18th[.] We are staying in St. Kitts, and assure you Sir, that we’re in best of spirits, as we believe if the race will be redeemed, Negroes must be ready to face death for its salvation. First: We heard we were deported for the flag; then finally for being a menace to Dominican Government but none of these things move us we are still strong in our resolution. We heard from Rev: Philips through Bro: Carey some days ago, we enclose his address. We also believe that Bro: Carey will be sailing for New York soon and he will be pleased to report to Headquarters to whom we have also written. We beg at this Juncture to tender our kindest regards to the fellowmembers individually and to the Branch we send our warmest expressions of goodwill for its success, that those who are left will take courage and stand for the redemption of Africa. And lastly to you, Sir; we send our warmest wish that the All wise Creator may strengthen you in performing the work assigned, that health and happiness may crown your life, and success attend you every step. Please mail correspondence to Bro: Butler as per address. We unite in expressing our sympathy with Bro. Halley, who we learned is hitherto imprisoned. Kind regards to him.
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Hoping to hear from you in the near future. We have the honour to be/ Yours for racial Uplift. J. A. W. GRAYSON-CAREY CHARLES A. HENRY W. J. E. BUTLER N.B. Please address: Rev: D. E. Philips, 59 Queen Street, Port of Spain Trinidad. B.W.I. [Addressed to:] The Hon. John S. DeBourg, c/o Mrs. Charles Wilson, San Pedro de Macoris, R.D. DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD, copy. 1. John Grayson-Carey of Dieppe Bay, St. Kitts, had migrated to the Dominican Republic and was a founding member of the UNIA branch in San Pedro de Macorís. He apparently departed for the United States shortly after being deported back to St. Kitts (Washington Archibald, Reflections on an Epic Journey [Basseterre, St. Kitts: W. Archibald, 1993], p. 104).
Oshbourne E. Moodie, UNIA Talamanca Valley Division, to the Negro World [[Suretka P.O., Talamanca Valley, Panama Division, Bocas del Toro, Republic of Panama, February 4, 1922]]
ON THIS SIDE OF TALAMANCA Hon. Sir:— In these few lines please accept my most sincere sympathy. I am a member of the U.N.I.A. and I am also a supporter of its auxiliary known as the Black Star Line, and, if life permits, I’ll be right in line with the African Redemption Fund.1 Dear President, with regret I have read of your arrest, but we on this side in Talamanca have determined to follow Jesus Christ as our Emperor and Hon. Marcus Garvey as our Commander-in-Chief. We have all hope and we know we must win. Fight the good fight, Mr. Garvey. Look not behind thee, lest thou become a pillar of salt.2 Hon. Sir, you know that the voice of a people is the voice of God, and as w[e] (the people) said, we want and we MUST HAVE a government of our own in Africa. Therefore, we are ready to die, if needs be, for the liberty of our Motherland. I am, respectfully yours, 234
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Hoping to hear from you in the near future. We have the honour to be/ Yours for racial Uplift. J. A. W. GRAYSON-CAREY CHARLES A. HENRY W. J. E. BUTLER N.B. Please address: Rev: D. E. Philips, 59 Queen Street, Port of Spain Trinidad. B.W.I. [Addressed to:] The Hon. John S. DeBourg, c/o Mrs. Charles Wilson, San Pedro de Macoris, R.D. DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD, copy. 1. John Grayson-Carey of Dieppe Bay, St. Kitts, had migrated to the Dominican Republic and was a founding member of the UNIA branch in San Pedro de Macorís. He apparently departed for the United States shortly after being deported back to St. Kitts (Washington Archibald, Reflections on an Epic Journey [Basseterre, St. Kitts: W. Archibald, 1993], p. 104).
Oshbourne E. Moodie, UNIA Talamanca Valley Division, to the Negro World [[Suretka P.O., Talamanca Valley, Panama Division, Bocas del Toro, Republic of Panama, February 4, 1922]]
ON THIS SIDE OF TALAMANCA Hon. Sir:— In these few lines please accept my most sincere sympathy. I am a member of the U.N.I.A. and I am also a supporter of its auxiliary known as the Black Star Line, and, if life permits, I’ll be right in line with the African Redemption Fund.1 Dear President, with regret I have read of your arrest, but we on this side in Talamanca have determined to follow Jesus Christ as our Emperor and Hon. Marcus Garvey as our Commander-in-Chief. We have all hope and we know we must win. Fight the good fight, Mr. Garvey. Look not behind thee, lest thou become a pillar of salt.2 Hon. Sir, you know that the voice of a people is the voice of God, and as w[e] (the people) said, we want and we MUST HAVE a government of our own in Africa. Therefore, we are ready to die, if needs be, for the liberty of our Motherland. I am, respectfully yours, 234
FEBRUARY 1922
OSHBOURNE E. MOODIE Second Vice-President Talamanca Valley Division, Bocas del Toro, Republic of Panama [Addressed to:] Hon. Marcus Garvey, Provisional President of Africa and President General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association Printed in NW, 25 March 1922. 1. The African Redemption Fund was created at the 1921 UNIA convention. The intent of this fund was to “create a working capital for the organization and to advance the cause for the building up of Africa.” Individual contributions to the fund were voluntary and expected to be in the amount of five dollars or more. Contributors to the fund were to receive a certificate of loyalty to the cause “Afric.” Each certificate was to be signed by the president of the UNIA as well as all its high officers (MGP 3: 751–752). 2. In Genesis 19:17, Lot and his family are warned, “Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.” In verse 26, though, “his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt” (Robert Carroll and Stephen Prickett, eds., The Bible: Authorized King James Version [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997]).
S. J. Josephs to the Negro World [[Box 701, Preston, Cuba, Feb. 10, 1922]]
CUBAN PAPER ENDORSES THE U.N.I.A. Your Excellency:— While reading the Diario de Cuba (Cuba Daily)1 of Feb. 2, I came across the enclosed clipping, which pleased me very much, and, as a member and wellwisher of this wide world movement (the U.N.I.A.), I thought I would translate said clipping from Spanish to English and send it, that you may see it, and that if you should find it advisable, you can have it reprinted. The translation of said clipping is as follows: THE NATIONAL CONGRESS OF THE COLORED PEOPLE AND THE NEWSPAPER—THE BLACK RACE In the United States the Negro race celebrates every year a National Congress, to study the necessities of said race. They have also just celebrated in Europe a Congress of Colored Men.2 In the United States also the colored race has different newspapers that are defenders of their interests. In Cuba we haven’t yet celebrated one congress of colored men to study our necessities, public and private, but the moment has come to ini-
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OSHBOURNE E. MOODIE Second Vice-President Talamanca Valley Division, Bocas del Toro, Republic of Panama [Addressed to:] Hon. Marcus Garvey, Provisional President of Africa and President General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association Printed in NW, 25 March 1922. 1. The African Redemption Fund was created at the 1921 UNIA convention. The intent of this fund was to “create a working capital for the organization and to advance the cause for the building up of Africa.” Individual contributions to the fund were voluntary and expected to be in the amount of five dollars or more. Contributors to the fund were to receive a certificate of loyalty to the cause “Afric.” Each certificate was to be signed by the president of the UNIA as well as all its high officers (MGP 3: 751–752). 2. In Genesis 19:17, Lot and his family are warned, “Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.” In verse 26, though, “his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt” (Robert Carroll and Stephen Prickett, eds., The Bible: Authorized King James Version [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997]).
S. J. Josephs to the Negro World [[Box 701, Preston, Cuba, Feb. 10, 1922]]
CUBAN PAPER ENDORSES THE U.N.I.A. Your Excellency:— While reading the Diario de Cuba (Cuba Daily)1 of Feb. 2, I came across the enclosed clipping, which pleased me very much, and, as a member and wellwisher of this wide world movement (the U.N.I.A.), I thought I would translate said clipping from Spanish to English and send it, that you may see it, and that if you should find it advisable, you can have it reprinted. The translation of said clipping is as follows: THE NATIONAL CONGRESS OF THE COLORED PEOPLE AND THE NEWSPAPER—THE BLACK RACE In the United States the Negro race celebrates every year a National Congress, to study the necessities of said race. They have also just celebrated in Europe a Congress of Colored Men.2 In the United States also the colored race has different newspapers that are defenders of their interests. In Cuba we haven’t yet celebrated one congress of colored men to study our necessities, public and private, but the moment has come to ini-
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tiate a propaganda of opinions from Orient to Occident (from East to West), so that Cuba also will celebrate a national congress of colored men. There is no need of fear; there is no need of making a campaign against the U.N.I.A. with the sophism that it is a race movement. The congress will be a movement in favor of the betterment, public and private, of a race that has progressed intellectually, but is wanting in organization and orientation. The motive of the congress will be propagated by the weekly newspaper that will commence to publish its program: La Raza Negra (The Black Race).—Eladio Florenzio Garzon Carrion. Santiago de Cuba, February, 1922. So you will see by this that the U.N.I.A. has stirred the world. I beg to remain yours for the cause, S. J. JOSEPHS [Addressed to:] Hon. Marcus Garvey, President General Printed in NW, 4 March 1922. 1. Diario de Cuba was a daily newspaper published in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba. 2. A reference to the Second Pan-African Congress.
J. R. Ralph Casimir to the Negro World [[Roseau, Dominica, B.W.I., ca. 11 February 1922]]
CHRISTMAS ISSUE OF THE NEGRO WORLD COMMENDED Dear Sir.— I suppose by now you have received cash with order re Negro World for Mrs. Edison N. P. Trocard, of the St. Joseph Dominica, British West Indies, and Mr. P. F. Jno. Lewis, of Berricoa, Grand Bay, Dominica, British West Indies, copies to be sent them regularly each week for one year (January to December, 1922). Please publish enclosed communication in the next issue of the Negro World, that the public might know despite all attacks on the Roseau Division No. 85 of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L., we are still “carrying on.” I believe it is necessary that the various leading articles, Xmas messages and pictures in the Xmas number of the Negro World be published in book form and sold for the benefit of the Negro World or the U.N.I.A. The Xmas number is something that should win the admiration of the world to the credit of the U.N.I.A. and the new Negro. This is the best Xmas number of any paper that I have yet read and I’ve read the best English and American publications.
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tiate a propaganda of opinions from Orient to Occident (from East to West), so that Cuba also will celebrate a national congress of colored men. There is no need of fear; there is no need of making a campaign against the U.N.I.A. with the sophism that it is a race movement. The congress will be a movement in favor of the betterment, public and private, of a race that has progressed intellectually, but is wanting in organization and orientation. The motive of the congress will be propagated by the weekly newspaper that will commence to publish its program: La Raza Negra (The Black Race).—Eladio Florenzio Garzon Carrion. Santiago de Cuba, February, 1922. So you will see by this that the U.N.I.A. has stirred the world. I beg to remain yours for the cause, S. J. JOSEPHS [Addressed to:] Hon. Marcus Garvey, President General Printed in NW, 4 March 1922. 1. Diario de Cuba was a daily newspaper published in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba. 2. A reference to the Second Pan-African Congress.
J. R. Ralph Casimir to the Negro World [[Roseau, Dominica, B.W.I., ca. 11 February 1922]]
CHRISTMAS ISSUE OF THE NEGRO WORLD COMMENDED Dear Sir.— I suppose by now you have received cash with order re Negro World for Mrs. Edison N. P. Trocard, of the St. Joseph Dominica, British West Indies, and Mr. P. F. Jno. Lewis, of Berricoa, Grand Bay, Dominica, British West Indies, copies to be sent them regularly each week for one year (January to December, 1922). Please publish enclosed communication in the next issue of the Negro World, that the public might know despite all attacks on the Roseau Division No. 85 of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L., we are still “carrying on.” I believe it is necessary that the various leading articles, Xmas messages and pictures in the Xmas number of the Negro World be published in book form and sold for the benefit of the Negro World or the U.N.I.A. The Xmas number is something that should win the admiration of the world to the credit of the U.N.I.A. and the new Negro. This is the best Xmas number of any paper that I have yet read and I’ve read the best English and American publications.
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I am still trying my best to get subscribers to the Negro World. Please acknowledge receipt of cash re subscription of Messrs. Trocard and Jno. Lewis. Thanking you in anticipation, wishing the Negro World and yourself all success, and hoping to hear soon from you, I am, dear sir, Yours for “Africa for the Africans” United and Free, J. R. RALPH CASIMIR President U.N.I.A., Roseau Div. Printed in NW, 11 February 1922.
J. L. Barnes, President, UNIA Tampico Division, to the Negro World Feb. 11, 1922
A VOICE FROM TAMPICO,1 MEXICO Dear Sir:— Permit me space in your valuable columns to state that we of the Mexican division still have confidence in the honorable Marcus Garvey as our leader, and it is our determination to stick to him to the very last. We have all confidence in the works of the U.N.I.A. because it is Scriptural and it is Biblical, and it must go on, “Not by might, or power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord.”2 I am, yours in one hope, J. L. BARNES President Printed in NW, 4 March 1922. 1. Tampico is a city and port in the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico. During colonial times, many Africans were brought to Mexico through slavery, and after slavery was abolished, many blacks went there to escape slavery. During the nineteenth century, blacks from the United States and the Caribbean came to work in the oil and railroad industries. With the rapid exploitation of petroleum resources, Tampico ranked as the greatest oil port in the world for several years (Oriol Pi-Sunyer, “Historical Background to the Negro in Mexico,” Journal of Negro History 42, no. 4 [1957]: 237– 246; María Luisa Herrera Casasús, Raíces africanas en la población de Tamaulipas [Victoria, Tamaulipas: Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas, 1998], pp. 76–77; NEB). 2. Zechariah 4:6 (Robert Carroll and Stephen Prickett, eds., The Bible: Authorized King James Version [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997]).
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I am still trying my best to get subscribers to the Negro World. Please acknowledge receipt of cash re subscription of Messrs. Trocard and Jno. Lewis. Thanking you in anticipation, wishing the Negro World and yourself all success, and hoping to hear soon from you, I am, dear sir, Yours for “Africa for the Africans” United and Free, J. R. RALPH CASIMIR President U.N.I.A., Roseau Div. Printed in NW, 11 February 1922.
J. L. Barnes, President, UNIA Tampico Division, to the Negro World Feb. 11, 1922
A VOICE FROM TAMPICO,1 MEXICO Dear Sir:— Permit me space in your valuable columns to state that we of the Mexican division still have confidence in the honorable Marcus Garvey as our leader, and it is our determination to stick to him to the very last. We have all confidence in the works of the U.N.I.A. because it is Scriptural and it is Biblical, and it must go on, “Not by might, or power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord.”2 I am, yours in one hope, J. L. BARNES President Printed in NW, 4 March 1922. 1. Tampico is a city and port in the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico. During colonial times, many Africans were brought to Mexico through slavery, and after slavery was abolished, many blacks went there to escape slavery. During the nineteenth century, blacks from the United States and the Caribbean came to work in the oil and railroad industries. With the rapid exploitation of petroleum resources, Tampico ranked as the greatest oil port in the world for several years (Oriol Pi-Sunyer, “Historical Background to the Negro in Mexico,” Journal of Negro History 42, no. 4 [1957]: 237– 246; María Luisa Herrera Casasús, Raíces africanas en la población de Tamaulipas [Victoria, Tamaulipas: Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas, 1998], pp. 76–77; NEB). 2. Zechariah 4:6 (Robert Carroll and Stephen Prickett, eds., The Bible: Authorized King James Version [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997]).
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“Civis Africanus”1 in the Negro World [[Roseau, Dominica, B.W.I., Feb. 15, 1922]]
DOMINICA, B.W.I., U.N.I.A. NOTES The president of the local division of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L. returned here on February 3 from a week’s tour of the Marigot, Wesley and Woodford Hill districts in the interest of the association and the Black Star Line Corporation. A special general meeting was held on the 5th, at 3 p.m. re the arrest of the Hon. Marcus Garvey. All available seats in Liberty Hall were occupied. The program was as follows: 1. Opening ode, “From Greenland’s Icy Mountains.[”] 2. Prayer. 3. Reading of Mr. Garvey’s greeting from Negro World of February 14. 4. Song, “Ye Members of the Negro Race.” 5. Reading of Mr. Garvey’s article re Black Star Line, from Negro World of February 14. 6. Solo by Mr. L. Baptise. 7. Reading of Messrs. Garvery [Garvey] and Singh’s address from Negro World of February [11]. 8. Song, “The African Black Star Spangled Banner.” 9. Address by General-Secretary S. Peter. 10. Duet by Miss T. Daniel and Mr. L. Baptise. 11. Address by President J. R. Ralph Casimir. 12. Anthem, “Ethiopia, Thou Land of Our Father.” The article on the Black Star Line was read by Mr. Morancie, who commented on same. Mr. Peter delivered a lively address on “Traitors.” Mr. Casimir made a strong appeal to the audience to support Mr. Garvey and the U.N.I.A. He commented on the address of Messrs. Garvey and Singh and articles pertaining to the natives in Africa. He explained the aims and objects of the association, and in conclusion he said: “The Universal Negro Improvement Association is the greatest and best movement for Negroes. Governments are in fear of the U.N.I.A. Those who have stolen Africa from the Africans and are oppressing them both at home and abroad, know that through Marcus Garvey and the U.N.I.A. Africa will be controlled only by Africans at home and abroad, united and free. The Negro enemies have tried their best to bring about the downfall of the U.N.I.A. even in Dominica, but in vain. They don’t know of what stuff the New Negro is made. They have been anxiously awaiting our downfall and they are now getting tired. The thoughts of certain wiseacres are now conflicting with their brains; certain preachers of the gospel are now agents of the devil and certain politicians are politically blind, but the U.N.I.A. is growing stronger. All other oppressed people are determined to be free, why should the Negro be satisfied of being continually oppressed? Support the Universal Negro Improvement Association. The Negro must be determined to fight his way through hell-fire till Africa is free. The fight is on[,] fear not! We are determined that Africa shall be free! We are determined that the Red, Black and
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Green shall float in the breeze on the highest peak in Africa! We are determined that Negroes shall no longer be slaves (applause).” The people listened attentively to the various articles read and addresses delivered. The Ethiopian National Anthem was heartily sung. Meeting closed at 6:30 p.m., and the members left with smiling faces, determined that the work must go on. “CIVIS AFRICANUS” Printed in NW, 11 March 1922. 1. Citizen of Africa.
Amy Broaster, Emily Chandler, and Caroline Gray, UNIA Puerto Barrios and Los Amates Divisions, to the Negro World [[Guatemala, ca. 18 February 1922]]
A WORD FROM WOMEN OF THE RACE GUATEMALA UPHOLDERS OF U.N.I.A. PUT “EVERLASTING BOYCOTT” ON ORGANIZATIONS FIGHTING MARCUS GARVEY Dear Sir: Please allow us space in your most valued journal to make the following publication, which we hope that after it has been read by the enemies of the Universal Negro Improvement Association they may understand their position and get right with the women of the race, and either get right with their only salvation—the Universal Negro Improvement Association—or be ready to take the punishment which will inevitably be meted out to them when the colors of the Red, Black and Green [are] planted on the beautiful shores of Africa. We, the women of the Puerto Barrios Division No. 34, also those of the Los Amates Division No. 212, in conjunction with the loyal members of the Oneida district, residing in the Republic of Guatemala, hereby pledge ourselves to fight along with our men, shoulder to shoulder, and put the enemies of our organization to flight until Africa shall be free; therefore we say to them, especially those who were officers of the U.N.I.A. and have been discharged for their disloyalty or dishonesty, that there exists an everlasting boycott on them and their bogus new organizations as far as the Republic of Guatemala is concerned, and we can vouch for the support of our men to rally to the standard of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. We cannot otherwise than run our minds back to the report of our deputy to convention (now Commissioner C. S. Bou[r]ne) after he returned in 1920; how he spoke so highly of a distinguished official. Our deputy then considered
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Green shall float in the breeze on the highest peak in Africa! We are determined that Negroes shall no longer be slaves (applause).” The people listened attentively to the various articles read and addresses delivered. The Ethiopian National Anthem was heartily sung. Meeting closed at 6:30 p.m., and the members left with smiling faces, determined that the work must go on. “CIVIS AFRICANUS” Printed in NW, 11 March 1922. 1. Citizen of Africa.
Amy Broaster, Emily Chandler, and Caroline Gray, UNIA Puerto Barrios and Los Amates Divisions, to the Negro World [[Guatemala, ca. 18 February 1922]]
A WORD FROM WOMEN OF THE RACE GUATEMALA UPHOLDERS OF U.N.I.A. PUT “EVERLASTING BOYCOTT” ON ORGANIZATIONS FIGHTING MARCUS GARVEY Dear Sir: Please allow us space in your most valued journal to make the following publication, which we hope that after it has been read by the enemies of the Universal Negro Improvement Association they may understand their position and get right with the women of the race, and either get right with their only salvation—the Universal Negro Improvement Association—or be ready to take the punishment which will inevitably be meted out to them when the colors of the Red, Black and Green [are] planted on the beautiful shores of Africa. We, the women of the Puerto Barrios Division No. 34, also those of the Los Amates Division No. 212, in conjunction with the loyal members of the Oneida district, residing in the Republic of Guatemala, hereby pledge ourselves to fight along with our men, shoulder to shoulder, and put the enemies of our organization to flight until Africa shall be free; therefore we say to them, especially those who were officers of the U.N.I.A. and have been discharged for their disloyalty or dishonesty, that there exists an everlasting boycott on them and their bogus new organizations as far as the Republic of Guatemala is concerned, and we can vouch for the support of our men to rally to the standard of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. We cannot otherwise than run our minds back to the report of our deputy to convention (now Commissioner C. S. Bou[r]ne) after he returned in 1920; how he spoke so highly of a distinguished official. Our deputy then considered
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him the greatest Negro brain existing after the President General. On his return in 1921 he also spoke of the false tears that were shed by the “Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing” when he received the appeal of His Excellency. HUNDREDS OF GARVEYS AND VINTON DAVISES IN GUATEMALA If, in their opinion, by crucifying Hon. Marcus Garvey, the movement fails “Alas! What fools these poor mortals be.”1 Why we have many Garveys here in Guatemala, and we have hundreds of Vinton Davises ready to go out in the world, and hundreds of young Garveys who will have no other name but Garvey. The name is reverenced by every one of our Liberty Hall schools, so we, the women of Guatemala, advise them to get in line. Line up. RALLY TO THE AFRICAN STANDARD In conclusion we appeal to every woman of our race to rally to the standard 100 per cent. strong, just as the women of France and England rallied to the standards of their country in the late war. Put in your dollars; put in your dimes; put in your morals; be possessed with the full spirit of your womanhood and we will carry the organization to its intended goal with Marcus Garvey as our leader. Long live Marcus Garvey! Long live Lady Vinton and the Universal Negro Improvement Association. We are until next issue, Fraternally yours, MRS. AMY BROASTER Lady President MRS. EMILY CHANDLER Spiritual Leader CAROLINE GRAY Secretary Printed in NW, 18 February 1922. 1. William Shakespeare, A Midsummer-Night’s Dream, Act 3, scene 2.
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John Sydney de Bourg to Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic Barrio S. Calle 14, Casa 91. San Pedro de Macoris, Santo Domingo, R.D., February 18th, 1922 May it please your Excellency:— I have the honour to inform you that instead of presenting this my humble memorial in the first instance to the authorities of the United States Government of America at Washington I have decid[e]d to follow the assurance given me in the letter of the Senatorial Committee of Inquiry written to me bearing date 13th, December 1921. [A] true and correct copy of same is hereunto append[e]d for your reference and also a copy of our Constitution marked respectively “A” & “B.”1 2. On the morning of Thursday last the 16th, Instant immediately after my breakfast I was called by a policeman to the office of the Provost Marshal Major Kincade; and on my arrival there was taken prisoner by the said Provost Marshal who instantly ordered my incarceration in the Public Prison here after handing me 2 certain papers writings the true and correct copies of which are hereunto appended Marked “C.”2 3. I was then placed in charge of an armed United States Military marine who refused to allow my conveyance to the said Public [Prison] in a coach but compelled me to walk before him as a common felon through the Public Streets of this town to the greatest discomfiture of myself and the inhabitants who in very large numbers witnessed this undeserved indignity until I was lodged in said Public Prison. 4. Later in the afternoon of said day I was called out of said Public Prison and placed in charge of a Dominican armed Guar[d] who upon my reaching a few steps from the entrance of said Public Prison at the head of two Streets and I was leading and did not know my d[e]stination I turned round to ask this guard which street to take he at once blurted out “Camina Pronto!”3 giving me a severe blow over my right eye and began chucking me over the street in a most brutal manner. 5. As it was within sight of all the guards at the Prison gate a Sergeant quickly came up[,] inquired the cause[,] remonstrated with the guard and informed me that I was being conducted back to the office of the Provost Marshal Major Kincade; and on my arrival there I complained to the said Provost Marshal. Captain Garcia investigated this assault and has satisfactorily dealt with same. 6. Shortly after my arrival there I was placed before a Lieutenant who there appeared as my Judge and read out from a certain document what that 241
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United States Military Officer termed “Specifications” of charges or accusations made by the said Provost Marshal to all of which I pleaded “[Not] Guilty.” 7. Several witnesses were then in order called amongst whom were persons of not only doubtful character but one actually taken from the Prison and the principal witness a man who could not from his in-abili[ty] to put together a simple sentence in English be und[e]rstood—a sort of “The man Friday” to the Provost Marshal. In fact one of said witness[es] said “I know the date to be the 12th, but I do not know of what month but it is about 3 weeks ago.[”] 8. I feel constrained to say that the contradiction and confusion of the evidence adduced against me on that occasion point conclusively [to a] combination to wreak some sort of revenge against me and to intimidate the large amount of the members of my Negro Organization. 9. I met the Rev: British Vice-Consul Mr. A. H. Beer quickly and [sneakingly] emerging from the office of the Provost Marshal on the occasion of my first appearance at said office on that morning and his slight to me in not giving me then the usual “Fraternal shake hands” I feel I am justified in my strong suspicion in this matter as in the wanton and illegal national raid made by the United States Military officers on our Association here and the deportation of 4 of its principal officers directed by the said Provost Marshal. 10. I am fully persuaded that the Rev: Pastor British Vice-Consul Mr. Beer is the principal figure in the unfortunate drama. 11. In my own defence I pleaded justification in having called the members of the Trustee and Advisory Boards in the hall of said Organization to d[e]vise ways and means to meet a pressing demand of a Balance of $375.00. overdue and payable to one Mr. Parra 4 who testified on oat[h] as to the correctness of these facts as stated by me. 12. I further produced the male and female Teachers of the night and d[ay] schools and Sunday religious classes held in said hall under the approv[al] of the school Inspector of the Dominican Republican Government and to which I lend my aid and assistance as a school Professor of over 20 yea[rs] standing; evidence having been given on solemn oath. 13. All this was carried on in a very peaceful and law-abiding manner without the slightest intention of setting at defiance any alleged order of the United States Military authorities in this town and without the necessity of using or causing to be used any offensive or disrespectful language regarding either the United States Military authority or the Dominican Government of this Republic. 14. I contend that if it is proved that I did gather about twenty perso[ns] out of a membership of several hundreds—the Advisory and Trustee Boards alone number fully 40 members[—]I did not either violate any laws of this Republic or order of the United States Military Government of said [R]epublic. 15. And in this contention I submitted to the Military Officer who appeared as Judge at my trial certain passages in “Regimental Instructions[”] over the signature “Harry Lee” dated 15th, November 1921, duly published in 242
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the Fifteenth Regiment “News Letter” and dated December 17th, 1921, “And issued from” Headquarters second Brigade United States Marines Santo Domingo City as also the letter of the “Senatorial Committee” of the United States Senators “dated 13th, December 1921,” a true and correct copy of which is hereunto appended and marked “D.” 16. I crave reference to paragraphs 5, 6, & 7, which reads as follows: 5. The properties of municipalities, that of Institutions designated to religion, Charity, and education, the arts and sciences even when state property shall be treated as private property. All seizure of, d[e]struction or wil[l]ful damage done to Institutions of this character are forbidden. 6. Family honor and rights, the lives of persons, and private property, as well as religious convictions and practices must be respected. Pillage is formally forbidden. 7. No cruel, harsh or unusual measures are permitted against the inhabitants. Measures to locate and apprehend or capture law-breakers and evil doers, such as bandits and other criminals must be taken in order to insure order and public safety, however such measures must be reasonable, not harsh nor such as are calculated to merit the hostility of peaceful or contented inhabitants. 17. In the face of such a substantial defence I was informed not by the Judge of the trial but by the said Provost Marshal who came to me in an outer room from the court room and read to me that I am convicted and ordered to pay the fine of three hundred dollars ($300.00) and in default 5 months imprisonment with hard labour calculated at two dollars ($2.00) a day and that I would be sent to the camp where I would be made to cut down bushes which he knows of no appeal. 18. The offences with which the Provost Marshal charged me by order it is said of the District Commander of the Eastern District of this Republic are set out in said SPECIFICATIONS 1 & 11, are briefly that I did knowingly, wil[l]fully, and unlawfully call and hold a meeting of members of the Universal Negro Improvement Association society in this City in violation of a verbal order alleged to have been given me by the said Commander since Tuesday 25th, day of October 1921. 19. And that I further did on or about Sunday the 12th, day of this present month of February 1922, at a meeting of the said U.N.I.A. and in the presence of twenty members more or less of the said society say “I will hold meetings in spite of the Military Government here” or words of like meaning and purport thereby tending to incite opposition and resistance to the Military Government of the Dominican Republic and in violation of the proclamation of the United States Military occupation of the Dominican Republic. 20. In my defence to Specification 1[,] I still contend that the said verbal order alleged to have been given me since the said Tuesday 25th, day of Octo243
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ber 1921, a period quite nearly 4 months is not within my recollection. And in this statement I was supported by the conduct of the Judge who at my trial by his inability to get positive evidence from the Stenographer who took the notes of my interview with the said District Commander on this said Tuesday 25th, day of October 1921, allowed the said Stenographer to refer to the said notes to refresh the memory of the said witness—the Stenographer[.] 21. And in regards to Specification 11[,] the accusation is not only ridiculous, meaningless, and unreasonable, but it is grossly false, vindictive, malicious, reveng[e]ful and of no necessity especially when it is perceived that the alleged verbal order was alleged to have been given since the Tuesday, 25th, day of October 1921, and “Regimental Instructions” quoted by me in paragraph 15 & 16, were issued from “Headquarters” subsequently[,] that is on the 15th, November 1921 and dully published and given to the world on the 17th, December 1921. 22. This proclamation I forcefully also maintain annulled and vitiated every such previous order verbal or written effecting any Institutions of the like nature having the Aims and Objects of the said Universal Negro Improvement Association in the Dominican Republic and in which very large numbers of Dominicans are enrolled as active members Male—and Female. 23. It is a lamentable reflection that it should be perceived that this hatred and antagonism towards me and the “Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League,” could be actuated by no other motive than sheer Negrophobiaism. 24. And that is only because I-am-the-“Ready-and-Willing-to-die Representative” of that Grandest of all Negro Organizations which sho[ws] by its Preamble of its Constitution and Book of Laws that it is a soci[al,] friendly, humanitarian, charitable, educational, religious, Institution[al,] constructive and expansive society founded by persons desirous to the utmost to work for the general Uplift of the Negro peoples of the world. And of whom the Negroes of this Republic form only an insignificant portion of the 400,000,000 of my race. 25. The expressed determination of the Provost Marshal that this “Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League” must be killed here as it is though[t] suited to the Negroes of the American Republic yet unsuited to the Negroes of this Dominican Republic and that all its members should be shot down is not only uncharitable but is tending to provoke the temper of its members—a large number of Dominicans being also included—and to arouse the indignation of other peaceful and law-abiding inhabitants of this Republic. 26. I am fully persuaded that the Provost Marshal and other Negrophobists among whom are some White Persons fully realize their activities are in direct opposition to Clause 7, of the “Regimental Instructions” to which I have already referred in paragraph 15, of this my humble memorial and which I reiterate and claim reference to. 244
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27. The sentence was done within ten minutes of the conclusion of my trial by 1st, Lieutenant Ogle, the proceedings of which were taken by short hand notes—affording scarcely time for subsequent consideration—yet said sentence was read to me by the Provost from a typewritten document[,] a copy of which the Provost Marshal refused me on my application to that Military officer and I was taken to Prison. 28. I am unwillingly forced to ask you to conclud[e] that this is a seriously arranged miscarriage of Justice for more reasons than can be enumerated here amongst them are the facts viz:—The sne[a]king appearance at the office of the Provost Marshal of the Rev: British Vice-Consul Mr. Beer, The Charges made against the Provost Marshal, against the E[mi]gration agent, and Pastor ViceConsul Mr. Beer, as his pastor confreres now in the hands of the United States Military Investigating Board. The Judge I strongly suspect is one also charged by me before said Board for undue cruelty to three members of my race. 29. As a British Subject who has renounc[e]d his allegiance to King George V. to become a Citizen of that Great American Republic I plead for your protection against the hostilities of certain of its Military Officers which is characterized not only as Negrophobia and tending to provoke the temper of large numbers of members of my race but of annihilating the high esteem and affections of the peaceful and law-abiding inhabitants for all that is American except in that Great Republic the land of equal freedom, Justice, and opportunities. 30. I make bold to say that this sentence is unjust and illegal. And is a procedure hitherto unknown and foreign to every civilized country in the world that an accuser and prosecutor should pronounce the sentence of that court to his accused in the absence of the trial Judge and out of the said court. 31. By the extraneousness and severity of this sentence I was forced to m[a]ke the greatest sacrifices to obtain the said fine $300.00, to pay over to these United States Military Officers here, so as to avoid greater tortures and humiliations to which I would have been subjected at the hands of the executioners of this sentence—this travesty of justice—simply and principally because by the design of the “Grand Architect of the Universe” I am made a Negro. 32. With the fullest confidence in the sense of Justice and humanity that is the pronounced characteristic of some good and true Military Officers of that Grander American Republic, I appeal to your Excellency for a fair and impartial review of this trial with the firm conviction that your Excellency would see the justice of remitting the amount of this monstrous fine. 33. I further pray that the findings of the “Investigating Board” of which Major Rorex is a member may be sooner made known to me for the information of our Headquarters in New [Y]ork and more especially as our General Secretary James Halley has been quite 5 months past a prisoner for d[e]portation with nothing known against his character during his 26 years residence in this District of San Pedro de Macoris, and that our Charter, seal, books, and
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other documents now yet in hands of the United States Military Officers here may be at once returned to your memorialist. 34. And your memorialist as in duty bound would ever very fervently humbly and conscientiously plead in these connections affecting your memorialist and other[s] of the Negro race inhabitants of this Dominican Republic. Anxiously; Your Excellency’s most humble and obedient servant. [J]NO.: SYDNEY DE BOURG Leader of the Western Province of the West Indies and of Central and South America [Duplicate addressed to:] The Military Governor, The Palace, Santo Domingo City, Dom. Rep. [Typed endorsements:] 1st. Endorsement SANTO DOMINGO CITY. R.D. 24 February, 1922. From: Military Governor of Santo Domingo. To: Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S. Marines Subject: Complaint of Sydney de Bourg of Universal Negro Improvement Association. 1. Referred. 2. Please furnish report and data for a reply to this complaint. S. S. Robison
2nd Endorsement. Headquarters Second Brigade, U.S. Marines, Santo Domingo City, D.R., 7, March, 1922 From: Commanding General To: Military Governor Subject: Complaint of Sydney de Bourg of Universal Negro Improvement Association 1. On 16 February, 1922, Sydney de Bourg, a sojourner in the Dominican Republic, was tried by Provost Court at San Pedro de Macoris by order of the District Commander, Eastern District, and found guilty on two specifications, the first alleging violation of an order of the District Commander, orders of the Military Government, and the Proclamation of the United States Occupation, and the second alleging a statement made by Sydney de Bourg tend-
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FEBRUARY 1922 ing to incite opposition to the Military Government. He was sentenced to pay a fine of $300; and in accordance with the sentence paid $298 thereof after one day’s confinement. On 25th of February, 1922, the Commanding General in forwarding the record of proceedings recommended that the proceedings, finding, and sentence be disapproved, on the grounds that the first specification failed to state an offense and that the finding of the court on the second specification was not supported by the evidence adduced. On 2 March, 1922 the Military Governor disapproved the proceedings, finding, and sentence and directed that the amount of the fine paid by the accused be returned to him. HARRY LEE DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TLS. Typed endorsements are signed. 1. The text of enclosure “A” is given in Senator Attlee Pomerene to John Sydney de Bourg, 13 December 1921 (DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202), reproduced earlier in this volume. For the text of enclosure “B” (the UNIA Constitution and Book of Laws) see MGP 1: 256–281. 2. The text of one of the enclosures marked “C” is printed below. The other enclosure marked “C,” a copy of a provost court report by the provost judge, Alfred W. Ogle, 1st Lieutenant, U.S. Marine Corps, dated 16 February 1922, stated that “Proceedings of the Provost Court held at San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic, by order of District Commander under authority of Military Governor of Santo Domingo, letter 3338-20 (3) P–SH, under date of 17 November 1920. The accused, Sidney de Bourg[,] was arraigned and pleaded as follows.” On the remainder of the document, the sections reserved for recording how the defendant pleaded, as well as for details of the witnesses and the court’s findings, were left blank. 3. “Walk, now!” or “Walk, fast!” 4. The name appears as Mr. Parr on a duplicate copy of the document (DNA, RG 38, M-201-M202).
Enclosure: Statement of Charges against John Sydney de Bourg [Dominican Republic, ca. 16 February 1922]
SPECIFICATION OF OFFENSES PREFERRED AGAINST SIDNEY [SYDNEY] DE BOURG Specification 1: In that Didney [Sydney] de Bourg, a sojourner in the Dominican Republic, having been ordered by the District Commander, Eastern District, Dominican Republic, to refrain from holding meetings of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, which society was prohibited from conduct247
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ing meetings in the Eastern District, Dominican Republic, by the District Commander thereof, did, on or about February 12th, 1922, knowingly, wil[l]fully, and unlawfully call and lead a meeting of the members of the aforesaid society in the City of San Pedro de Macoris, Province of Macoris, Dominican Republic, in violation of the orders of the Military Government of the Dominican Republic, and of the proclamation of the United States occupation of the Dominican Republic, dated 29 November 1916. Specification 11: In that Sidney de Bourg[,] a sojourner in the Dominican [R]epublic, did, on or about February 12 1922, at a meeting of the Universal Negro Improvement Association society and in the presence of twenty (20) members, more or less, of the aforesaid society, say, “I will hold meetings in spite of the Military government here,” or words of like meaning and purport, thereby tending to incite opposition and resistance to the Military Government of the Dominican republic this is violation of the proclamation of the United States occupation of the Dominican Republic, dated 29 November 1916. G. M. KINCADE Major U.S. Marine corps, Provost Marshal DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD. Marked “A true and correct copy” and “C.”
Mrs. Anthony, Acting General Secretary, UNIA St. Thomas Division, to the Negro World [[St. Thomas, V.I., Feb. 20, 1[9]22]]
ST. THOMAS, VIRGIN ISLAND, SENDS GREETINGS President: We as a people of the 84th Division tender to you our heartfelt love and sympathy in your troubles and worries over our race. Have nothing to fear, President; may you be determined to go forward and press on the work which was ordered for you to do by the Heavenly Master. Words would fail the 84th Division to describe the confidence we have placed in our Honorable President Marcus Garvey of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L. Considering the meanheartedness of those Negro acorns who have assailed you, we would ask for them a medical draught, which is prayer, that God may yet speak to their betraying hearts as a God of love, and we pray that the fullness of God’s blessing rest upon you. We are fraternally, ST. THOMAS DIVISION NO. 84, Virgin Island, U.S.A., MRS. ANTHONY, 248
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ing meetings in the Eastern District, Dominican Republic, by the District Commander thereof, did, on or about February 12th, 1922, knowingly, wil[l]fully, and unlawfully call and lead a meeting of the members of the aforesaid society in the City of San Pedro de Macoris, Province of Macoris, Dominican Republic, in violation of the orders of the Military Government of the Dominican Republic, and of the proclamation of the United States occupation of the Dominican Republic, dated 29 November 1916. Specification 11: In that Sidney de Bourg[,] a sojourner in the Dominican [R]epublic, did, on or about February 12 1922, at a meeting of the Universal Negro Improvement Association society and in the presence of twenty (20) members, more or less, of the aforesaid society, say, “I will hold meetings in spite of the Military government here,” or words of like meaning and purport, thereby tending to incite opposition and resistance to the Military Government of the Dominican republic this is violation of the proclamation of the United States occupation of the Dominican Republic, dated 29 November 1916. G. M. KINCADE Major U.S. Marine corps, Provost Marshal DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD. Marked “A true and correct copy” and “C.”
Mrs. Anthony, Acting General Secretary, UNIA St. Thomas Division, to the Negro World [[St. Thomas, V.I., Feb. 20, 1[9]22]]
ST. THOMAS, VIRGIN ISLAND, SENDS GREETINGS President: We as a people of the 84th Division tender to you our heartfelt love and sympathy in your troubles and worries over our race. Have nothing to fear, President; may you be determined to go forward and press on the work which was ordered for you to do by the Heavenly Master. Words would fail the 84th Division to describe the confidence we have placed in our Honorable President Marcus Garvey of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L. Considering the meanheartedness of those Negro acorns who have assailed you, we would ask for them a medical draught, which is prayer, that God may yet speak to their betraying hearts as a God of love, and we pray that the fullness of God’s blessing rest upon you. We are fraternally, ST. THOMAS DIVISION NO. 84, Virgin Island, U.S.A., MRS. ANTHONY, 248
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Acting General Secretary [Addressed:] To the Honorable Marcus Garvey, Provisional President of Africa Printed in NW, 11 March 1922.
John Sydney de Bourg to Warren G. Harding,1 U.S. President Barrio S, Calle 14, Casa 91. San Pedro de Macoris, Santo Domingo, R.D., February 23, 1922 Honoured Sir: I hav[e] the honour to inform you with no small amount of pain and regret that owing to the tyrannical antagonism and abuse of power by certain of the United States Military Offic[ers] in this Eastern District of this Republic— San Pedro de Macoris—I am compelled to enclose to you a true and correct copy of a batch of very important documents forwarded for review by the Military Governor in the City of Santo Domingo and of this Republ[ic.] 2. I feel justified in forwarding same to you because of the deceptive impression created on the “Senatorial Committee” as appears on the appended letter marked “A[,]” dated 13, December 1921, and given in the second sentence of paragraph “1” of said letter. 3. This deception has been made evident by the fact that such an Investigation only took place during the first fortnight of this present month of February by an “Investigating Board” composed of three United States Military Officers presided over by Major Rorex[.] 4. Since this Investigation at which I supported certain complain[ts] made against some few of these self-same Military Office[rs] my life, property and liberty and those of the members of our Organization the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League stand in great jeopardy. And this procedure against me has been evidently actuated by no other motive than revenge by all of these accused Military Officers and White Parsons[.] 5. The actively ulterior part played by this Pastor Marine Chaplin [Chaplain] British Vice-Consul Mr. A. H. Beer in his letter to me dated 9th, Feb[ruary] 1922, as a summons directed by Official instructions of the Provost Marshal Major Kincade instead of a formal summons under the hand seal of the said Provost Marshal or of the “Investigating Board” before whom I was by this letter intended to appear furnishes me with a very good reason for the 249
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Acting General Secretary [Addressed:] To the Honorable Marcus Garvey, Provisional President of Africa Printed in NW, 11 March 1922.
John Sydney de Bourg to Warren G. Harding,1 U.S. President Barrio S, Calle 14, Casa 91. San Pedro de Macoris, Santo Domingo, R.D., February 23, 1922 Honoured Sir: I hav[e] the honour to inform you with no small amount of pain and regret that owing to the tyrannical antagonism and abuse of power by certain of the United States Military Offic[ers] in this Eastern District of this Republic— San Pedro de Macoris—I am compelled to enclose to you a true and correct copy of a batch of very important documents forwarded for review by the Military Governor in the City of Santo Domingo and of this Republ[ic.] 2. I feel justified in forwarding same to you because of the deceptive impression created on the “Senatorial Committee” as appears on the appended letter marked “A[,]” dated 13, December 1921, and given in the second sentence of paragraph “1” of said letter. 3. This deception has been made evident by the fact that such an Investigation only took place during the first fortnight of this present month of February by an “Investigating Board” composed of three United States Military Officers presided over by Major Rorex[.] 4. Since this Investigation at which I supported certain complain[ts] made against some few of these self-same Military Office[rs] my life, property and liberty and those of the members of our Organization the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League stand in great jeopardy. And this procedure against me has been evidently actuated by no other motive than revenge by all of these accused Military Officers and White Parsons[.] 5. The actively ulterior part played by this Pastor Marine Chaplin [Chaplain] British Vice-Consul Mr. A. H. Beer in his letter to me dated 9th, Feb[ruary] 1922, as a summons directed by Official instructions of the Provost Marshal Major Kincade instead of a formal summons under the hand seal of the said Provost Marshal or of the “Investigating Board” before whom I was by this letter intended to appear furnishes me with a very good reason for the 249
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strong suspicion of that Pastor’s complicity in this Military Tyrannical persecution. 6. And as every Official in San Pedro de Macoris that feels “White” takes the power and imprisons capriciously any Negro without dread[,] I and the entire members of this Organization tremble at the jeopar[dy] of Negro lives, liberty, and properties particu[l]arly of the said Organization. And therefore sincerely and fervently crave your immediate and careful review of the said documents and your officia[l] intervention for the sake of justice and common humanity to all concerned in this imbroglio actuated purely by dire hatred of my race here. I have the honour to be, Your most humble and obedient servant. JNO.: SYDNEY DE BOURG Accepted Representative [Handwritten note in margin:] Envelope addressed His Excellency Hon Warren Harding, President of the United States etc. DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TLS. 1. During the presidential campaign, Harding aroused great expectations for a fundamental change in U.S. policy towards the Caribbean, particularly the Dominican Republic. Basing his criticism on evidence published in the Nation and other periodicals, he chastised the Democrats’ policy and committed his future administration to withdrawal from the Dominican Republic. In a speech delivered on 28 August 1920, Harding declared: I will not . . . misuse the power of the Executive to cover with a veil of secrecy repeated acts of unwarranted interference in the domestic affairs of the little republics of the Western Hemisphere, such as in the last few years have not only made enemies of those who should be our friends but have rightfully discredited our country as their trusted neighbor (cited in Sumner Welles, Naboth’s Vineyard: The Dominican Republic, 1844–1924, vol. 2 [New York: Payson & Clarke, Ltd., 1928], p. 837). Presented by the new military governor, Samuel S. Robison, on 14 June 1921, Harding’s muchawaited plan to end the military occupation caused bitter disappointment and received so much criticism that it was withdrawn and the occupation was extended at least until July 1924, awaiting completion of the public works program and the training of the Guardia Nacional (Concise Columbia Encyclopedia, s.v. “Harding, Warren Gamaliel”; Bruce J. Calder, The Impact of Intervention: The Dominican Republic during the U.S. Occupation of 1916–1924 [Austin: University of Texas Press, 1984], pp. 202, 206, 208–212, 218–221).
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Jabez L. Clarke, General Secretary, UNIA Havana Division, to Marcus Garvey [[Fundicion No. 1, Havana, Cuba, February 24, 1922]]
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE HON. MARCUS GARVEY My Dear Mr. Garvey— I have always thought that rather than make a long, flattering speech or write elaborate articles in The Negro World, I would endeavor my best to encourage those members of the race I come across to support the Universal Negro Improvement Association and allied corporations, knowing that they are the only true Negro organizations. But, after reading your most explicit letter in The Negro World of the 18th inst., I am compelled to sympathize the more with the cause and promise further to continue doing to the best of my ability all in my power to further its interests leading to the ultimate redemption of our motherland Africa and the complete emancipation of the four hundred million members of our race. Let me admit that when I invested the first $50 in the corporation I seemed to have been thinking that I would get a dividend at an early date (and I believe many others thought so, too), but in spite of the many obstacles in the way impeding our progress, I am still confident that the Black Star Line will survive, and I hope in the near future to be able to give more financial support and feel sure that the other members in position will do the same, and in due time our future generations shall sing the praises unto us—it is only a matter of time. I would not cherish the thought for the least moment, sir, that you are guilty of the charge brought against you recently, but permit me to say supposing you were guilty, are you not human? and let him who is faultless first cast a stone at you; but let us consider for a moment that the “fraudulent use of the U.S. or any other mail” were a means of redeeming an oppressed race of four hundred million—necessity has no law—and let any man, whether black, white, yellow or blue, who has the interest of his race at heart dare say that he would not resort to that or any other means. Let us not think of the crimes committed in the Southern States of America, but turn to the last world-war when each nation adopted all kinds of barbarism and brutality to save itself, and while each nation was losing she made her subjects believe that she was winning. It was through the telling of a lie that helped the British army to pass safely up the St. Lawrence River and capture Quebec from the French.1 The statesmen of the world today have so resorted to deception that they try to spell it “diplomacy.” Why, then, in the name of justice, if a man is earnestly endeavoring to help his long oppressed race, he must be treated in such unscrupulous manner by members of his and other races? The stockholders of the Black Star Line have no fear of their money 251
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being jeopardized, then why non-stockholders must worry over what does not concern them and leave their own business to look after? Let me hope that the four and a half million members will rally the more to the cause and overcome all opposition, and in conclusion, Mr. Garvey, be assured that if there be one Negro left in Havana to uphold the interest of this noble race of ours that one Negro is Your obedient servant, JABEZ L. CLARKE Printed in NW, 18 March 1922. 1. Throughout the French and Indian war, various tricks were employed in attempts to win the battle for Quebec. Clarke, however, is probably referring to the September 1759 moment when the English pretended they were French soldiers. There was a small break in the riverbank, and if a small body of men could climb it and overpower a guard, the main body of the army could rise to the plains. The French had sent an urgent appeal for provision boats on 12 September. In the early morning hours the next day, at the vanguard of the small expedition, an English officer who spoke French perfectly convinced the sentry they were French troops. A little lower down, they were hailed again, and this time the officer said they were the provision boats and that silence must be maintained or the English would know of their presence. The twenty-four British climbers ascended the Plains of Abraham, while the officer in command of the pass slept. These French troops were easily seized. The other British boats followed, and the battle ensued. Five days after the battle, the French commander formally surrendered Quebec (George Waldo Browne, The St. Lawrence River: Historical, Legendry, Picturesque [New York: Putnam’s Sons, 1905], pp. 182–191; Julian S. Corbett, England in the Seven Years’ War: A Study in Combined Strategy, vol. 1 [London: Longmans, Green, 1918], pp. 425–476; Laurier L. LaPierre, 1759: The Battle for Canada [Toronto, Ontario: McClelland & Stewart, 1990], pp. 247–248).
Joseph Crooke to the Negro World [[Sanchez,1 Dominican Republic, ca. 25 February 1922]]
A MESSAGE FROM THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Dear Sir— Please allow space in your most valuable paper for these lines to express my sentiments of the movement of the U.N.I.A. The aim and object of the U.N.I.A. is to be an interpreter of the latent wants of the Negro. The Negro ever knew he wanted something and tried to get things that have not satisfied his wants. Thank God, who has inspired our leader, the Hon. Marcus Garvey, with the spirit of understanding to produce a program that has explained what the Negro wants. Negroes everywhere are undergoing political, educational and industrial slavery and cannot get what they want, but are compelled to take what they get and be satisfied with the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.
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being jeopardized, then why non-stockholders must worry over what does not concern them and leave their own business to look after? Let me hope that the four and a half million members will rally the more to the cause and overcome all opposition, and in conclusion, Mr. Garvey, be assured that if there be one Negro left in Havana to uphold the interest of this noble race of ours that one Negro is Your obedient servant, JABEZ L. CLARKE Printed in NW, 18 March 1922. 1. Throughout the French and Indian war, various tricks were employed in attempts to win the battle for Quebec. Clarke, however, is probably referring to the September 1759 moment when the English pretended they were French soldiers. There was a small break in the riverbank, and if a small body of men could climb it and overpower a guard, the main body of the army could rise to the plains. The French had sent an urgent appeal for provision boats on 12 September. In the early morning hours the next day, at the vanguard of the small expedition, an English officer who spoke French perfectly convinced the sentry they were French troops. A little lower down, they were hailed again, and this time the officer said they were the provision boats and that silence must be maintained or the English would know of their presence. The twenty-four British climbers ascended the Plains of Abraham, while the officer in command of the pass slept. These French troops were easily seized. The other British boats followed, and the battle ensued. Five days after the battle, the French commander formally surrendered Quebec (George Waldo Browne, The St. Lawrence River: Historical, Legendry, Picturesque [New York: Putnam’s Sons, 1905], pp. 182–191; Julian S. Corbett, England in the Seven Years’ War: A Study in Combined Strategy, vol. 1 [London: Longmans, Green, 1918], pp. 425–476; Laurier L. LaPierre, 1759: The Battle for Canada [Toronto, Ontario: McClelland & Stewart, 1990], pp. 247–248).
Joseph Crooke to the Negro World [[Sanchez,1 Dominican Republic, ca. 25 February 1922]]
A MESSAGE FROM THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Dear Sir— Please allow space in your most valuable paper for these lines to express my sentiments of the movement of the U.N.I.A. The aim and object of the U.N.I.A. is to be an interpreter of the latent wants of the Negro. The Negro ever knew he wanted something and tried to get things that have not satisfied his wants. Thank God, who has inspired our leader, the Hon. Marcus Garvey, with the spirit of understanding to produce a program that has explained what the Negro wants. Negroes everywhere are undergoing political, educational and industrial slavery and cannot get what they want, but are compelled to take what they get and be satisfied with the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.
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I must indorse the statement. If the Negro must be somebody in this world he must be his own master, and if he is to be his own master, four hundred millions must unite as one man and free Africa from those who exploit her. Africans must love one another—those at home and those abroad. All the tribes of Africa must unite for the one common cause of education and industry. Let Africa see the necessity of embracing civilization of Europe and the Western world. Let us who are abroad work with all our might to this end, putting over the educational and industrial program. I see in this a perfect victory. Four hundred million intelligent men and women united to free themselves. Who can subjugate them? Why, such a mighty host, with God’s help, should be one of the greatest people of the world. If each Negro responds to the call of the U.N.I.A., think what a gigantic industrial and educational program can be put over. Let us all do our best and the Lord will bless our efforts. Every Negro should be proud to be a Negro, for he shall become an honorable member of the human family, for he shall be worth something. Find inclosed $1 contribution to the additional work on your press. I am, yours fraternally, JOSEPH CROOKE Printed in NW, 25 February 1922. 1. Located on the northern side of the country, Sánchez, a municipality of Samaná province, was a seaport of importance for the export of traditional crops (cocoa and tobacco) from the fertile valley of El Cibao, with which it was connected by a railroad (C. Armando Rodríguez, Geografía de la isla de Santo Domingo y reseña de las demás Antillas [1915; reprint, Santo Domingo: Sociedad Dominicana de la Geografía, 1976], p. 257; Jaime de Jesús Domínguez, La dictadura de Heureaux [Santo Domingo: Editora Universitaria, UASD, 1986], pp. 103–106; Michiel Baud, Los cosecheros de tabaco: la transformación social de la Sociedad Cibaeña, 1870–1930 [Santiago de los Caballeros: Centro de Estudios Urbanos y Regionales, Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, 1996], pp. 36–39).
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Article in the Workman [Panama City, 25 February 1922]
GARVEY BREAKS LONG SILENCE PRESIDENT OF BLACK STAR LINE GRAPHICALLY TELLS OF NEGOTIATIONS FOR THE S.S. PHYLLIS WHEATLEY DISOBEDIENCE OF ORDERS AND DISREGARD FOR INSTRUCTIONS BY OFFICIALS AND ASSOCIATIONS CAUSE OF PRESENT INVESTIGATION The Universal Negro Improvement Association, at its American Headquarters, 35, West 135th Street, New York City, through its Publicity Department, today releases the following bit of news to the Public Press. Mr. Garvey says, as President General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, it is his bounden duty to acquaint the public now of the facts relative to the proposed purchase of the s.s. Phyllis Wheatley from the United States Shipping Board as have been given by those officials who were left in charge of the affairs of the Black Star Line Inc[.], during his absence, and from what he has learned from investigation since his return from the West Indies and Central America for which points he left the United States of America on business in February 1921. That during his absence sinister influences were used to prevent his return to the United States of America. A great state of demoralization went on he says, not only in the Black Star Line, but also in the Universal Negro Improvement Association when, by good fortune, he was able to return to the United States about the 15th of July, 1921—just fifteen days prior to the International Convention, and that he was confronted with a state of disorganization most alarming. Mr. Garvey says that his reappearance in the United States of America was as great a surprise to some of his associates as to some of his bitterest enemies. He further states that upon investigation he found that the s.s. Phyllis Wheatley should have been secured since April and that he had every reason to believe that the Steamship would either be at anchor in New York City or had sailed for the sunny shores of AFRICA, but no such ship was anywhere to be found; the money that he had raised for the Black Star Line in the West Indies and in Central America as well as other funds raised in his name and in the name of the Black Star Line during his absence from the United States were supposed to have been deposited with the United States Shipping Board by certain parties and that the boat would be awarded at any time and that such confidence has been placed from time to time in a statement of a Representative of the Black Star Line that in a very short time a boat would be awarded by the United States Shipping Board, and that from day to day, and that from to-
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morrow to to-morrow such statements were made that the time has drifted from the two days upon his arrival in America to over three months. That vile and wicked propaganda has been started in several Negro newspapers and magazines charging and accusing him of things connected with the Co[r]poration of which he knew nothing about for the purpose of covering up parties directly responsible and who should be held accountable. That anonymous communications have been sent to the Government Agents from all directions and complaints were also made for the purpose of trying to secure his immediate arrest and cause the collapse and downfall of the Universal Negro Improvement Association whereby intending to cover up all that had happened during his absence, and to divert attention from the attempted pilfering of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and the Black Star Line during his absence from the United States. Mr. Garvey further states that $25,000,00 or more is to be credited to the Black Star Line as a deposit with the United States Shipping Board so he has learned from his representative of the Black Star Line Inc., and who has promised from time to time to produce a ship. “The Universal Negro Improvement Association is too great and mighty a cause to be interrupted in any way by the enemies of this Movement,[”] says Mr. Garvey, [“]and the selfish wicked groups of Negroes at different points who are aiding and seeking to discredit me within the last two months and who have tried to move heaven and earth, and to leave no stone unturned to seek my downfall cannot win, for ‘Honesty Is the best Policy.’[”] “Let those who want to, do evil as they may. I am appealing to those who are loyal and true, to stick solidly by and victory will perch upon the banners of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. The Movement is succeeding more and more every day. From every corner of the world comes a loyalty that bears no q[ue]stion hence: Be of good cheer.” Printed in the Workman (Panama City), 25 February 1922.
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John Sydney de Bourg to Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic Barrio S. Calle 14, Casa 91, San Pedro de Macoris, Santo Domingo, R.D[.] Feb. 27, 1922 May it please your Excellency, I have the honor to respectfully request that you would be good enough as to inform me if the man James Halley will be still deported or if he would be kept indefinitely as a prisoner in the Public Prison here? 2. Your Ex[ce]llency and the other responsible Military Officers of this Government are quite aware that this innocent man has been incarcerated and kept tortuously confined there since the night of the 3rd, day of September 1921 now a period of six months minus just one week. 3. This tortuous and unjust imprisonment continues in utter disregard of cables, letters, telegrams, memorials, and all sorts of courteous, respectful, and Constitutional demands strongly urged by me in his behalf and without reasonable avail. 4. It is Public property that he has committed no offence in any manner and that there is no offence recorded or known against him by either the United States Military Government or the Dominican Government for the whole term of his residence in San Pedro de Macoris—26 years past and gone— even bandits are not kept in said Prison for such a period here but are now sooner released. 5. I insist in all seriousness that the same justice should be done to him though the very Heavens may fall irrespective of his being a Negro and a prominent officer of the Universal Negro Improvement Ass[o]ciation and African Communities League as would assuredly have been done to a White Man under the like circumstances of false representations. 6. As a Negro Citizen of that Grand Republic now I do most firmly maintain that no such travesty of justice could be continuously perpetrated on any Negro by an official of the judiciary in any of its 48 States and without substantial redress. 7[.] But the Provost Marshal who feels his power absolute on Negroes here says “What is suited to the Negroes of the United States such as freedom, liberty and justice are not suited to the said members of my race” in this country though another Republic thereby engendering the most dire HATRED FOR WHITE AMERICANS abroad and particularly here. 8. When would this wicked and tyrannical persecution of me and other Negroes principally members of my Negro Organization ruthlessly carried on
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in San Pedro de Macoris by the Provost Marshal some other United States Military Officers and the White Parsons come to a peaceful end? 9. I fearlessly say that their WEAK PRETENCE that the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League is either one or the same organization as that accursed A.B[.]B[.] or is in affiliation with it and into which you and the other United States Military Officers in the City have been cajoled is a direct wil[l]ful and unpardonable falsehood designed through Negrophobia[i]sm. 10[.] With the fullest concern still for his immediate release or final declaration in this unjust procedure. I have the honour to be Your Excellency’s most humble and Obedient Servant [J]no. SYDNEY DE BOURT [DE BOURG] Accepted Representative [Addressed to:] The Military Governor, The Palace, Santo Domingo City R.D[.] [Typed endorsements:] 1st Endorsement 3 March, 1922 From: Military Governor of Santo Domingo To: Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S. Marines Subject: Imprisonment of James Halley 1.Referred for definite recommendation as to the disposition of James Halley. 2. Please expedite. F. U. Lake By direction 2nd Endorsement Headquarte[r]s Second Brigade, U.S. Marines, Santo Domingo City, R.D., March 6, 1922 From: The Commanding General To: The District Commander, Eastern District 1. Forwarded, for compliance. 2. Your attention is particularly invited to paragraph two (2) of the basic communication. Please submit a report regarding the treatment of James Halley since his confinement. By command of Brigadier General Lee. C. J. Miller Chief of Staff 3rd indorsement OFFICE OF THE DISTRICT COMMANDER, EASTERN DISTRICT, U.S. MARINES,
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10 March, 1922 From: District Commander. To: District Provost Marshal. Subject: Imprisonment of James Halley. 1. Referred for recommendation. G. M. Kincade. By direction 4th Endorsement Office of the District Provost Marshal, San Pedro de Macoris, DR., 17 March, 1922 From: District Provost Marshal. To: District Commander. 1. I see no reason for reconsidering my former recommendation for the deportation of James Halley. 2. When a society or organization tramples upon and spits upon the flag of a friendly power, and parades that flag through the streets of the city, I do not consider the leaders and principals of that organization desirable citizens of any community. Especially is this so, when such manifestation expresses no other thought than one of opposit[i]on to organized government. 3. Regarding paragraph two (2) of the communication of Sidney de Bourg, a recommendation was made for Halley’s deportation at the same time that the recommendation was made for the deportation of the other officers (Halley included)[.] Halley could not be deported as no vessel would take him on account of the small pox quarantine against San Pedro de Macoris by the Dutch West India islands. This order of the Immigration Office was dated the fourth of November, and since that date Halley has been in the custody of the Immigration Office. G. M. Kincade 5th Endorsement Headquarters Eastern District, San Pedro de Macoris, D.R., 17 March, 1922 From: District Commander, Eastern District. To: Commanding General, Second Brigrade, U.S. Marines, Santo Domingo City, D.R. Subject: Imprisonment of James Halley.
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FEBRUARY 1922 1. The undersigned has made a personal investigation in the case of Halley, visiting the prison in which this man has been confined for the last six months and a half, and recommends that Halley be immediately released and that he be not deported. 2. There is no truth in the suggestion that this man Halley has been tortured and the undersigned does not believe that DeBourg intended to so imply, but used the word “tortuously,” as meaning “not straight forward,” and did not intend to infer that Halley had been tortured. 3. The undersigned believes that the confinement of Halley in the prison for six months and a half, is a matter that should be taken up with the Immigration Officials, for I do not believe from the information at my disposal, that the order to deport Halley, in any way, intended that he should suffer six months i[m]prisonment p[r]ior to his depa[r]ture. C. H. Lyman1 6th Endorsement Headquarters 2nd Brigade, U.S. Marines, Santo Domingo City, D.R., 20 March, 1922 From: Commanding General To: The Military Governor 1. Forwar[d,] concurring in the foregoing and recommending that James Halley be released from confinement and that he be not deported. HARRY LEE DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TL. 1. Colonel Charles H. Lyman was transferred as commander at Santiago to the eastern military district in 1922, with a mandate to carry out the new policy of defeating and destroying the insurgent forces with civilian, pro-military government guerrilla units. In May, “General” Ramón Natera, the most important guerrilla leader, surrendered near Central Consuelo to Colonel Lyman. Earlier that year Colonel Lyman provoked an uproar by suspending several newspapers and using the provost courts to imprison and fine journalists. The Department of State moved quickly, forcing the revocation of the sentences and sending orders that the U.S. military authorities could no longer prosecute censorship cases or other “purely political offenses” without first obtaining official permission (Bruce J. Calder, The Impact of Intervention: The Dominican Republic during the U.S. Occupation of 1916–1924 [Austin: University of Texas Press, 1984], pp. 173, 177, 221).
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Agness Holness, Lady President, UNIA Havana Division, to Marcus Garvey [[Havana, February 28, 1922]]
A GREETING FROM CONCORDIA, HAVANA, CUBA Dear Sir and Brother— I beg to acknowledge receipt of yours of the 20th ult. re our “African Redemption Fund,” and to assure you, our honorable and indefatigable leader, that you shall have my whole-hearted support as long as I live; and even though death may take you from us before our hopes are realized, yet the ideals you have set up shall be cherished by me until I too, fall beneath the sickle of Time. Cuba, as you well know, is in an economic slough, and we Negroes are deepest in the mire; but this shall not hinder my endeavoring to the best of my ability to solicit funds for the redemption of our Motherland, even though I be given a dime at a time. In expressing my unshaken faith in your integrity, I am but voicing the sentiments not only of the Havana Division, but of Negroes in general in this Republic. Fear not, noble leader, for so persecuted they the prophets and Christ. Right will ultimately triumph. I have the honor to remain, my dear keen-sighted, honest and fearless leader, Yours for Negro improvement, AGNESS HOLNESS Lady President, Havana Division [Addressed to:] Hon. President General, 56 West 135th Street, New York City Printed in NW, 11 March 1922.
Petition from John Sydney de Bourg to Warren G. Harding, U.S. President Barrio S, Calle 14, Casa 91. San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic, 6th, day of March 1922
THE HUMBLE PETITION OF JOHN SYDNEY DE BOURG, CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND LATELY FROM THE CITY OF NEW YORK BUT NOW A SOJOURNER IN THIS
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Agness Holness, Lady President, UNIA Havana Division, to Marcus Garvey [[Havana, February 28, 1922]]
A GREETING FROM CONCORDIA, HAVANA, CUBA Dear Sir and Brother— I beg to acknowledge receipt of yours of the 20th ult. re our “African Redemption Fund,” and to assure you, our honorable and indefatigable leader, that you shall have my whole-hearted support as long as I live; and even though death may take you from us before our hopes are realized, yet the ideals you have set up shall be cherished by me until I too, fall beneath the sickle of Time. Cuba, as you well know, is in an economic slough, and we Negroes are deepest in the mire; but this shall not hinder my endeavoring to the best of my ability to solicit funds for the redemption of our Motherland, even though I be given a dime at a time. In expressing my unshaken faith in your integrity, I am but voicing the sentiments not only of the Havana Division, but of Negroes in general in this Republic. Fear not, noble leader, for so persecuted they the prophets and Christ. Right will ultimately triumph. I have the honor to remain, my dear keen-sighted, honest and fearless leader, Yours for Negro improvement, AGNESS HOLNESS Lady President, Havana Division [Addressed to:] Hon. President General, 56 West 135th Street, New York City Printed in NW, 11 March 1922.
Petition from John Sydney de Bourg to Warren G. Harding, U.S. President Barrio S, Calle 14, Casa 91. San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic, 6th, day of March 1922
THE HUMBLE PETITION OF JOHN SYDNEY DE BOURG, CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND LATELY FROM THE CITY OF NEW YORK BUT NOW A SOJOURNER IN THIS
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REPUBLIC AND HAVING HIS CORRESPONDENCE ADDRESS AT BARRIO, S, CALLE 14, CASA 91, SAN PEDRO DE MACORIS Most Humbly and respectfully showeth; That your Petitioner is the duly elected “Leader of the Negroes of the Western Provinces of the West Indies and of Central and South America” and the duly “Accepted Representative” of the “Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League” in this Republic by the United States Military Government, the Dominican Government, and the late Senatorial Commission of Inquiry. See letter marked “A.”1 2. That the Association is an Organization duly incorporated in the United States of America with its Headquarters in New York City and actively carrying on its aims and objects there without any hindrance or antagonism from your Excellency’s Government in either of the 48 States. 3[.] That it is a matter of common knowledge to all Officials and the general public of the States the aims and objects of the said Organization are shown by its Constitution and Book of Laws to be Social, friendly, humanitarian, charitable, educational, constructive, Institutional, religious, commercial, and expansive to the world of Negroes for the Brotherhood of man and the Fatherhood of God. See attached book marked “B.”2 4. That owing to the desperate NEGROPHOBIAISM manifested in this Eastern District—San Pedro de Macoris—by the District Commander Wm. G. Harlee, the Provost Marshal Major G. M. Kincade actuated by the United States Marine Chaplain British Vice-Consul Pastor A. H. Beer and some few other WHITE PARSONS against this Organization your Petitioner had to at the greatest sacrifice come here since the 23rd, day of October last past in this behalf. 5. Through this desperate NEGROPHOBIAISM and WHITE PARSONS CHI[CA]NERIES for filthy lucre of Negroes pence the United States Military Officers [m]arshalled “A national raid” on said Organization[’]s Hall on the night of the 3rd, day of September last past arrested and imprisoned 17 Negroes conveyed them to the Public Prison here deported 4 respectable and inoffensive Negroes and still have detained in said Prison one James Halley for deportation whose character stands without record of a single offence. But he is a Negro. See attachment marked “F.”3 6. This United States Military ANTAGONISM here fostered by these WHITE PARSONS has been set in motion by weak pretentious false representations of the connection of this loyal and law-abiding Organization with the accursed red-blooded seditious “African Blood Brother-Hood” which has been for some considerable time before the world and in an open court of justice in the States as the most terrible enemy of not only this “Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League” but of the entire WHITE race and Governments. And of this the preceeding designated antagonists are fully aware but their strong NEGROPHOBIAISM is too powerful to be remedied in this Eastern District? 261
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7. Since the arrival of your Petitioner in this Republic all sorts of courteous and Constitutional appeals and representations have been made to every Official Head Of the United States Military Government in this Republic to no avail and also to the Dominican Government who though all regret inability to give redress yet welcome the activities of the “Universal Negro Improvement A[ss]ociation” in this Republic as the only Association with the necessary aims and objects for the Upliftment of Negroes. 8. That although the prominent Officials and leaders of this “African Blood Brotherhood” are known to these Military Officers and this “WHITE PARSONS CLIQUE” yet for reasons best known to these White Officials said Officials and leaders are allowed to prowl about at large and are not molested in any manner by either said Military Officers or WHITE PARSONS. But the Provost Marshal Major Kincade has publicly stated “I would arm the Marines and shoot the whole of these Universal Negro Improvement Association Negroes.” 9. That instead of the United States Military Officers here encourage the said Organization in its lawful and peaceful activities for the amelioration of the Negroes pitiful condition here the Provost Marshal Major G. M. Kincade who says “It must be killed and is not suited to Negroes here[”] the District Commander Wm. G? Harl[l]ee and 1st, Lieutenant Alfred W. Ogle aided by a Negro E[mi]gration Off Agent and doubtless the said “WHITE PARSONS CLIQUE” dragged your Petitioner under a mock trial on Thursday the 16th, day of February last past for actually an imaginary “Wolf and the Lamb” offence inflicted on your Petitioner the monstrous fine of Three hundred dollars ($300.00) in default of payment 5 months imprisonment with hard labour to cut down trees in the high woods as a common felon. See attachments marked “C. D. & E.”4 10. Your memorialist is now bordering on the ripe old age of 69 years and would not have been able to undergo the excruciating penalty of the 5 months hard labour in that Military Camp Prison and had to call on the impecunious loyal members of the Organization to “Do good by stealth and blush to find it known” as Shakespeare says,5 pledging their belongings to pay said Three hundred dollars fine; and save a greater infamous outrage on your Petitioner. 11. Since said fine has been paid to the Provost Marshal Major Kincade on Friday the 17th, day of February last past after having been kept in that Public Prison for full two days. Your Petitioner has appealed to the Military Governor at Santo Domingo City for an Independent review of said mock trial and a remission of this monstrous fine, the release of the man James Halley, and a declaration of the findings of the “Investigating Military //S//ecret Board” before which your Petitioner testified on Friday the 10th, day of February last past. But up to now no apparent consideration has been extended to your Petitioner even in the form of a reply. Your Petitioner therefore most humbly prays that Your Excellency and Honourable Members of the Congress would consider these premises and grant the necessary measures of relief prayed for and as seems best under these 262
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particular circumstances. And your Petitioner as in duty bound will ever humbly and fervently pray. JNO.: SYDNEY DE BOURG Leader of the Western Provinces of the West Indies and of Central and South, America [Addressed:] To His Excellency Honourable Warren G. Harding, President of the United States of America in Congress Assembled DNA, RG 59, 339.1121 B 66/1. TLS, recipient’s copy. 1. For the text of enclosure “A” see Senator Attlee Pomerene to John Sydney de Bourg, 13 December 1921 (DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202), reproduced earlier in this volume. 2. For the text of enclosure “B” (the UNIA Constitution and Book of Laws) see MGP 1: 256– 281. 3. A version of enclosure “F,” a copy of Military Government Deportation Order, Order No. 79, signed by R. M. Warfield, is reproduced earlier in this volume. 4. Enclosures “C” and “D” were identical to the two enclosures marked “C” sent by John Sydney de Bourg to Brigadier General Harry Lee on 18 February 1922. 5. The quotation is from Alexander Pope (“Let humble Allen, with an awkward shame,/Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame,” “Epilogue to the Satires,” Imitations of Horace (1738).
Enclosure: William C. Harllee, District Commander, Eastern District, Dominican Republic, to Major G. M. Kincade, Provost Marshal, San Pedro de Macorís OFFICE OF THE DISTRICT COMMANDER, EASTERN DISTRICT, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. SAN PEDRO DE MACORIS[,] D.R.,
16 February 1922 From: Convening Authority. To: Provost Marshal, San Pedro de Macoris, D.R. Subject: Provost Court Record—case of Sidney de Bourg 1. The proceedings, findings, and sentence in the foregoing case of Sidney de Bourg are approved. 2. The Public Carcel, San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic is designated as the place of execution of that part of the sentence which relates to confinement at hard labour. The Record is referred to the Provost Marshal, San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic for execution of the sentence. WM. C. HARLLEE 263
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS [Typed endorsements:] 1st indorsement Office of the District Provost Marshal, San Pedro de Macoris, D.R., 16 February 1922 From: Provost Marshal To: Military Governor of Santo Domingo via: Official Channels 1. Forwarded 2. Sentence published and period of confinement in accordance with sentence, begins this date. G. M. KINCADE 2nd indorsement Office of the District Commander, Eastern District, U.S. Marines[,] San Pedro de Macoris, D.R., 16 February 1922 From: District Commander To: Military Governor of Santo Domingo via: Official Channels 1. Forwarded. WM. C. HARLLEE DNA, RG 59, 339.1121 B 66/1. TD, recipient’s copy. Marked “A true and correct copy” and “E.”
Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic, to John Sydney de Bourg MILITARY GOVERNMENT OF SANTO DOMINGO,
Office of Military Governor, Santo Domingo City, R.D., 9 March, 1922 Dear Sir: After an investigation of your complaint of February 18, 1922, calling my attention to your arrest and imprisonment, etc., I have to inform you that the proceedings, findings, and sentence in your case have been disapproved on the grounds that the first specification failed to state an offence and that the finding of the court on the second specification was not supported by the evidence adduced.
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS [Typed endorsements:] 1st indorsement Office of the District Provost Marshal, San Pedro de Macoris, D.R., 16 February 1922 From: Provost Marshal To: Military Governor of Santo Domingo via: Official Channels 1. Forwarded 2. Sentence published and period of confinement in accordance with sentence, begins this date. G. M. KINCADE 2nd indorsement Office of the District Commander, Eastern District, U.S. Marines[,] San Pedro de Macoris, D.R., 16 February 1922 From: District Commander To: Military Governor of Santo Domingo via: Official Channels 1. Forwarded. WM. C. HARLLEE DNA, RG 59, 339.1121 B 66/1. TD, recipient’s copy. Marked “A true and correct copy” and “E.”
Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic, to John Sydney de Bourg MILITARY GOVERNMENT OF SANTO DOMINGO,
Office of Military Governor, Santo Domingo City, R.D., 9 March, 1922 Dear Sir: After an investigation of your complaint of February 18, 1922, calling my attention to your arrest and imprisonment, etc., I have to inform you that the proceedings, findings, and sentence in your case have been disapproved on the grounds that the first specification failed to state an offence and that the finding of the court on the second specification was not supported by the evidence adduced.
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The fine imposed has, therefore, been ordered returned to you. Yours very truly, S. S. ROBISON Rear Admiral, United States Navy, Military Governor of Santo Domingo [Handwritten note:] N.B.—Fine refunded to me since the 23rd day of March last past. DNA, RG 59, 339.1121. TL. Marked “A true and correct copy.”
Article in the Workman [Panama City, 11 March 1922]
PARENT BODY OF U.N.I.A. REQUESTS PANAMA DIVISION TO CO-OPERATE WITH G[UA]CHAPALI CHAPTER It may be of interest to readers of the “Workman” to know that several individual complaints have been mailed to the office of the parent body of the U.N.I.A. & A.C.L. at New York, relative to the attitude which the Panama Division No. 3 maintains towards the Guachapali Chapter No. 14, among the complainants being Mr. A. McDonald, President of the Gamboa Division No. 5 who, in reply of his complaint, received a communication from the parent body a copy of which he voluntarily furnished the Chapter. The copy as furnished the Chapter reads as follows:— Gamboa Division, P.O. Box 982, Ancon, C.Z. Rep. of Panama c/o Mr. A. McDonald, President My Dear Mr. McDonald— [Y]our communication of the 17th inst., informing us of certain unsatisfactory operation in the Division and Chapter of the Panama City due to the Division not acknowledging the Chapter has been received. In reply this is to officially inform you and all concerned that we have in Panama duly acknowledged in this Office a Chapter known as No[.] 14 of which Joseph E[.] Gadbsy [Gadsby] is the President and Alfred O. Smith Secretary and that has been issued in the same manner as all other Chapters or Charters have been issued to Divisions.
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The fine imposed has, therefore, been ordered returned to you. Yours very truly, S. S. ROBISON Rear Admiral, United States Navy, Military Governor of Santo Domingo [Handwritten note:] N.B.—Fine refunded to me since the 23rd day of March last past. DNA, RG 59, 339.1121. TL. Marked “A true and correct copy.”
Article in the Workman [Panama City, 11 March 1922]
PARENT BODY OF U.N.I.A. REQUESTS PANAMA DIVISION TO CO-OPERATE WITH G[UA]CHAPALI CHAPTER It may be of interest to readers of the “Workman” to know that several individual complaints have been mailed to the office of the parent body of the U.N.I.A. & A.C.L. at New York, relative to the attitude which the Panama Division No. 3 maintains towards the Guachapali Chapter No. 14, among the complainants being Mr. A. McDonald, President of the Gamboa Division No. 5 who, in reply of his complaint, received a communication from the parent body a copy of which he voluntarily furnished the Chapter. The copy as furnished the Chapter reads as follows:— Gamboa Division, P.O. Box 982, Ancon, C.Z. Rep. of Panama c/o Mr. A. McDonald, President My Dear Mr. McDonald— [Y]our communication of the 17th inst., informing us of certain unsatisfactory operation in the Division and Chapter of the Panama City due to the Division not acknowledging the Chapter has been received. In reply this is to officially inform you and all concerned that we have in Panama duly acknowledged in this Office a Chapter known as No[.] 14 of which Joseph E[.] Gadbsy [Gadsby] is the President and Alfred O. Smith Secretary and that has been issued in the same manner as all other Chapters or Charters have been issued to Divisions.
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Hoping this information will meet your approval and will settle the question, we are with best wishes, Yours fraternally UNIVERSAL NEGRO IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION, (Sgd.) J. B. YEARWOOD
Assistant Secretary General As a result of the many complaints addressed to the Office of the parent body, the Guachapali Chapter No. 14 is also in receipt of a communication from that office. Below is produced a true and correct copy of the communication which speaks for itself. February 17, 1922 Panama Chapter Ancon, Canal Zone, Republic of Panama, c/o Joseph E. Gadsby, President My dear Mr. Gadsby,— We at this office have received many communications from persons in Panama, of the great dissatisfaction existing between Division and Chapter, as well as informing us that the Division refuses to acknowledge or accept the Chapter. We have this day written the Division, informing them that the Guachapali Chapter has been legitimately issued, and is in keeping with the established rule bearing on the issuing of Chapters and Charters of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, requesting at the same time, that they give you their co-operation in order that the work in Panama may be a success. We desire that you in turn, uphold the moral of this grand organization, and do all in your power so that the name of the Universal Negro Improvement Association may be respected in the Republic of Panama. With best wishes, we are, Yours fraternally, UNIVERSAL NEGRO IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION, (Sgd.) J. B. YEARWOOD
Assistant Secretary General The original of the above is filed among the records at the office of the Guachapali Chapter No. 14 and is open to the inspection of all interested persons. Printed in the Workman (Panama City), 11 March 1922.
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John Sydney de Bourg to Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic Barrio, S Calle 14, Casa 91[,] San Pedro de Macoris, Santo Domingo, R.D., March 13, 1922 May it please your Excellency:— I have the honor to inform you that it has been brought to my notice that your Excellency’s mind is greatly exercised over the expressions—“torturously confined” and “torturous imprisonment” occurring in paragraphs 2 & 3 of my letter respectfully addressed to your Excellency in the behalf of the man James Halley and dated February 27th, 1922. 2. By these I mean that no personal ill-treatment is meted out to him by the Jailor but his unlimited term of imprisonment, his being deprived of his family comfort, as a respectable married man sleeping on a table and at times on a chair for a bed, his confinement with all sorts of bandits, murderers and other criminals, having to submissively carry out the mandates of condemned criminals placed as orderlies over him and all such indignities and privations must reasonably be termed “TORTUROUSLY CONFINED” and a “TORTUROUS IMPRISONMENT” and without offence? I have the honor to be, Your Excellency’s most humble and obedient servant, JNO.: SYDNEY DE BOURG Accepted Representative [Handwritten note:] N.B.—James Halley has been since released by the United States Military Government. J. S. D. [Addressed to:] S. S. Robison, Military Governor, The Palace, Santo Domingo CIty, R.D. DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TLS.
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Report by Brigadier General Harry Lee, Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S. Marine Corps Headquarters Second Brigade, U.S. Marines, Santo Domingo City, Dominican Republic, 14 March, 1922 . . . It is recommended to the Military Governor that appropriate instructions be promulgated and enforced with regard to the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Blood Brotherhood, to the effect that those associations will not be allowed to function in the Dominican Republic during the period of the Military Occupation. Whatever may be the motives and objects of those associations, experience has proved that their existence has caused disquiet, and should not be permitted in view of conditions existing in this Republic, namely military occupation and the necessity for preventing disquiet and friction. HARRY LEE Brigadier General, U.S. Marine Corps, Commanding Second Brigade, U.S. Marines DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD.
W. L. Hurley, Office of the Under Secretary, U. S. State Department, to William J. Burns, Director, Bureau of Investigation [Washington] March 14, 1922 Dear Mr. Burns: I enclose a copy of despatch No. 739, dated February 21, which has been received from Santo Domingo, relative to John Sidney Debourg [Sydney de Bourg], a British born subject of Granada [Grenada], and the representative of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League of the World. This is for your information and as being of possible interest. Very sincerely yours, W[.] L[.] H[.] Enclosure: From Santo Domingo, February 21, 1922 DNA, RG 59, 841-330. TLI.
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Report by Brigadier General Harry Lee, Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S. Marine Corps Headquarters Second Brigade, U.S. Marines, Santo Domingo City, Dominican Republic, 14 March, 1922 . . . It is recommended to the Military Governor that appropriate instructions be promulgated and enforced with regard to the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Blood Brotherhood, to the effect that those associations will not be allowed to function in the Dominican Republic during the period of the Military Occupation. Whatever may be the motives and objects of those associations, experience has proved that their existence has caused disquiet, and should not be permitted in view of conditions existing in this Republic, namely military occupation and the necessity for preventing disquiet and friction. HARRY LEE Brigadier General, U.S. Marine Corps, Commanding Second Brigade, U.S. Marines DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD.
W. L. Hurley, Office of the Under Secretary, U. S. State Department, to William J. Burns, Director, Bureau of Investigation [Washington] March 14, 1922 Dear Mr. Burns: I enclose a copy of despatch No. 739, dated February 21, which has been received from Santo Domingo, relative to John Sidney Debourg [Sydney de Bourg], a British born subject of Granada [Grenada], and the representative of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League of the World. This is for your information and as being of possible interest. Very sincerely yours, W[.] L[.] H[.] Enclosure: From Santo Domingo, February 21, 1922 DNA, RG 59, 841-330. TLI.
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Enclosure: William W. Russell1 to Charles Evans Hughes, U.S. Secretary of State LEGATION OF THE
United States of America, Santo Domingo, D.R., February 21, 1922 Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your No. 433 of January 19, 1922, enclosing a copy of a cable addressed to the President of the United States, dated San Pedro de Macoris, December 28, 1921, from “John Sidney Debourg [Sydney de Bourg], accepted representative,” and to report as follows: John Sidney de Bourg is a British born subject of Granada [Grenada], and is in this country as the representative of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League of the World. He entered the United States on a British passport, which passport was visaed by British officials for his trip to this Republic via Porto Rico [Puerto Rico]. Debourg has first papers for American citizenship issued by a court in Baltimore. Mr. Marcus Garvey, a British negro from Jamaica is at the head of the association which Debourg represents. In a procession some months ago of members of this Improvement Association the British flag was carried upside down, trampled and spit upon. The British Consul protested to the authorities, and trouble commenced. Another negro improvement association here is called the African Blood Brotherhood, and is represented by a certain Hennessy [Hennessey], a British negro. This latter association has been repudiated by the Garvey people, and there is bad blood between the two. Debourg was sent here by Garvey to investigate the incident of the insult to the British flag. Several members of the African Blood Brotherhood have been deported as pernicious foreigners, and a dozen others are awaiting deportation. Debourg is at present under arrest for violating the Orders of the Military District Commander in regard to holding public meetings. The military authorities represent Debourg as an inoffensive and well-intentioned mulatto, but in the control of the radical and rabid negro element. The reference to the Senate Committee in Debourg’s cable is not understood, as the cable is dated December 28, and the Senate Committee left on December 16, up to which latter date nothing had transpired in regard to the matter in question. I have the honor to be, Sir, Your obedient servant, WILLIAM W. RUSSELL American Minister [Addressed to:] The Honorable The Secretary of State, Washington DNA, RG 59, 841-330. TL. Marked “No. 739.”
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS 1. William W. Russell was reappointed American minister to the Dominican Republic on 19 October 1915 and became a protagonist in the developments that led up to the U.S. military occupation in 1916. In his first stint as minister in 1912, during a crisis related to the customs receivership established in 1907, he said that “only complete control by our Government would permanently insure order and justice” (Sumner Welles, Naboth’s Vineyard: The Dominican Republic, 1844–1924, vol. 2 [New York: Payson & Clarke, Ltd., 1928], p. 694). Russell delivered the note demanding that the Dominican government agree to the creation of a constabulary and the appointment of a financial adviser. With the support of opposition political leaders, President Juan Isidro Jimenes refused these conditions and eventually resigned, opening the way for the declaration of U.S. military occupation on 29 November 1916. During the occupation the Department of State ordered Russell to consult and cooperate with the military governor (Welles, Naboth’s Vineyard, pp. 757–758; Bruce J. Calder, The Impact of Intervention: The Dominican Republic during the U.S. Occupation of 1916–1924 [Austin: University of Texas Press, 1984], pp. 11–18, 20–24).
John Sydney de Bourg to Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic San Pedro de Macoris, R.D., 17 March, 1922
TELEGRAM Regardless respectful applications Wednesday and yesterday Major Kincaide [Kincade] obdurately withholding fine money. (Signed) J[OH]N SYDNEY DEBOURG [DE BOURG] [Addressed to:] Military Governor, Palacio [Typed endorsements:] 1st Endorsement 17 March, 1922 From: Military Governor of Santo Domingo. To: Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S. Marines. SUBJECT: Refunding Fine in Case of Sydney de Bourg. 1. It is directed that the fine imposed and collected from the above named man be refunded as soon as possible in accordance with the action of the Military Governor of March 2, 1922, disapproving the proceedings, findings and sentence in this case. S. S. ROBISON
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS 1. William W. Russell was reappointed American minister to the Dominican Republic on 19 October 1915 and became a protagonist in the developments that led up to the U.S. military occupation in 1916. In his first stint as minister in 1912, during a crisis related to the customs receivership established in 1907, he said that “only complete control by our Government would permanently insure order and justice” (Sumner Welles, Naboth’s Vineyard: The Dominican Republic, 1844–1924, vol. 2 [New York: Payson & Clarke, Ltd., 1928], p. 694). Russell delivered the note demanding that the Dominican government agree to the creation of a constabulary and the appointment of a financial adviser. With the support of opposition political leaders, President Juan Isidro Jimenes refused these conditions and eventually resigned, opening the way for the declaration of U.S. military occupation on 29 November 1916. During the occupation the Department of State ordered Russell to consult and cooperate with the military governor (Welles, Naboth’s Vineyard, pp. 757–758; Bruce J. Calder, The Impact of Intervention: The Dominican Republic during the U.S. Occupation of 1916–1924 [Austin: University of Texas Press, 1984], pp. 11–18, 20–24).
John Sydney de Bourg to Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic San Pedro de Macoris, R.D., 17 March, 1922
TELEGRAM Regardless respectful applications Wednesday and yesterday Major Kincaide [Kincade] obdurately withholding fine money. (Signed) J[OH]N SYDNEY DEBOURG [DE BOURG] [Addressed to:] Military Governor, Palacio [Typed endorsements:] 1st Endorsement 17 March, 1922 From: Military Governor of Santo Domingo. To: Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S. Marines. SUBJECT: Refunding Fine in Case of Sydney de Bourg. 1. It is directed that the fine imposed and collected from the above named man be refunded as soon as possible in accordance with the action of the Military Governor of March 2, 1922, disapproving the proceedings, findings and sentence in this case. S. S. ROBISON
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MARCH 1922 HEADQUARTERS SECOND BRIGADE, U.S. MARINES, Santo Domingo City, D.R.,
March 17th, 1922 From: The Commanding General. To: The Military Gov[e]rnor of Santo Domingo. SUBJECT: Provost Court in the Case of Sidney de Bourg. 1. Forwarded with the information that these Headquarters has no funds within the Provost Marshal General’s Department for the purpose of returning the fine [paid] by Sidney de Bourg. 2. In view of the fact that all funds for the provost Marshal General’s Department have emanated from the Military Government, instructions are requested in the premises. HARRY LEE 2nd Endorsement [Santo Domingo] 18th March, 1922 From: Military Governor of Santo Domingo. To: Commanding General, Second Brigade, U.S. Marines. SUBJECT: Provost Court in the Case of Sidney de Bourg. 1. Returned. 2. The amount of $300.00 will be turned over to the Provost Fund from the Intelligence Fund, money being obtained for the Intelligence Fund by special requisition. The fine paid by Sidney de Bourg will then be immediately returned to him. The Intelligence Fund will later be reimbursed for this amount from the Provost Fund. 3. In the future, under no circumstances will any expenditures of collected fines be made until final approval of the sentences, under which the fines are collected, by the Military Governor. S. S. ROBISON Copy to Department of Interior and Police. Department of Hacienda y Comercio. DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TG, copy.
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Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic, to the Department of Agriculture and Immigration [Santo Domingo] 20 March, 1922 From: Military Governor of Santo Domingo. To: Department of Agriculture & Immigration. SUBJECT:
Deportation of James W. Halley, San Pedro de Macoris, R.D.
1. James W. Halley, now confined in San Pedro de Macoris waiting deportation, will be released from confinement and the order of deportation in his case will be held in abeyance. He will be permitted to remain in this Republic on probation depending upon his future good conduct and proper observance of Dominican Laws. S. S. ROBISON DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD.
Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic, to John Sydney de Bourg [Santo Domingo] 21 March, 1922 Sir: You are informed that, after careful consideration of the report of an investigation in the case of James Halley, now confined in San Pedro de Macoris awaiting deportation from this Republic, it has been decided that there exist sufficient and just grounds for his deportation as an undesirable resident in this Republic in that he has not shown proper observance of Dominican laws. However, in view of the fact that this man has been confined for a considerable length of time awaiting deportation and the termination of investigation into the affairs of the United Negro Improvement Association, and in view of the fact that he is the secretary of this organization and the custodian of its official records, the Military Governor is disposed to exercise leniency in his case. Orders have been issued for his release from confinement and the order of deportation in this case will be held in abeyance. He will be permitted to
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Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic, to the Department of Agriculture and Immigration [Santo Domingo] 20 March, 1922 From: Military Governor of Santo Domingo. To: Department of Agriculture & Immigration. SUBJECT:
Deportation of James W. Halley, San Pedro de Macoris, R.D.
1. James W. Halley, now confined in San Pedro de Macoris waiting deportation, will be released from confinement and the order of deportation in his case will be held in abeyance. He will be permitted to remain in this Republic on probation depending upon his future good conduct and proper observance of Dominican Laws. S. S. ROBISON DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD.
Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic, to John Sydney de Bourg [Santo Domingo] 21 March, 1922 Sir: You are informed that, after careful consideration of the report of an investigation in the case of James Halley, now confined in San Pedro de Macoris awaiting deportation from this Republic, it has been decided that there exist sufficient and just grounds for his deportation as an undesirable resident in this Republic in that he has not shown proper observance of Dominican laws. However, in view of the fact that this man has been confined for a considerable length of time awaiting deportation and the termination of investigation into the affairs of the United Negro Improvement Association, and in view of the fact that he is the secretary of this organization and the custodian of its official records, the Military Governor is disposed to exercise leniency in his case. Orders have been issued for his release from confinement and the order of deportation in this case will be held in abeyance. He will be permitted to
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remain in this Republic on probation, depending upon his future good behavior and proper observance of Dominican laws. Very truly yours, S. S. ROBISON Rear Admiral, United States Navy, Military Governor of Santo Domingo [Addressed to:] Mr. Sydney de Bourg, Barrio S. Calle 14, Casa 91, San Pedro de Macoris DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TL, copy.
Declaration by Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic MILITARY GOVERNMENT OF SANTO DOMINGO, OFFICE OF THE MILITARY GOVERNOR,
Santo Domingo City, D.R., 21 March, 1922 The question as to the functioning of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Blood Brotherhood will be referred to the Dominican civil authorities, and these societies will be allowed to function in the Dominican Republic at the discre[t]ion of such authorities provided they comply in every respect with the Dominican law. However, in view of the past history of these associations as shown in the record of the Board of Investigation, special regulations in regard to their operation will be formulated by the Dominican civil authorities, and special supervision over their actions will be effected by the same authorities. In this connection James W. Halley, secretary of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, now confined in San Pedro de Macoris awaiting deportation, will be released from confinement and the records of the Universal Negro Improvement Association will be turned over to him. The execution of the deportation order in his case will be held in abeyance and he will be allowed to remain in the Dominican Republic on probation depending upon his future good behavior and proper observance of Dominican laws. Appropriate instructions will be issued to execute the policy outlined above. S. S. ROBISON Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy, Military Governor of Santo Domingo
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remain in this Republic on probation, depending upon his future good behavior and proper observance of Dominican laws. Very truly yours, S. S. ROBISON Rear Admiral, United States Navy, Military Governor of Santo Domingo [Addressed to:] Mr. Sydney de Bourg, Barrio S. Calle 14, Casa 91, San Pedro de Macoris DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TL, copy.
Declaration by Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic MILITARY GOVERNMENT OF SANTO DOMINGO, OFFICE OF THE MILITARY GOVERNOR,
Santo Domingo City, D.R., 21 March, 1922 The question as to the functioning of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Blood Brotherhood will be referred to the Dominican civil authorities, and these societies will be allowed to function in the Dominican Republic at the discre[t]ion of such authorities provided they comply in every respect with the Dominican law. However, in view of the past history of these associations as shown in the record of the Board of Investigation, special regulations in regard to their operation will be formulated by the Dominican civil authorities, and special supervision over their actions will be effected by the same authorities. In this connection James W. Halley, secretary of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, now confined in San Pedro de Macoris awaiting deportation, will be released from confinement and the records of the Universal Negro Improvement Association will be turned over to him. The execution of the deportation order in his case will be held in abeyance and he will be allowed to remain in the Dominican Republic on probation depending upon his future good behavior and proper observance of Dominican laws. Appropriate instructions will be issued to execute the policy outlined above. S. S. ROBISON Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy, Military Governor of Santo Domingo
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS [Handwritten note:] 3/23/22 Note: Lieut Kilmartin will furnish us with a copy of the Record. DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TL.
Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic, to John Sydney de Bourg [Santo Domingo] 22 March, 1922 Sir: You are informed that after careful consideration of the results of the Board of Investigation appointed to inquire into the affairs of the two associations, Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Blood Brotherhood, decision has been made to the following effect: (a) That their existence and operation has not been conducive to good order in this Republic and that they have operated without proper compliance with Dominican Law. (b) That the arrest, trial and conviction by Dominican Civil Courts of D. E. Phillips, Wm. J. Butler, J. [T]. Carey, Chas. E. [Charles A.] Henry and James W. Halley, and the deportation of these people, with the exception of James W. Halley, were just and legal as they failed to show proper observance of Dominican Laws. (c) That there exists sufficient and just grounds for the deportation of James W. Halley as an undesirable resident of this Republic. However, in view of the fact that James W. Halley has been confined for a considerable length of time awaiting deportation and the termination of investigation into the affairs of the United Negro Improvement Association, and in view of the fact that he is the secretary of this organization and the custodian of its official records, the Military Governor is disposed to exercise leniency in his case. Orders have been issued for his release from confinement and the order for deportation in this case will be held in abeyance. He will be permitted to remain in this Republic on probation, depending upon his future good behavior and proper observance of Dominican Laws. The question as to the functioning of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Blood Brotherhood will be referred to the Dominica[n] Civil Authorities and these societies will be allowed to function in the Dominican Republic at the discretion of such authorities provided they comply in every respect with the Dominican Law.
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS [Handwritten note:] 3/23/22 Note: Lieut Kilmartin will furnish us with a copy of the Record. DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TL.
Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic, to John Sydney de Bourg [Santo Domingo] 22 March, 1922 Sir: You are informed that after careful consideration of the results of the Board of Investigation appointed to inquire into the affairs of the two associations, Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Blood Brotherhood, decision has been made to the following effect: (a) That their existence and operation has not been conducive to good order in this Republic and that they have operated without proper compliance with Dominican Law. (b) That the arrest, trial and conviction by Dominican Civil Courts of D. E. Phillips, Wm. J. Butler, J. [T]. Carey, Chas. E. [Charles A.] Henry and James W. Halley, and the deportation of these people, with the exception of James W. Halley, were just and legal as they failed to show proper observance of Dominican Laws. (c) That there exists sufficient and just grounds for the deportation of James W. Halley as an undesirable resident of this Republic. However, in view of the fact that James W. Halley has been confined for a considerable length of time awaiting deportation and the termination of investigation into the affairs of the United Negro Improvement Association, and in view of the fact that he is the secretary of this organization and the custodian of its official records, the Military Governor is disposed to exercise leniency in his case. Orders have been issued for his release from confinement and the order for deportation in this case will be held in abeyance. He will be permitted to remain in this Republic on probation, depending upon his future good behavior and proper observance of Dominican Laws. The question as to the functioning of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Blood Brotherhood will be referred to the Dominica[n] Civil Authorities and these societies will be allowed to function in the Dominican Republic at the discretion of such authorities provided they comply in every respect with the Dominican Law.
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However, in view of the past history of these associations as shown in the record of the Board of Investigation, special regulations in regard to their operation will be formulated by the Dominican Civil Authorities and special supervision over their actions will be effected by the same authorities. The records of the Universal Negro Improvement Association will be turned over to James W. Halley upon his release from confinement and you are advised to proceed in accordance with Dominican Law to obtain the proper authority for the functioning of the Universal Negro Improvement Association in this Republic. Yours very truly, S. S. ROBISON Rear Admiral, United States Navy, Military Governor of Santo Domingo [Addressed to:] Mr. Sydney de Bourg, Barrio S. Calle 14, Casa 91, San Pedro de Macoris, R.D. DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TL.
Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic, to Theodore Roosevelt Jr., Assistant Secretary, U.S. Navy [Santo Domingo] 23 March, 1922 From: Military Governor of Santo Domingo. To: Assistant Secretary of the Navy. SUBJECT:
Alleged persecution of several members of the Universal Negro Improvement Association.
Reference: (a) Assistant Secretary’s letter dated Nov. 8, 1921. (b) Acting Military Governor’s 1st End. #262–22 of Jan. 31, 1922. 1. Supplementing the report made in reference (b), in regard to the alleged persecution of several members of the Universal Negro Improvement Association at San Pedro de Macoris, D.R., the following decision has been made after very carefully considering the report of the Board of Investigation appointed to inquire into the affairs of the two associations, Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Blood Brotherhood: (a) That their existence and operation has not been conducive to good order in this Republic and that they have operated without proper compliance with Dominican Law. 275
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However, in view of the past history of these associations as shown in the record of the Board of Investigation, special regulations in regard to their operation will be formulated by the Dominican Civil Authorities and special supervision over their actions will be effected by the same authorities. The records of the Universal Negro Improvement Association will be turned over to James W. Halley upon his release from confinement and you are advised to proceed in accordance with Dominican Law to obtain the proper authority for the functioning of the Universal Negro Improvement Association in this Republic. Yours very truly, S. S. ROBISON Rear Admiral, United States Navy, Military Governor of Santo Domingo [Addressed to:] Mr. Sydney de Bourg, Barrio S. Calle 14, Casa 91, San Pedro de Macoris, R.D. DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TL.
Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic, to Theodore Roosevelt Jr., Assistant Secretary, U.S. Navy [Santo Domingo] 23 March, 1922 From: Military Governor of Santo Domingo. To: Assistant Secretary of the Navy. SUBJECT:
Alleged persecution of several members of the Universal Negro Improvement Association.
Reference: (a) Assistant Secretary’s letter dated Nov. 8, 1921. (b) Acting Military Governor’s 1st End. #262–22 of Jan. 31, 1922. 1. Supplementing the report made in reference (b), in regard to the alleged persecution of several members of the Universal Negro Improvement Association at San Pedro de Macoris, D.R., the following decision has been made after very carefully considering the report of the Board of Investigation appointed to inquire into the affairs of the two associations, Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Blood Brotherhood: (a) That their existence and operation has not been conducive to good order in this Republic and that they have operated without proper compliance with Dominican Law. 275
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(b) That the arrest, trial and conviction by Dominican Civil Courts of the four members deported were legal and just as they failed to show proper observance of Dominican Law. (c) The question as to the functioning of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Blood Brotherhood will be referred to the Dominican civil authorities and these societies will be allowed to function in the Dominican Republic at the discretion of such authorities provided they comply in every respect with the Dominican Law. (d) In view of the past history of these associations as shown in the record of the Board of Investigation, special regulations in regard to their operation will be formulated by the Dominican civil authorities and special supervision over their actions will be effected by the same authorities. (e) The records of the Universal Negro Improvement Association will be turned over to the secretary of that association and he will be advised to proceed in accordance with Dominican Law to obtain the proper authority for the functioning of the Universal Negro Improvement Association in this Republic. S. S. ROBISON DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD.
W. L. Hurley, Office of the Under Secretary, U.S. State Department, to William J. Burns, Director, Bureau of Investigation [Washington] March 29, 1922 Dear Mr. Burns: For your strictly confidential information I enclose herewith copy of despatch No. 181, dated March 9, which has been received from the American Consulate at Guatemala City, Guatemala, relative to negro activities at Puerto Barrios. Very truly yours, W[.] L[.] H[.] DNA, RG 59, 000-612. TLI.
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(b) That the arrest, trial and conviction by Dominican Civil Courts of the four members deported were legal and just as they failed to show proper observance of Dominican Law. (c) The question as to the functioning of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Blood Brotherhood will be referred to the Dominican civil authorities and these societies will be allowed to function in the Dominican Republic at the discretion of such authorities provided they comply in every respect with the Dominican Law. (d) In view of the past history of these associations as shown in the record of the Board of Investigation, special regulations in regard to their operation will be formulated by the Dominican civil authorities and special supervision over their actions will be effected by the same authorities. (e) The records of the Universal Negro Improvement Association will be turned over to the secretary of that association and he will be advised to proceed in accordance with Dominican Law to obtain the proper authority for the functioning of the Universal Negro Improvement Association in this Republic. S. S. ROBISON DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD.
W. L. Hurley, Office of the Under Secretary, U.S. State Department, to William J. Burns, Director, Bureau of Investigation [Washington] March 29, 1922 Dear Mr. Burns: For your strictly confidential information I enclose herewith copy of despatch No. 181, dated March 9, which has been received from the American Consulate at Guatemala City, Guatemala, relative to negro activities at Puerto Barrios. Very truly yours, W[.] L[.] H[.] DNA, RG 59, 000-612. TLI.
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Enclosure: A. C. Frost, U.S. Consul, Guatemala City, to Charles Evans Hughes, U.S. Secretary of State AMERICAN CONSULATE, Guatemala City, Guatemala, March 9, 1922 SUBJECT:
Negro Activities at Puerto Barrios.
SIR:
I have the honor to inform the Department that W. C. Hutchinson, American Vice Consul at Puerto Barrios, Guatemala, has advised the Consulate that the United Fruit Company at that port during four months, November, 1921, to February, 1922, sold drafts payable to the “Black Star Steamship Line” and the “Negro Improvement Association” to the value of $2,941.08.1 The total number of drafts sent were thirty-six, containing sums varying from $5.00 to $235.00. About one-third were in favor of the “Black Star Steamship Line” and the balance in favor of the “Negro Improvement Association.” It is believed that the total amount transmitted is much larger, since many drafts were in the name of the person purchasing them and may have been endorsed to the above-mentioned organizations. As Puerto Barrios has a population of 2,400 only, it is obvious that the efforts of these concerns have been very successful. Mr. Hutchinson states that, according to a recent article2 in the NEW YORK TIMES, Marcus Garvey, publisher of the NEGRO WORLD, president of the “Black Star Steamship Line,” and head of the “Negro Improvement Association,” has been arrested for using the United States mails for fraudulent purposes, and it is thought that the foregoing information may be of interest to the Department of Justice. I have the honor to be, Sir, Your obedient servant, A. C. FROST Consul [Addressed to:] THE HONORABLE THE SECRETARY OF STATE, WASHINGTON DNA, RG 59, 811.108G191/27 (1910–1929). TLS, recipient’s copy. Marked “No. 181.” 1. In May 1920 the Negro World stated “the colored population of Puerto Barrios proper doesn’t exceed 500 people” (“Guatemala Gets on the Map,” NW, 31 May 1920), the average contribution to the UNIA would have been approximately $6.00 per person. This was at a time when wages in Puerto Barrios were $3.00 per day or less for most workers. 2. The first New York Times article reporting the arrest of Marcus Garvey was published 13 January 1922. The subject was taken up again in articles on 17 and 18 February 1922. The NYT reported that Garvey and his associates were charged with using the mail to defraud. The government alleged that the Black Star owned only a little excursion vessel but that the company was advertising that it had three ships in operation and was expecting a new addition soon. In the 17 February article, the NYT erroneously reported Garvey as president of the Association for the Advancement of
277
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS the Colored Race. The mistake was retracted on 20 February 1922 (NYT, 13 January, 17 February, 18 February, and 20 February 1922).
William J. Burns, Director, Bureau of Investigation, to W. L. Hurley, Office of the Under Secretary, U.S. State Department Bureau of Investigation, Washington, D.C. March 31, 1922 My dear Mr. Hurley: I wish to thank you for your communication of the 29th instant, transmitting copy of despatch No. 181, dated March 9th, received from the American Consulate at Guatemala City, Guatemala, relative to negro activities at Puerto Barrios. I assure you that this information is of interest to us in connection with our investigation of the Black Star Line, in re MARCUS GARVEY. Very truly yours, W[.] J[.] BURNS Director DNA, RG 59, 000-612. TLS, recipient’s copy. On Department of Justice letterhead.
Colonel L. H. Moses, Officer Administering the Affairs of the Department of the Interior and Police, Dominican Republic, to Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic Santo Domingo, R.D., April 6th, 1922 From: The Secretaria de E. de lo Interior & Policia. To: The Military Governor. Subject: Universal Negro Improvement Association. Ref.: Your letter #807-22-L-RWR- dated March 22, 1922. 1.—The undersigned had recently an opportunity of getting in contact with this Association and as a result does not believe that it constitutes any menace to peace and good order in the Republic.
278
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS the Colored Race. The mistake was retracted on 20 February 1922 (NYT, 13 January, 17 February, 18 February, and 20 February 1922).
William J. Burns, Director, Bureau of Investigation, to W. L. Hurley, Office of the Under Secretary, U.S. State Department Bureau of Investigation, Washington, D.C. March 31, 1922 My dear Mr. Hurley: I wish to thank you for your communication of the 29th instant, transmitting copy of despatch No. 181, dated March 9th, received from the American Consulate at Guatemala City, Guatemala, relative to negro activities at Puerto Barrios. I assure you that this information is of interest to us in connection with our investigation of the Black Star Line, in re MARCUS GARVEY. Very truly yours, W[.] J[.] BURNS Director DNA, RG 59, 000-612. TLS, recipient’s copy. On Department of Justice letterhead.
Colonel L. H. Moses, Officer Administering the Affairs of the Department of the Interior and Police, Dominican Republic, to Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic Santo Domingo, R.D., April 6th, 1922 From: The Secretaria de E. de lo Interior & Policia. To: The Military Governor. Subject: Universal Negro Improvement Association. Ref.: Your letter #807-22-L-RWR- dated March 22, 1922. 1.—The undersigned had recently an opportunity of getting in contact with this Association and as a result does not believe that it constitutes any menace to peace and good order in the Republic.
278
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS the Colored Race. The mistake was retracted on 20 February 1922 (NYT, 13 January, 17 February, 18 February, and 20 February 1922).
William J. Burns, Director, Bureau of Investigation, to W. L. Hurley, Office of the Under Secretary, U.S. State Department Bureau of Investigation, Washington, D.C. March 31, 1922 My dear Mr. Hurley: I wish to thank you for your communication of the 29th instant, transmitting copy of despatch No. 181, dated March 9th, received from the American Consulate at Guatemala City, Guatemala, relative to negro activities at Puerto Barrios. I assure you that this information is of interest to us in connection with our investigation of the Black Star Line, in re MARCUS GARVEY. Very truly yours, W[.] J[.] BURNS Director DNA, RG 59, 000-612. TLS, recipient’s copy. On Department of Justice letterhead.
Colonel L. H. Moses, Officer Administering the Affairs of the Department of the Interior and Police, Dominican Republic, to Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Military Governor, Dominican Republic Santo Domingo, R.D., April 6th, 1922 From: The Secretaria de E. de lo Interior & Policia. To: The Military Governor. Subject: Universal Negro Improvement Association. Ref.: Your letter #807-22-L-RWR- dated March 22, 1922. 1.—The undersigned had recently an opportunity of getting in contact with this Association and as a result does not believe that it constitutes any menace to peace and good order in the Republic.
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2.—The Dominican Laws afford protection to this Society so long as it commits no illegal acts and also provide the necessary remedy should it do so. 3.—Mr. James W. Halley has been set at liberty and in his case the protection which the Government desires to afford to all the members will depend on his future conduct. 4.—Detailed instructions will be given to the Civil Governor of San Pedro de Macoris to e[xe]rcise such supervision over the activities of said Society as may be necessary. L. H. MOSES Colonel U.S.M.C. Officer administering the affairs of the Dept. of Interior & Police For the Military Government. [Typed endorsement:] 1st Endorsement 7 April, 1922 From: Military Governor of Santo Domingo To: Department of Justice and Public Instruction Subject: Universal Negro Improvement Association 1. Referred for statement as to whether this Society is now operating in accordance with Dominican law. F. U. LAKE By direction DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD.
S. Philip to J. R. Ralph Casimir Guaico Trinidad, B.W.I. 8th April [19]22 Hello Ralph: Yours of recent date received safe to hand and contents carefully read and noted. I must also acknowledge receipt of three copies of Negro World newspaper1 for which I forward amount to cover cost of same by [Morancie?]. (20¢) At the same time in making these statement[s] I must not forget to tender to you the sincere greeting of myself[,] homecircle and beloved ones; and trusting that the [readers] of these few lines shall meet you enjoying health, happiness, prosperity and every other bliss that are found within the pre[c]inct of nature.
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2.—The Dominican Laws afford protection to this Society so long as it commits no illegal acts and also provide the necessary remedy should it do so. 3.—Mr. James W. Halley has been set at liberty and in his case the protection which the Government desires to afford to all the members will depend on his future conduct. 4.—Detailed instructions will be given to the Civil Governor of San Pedro de Macoris to e[xe]rcise such supervision over the activities of said Society as may be necessary. L. H. MOSES Colonel U.S.M.C. Officer administering the affairs of the Dept. of Interior & Police For the Military Government. [Typed endorsement:] 1st Endorsement 7 April, 1922 From: Military Governor of Santo Domingo To: Department of Justice and Public Instruction Subject: Universal Negro Improvement Association 1. Referred for statement as to whether this Society is now operating in accordance with Dominican law. F. U. LAKE By direction DNA, RG 38, M-201-M-202. TD.
S. Philip to J. R. Ralph Casimir Guaico Trinidad, B.W.I. 8th April [19]22 Hello Ralph: Yours of recent date received safe to hand and contents carefully read and noted. I must also acknowledge receipt of three copies of Negro World newspaper1 for which I forward amount to cover cost of same by [Morancie?]. (20¢) At the same time in making these statement[s] I must not forget to tender to you the sincere greeting of myself[,] homecircle and beloved ones; and trusting that the [readers] of these few lines shall meet you enjoying health, happiness, prosperity and every other bliss that are found within the pre[c]inct of nature.
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In reference to the assn it is very progressive in other part[s] of the island but is still under hard struggles [at?] Guaico, but anyway we expect to transfer it to Sangre Grande2 very soon, where to my opinion, it will go over the top. Concerning the printing press I have sent for it, and is expecting it down here about next month. I’m still continuing on my literary work which seems to be successful. No strange news at present to regards to the home circle, friends and members of the UNIA with a hope that they shall continue with the works until the goal is reach. Good night its now 1.30. Yours Fraternally S. PHILIP [Addressed to:] J. R. Ralph Casimir Roseau D/ca JRRC. ALS, recipient’s copy. 1. S. Philip received these papers contraband since the Sedition Ordinance prohibited the importation of any publication “continuously containing seditious matter.” The Negro World was specifically proscribed under the Sedition Ordinance. 2. Guaico is close to Sangre Grande, a larger village, or town, in the center of a cocoa district. By 1921 it was the largest village of eastern Trinidad (Michael Anthony, Towns and Villages of Trinidad and Tobago [Port of Spain: Circle Press, 1988], pp. 263, 268).
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D. J. Steyn-Pavré, Consul-General for the Netherlands, New York, to W. E. B. Du Bois, 13 April 1922 (Source: WEBDB)
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Draft Letter from Winston S. Churchill, Secretary of State, Colonial Office, to Wilfred Collet, Governor, British Guiana [London] 20 Apr [19]22 Sir, With ref to your Conf desp of the 6th May 1920, I [hasten?] to transmit to you the accomp. copy of a petition which was received by Mr Wood1 //at the moment of leaving// Demerara, asking for the withdrawal of the prohibition of the circulation of the “Negro World” in B. Guiana. 2) I request that you will inform the petitioners that Mr Wood received the petition on his departure and has now referred it to you for consideration and for the communication to the petitioners of your decision on the subject (Signed) WINSTON S. CHURCHILL [Handwritten minutes:] This paper appears to be kept out of the Colony, through the Post & Telegraphy Acts, Clauses 29 & 30. ? Send a copy of the petition in original conf. (the names //list// might be useful to the Colony) [in the margin: Yes GG], keeping a copy of the petition itself to the Gov rf 28028 for obs[ervations], explai[n] that the petition was handed to Mr Wood on his departure, & that he did not have time to deal with it. A[.] B[.] 11/4 This being to Mr. Wood & not to the S. of S., & being a matter on which we are I think bound to accept the view of the Governor I would ? Send petition to the Governor & ask him to inform the petitioners that Mr Wood received it on his departure & has //now// referred it to the Gov for decision cons[ideration] & for the commun[ication] to the petitioners of his decision on the subject. R[.] A[.] W[.] 12/4/22 The “Negro World” is a seditious and pestilent paper, tending to excite racial hatred; but I doubt the expediency of prohibiting its importation, as the result is that it is smuggled in, and the smuggled copies enjoy a wide circulation and probably carry more influence just because they are prohibited.
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APRIL 1922 However, we had better leave the matter to the local Govt. without comment E[.] R[.] D[.] 12/4 G. G. 12.4.22 S. W.14.4 at once TNA: PRO CO 318/373/02545. AL, draft. Marked “Confidential.” Stamped “C.O. 15942.” 1. Major E. F. L. Wood, parliamentary under secretary of state for the colonies, accompanied by W. G. A. Ormsby-Gore and R. A. Wiseman of the Colonial Office, arrived in British Guiana on 22 February 1922 as part of a parliamentary commission of enquiry into the state of the colony (Cecil Clementi, A Consitutional History of British Guiana [London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1937], pp. 347–348).
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Minutes (Source: TNA: PRO CO 318/378/02545)
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APRIL 1922
Enclosure: Petition by Members of the UNIA British Guiana Division [British Guiana, ca. April 1922] Major, the Honorable E. F. L. Wood. His Majesty’s Under Secretary of State for the Colonies. THE HUMBLE PETITION OF THE UNDERSIGNED PETITIONERS Respectfully showeth:— 1. That your Petitioners are members of the British Guiana Division of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities’ League—an organization numbering over four million (4,000,000) members, and is a friendly, humanitarian, charitable, educational, institutional, constructive and expansive society, founded by persons desiring to the utmost to work for the general uplift of the Negro peoples of the world, and the members of which pledge themselves to do all in their power to conserve the rights of their noble race, and to respect the rights of all mankind, believing always in the Brotherhood of Man and the Fatherhood of God. 2. That the main objects of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities’ League are:— (a) //T//o promote the spirit of integrity and love. (b) To reclaim the fallen and assist the needy. (c) To assist in civilizing the backward tribes of Africa. (d) To establish Commissionaries and Agencies in the principal countries of the world for the representation and protection of all Negroes, irrespective of nationality. (e) To establish Universities, Colleges, Academies and Schools for the education and culture of the people. (f) To conduct a world-wide Commercial and Industrial Intercourse for the good of the people, and to work for better conditions in all Negro Communities. 3. That the voice of the Universal Negro Improvement Association is the Negro World, a weekly newspaper printed in the United States of America, the Head quarters of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities’ League, and distributed to all parts of the world, including the British Colonies where there are divisions of the Association. 4. That the Negro World newspaper is the only medium by which the members of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities’ League are able to keep in full touch with the noble work performed by the Association in general. 5. That the Negro World newspaper is freely circulated in such British Colonies as Barbados, Antigua, Dominica, Bermuda, Jamaica, British Honduras, &C., and in the mother country England, we understand, without destroy285
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ing the morale of Negro citizens in those parts with regard to loyalty to His Majesty the King and the Empire. 6. That the Negro World newspaper is prohibited in British Guiana under threat of prosecution and punishment of any one bringing copies thereof into this Colony or circulating the same—although a Bill to prohibit such newspaper failed to pass its third reading in the local Parliament. 7. That we as members of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities’ League, British Guiana Division, regard this prohibition of the Negro World newspaper—the voice of our Association—as illegal, and therefore an infringement of our rights and privileges as loyal British Subjects. Wherefore your Petitioners respectfully pray that His Majesty’s Under Secretary of State for the Colonies who has so graciously and efficiently grappled with other important matters affecting the Colony of British Guiana and her sister Colonies,1 will take such steps as will ensure the admittance of the Negro World Newspaper into the Colony of British Guiana, and permit its circulation therein without hindrance or molestation. And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray. SAMUEL WADDELL—Secretary 44 Hadfield St. Geo[rge]town Demerara British Guiana Charles W[.] Thomas (President) George A. Faber (Treasurer) Silvester Sargent Sophia Benjamin //L[ady] Pres// R. H. Burnette Elouise D’Lyon Francis D’Lyon J. A[.] Benjamin C. L. James Benjamin Fraser Joseph Murray John Wilkinson George Thomas James Lashley G. Liverpool C. Richards R[.] F. Bayley Barbara L[.] Pollard Charles Bradshaw William Browne Herschell Rollon 286
Victor Vaughan Alphonso McDonald Delcina Chase Beatrice King H. H. A. [word illegible] Lawrence [A.?] O. Philips William Ryan Orinthia Ryan J. Wilson Isaac Agard A[.] [Jassimay] Wm[.] L. Munro Joseph Miller Louise Roberts A. Nicholaus Allan A. Thomas G[.] M[.] Welcome A. Joseph R. C. Small E. G. Haynes Morgiana B. McLean
APRIL 1922
Edgar Chase John C[.] Sandoal John Richard [Moore?] James Hamilton Edward H. Bowen2 Reynold A. Ping Theophilus Rollon [Lindon?] Moore Joseph [illegible] James C. [Hunte?] Alexander James Nathaniel [Diclo’s?] S. A. London Moses W. Fraser Amos Glen Eugene V. Parris Abraham Jordan William Cordle Cyril Craig Samuel Harris Emanuel King James Samuel Edward Fanfair Geo: E. Yearwood Edw: Battersfield Samuel Ezekiel Sampson William Adolphus Stephen Norman Thomas Joseph Lewis [J]as. W. Greenidge Oscar Lynch Jas H. Bovell3 George Cummings Joseph S[.] Mason Catherine Mason Cecil Taylor Martha Taylor Robert Taylor Charles Alleyne Joseph [Corlins?] Joseph Croft Frederick Robertson G[.] Springer John Gittens
G. C. Abrams D. T. Denny J. Cumberbatch E. A. Liverpool E. R. Baker Augustus James N. [D]owding Eliz[.] Sinasty Eliza. Lashley [George?] Thornhill W. Borman T. Sealey Alfred Durant Abraham Duncan [S. A. B.?] Barrow R[.] Davilar Chas: Banker James: A: Harewood Cyril C. C[ummings] Edward Taylor James [Dees?] C. A[.] George Marshall George Adolp. Faber Margaret Robinson Mary Wiltshire Anna Deville Allan Kingston Charles C[.] Clarke Elgina Simon Gladys Simon C[.] Mango Herbert F. Pollard George Thomas Joseph Elcock Charles Allen Joseph Blackmore Albert N. Sealey Galterin Lynch H. Husband David Scott Samuel West William E. Watkins Conrad Taite Orlando Gibbs 287
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Wm. A. Toussaint Charles Stephen Charles Devonish Catherine Robinson Fred Mansfield Alexander Ross Joseph Garnett Mabel Garnett Rebecca Edy Rebecca Baynes Adolphus Baynes4 [illegible] Barrow Elizabeth Abrigo [Herman] C. Blard Edward Bash R[.] Howard Jeremiah Barnaby Annie Archer Mrs. Brawdshaw [Jane] Smith James C[.] Sarjeant Catherine Lowestall Constance Williams C. A. Telman W[.] Benjamin Millicent Barrow Isadora Barrow Richard Linton David Hazlewood C[.] Farley R[.] Redmand C. H. Thompson Louisa Jones H. Lyken [signature illegible] Ada C. Chubb Angelina Patteson [signature illegible] Caroline Thompson Charles Carlton Breedy Henrietta Roberts Hubert Simpson Mandaline Sims Margret Cox
Pepper Collins Charles Forester Rose Chase Emily Thomas Edward Chase Martha Chase William Chase S. Forde G. Forde J[.] Grandison George Tropeman Rupert Denny Charles Benjamin Matilda Blackman Alicia Blackman Louisa Blackman George Blackman Frances Forde F. Herbert W[.] A[.] Matthews M[.] Burnett Walter Osborne B. Daniels Cecelia Lorcks Vincent Marshall A[.] Vaughan Joseph Lynds G. Lynds Miriam Deweever Pricilla Deweever R[.] Alleyne G[.] Pollard Christopher Hall L. Philips Charles Thompson Mrs Gladys Garraway Mrs Lydia Glen Mr James Edgehill Cyril [E]. Williams Edith Mansfield Richard Thompson5 Paul Rodney Cyril Simon Hilton Simon 288
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Vincent Edward Daniel Thomas John Eastman Joseph B[.] Harris Isaac Squires G[.] [J]. Hall J. E. Gibb R. Duke B[.] Licorice James J[.] A[.] Milkins C[.] Lord J[.] [Seagrille?] S. Williams Hubert Clarke [signature illegible] Hilbert Tas Van Cooten Joseph Hoyte Jane Hoyte Theresa Knights A[.] H[.] Fraser James [Cummings?] Mary Vaugn Donald Eastman Nathaniel Howe Sarah L[.] Hazlewood Ethel Bayrd E. A. Taylor Joseph Bonnett Theop. J. Homer [Mary] Sitman [Horaver?] Homer Alice Jackman Henry Callender Hubert Joseph Nathaniel Willing Stanley Hunt Thomas Hackett Esau Nathaniel Moe Theophilus Daly W[.] [Br]own Anskin Smith Julian Hazel Hill George Jones Wm. A. Moore
Jahleel Moors H. C. Downs William Reid James Edw: Adeonis Charles Lambert Joseph Deane Ciseely Lewis Roscelane Grant George Wilkins Rosalin Campbell Angelina Douglas John Bartt Jonas Jacobs Francis F. Roberts Philip Saunders John Andries Joseph [Small?] Cyril Bailey Ernest Rogers Edward B. H. Gill William Hosannah Caroline Hosannah Robert B. Smith Geo[.] Eversley James Beaton [W. T. Banter?] R. F. Prescod [Jno. T.?] Baumfield J. Prescod H. A. Jones C[.] Adams B[.] Witter P. N. Grainger E. S. [W]ilson W. J. Wilson Edwin Wharton C. C. Kenn S. A. Parris Edward [illegible] George Dennis A. Moore Saml. Reid W. Nurse F. Austin 289
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Ruby Duke Edward Fraiser Emily Phillips Cecil H[.] Blackmore Violet Watkins Rosaline Griffith Joseph Prims E[.] [Sudwate?] Geraldine Burgess Charles Marshall Richard Austin Christopher D’Lyon Vernon Allenby James Edwards Albertha Welsh Philip [illegible] Mary A. Williams John A[.] Meusa [Tho. Battersfield?] Joseph Reid M. Russell J[.] Brandon Princess V. Corbin S. Waddell E. [T]. Troy J. R. Codrington Noah Williams [W]ill Bowen Martha Bowen John Tross Thomas Edwards Harriett Stewart Louisa Scott Aaron J. Waithe Virgina Slater Cecil Austin Mary Austin *Emile Austin *Isabella Austin *Gladys Austin *Betsy Austin *Elizabeth Austin Frances Austin Ruby McDavid
C[.] Aanan John White Joseph Taylor James J[.] Barrow Stanley Austin W. Jackman G. Ford F. Norville E[.] Ramat L. J. Holder Simeon A[.] Holder Frederick Cush Haman J. Agaral Maud B. Richards Gertrude Forrester Dorothy Pollard S. Whitehall Wilfred W. Young Christopher [Gisch?] Thos. C. Gordon Isabella King Gertrude Cummings William Moore W. B. Gordon John Da Costa Daisy Whyte Cyril M. Henry Samuel Duke Virginia Goliath Ethel Taylor Julia Griffith Sophia Mitchell Irene Hynds Ursula Willia[ms] L[.] Prescot Margaret Douglas Catherine Ward Caroline Munroe Eloise Smith William Best Maria Rampaul Adele [ne?] Hackett Millicent Collymore Mary Thompson 290
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Florence McDavid Lydia Anderson Cecil Chapman A[.] P[.] Bennett Marie-G[emenette] Bennet E. Denny A. Thornhill Jos. Barker Ursilla Allen Ruth Lashley6 Thomas Lashley Rose Haywood Alice A. Archer Francis King Isabella King Sophia Payne Catherine Thomas Alice Watkins George Murry Caroline Barnaby James Smith7 Samuel Gill Princess Thompson Frederick Thompson A. Hopkinson Maud Mc[Garell] Pearly Matthews Bell Haywood Jane Hercules Albert Price Martha Bynoe J[.] Graham C. Walter-Smith J[.] McGarrell Jno. E. Hewitt Charles Vead P. S. Paul C. Birmingham S. R. Babb C[.] McGarrell L[.] McGarrell Richard Shaker Walcott W. James Edgar Henry
James Applewhite Egbert Brotherson Maggie Jacline Beatrice Sargent Cholotte Williams Edward Deweever Joseph Lynch Carmen Hazlewood Tommy Barnwall Charles B[.] Gill Gladstone Glen Arthur Glen Abraham Glen [Namani] Glen Emily Glen Harold Johnston Judith Adina Allen Catherine Forde G. Franklin J. Moore Ida Boberts Irene Roberts Albertha Taylor Julia Taylor James Jaffreys Walter Wright Lilian Lake Mary Cadogan Wm[.] A[.] Chapman Theresa Thomas Rachel Ridley Joseph Graham Joseph Harris James A. Parris Walter Grandison St. Clair-Bovman [illegible] Andrew James N. Chapman John Tudor Violet White Maud Wickham B. Slater Emily Adams Daisy White 291
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Margaret Clementson James Bar[tley] Agarta Branche
John A. Doris J. Edmondson (and others)
TNA: PRO CO 318/373/02545. TLS, recipient’s copy. 1. The reference to the alleged efficiency of the Wood Commission may have been a “diplomatic” statement by the UNIA petitioners. The Wood Commission, which arrived in the colony at the peak of the economic recession caused by the slump in sugar prices, reported favorably on the operation of the existing Crown Colony constitution and on the political order in the colony in general. According to one writer, the commission “seemed oblivious of the problems and seething anger of the dispossessed. Indeed, it found no general physical distress, discovered ‘little or no unemployment’ and was impressed with the ‘cheapness of the cost of living in the Tropics.’” The writer concluded that the “Colonial [authorities] and the interested public were completely mislead by this Commission” (James Rose, “The Emergence of Crown Colony Government, 1926–1928,” Stabroek News, 31 January 1997; Cecil Clementi, A Constitutional History of British Guiana [London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1937], pp. 347–348). 2. Edward Bowen was a resident of Plaisance village on the east coast of Demerara. 3. Jas. H. Bovell, a painter, lived in the Kitty district of the capital and reportedly died in the 1970s. 4. Adolphus Baynes, a coconut oil merchant, was a resident of Victoria Village. His father, Fitzgerald Baynes, came from New York. 5. Richard Thompson was the head teacher at Victoria Village. 6. Ruth Lashley was a Berbician. 7. James Smith was a policeman.
H. N. Huggins, President, UNIA St. Vincent Division, to J. R. Ralph Casimir Stubbs P. O. St Vincent. B.W.I. April 20th, 1922 Dear Fellowman, I am in rec[ei]pt of your kind letter, very sorry you have not heard anything about photo, I thought I did reply when I rec[ei]ved same. I imagine its the pho[to] with regard our Leading Officials of the U.N.I.A. [I]f that is so, then I may confess, I am faulty for that. [A]ny way they are looking fine indeed! Especially our Leader Marcus Garvey. He is like a warrior already. Regard my division things are dead with my members[.] I cannot say when I had a meeting, its only some of the Officers would turn //up// now and again, I am writing continually to the parent body, and, rec[ei]ving answers too! About a month ago they told me as soon as they can see their way they will send out a representative[;] should the W. I. Leader pass at you, let him know please, he will have to spend a fortnight in St Vincent and he must wire to me[,] so as to put things straight[.] I am proud to hear of your progress, and also Africa[.] I pray God they would be successful and the U.N.I.A. would have its full swing in our Motherland[.]
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Margaret Clementson James Bar[tley] Agarta Branche
John A. Doris J. Edmondson (and others)
TNA: PRO CO 318/373/02545. TLS, recipient’s copy. 1. The reference to the alleged efficiency of the Wood Commission may have been a “diplomatic” statement by the UNIA petitioners. The Wood Commission, which arrived in the colony at the peak of the economic recession caused by the slump in sugar prices, reported favorably on the operation of the existing Crown Colony constitution and on the political order in the colony in general. According to one writer, the commission “seemed oblivious of the problems and seething anger of the dispossessed. Indeed, it found no general physical distress, discovered ‘little or no unemployment’ and was impressed with the ‘cheapness of the cost of living in the Tropics.’” The writer concluded that the “Colonial [authorities] and the interested public were completely mislead by this Commission” (James Rose, “The Emergence of Crown Colony Government, 1926–1928,” Stabroek News, 31 January 1997; Cecil Clementi, A Constitutional History of British Guiana [London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1937], pp. 347–348). 2. Edward Bowen was a resident of Plaisance village on the east coast of Demerara. 3. Jas. H. Bovell, a painter, lived in the Kitty district of the capital and reportedly died in the 1970s. 4. Adolphus Baynes, a coconut oil merchant, was a resident of Victoria Village. His father, Fitzgerald Baynes, came from New York. 5. Richard Thompson was the head teacher at Victoria Village. 6. Ruth Lashley was a Berbician. 7. James Smith was a policeman.
H. N. Huggins, President, UNIA St. Vincent Division, to J. R. Ralph Casimir Stubbs P. O. St Vincent. B.W.I. April 20th, 1922 Dear Fellowman, I am in rec[ei]pt of your kind letter, very sorry you have not heard anything about photo, I thought I did reply when I rec[ei]ved same. I imagine its the pho[to] with regard our Leading Officials of the U.N.I.A. [I]f that is so, then I may confess, I am faulty for that. [A]ny way they are looking fine indeed! Especially our Leader Marcus Garvey. He is like a warrior already. Regard my division things are dead with my members[.] I cannot say when I had a meeting, its only some of the Officers would turn //up// now and again, I am writing continually to the parent body, and, rec[ei]ving answers too! About a month ago they told me as soon as they can see their way they will send out a representative[;] should the W. I. Leader pass at you, let him know please, he will have to spend a fortnight in St Vincent and he must wire to me[,] so as to put things straight[.] I am proud to hear of your progress, and also Africa[.] I pray God they would be successful and the U.N.I.A. would have its full swing in our Motherland[.]
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[S]end as many papers as you can for me (Negro World) thirsty to read same, also rec[ei]ve by postal order 60 cents for past copies, sorry to keep cash so long. I am glad for the [photo] of our President General. I do not think there are any like unto him in this world again[.] The president General has just written me, asking to send the names of Ministers (Colored) and Churches to the office, I am now replying. Very glad to hear of your progress, our people this way is not believing they are doubting Thomases that[’]s why I [line or lines missing] [. . .] some of my officers to the same effect, and that help to cause my drawback, because, I kept my words up to now, and that officer did not keep his. [A]ny way, I am confident in hope, strong in my aim, for I know the time is coming. I hope Parent Body will send Officer soon to set me up again to run the race which the other people in the other Islands are running. I also summon my people when I rec[ei]ve news, but they won[’]t turn up to hear, any how. I trust I shall be able to let you know we are Improving in the near future. With very best wishes, I remain Fratern//al//ly yours H. N. HUGGINS President P.S. Send papers by mail if there[’]s any. H. N. H. JRRC. ALS, recipient’s copy.
Sidney L. M’Lean to Marcus Garvey [[Ancon, Canal Zone, ca. 22 April 1922]]
ON AFRIC’S BLEEDING SHORES Dear Sir and Brother:— Being an active member of No. 14 Chapter Guachapoli, Panama City, and a member of the Honorable Advisory Board, acting in the capacity of an associate judge, permit me to compliment you for the noble work you are carrying on for the advancement of our race. May you be endowed with all the blessings so that your labor will not be in vain; so that when the Great God of the Universe sees fit to summon you away to live with Him forever, you will depart from this world with a heart content, leaving your people in this habitat with an independent government on the shores of yonder bleeding Africa. The ignorant peasant without fault is greater than the philosopher with many, for what is genius or courage without a heart? Both with and under293
APRIL 1922
[S]end as many papers as you can for me (Negro World) thirsty to read same, also rec[ei]ve by postal order 60 cents for past copies, sorry to keep cash so long. I am glad for the [photo] of our President General. I do not think there are any like unto him in this world again[.] The president General has just written me, asking to send the names of Ministers (Colored) and Churches to the office, I am now replying. Very glad to hear of your progress, our people this way is not believing they are doubting Thomases that[’]s why I [line or lines missing] [. . .] some of my officers to the same effect, and that help to cause my drawback, because, I kept my words up to now, and that officer did not keep his. [A]ny way, I am confident in hope, strong in my aim, for I know the time is coming. I hope Parent Body will send Officer soon to set me up again to run the race which the other people in the other Islands are running. I also summon my people when I rec[ei]ve news, but they won[’]t turn up to hear, any how. I trust I shall be able to let you know we are Improving in the near future. With very best wishes, I remain Fratern//al//ly yours H. N. HUGGINS President P.S. Send papers by mail if there[’]s any. H. N. H. JRRC. ALS, recipient’s copy.
Sidney L. M’Lean to Marcus Garvey [[Ancon, Canal Zone, ca. 22 April 1922]]
ON AFRIC’S BLEEDING SHORES Dear Sir and Brother:— Being an active member of No. 14 Chapter Guachapoli, Panama City, and a member of the Honorable Advisory Board, acting in the capacity of an associate judge, permit me to compliment you for the noble work you are carrying on for the advancement of our race. May you be endowed with all the blessings so that your labor will not be in vain; so that when the Great God of the Universe sees fit to summon you away to live with Him forever, you will depart from this world with a heart content, leaving your people in this habitat with an independent government on the shores of yonder bleeding Africa. The ignorant peasant without fault is greater than the philosopher with many, for what is genius or courage without a heart? Both with and under293
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standing are trifles without integrity. “An honest man is the noblest work of God.” God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform; He plants His footstepes in the sea, And rides upon the storm.1 With kind regards for yourself and energetic staff, and wishing you continual success, I am, cordially and fraternally, SIDNEY L. M’LEAN [Addressed to:] The Honorable Marcus Garvey, President General, U.N.I.A. & A.C.L., New York Printed in NW, 22 April 1922. 1. William Cowper (1731–1800), “Light Shining out of Darkness,” Olney Hymns (1779).
Minutes of UNIA Meetings in Panama City Panama, 25 April 1922 PUBLIC DEED NUMBER ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY EIGHT—168 Whereby a minute covering two meetings of the Board of Directors of the company called “UNIVERSAL NEGRO IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION & AFRICAN COMMUNITIES LEAGUE” located in this city, is protocolized [notarized or incorporated into the official record].— In the city of Panama, capital of the Republic and of the Notarial Circuit of the same name, on April twenty five, one thousand nine hundred and twenty two, appeared Mr. Alfred Oglive-Smith, male, of full age, married, and with residence in this city; he has presented to be protocolized a minute covering two meetings held by the Board of Directors of the company called “UNIVERSAL NEGRO IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION & AFRICAN COMMUNITIES LEAGUE,” a legal Person duly accredited and registered in the Public Registry.—Said minute has been issued by the Secretary of said Association, and I, SAMUEL BOYD, Second Notary Public of the Circuit of Panama hereby protocolizes the minute.—This document reads as follows:—“. . . In the city of Panama, on April nineteen, one thousand nine hundred and twenty two, in the rooms of the company called “UNIVERSAL NEGRO IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION & AFRICAN COMMUNITIES LEAGUE,” a legal person duly accredited and registered in the Public Registry, the members of the Board of Directors met. They are autho294
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standing are trifles without integrity. “An honest man is the noblest work of God.” God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform; He plants His footstepes in the sea, And rides upon the storm.1 With kind regards for yourself and energetic staff, and wishing you continual success, I am, cordially and fraternally, SIDNEY L. M’LEAN [Addressed to:] The Honorable Marcus Garvey, President General, U.N.I.A. & A.C.L., New York Printed in NW, 22 April 1922. 1. William Cowper (1731–1800), “Light Shining out of Darkness,” Olney Hymns (1779).
Minutes of UNIA Meetings in Panama City Panama, 25 April 1922 PUBLIC DEED NUMBER ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY EIGHT—168 Whereby a minute covering two meetings of the Board of Directors of the company called “UNIVERSAL NEGRO IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION & AFRICAN COMMUNITIES LEAGUE” located in this city, is protocolized [notarized or incorporated into the official record].— In the city of Panama, capital of the Republic and of the Notarial Circuit of the same name, on April twenty five, one thousand nine hundred and twenty two, appeared Mr. Alfred Oglive-Smith, male, of full age, married, and with residence in this city; he has presented to be protocolized a minute covering two meetings held by the Board of Directors of the company called “UNIVERSAL NEGRO IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION & AFRICAN COMMUNITIES LEAGUE,” a legal Person duly accredited and registered in the Public Registry.—Said minute has been issued by the Secretary of said Association, and I, SAMUEL BOYD, Second Notary Public of the Circuit of Panama hereby protocolizes the minute.—This document reads as follows:—“. . . In the city of Panama, on April nineteen, one thousand nine hundred and twenty two, in the rooms of the company called “UNIVERSAL NEGRO IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION & AFRICAN COMMUNITIES LEAGUE,” a legal person duly accredited and registered in the Public Registry, the members of the Board of Directors met. They are autho294
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rized to represent the company before the Courts of the Republic.—The objective of the meeting is to appoint the Board of Directors in charge of the business of the company for the coming period. With the presence of the already mentioned members, the election was held with the following results:— PRESIDENT:—Joseph Evanson Gadsby. VICE-PRESIDENT:—Charles Alvarez— SECRETARY:—Alfred O. Smith.—TREASURER: F. A. Sutherland—TRUSTEES:— Arthur Jones.—Robert Ward.—Fitz Herbert—Evanson Lewis—C. A. Richard.—Once this act ended, the meeting was adjourned. It is hereby attested that the foregoing constitute the Board of Directors of said company.—In witness whereof this minute is signed in the city of Panama, on April nineteen, one thousand nine hundred and twenty two, by all the interested parties—(Sgd.) Joseph Evanson Gadsby, President; Charles Alvarez, Vice-President; Alfred C. Smith, Secretary; F. A. Sutherland, Treasurer; Trustees: Arthur Jones; Robert Ward, Fits Herbert, Evenson Lewis, C. A. Richard.— In the city of Panama, on April nineteen, one thousand nine hundred and twenty two, in the rooms of the company called “UNIVERSAL NEGRO IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION & AFRICAN COMMUNITIES LEAGUE,” the Board of Directors of said company met.—It was unanimously agreed that it was necessary and urgent to adopt the proper measures in order to reclaim the funds deposited in the banking institution called “Panama Banking Company” which declared itself bankrupt. The funds amount to three thousand five hundred and fifty American pesos in gold ($3,550.00). It was also resolved that because the company had an urgent need of six hundred and ten American pesos in gold ($610.00), the Board of Directors of the organization constituted by the President, Vice-President, the Secretary, the Treasurer and five Trustees should be in charge of negotiating a loan for this amount with the banking institution called International Banking Corporation, located in this city.—It was also resolved that the Board of Directors of the company be in charge of collecting the aforementioned amount of three thousand five hundred and fifty pesos in gold deposited in the bankrupt bank; in other words, to present to the Manager of the International Banking Corporation as a guarantee for the loan for six hundred and ten pesos in gold ($610.00) assigning to said bank the money deposited in the Panama Banking Company.—Thus the act ended.—In witness whereof this document is signed in the city of Panama on April Nineteen, One thousand Nine Hundred and twenty Two.—Joseph Evanson Gadsby, President. Charles Alvarez, Vice-President. Alfred O. Smith, Secretary. F. A. Sutherland. Treasurer.—TRUSTEES: Arthur Jones. Robert Ward.—Fitz Herbert.—Evanson Lewis.—G. A. Richard.—This is a copy.—Panama, April twenty four, one thousand nine hundred and twenty two. Alfred O. Smith.—SECRETARY.—It is hereby protocolized said minute and its original is added to the Protocol of this current year from which the copy or copies requested by interested parties will be issued. Read, as it was, this Deed in the presence of the witnesses Messrs. Santiago Jované, and Gertrudis Pérez, males, of full age and with residence in this circuit, persons whom I 295
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know and who are able to act as such, they have found it correct in all its parts, and have approved it. Signed before me the Notary Public, who attest certifying that this Deed corresponds to number one hundred and sixty eight (168) signed: Santiago Jované, (Signed) Gertrudis Pérez; Signed: Samuel Boyd, the Notary Public. There is a seal of the Notary Public’s office of the Second Circuit.—The Notary and the witnesses certify that the following Deed corresponds [to] number one hundred and si[x]ty nine. Panama, April twenty six, 1922. FRCO. [FRANCISCO] MATA SANTIAGO JOVANÉ SAMUEL BOYD Notary Public Notaria Publica No. 2, (Panama) Protocolo No. 5. TDS. Translated from Spanish.
H. N. Huggins, President, UNIA St. Vincent Division, to J. R. Ralph Casimir Stubbs P. O. St Vincent. B.W.I. 18th May 1922 Dear Fellowman, I am in rec[ei]pt of your letter which would also let you know that papers I have rec[ei]ved safe[.] I am proud to hear you have written the Parent Body about us. I am sorry our people can’t see[.] Mrs Jack is still here, I guess she would go on later to meet her Husband, she reached as far as Martinique and had to returned to St Vincent. [H]e is in New York by this time. I am not surprised to hear that of Mr Jack. [F]or he told me some months ago not to send no money to Parent Body, and also [remainder missing] JRRC. AL, recipient’s copy.
Editorial in the Negro World [New York, 20 May 1922]
AMERICA IN ST. CROIX It is clear that Mr. Stribling1 is out to uphold the torch of American imperialism. It is annoying to him to observe the predominance of black authority in 296
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know and who are able to act as such, they have found it correct in all its parts, and have approved it. Signed before me the Notary Public, who attest certifying that this Deed corresponds to number one hundred and sixty eight (168) signed: Santiago Jované, (Signed) Gertrudis Pérez; Signed: Samuel Boyd, the Notary Public. There is a seal of the Notary Public’s office of the Second Circuit.—The Notary and the witnesses certify that the following Deed corresponds [to] number one hundred and si[x]ty nine. Panama, April twenty six, 1922. FRCO. [FRANCISCO] MATA SANTIAGO JOVANÉ SAMUEL BOYD Notary Public Notaria Publica No. 2, (Panama) Protocolo No. 5. TDS. Translated from Spanish.
H. N. Huggins, President, UNIA St. Vincent Division, to J. R. Ralph Casimir Stubbs P. O. St Vincent. B.W.I. 18th May 1922 Dear Fellowman, I am in rec[ei]pt of your letter which would also let you know that papers I have rec[ei]ved safe[.] I am proud to hear you have written the Parent Body about us. I am sorry our people can’t see[.] Mrs Jack is still here, I guess she would go on later to meet her Husband, she reached as far as Martinique and had to returned to St Vincent. [H]e is in New York by this time. I am not surprised to hear that of Mr Jack. [F]or he told me some months ago not to send no money to Parent Body, and also [remainder missing] JRRC. AL, recipient’s copy.
Editorial in the Negro World [New York, 20 May 1922]
AMERICA IN ST. CROIX It is clear that Mr. Stribling1 is out to uphold the torch of American imperialism. It is annoying to him to observe the predominance of black authority in 296
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know and who are able to act as such, they have found it correct in all its parts, and have approved it. Signed before me the Notary Public, who attest certifying that this Deed corresponds to number one hundred and sixty eight (168) signed: Santiago Jované, (Signed) Gertrudis Pérez; Signed: Samuel Boyd, the Notary Public. There is a seal of the Notary Public’s office of the Second Circuit.—The Notary and the witnesses certify that the following Deed corresponds [to] number one hundred and si[x]ty nine. Panama, April twenty six, 1922. FRCO. [FRANCISCO] MATA SANTIAGO JOVANÉ SAMUEL BOYD Notary Public Notaria Publica No. 2, (Panama) Protocolo No. 5. TDS. Translated from Spanish.
H. N. Huggins, President, UNIA St. Vincent Division, to J. R. Ralph Casimir Stubbs P. O. St Vincent. B.W.I. 18th May 1922 Dear Fellowman, I am in rec[ei]pt of your letter which would also let you know that papers I have rec[ei]ved safe[.] I am proud to hear you have written the Parent Body about us. I am sorry our people can’t see[.] Mrs Jack is still here, I guess she would go on later to meet her Husband, she reached as far as Martinique and had to returned to St Vincent. [H]e is in New York by this time. I am not surprised to hear that of Mr Jack. [F]or he told me some months ago not to send no money to Parent Body, and also [remainder missing] JRRC. AL, recipient’s copy.
Editorial in the Negro World [New York, 20 May 1922]
AMERICA IN ST. CROIX It is clear that Mr. Stribling1 is out to uphold the torch of American imperialism. It is annoying to him to observe the predominance of black authority in 296
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the West Indies. St. Croix ought to be Haitianized. In his articles in the Evening Post he shows a distinct prejudice against the black labor agitators led by D. Hamilton Jackson. St. Croix is one of the Virgin Isles which was recently taken over by this country as a naval base for the protection of the Panama Canal. The author of “Birthright” in a very skillful way shows how the Danish capitalists at Fredericksted2 are conspiring to unionize the black cane hands and so cut the throats of the unorganized planters. All sorts of things creep in to make it uncomfortable for the crackers—obeah, cane fires, terrorism, intermarriage, Garveyism. Of Garveyism in St. Croix Mr. Stribling devotes a good sized paragraph. He says: In the meantime a completely new African force is approaching St. Croix. It has already reached St. Thomas. This is Garveyism. The complete name of Garvey’s organization is “The Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League.” Its headquarters is in New York. Its avowed and widely known object is to seize Africa for the Africans. The spirit of the organization is strongly anti-white and has a semi-religious fervor. The writer interviewed the leader of the African Communities League in St. Thomas. He was a Negro tailor, a smallish chocolate colored man with a flattened nose. He talked for two hours with the pure fire of a zealot about the absolute economic independence of the black man. The slightest dependence upon white men is gall to the Garveyite. Therefore, when the African Communities League enters St. Croix it will form a strong new anti-“Bethlehem” force, and this will tend towards a black absorption of the island. Yes, the handful of “buckras” are in a sorry plight. And Mr. Stribling, boiling over with rage, cries out to Harding to study the record of his predecessor in Haiti and Santo Domingo, and send an army of marines to “Keep the Niggers in Their Place.” It is a good thing to know that Mr. Stribling is laying his cards on the table. Artist that he is, his anti-Negro complex has prevented him from dealing with the Negro in an objective and dispassionate way. But neither Mr. Stribling or his lynchers in Texas are going to stop the wave of Negro agitation that is sweeping over the world—a wave destined to disturb the foundations of white civilization and put the black radicals on top! Printed in NW, 20 May 1922. 1. Thomas Sigismund Stribling (1881–1965), novelist, essayist, and short-story writer, was born in Clifton, Tenn. In 1921 he travelled to Puerto Rico, where he visited the founder of the Panama Canal Zone police, Col. George Shanton. Stribling then travelled on to St. Thomas, St. John, St. Croix, Barbados, Trinidad, and Venezuela. According to his biographer, the trip to Barbados “provided Stribling with one of his most memorable adventures. A native, white Tennessean with racial prejudices, he believed he discovered on those night voyages a link between himself and his black fellow passengers” (Kenneth W. Vickers, T. S. Stribling: A Life of the Tennessee Novelist [Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2004], p. 58). Stribling wrote several novels, including Birthright, about a Harvard-educated mulatto who fails in his attempts to reform his Southern hometown. Birthright was serialized in the Century Magazine in 1921–1922, published as a book in 1922, and
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS turned into a silent film by the black filmmaker Oscar Micheaux in 1924. In 1933, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel, The Store (Vickers, T. S. Stribling, pp. 56–79). Stribling was also a staff writer for Saturday Evening Post. Considered one of America’s foremost authors in the 1920s and 1930s. His article, entitled “Dumb St. Croix,” appeared in the New York Evening Post in two installments, 6 May 1922 and 16 May 1922. A response by “A St. Croix Creole” (Hubert H. Harrison) was published in the New York Evening Post, 15 May 1922 (Jeffrey B. Perry, ed., A Hubert Harrison Reader [Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2001], 240–244). 2. Frederiksted, a port town on the western shore of St. Croix, is one of the island’s two main towns. Founded in 1735, it was the site of the beginning of the 1848 slave revolt that led to emancipation. In 1917 it had a population of 3,144. St. Croix’s other main town, Christiansted, is situated on the north central coast. Founded in 1735, it was the capital of the Danish West Indies from 1755 to 1871. In 1917 it had a population of 4,574. By comparison, the capital of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Charlotte Amalie, had a population of 7,747 in 1917. It is located on the island of St. Thomas and was a major port of call in the eastern Caribbean until the development of steamships in the latter nineteenth century. Charlotte Amalie replaced Christiansted as the capital of the colony in 1871 (Census of the Virgin Islands, 1917 [Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1918), p. 41; Erik J. Lawaetz, St. Croix 500 Years Pre-Columbus to 1990 [Herning, Denmark: Edition Poul Kristensen, 1991], pp. 476–477).
Article in the Negro World [[SAN PEDRO DE MACORIS, Santo Domingo, ca. 27 May 1922]]
SANTO DOMINGO CHAPTER ELECTS OFFICERS The Consuelo Chapter of No. 26 Branch of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, headed by Abram Labega, a full-fledged and fearless Negro, held an election of officers at a general meeting held on March 29. The principal officers were elected under the supervision of Hon. Sydney de Bourg. The division has expressed its gratitude to the Consuelo administration, Messrs. Bass and Kilbourne, who have given it a free hand and every other facility to carry on operations on this plantation unmolested. The officers elected and installed were: President, Mr. Abram Labega; vice-president, Charles Thwaits[;] general secretary, William Jacobs; assistant secretary, Marie Granier; associate secretary, Charles Wattley. Ladies’ Division: President, Amelia Parrot; vice-president, Ann Abbot; secretary, Elesia Peterson; treasurer, Ellen Soar. Trustee Board: Chairman, D. W. Briscoe; secretary, Israel Illadge; member, James Grant. Advisory Board: E. Benjamin, D. Price. Printed in NW, 27 May 1922.
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS turned into a silent film by the black filmmaker Oscar Micheaux in 1924. In 1933, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel, The Store (Vickers, T. S. Stribling, pp. 56–79). Stribling was also a staff writer for Saturday Evening Post. Considered one of America’s foremost authors in the 1920s and 1930s. His article, entitled “Dumb St. Croix,” appeared in the New York Evening Post in two installments, 6 May 1922 and 16 May 1922. A response by “A St. Croix Creole” (Hubert H. Harrison) was published in the New York Evening Post, 15 May 1922 (Jeffrey B. Perry, ed., A Hubert Harrison Reader [Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2001], 240–244). 2. Frederiksted, a port town on the western shore of St. Croix, is one of the island’s two main towns. Founded in 1735, it was the site of the beginning of the 1848 slave revolt that led to emancipation. In 1917 it had a population of 3,144. St. Croix’s other main town, Christiansted, is situated on the north central coast. Founded in 1735, it was the capital of the Danish West Indies from 1755 to 1871. In 1917 it had a population of 4,574. By comparison, the capital of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Charlotte Amalie, had a population of 7,747 in 1917. It is located on the island of St. Thomas and was a major port of call in the eastern Caribbean until the development of steamships in the latter nineteenth century. Charlotte Amalie replaced Christiansted as the capital of the colony in 1871 (Census of the Virgin Islands, 1917 [Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1918), p. 41; Erik J. Lawaetz, St. Croix 500 Years Pre-Columbus to 1990 [Herning, Denmark: Edition Poul Kristensen, 1991], pp. 476–477).
Article in the Negro World [[SAN PEDRO DE MACORIS, Santo Domingo, ca. 27 May 1922]]
SANTO DOMINGO CHAPTER ELECTS OFFICERS The Consuelo Chapter of No. 26 Branch of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, headed by Abram Labega, a full-fledged and fearless Negro, held an election of officers at a general meeting held on March 29. The principal officers were elected under the supervision of Hon. Sydney de Bourg. The division has expressed its gratitude to the Consuelo administration, Messrs. Bass and Kilbourne, who have given it a free hand and every other facility to carry on operations on this plantation unmolested. The officers elected and installed were: President, Mr. Abram Labega; vice-president, Charles Thwaits[;] general secretary, William Jacobs; assistant secretary, Marie Granier; associate secretary, Charles Wattley. Ladies’ Division: President, Amelia Parrot; vice-president, Ann Abbot; secretary, Elesia Peterson; treasurer, Ellen Soar. Trustee Board: Chairman, D. W. Briscoe; secretary, Israel Illadge; member, James Grant. Advisory Board: E. Benjamin, D. Price. Printed in NW, 27 May 1922.
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F. Gregoire to the Workman [[Colón, Rep. of Panama, May 31, 1922]]
U.N.I.A. MEMBER MAKES CHARGES OF DISLOYAL SERVICE Mr. Editor,— Will you please give me space in your widely read weekly for the insertion of these few lines. Though I am of the opinion that you are not much concerned in the U.N.I.A., nevertheless, you cannot but be interested in the welfare of Negroes wherever they are, therefore I hope you will grant my petition. Now sir, suppose the Parent Body is not running things right, does that mean that the Branches are privileged to do the same? Should a man do the very thing he condemns? Does two wrongs constitute a right? Mr. Editor, I believe you are a man for justice and you cannot but agree with me. Is it right that people, ever so ignorant, should be made to pay their monies and led to believe they were financial with the Parent Body; and again, the collection of a fifteen cents for local relief, which afterwards, when a member asks for aid, he was refused, stating that the association was no alms house. Right here, Mr[.] Editor, I must say that Jamaica and Barbados are the most blessed places on earth, for all the fools have left these countries and are here, with few exceptions. The officers of Branch No. 18, formerly No. 4, were so zealous that they purchased a bus unknown to the members and had it not been for the auditing, it would never be known, but the auditors bursted the bus. And [n]ow[,] Mr. Editor, I am going to tell you something in secret but we must be careful we are not overheard[.] It’s about the Part and Tilford Grocery Store of the Association which sold thousands of dollars that has evaporated, for you cannot find any account of the monies anywhere, unless it is in sombody’s pocket; and again they have a nice Cream Palace whose doors are marked U.N.I.A. but not registered as such. They take the people’s money and open business to sell to the people for their own benefit and one thing surprises me and that is the building is still standing, without the nails being taken away. Thanking you for space, Yours for justice, F. GREGOIRE Printed in the Workman (Panama City), 3 June 1922.
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Article by Casper Holstein,1 President, Virgin Islands Congressional Council, in the Negro World [New York, 3 June 1922]
CRACKERISM AND JUDICIAL OPPRESSION INVADE ST. CROIX BEING THE IMPRESSIONS OF A RECENT VISIT AND BY WAY OF A REPLY TO MR. STRIBLING’S STRICTURES HIGH LIGHTS OF ST. CROIX EXPOSE White capitalists from the South are bent on shackling the isle with a system of conscienceless land-grabbing The Navy Department is out to impose a Haytian-like imperialism on its creole inhabitants Contrary to Mr. Stribling’s report in the New York Evening Post, the “Bethlehem” 2 is a philanthropic society and treats the Negro workers fairly The judicial system of St. Croix is rotten. A far from metamorphosed “Emperor Jones”3 is alive, alert and a vigorous exponent of Prussian majestaats But, alas! the “Cruzians” are awake and race-conscious. They are determined to fight and counteract the influence of pseudo-reformers like T. S. Stribling! This story of conditions in the Virgin Islands of the U.S.A. (St. Croix in particular) should have appeared in the “Evening Post,” which on May 6 and May 16 [May 13] published the two instal[l]ments of Mr. Stribling’s attacks on the Negro people of St. Croix. But in the first place the Negro World is a Negro newspaper; its readers are more directly concerned in any account of conditions affecting Negroes in the West Indies than the “Evening Post” would be, and in the second place, I doubt whether the “Evening Post” would care to publish an account which fearlessly denies and disproves the clotted fiction which Stribling has put forward as an account of labor and social conditions in our Antillian possession. AUTHOR AN AMERICAN The writer of this is an American citizen of Negro blood who was born in the island of St. Croix, has lived in the United States for over thirty years, and has just returned from a visit to St. Croix. During his sojourn there he acted as labor superintendent of the great labor union there.
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When I got back to New York I learned that the author of “Birthright,” a novel of Negro life in Tennessee, had published in the “Evening Post” an article in two instal[l]ments entitled “St. Croix the Dumb” in which he had slaughtered true facts with a “cracker” ferocity in an effort to maintain that the black workers of St. Croix were lazy, criminal, superstitious and violent. Mr. Hubert Harrison, a former editor of this paper who had brought the matter to my attention, had written in the “Evening Post” a reply which appeared in that paper on May 15; two days after the appearance of Mr. Stribling’s last instal[l]ment. But for some reason the Post took pains to elide from the original article that part in which their sense of fair play was challenged by asking whether they would accept an article showing up the fiction with which Mr. Stribling had thrown dust in the eyes of their readers. This was not the only omission from Mr. Harrison’s article, which was signed “A St. Croix Creole,” which, with other things, suggested that the “Evening Post” does not care to have the truth about the labor situation in the island, but it is already wedded to Mr. Stribling’s inaccuracies. But as I understand that Mr. Harrison is preparing to put Mr. Stribling in his proper place I shall leave further consideration of the “cracker” author to him and proceed to tell something of the present true condition of affairs on the island. D. HAMILTON JACKSON The St. Croix Labor Union4 was established in 1914 by Mr. D. Hamilton Jackson. As Mr. Harrison has put it, “when Jackson started out to regenerate the Negro laborer they were discouraged and hopeless, laboring under a wage scale of twenty cents per diem.[”] He has whipped them into such a cooperative shape that they now own seven of the estates on which they formerly worked for hire; they have a daily newspaper, own a bank and are possessors of valuable city properties procured out of the weekly revenue of twenty cents per capita; subsidized by all their land holdings they receive a weekly sick benefit, the old and decrepit ones are pensioned and they bury their dead. All these things have been accomplished by the invincible and honest leader, D. Hamilton Jackson, prompted by his race love and love for humanity and justice, all of which make him conspicuous as a leader. Through the leadership of Mr. Jackson they have been able to get wages as high as one dollar per day, although there has been a fall in wage rates recently, which is universal. But no one doubts that all the advantages which came their way followed the efforts of Mr. Jackson. THE NAVY DEPARTMENT After the transfer of the Islands they fell into the hands of the Navy Department, exactly as in Haiti. But when I inquired of several influential Senators why this was done they were also bewildered. The mind of the soldier, sailor or marine is not adapted to administration of civil law. They cannot think for themselves; the man higher up has to do the thinking for them. They are 301
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trained to obey orders and when one considers that sailors and marines consist mainly of “crackers” with the spirit of the South, control of a Negro community by the Navy Department appears to be a civic calamity. From this all the lesser evils of administration have flowed. Again and again black women have been raped and black men murderously assaulted, houses broken into—all by the martial marine—and so far none has been brought to trial. DURING JACKSON’S ABSENCE When Mr. Jackson realized the defects of the personnel of American colonial government he made up his mind to master the legal details of the machinery of government, and for that purpose left St. Croix to take up the study of law in the United States.5 He finished his studies, qualified as a law[y]er, and sailed home at the end of the summer of 1921. In the meanwhile definite attempts had been made to wreck the union during his absence. Messrs. Ralph de Chabert6 and Octavius Granady,7 the former during Mr. Jackson’s stay in the States, was president and the latter its lawyer, over the protest of the Union Executive Council. This Granady is the same man whose honesty had been questioned by the judiciary of St. Thomas, another one of the Virgin group, and whose license as a lawyer has been revoked. These two men showed such extreme love for the union’s interest that their names are likely to live in the memories of Cruzians like those of Benedict Arnold and Judas Iscariot. Under their skilful piloting a thirteen weeks’ strike was engineered and approved by such small-time capitalists whose horn Mr. Stribling toots. There was no need for such a strike, but these astute leaders incited the poor laborers to make a demand for a daily wage of $1.25, and although they knew that the industry in a period of falling prices could not pay any such wage. WILD-CAT LEADERSHIP The hope of the defenseless laborers were about to be blasted. They prayed and hoped that Mr. Jackson would soon return to straighten out the tangles of these would-be leaders. This wild-cat leadership was so disastrous in its affects that when Mr. Jackson returned to take the reins of management he found that the treasury of the union had been scraped clean, the indebtedness through mortgages and other obligations amounted to $14,000, with $1.43 in the treasury; bills and claims, even from Porto Rico pressing for settlement, while the money that had come in from the sale of cattle and other union belongings was not satisfactorily accounted for by either Granady or de Chabert. For some unexplained reason there was on the floor of the safe in the office of the union an alarmingly high heap of destroyed documents and records. Under these circumstances Mr. Jackson did the best he could. He settled the strike by a compromise on a 60-cent per diem wage basis and accepted
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the piecework system in order that those laborers who are exceptionally skillful might be able to earn more than $1 a day. AMERICANS VS. DANISH WHITES All the while a conflict has been going on as to how the black people should be treated. The Danish whites and the creoles of the island (with the exception of a few, which is to be expected in all groups) are accustomed to regard all men as men, without regard to color. The Americans, on the other hand, were born and bred in the belief that black people should be treated as “niggers” and underestimated as a man, and it might be just as well here to warn white crackers from this side that they may massacre all the black people of this small island without ever being able to make them accept this degrading doctrine. And St. Croix white creoles (the term means natives of the island) are just as determined in opposing this imported damned “nigger” policy with which white Americans, as Lathrop Stoddard8 points out, are everywhere raising up enemies to the entire white race. EXPLODING THE “BETHLEHEM” MYTH Those to whom Stribling refers to as “Bethlehem” are white men who, believing as they do in justice for black as well as for white people, have established humane working relations with their black working people, and that is why those who represent over two-thirds of the white capital in the island can get along with the labor union and Mr. Jackson, while Stribling and his fellow crackers are driven to such loud lying as we heard in the Evening Post. Stri[bl]ing represents the invading small-time elements which wants to use the United States Government as a tool of oppression, and an organ of that form of Christian culture which roasts pregnant black women to death in Tennessee and stamps upon their unborn children with brutal hob-nail boots. I may call attention to the fact that Mr. Stribling hails from Tennessee. DIXIE LAND GRABBERS On the ship on which I sailed from St. Croix I met the oldest white planter of the island, who was on his way to Denmark. He told me that while he has dealt with Negro workers for over forty years, at no time did he find it necessary to take any of his black tenants or laborers into court. He found the people decent, industrious and law-abiding. This was the deliberate opinion of the Danish Government, and it is re-echoed by every fair and impartial landholder in the island. Naturally this man is opposed by the recent land grabbers who export America’s worst spiritual products, leaving her best at home. The native whites lack the characteristic race prejudice of the Southern cracker, who has been so busy keeping Negroes down that his own section of the United States is more illiterate and backward than any other and its murder rates is nineteen times as high as that of the British Isles.
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The Bethlehem concern, the director of which is Mr. F. Anderson (my reason for mentioning Bethlehem is because Mr. Stribling laid particular stress on it), has lent its money freely to the laborers and squatters; has built them carts on many occasions, which is a great help to them in their vocation; has credited them with lumber with which to build homes. In their chemical department now is a native young man whom the company sent to be educated in chemistry, and in many other instances have shown that spirit of philanthropy which is the larger and more enlightened form of capitalist enterprise. In conjunction with all of these things the government demands from Bethlehem and the manufacturers of sugar, which is the isle’s chief industry, an export taxation which is barbarous and will eventually kill the industry.9 All of these things Mr. Stribling omitted in his article either by a wilful neglect or by an oversight which is [un?]pardonable. The quality of its humane contact is the quality of the Creole. Instead of attacking these men because their uprightness gives them a lien on the love of the laborers, Mr. Stribling’s cracker’s clique might try what virtue there is in imitating them. Such humane treatment pays large dividends and does not need the aid of the brute in brass buttons or the bully in uniform. JUDICIAL ROTTENNESS The code of laws in the Virgin Islands is nothing short of barbarous; it is as barbarous in its construction as the Declaration of Independence is the greatest document ever signed by man, and if decent white Americans at home could sense its shocking and brutal dishonesty, I think that they would hang their heads in shame. There is nothing in it that gives protection to the poor. Against the weak it is strong, and against the powerful it is powerless. In the hands of an autocratic naval administration and with this barbarous code of laws, you are arrested for free speech; commandeered into court for contempt if you should publish the reports of the police court trials if it is not the liking of the officials for doing the latter. Mr. Jackson was recently fined $15 and sentenced to jail for six days for “contempt of court”10 the local [word illegible] the beleidigung, or high treason. Mr. Jackson is waging a fight against the injustice of the administration, for it is proof positive the administration feels that Jackson has too much power with the people, and to put Jackson in jail will break the morale of the people— What a mistake! A POLITICAL BELL-HOP The administration of justice has a touch of punchanelle about it. In the police court is a Virginian Negro, the political bell boy of the Republican party of his native State for years and now picking up a Payne11-full and precarious living by serving up other Negroes on the altar of sacrifice to the taste of deserving Democrats of Mr. Stribling’s type. To see this bell boy strut in the role of a tinpot Tiberius invariably overcome by too much “hoffman drops” is 304
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worth the trip to St. Croix—except for the poor defenseless Negro women who come before him and on a certain occasion his vile and obscene language to an unfortunate woman was to her, I am sure, like a dose of vinegar mingled with gall, as coming from a black “judge” to a black woman. He serves his masters faithfully and his mistresses also. In the capacity of a lackey he found the island such a gold mine that he has lived in them for twenty-five years, first as one thing then as another. Before the sale of the islands this “Emperor Jones” denounced Negroes like Jackson, who was advocating the transfer[,] as “crazy,” because he was afraid, I am sure, of losing his $5,000 job; but since the sale he has managed to trim his rotten sails to the fitful breeze and now, as a “judge” of the lower or police court, he can insult and abuse other Negroes who have no right of speech in the presence of “his lordship.” THE DILEMMA OF THE DEFENDANT Right here I want to call the attention of the reader and state that the voice of the police or lower court is the voice of the district or higher court. It is needless to appeal from one to the other, for there is no redress for the defendant, the only course is an appeal to Philadelphia, the city in which the Virgin Islands supreme court is located, as they are in the fourth judicial circuit, therefore, as you can well understand, it is an utter impossibility for an unfortunate defendant to escape the clutches of their majesties, for 95 per cent of the people cannot afford to pay the cost of appeal. The police court judge should understand that he is only an understrapper. It is in the upper court where the bell boys’ decrees are upheld, that judicial rottenness shines in all its splendor. The ornament of this court is Mr. Daniel Sharp (I call him so because this isn’t his real name) who went out there to “roole naggoes,” one of the ilk of Stribling’s, and amassed a fortune in a short while. This gross-bodied harpy, this civic sinner and judicial highwayman, has the manner of a Milesian hod carrier (Irish). The morals of the underworld and an honor which thieves’ honor put to shame. At night, behind his green jalousies, he compounds criminality with his cabinet of which there are two o[f] his calling, and in atonement he spends the day railroading the unfortunate and poverty-stricken to dark and unlighted cells and the horrors of the Spanish inquisition. Having sampled the best rum on the island, he qualifies as an expert judge of that and other forbidden delights, with the results that his sins have found a way to break out, so that the eyes of the beholden may judge of the hidden uncleanliness of the man. HIS RACELESS LORDSHIP This same “judicial” bigot on board the Guiana sailing from New York on December 14, 1921, on which ship the writer was also a passenger, said, and was heard by the writer and many others, to say that he got a leave of absence 305
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to come to the United States to have an infection of the face treated, because he was afraid the native nurses would cause it to become more infectuous. His lordship lost sight of the fact that through his prejudiced lenses that there were Red Cross nurses (white) who could have attended to him, but in his biased soul he had to cast that reflection on the general ability of the Negro nurses. That is the spirit which dominates the judiciary of the island. But I want to tell Mr. Stribling and the powers that be in the Virgin Islands that the people of St. Croix are not asleep and they are sounding the toscin to call all creoles, white and black, to the defense of their homes against the cracker kind of Christian culture. These oppressions of human liberty may jail Jackson cowardly if they choose, but other intelligent Cruzians, white and black, at home and abroad, will speak and write against the attempt to make another Hayti of the Virgin Islands. Printed in NW, 3 June 1922. 1. Casper Holstein, a black Crucian-born New Yorker who became rich and famous as a “numbers” banker in Harlem, devoted much of his time and money to fighting U.S. Navy control of the Virgin Islands. In 1922, as a leader of the large community of Virgin Islanders in New York City, he founded the Virgin Islands Congressional Council (VICC) to lobby the U.S. Congress to extend increased political rights to the Virgin Islands. As president of the VICC, Holstein formed a close relationship with Roger Baldwin, director of the ACLU, which had already undertaken the task of marshalling legislation favorable to the Virgin Islands through Congress. It soon became dependent on Holstein’s money to continue the campaign. In return, Holstein gained a respectability that would have otherwise been denied a Harlem gambler. According to Geraldo Guirty, a native of the Virgin Islands and a longtime resident of New York City, Holstein was well known for his philanthropy, including assistance to the UNIA: There are senior Virgin Islanders and West Indians still alive who can recall the last days of the Universal Improvement Association [sic], under the staunch direction of Jamaica’s Marcus Mosiah Garvey. Casper bought Liberty Hall of the bankrupt international movement located at 112–30 West 138th Street, New York City, in Harlem. Casper felt that the property should not fall into the hands of some speculator “downtown,” since Marcus, the “Provisional President of Africa,” and his powerful organization had alarmed the power structure of the Caucasian world and the United States. Marcus received regular checks from the altruistic benefactor. The Holstein Court, a middle-income twin apartment house, rose on the site of Liberty Hall (Geraldo Guirty, Harlem’s DanishAmerican West Indians, 1899–1964 [New York: Vantage Press, 1989], pp. 41–42). Guirty claims that Holstein’s original name was, in fact, Egbert Joseph (Gregory R. LaMotta, “The Americanization of the Virgin Islands, 1917–1946: Politics and Class Struggle during the First Thirty Years of American Rule” [Ph.D. diss., University of Maryland, 1992], pp. 129–136; Isaac Dookhan, “The Search for Identity: The Political Aspirations and Frustrations of Virgin Islanders under the united States Naval Administration, 1917–27,” JCH 12 [May 1979]: 14–18; Dookhan, “The American Civil Liberties Union in the U.S. Virgin Islands,” Revista/Review Interamericana 12, no. 3 [Fall 1982]: 424–446; Francis A. J. Ianni, Black Mafia: Ethnic Succession in Organized Crime [New York: Simon and Schuster, 1974], pp. 110–111; William W. Boyer, America’s Virgin Islands: A History of Human Rights and Wrongs [Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic Press, 1983], pp. 144, 165; Guirty, Danish-American, pp. 36–64). 2. Bethlehem was the common name for the West Indian Sugar Factory because of its location on Bethlehem Estate. Established in 1904 by Danish investors, Bethlehem was the largest employer on St. Croix. Besides the factory, Bethlehem owned nearly two dozen sugar estates and employed almost half of the island’s five thousand sugar workers. As a consequence of quickly ending the illtimed 1921 strike, D. Hamilton Jackson gained the friendship of Folmer Andersen, the Danish director of Bethlehem. Some people pointed to this friendship as evidence that Jackson had aban-
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JUNE 1922 doned the labor movement, but others claimed that it was the result of Andersen’s responsible attitude toward his workers (Gregory R. LaMotta, “The Americanization of the Virgin Islands, 1917– 1946,” pp. 58, 92–108, 173; Isaac Dookhan, “Labour Relations in St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands, 1917–1931: A Case of Administrative Failure,” JCH 18 [1984]: 91–97; William W. Boyer, “The Navy and Labour in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, 1917–1931,” JCH 20, no. 1 [1985–1986]: 90–98; Dookhan, A History of the Virgin Islands of the United States [Kingston, Jamaica: Canoe Press, 1994], p. 235). 3. The Emperor Jones, a 1920 play by American dramatist Eugene O’Neill, recounts the story in flashbacks of Brutus Jones, an African-American, who kills a man, goes to prison, then escapes to a Caribbean island, and sets himself up as emperor of the island. The play follows Jones as he makes his way through the forest in an attempt to escape former subjects who have rebelled against him. It was O’Neill’s first play to receive great critical acclaim and box-office success, and the one that launched his career. The Emperor Jones was first staged on 1 November 1920 by the Provincetown Players at the Playwright’s Theater in New York City. Charles Sidney Gilpin was the first actor to play the role of Brutus Jones on stage. This production was very successful and it helped make O’Neill’s reputation (John T. Kneebone, “‘It Wasn’t All Velvet’: The Life and Hard Times of Charles S. Gilpin, Actor,” Virginia Cavalcade, 38 [Summer 1988]: 14–27; Eugene O’Neill, The Emperor Jones [New York: Random House, 1920]); Travis Bogard, Contour in Time: The Plays of Eugene O’Neill [New York: Oxford University Press, 1971; rev. ed., 1988]; eOneill.com, http:// www.eoneill.com/library/contour/tyro/recklessness_abortion.htm). 4. Founded in late 1915, the St. Croix Labor Union grouped together most Crucian sugar workers. In 1916, boasting a membership of five thousand out of the total island population of fifteen thousand, the union declared a general strike that forced the sugar companies and plantation owners to raise wages some 60 percent. For example, the daily pay to first-class laborers increased from twenty-five to forty cents. In 1921, however, the union suffered a serious setback when it lost a major sugar strike and consequently some of its prestige and power, but it continued to be a major force for the protection of workers’ rights until well into the 1950s (LaMotta, “The Americanization of the Virgin Islands, 1917–1946,” pp. 48–108, 207–211, 281–284, 338–343; William W. Boyer, America’s Virgin Islands: A History of Human Rights and Wrongs [Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic Press, 1983], pp. 75–76, 258–259; Dookhan, A History of the Virgin Islands, pp. 240, 298). 5. In 1919 D. Hamilton Jackson, president of the St. Croix Labor Union since its founding in 1915, turned over his post to Ralph de Chabert. From 1920 until 1921 Jackson studied law at the University of Indiana in Indianapolis (John W. Walters, “A Political History of the United States Virgin Islands, 1917 to 1967” [Ph.D. diss., Princeton University, 1979], p. 87; LaMotta, “The Americanization of the Virgin Islands, 1917–1946,” p. 97; Dookhan, “Labour Relations in St. Croix,” pp. 91–96; Boyer, “The Navy and Labour in St. Croix,” p. 90). 6. Ralph de Chabert was a black middle-class Crucian who became a leader of the labor movement on St. Croix. Although Chabert had helped D. Hamiliton Jackson to organize the St. Croix Labor Union, the two men became enemies after quarreling over financial affairs of the union. In October 1918 Chabert, then union vice president, accused Jackson of mismanagement and corruption. These accusations prompted a government investigation of the Labor Union Savings Bank, which forced Jackson to give up his position as president of the union. Chabert became president in January 1919. In August 1921, with the end of the sugar boom that had accompanied the First World War, the planters cut wages by half, and Chabert called a strike. The strike, which lasted fourteen weeks, forced the workers to the brink of starvation without breaking planter resolve, and led Chabert to resign as union leader. When Jackson returned to St. Croix and retook control of the union in November 1921, he quickly reached a settlement with the planters that restored a small part of the cut wages. In 1922, Chabert tried to rival the St. Croix Labor Union by establishing the St. Croix Cooperative Society, but this organization attracted few workers and soon folded (LaMotta, “The Americanization of the Virgin Islands, 1917–1946,” pp. 94–101; Dookhan, “Labour Relations in St. Croix,” pp. 91–97; Boyer, “The Navy and Labour,” pp. 86–92). 7. Octavius C. Granady was a black native lawyer better known for his alliance with Rothschild Francis, the St. Thomas politician and labor leader, than for his association with Ralph de Chabert. After obtaining his license in Illinois, Granady settled on St. Thomas, where he quickly became an opponent of the navy government. In January 1918, he was jailed for allegedly defrauding a client and lost his license. Quickly freed for lack of evidence, Granady failed to regain his license because Governor James Oliver, a U.S. Navy Admiral, labeled him mentally unstable. In 1921, Granady moved to St. Croix, regained his license, and became counsel for the St. Croix Labor Union. Sometime after the disastrous 1921 strike he returned to St. Thomas, where he enlisted in the campaign
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS led by Rothschild Francis to draw congressional attention to the Virgin Islands. In January 1924, he again lost his license when the district court of the Virgin Islands revoked the 1921 renewal. In April 1924, Granady was elected at a public meeting in St. Thomas to travel to Washington, D.C., to testify with Francis in support of the bill introduced by Senator George McLean. However, Granady was unable to attend the hearing on the bill (LaMotta, “The Americanization of the Virgin Islands, 1917–1946,” pp. 138–144; Dookhan, “The Search for Identity,” p. 13; Dookhan, “Labour Relations in St. Croix,” p. 91). 8. Theodore Lothrop Stoddard (1883–1950), American historian, journalist, eugenicist, and political theorist of race, authored over two dozen books, the majority of them related to questions of race and civilization, focusing primarily on the dangers posed by “colored” peoples to “white” civilization. His most famous book, The Rising Tide of Color against White World-Supremacy (1920), presented a view of the world situation pertaining to race and focused concern on the coming population explosion among the “colored” peoples of the world and the way in which “white world-supremacy” was being lessened in the wake of the First World War and the collapse of colonialism. Stoddard argued, like his mentor Madison Grant, that race and heredity were the guiding factors of history and civilization and that the elimination or absorption of the “white” race by “colored” races would result in the destruction of Western civilization (Matthew Pratt Guterl, The Color of Race in America, 1900–1940 [Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004]; Jonathan P. Spiro, Defending the Master Race: Conservation, Eugenics, and the Legacy of Madison Grant [Burlington, VT: University of Vermont Press; Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 2009]; Gene C. Fant Jr., “Stoddard, Lothrop,” http://www.anb.org/articles/16/16-01570.html; American National Biography Online Feb. 2000. Access date: 16 April 2015). 9. Virgin Island sugar exporters paid a duty of eight dollars a ton, even on sugar sent to the United States. Complaining that this duty treated them as foreigners since it placed the colony outside U.S. customs boundaries, the exporters lobbied for its abolition. In 1927, Congress partly responded to these pleas by reducing the duty from eight dollars to six dollars a ton (Boyer, America’s Virgin Islands, pp. 137, 145; Dookhan, A History of the Virgin Islands, p. 270). 10. In March 1922, D. Hamilton Jackson wrote an editorial in the Herald that criticized the Frederiksted police judge for fining the labor union fifteen dollars for not repairing roads adjacent to one of its properties while failing to fine several planters for the same offense. In response, the judge fined Jackson ten dollars and sentenced him to six days in jail for contempt of court. Jackson took the case all the way to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, but the Virgin Islands government attorney, George Washington Williams, convinced the judges that Jackson had written the editorial to smear the navy government. In June 1923, Jackson spent six days in jail. Less than a month prior to going to jail, he was elected to his first term on the colonial council (LaMotta, “The Americanization of the Virgin Islands, 1917–1946,” pp. 140–141; Dookhan, “Search for Identity,” p. 21; Boyer, America’s Virgin Islands, p. 129). 11. Christopher H. Payne (1848–1925), born a slave, went on to become teacher, preacher, orator, lawyer, journalist, and statesman. In his early adulthood, he taught at the first colored school in Summers County, West Virginia, before he was ordained to the Baptist ministry. Payne later established three newspapers, the West Virginia Enterprise, the Montgomery Pioneer, and the Mountain Eagle, all dedicated to the advancement of his race. In recognition of his services to the Republican party, Payne was employed in the U.S. Bureau of Internal Revenue. During this time, he studied law and was admitted to the bar. In 1896, Payne became the first black man elected to the legislature of West Virginia. He also represented the Third Congressional District in the National Republican Convention three times. Payne arrived in the Danish West Indies in 1903 as U.S. consul. He continued in that office until 30 June 1917, when the position was eliminated in consequence of the American takeover. After the transfer, Payne remained in the Virgin Islands and was employed by the Navy as a police judge on St. Croix until his death (Rodney Ross, “Black Americans and Haiti, Liberia, the Virgin Islands, and Ethiopia, 1929–1936” [Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, 1975], p. 198; Thomas E. Posey, The Negro Citizen of West Virginia [Institute: Press of West Virginia State College, 1934], pp. 36–39; West Virginia Heritage Encyclopedia [Richwood, WV: Comstock, 1976]).
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Article in the Negro World [[SAN PEDRO DE MACORIS, R. do. S.D., ca. 10 June 1922]]
DE BOURG PUTS SAN PEDRO DE MACORIS DIV. AGAIN ON ITS FEET SECRETARY JAMES M. HALLEY AT LAST RELEASED FROM TYRANNY OF POLICE AUTHORITIES Amid great opposition and overwhelming difficulties His Excellency the Hon. John Sydney de Bourg, has thrown down the barrier and proclaimed himself indeed a champion of the Negro race. Through his untiring efforts and great sacrifice Division No. 26, of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Committee [Communities] League, again rears its head in tr[i]umph. We were taunted on all sides, enemies of the noble cause laughed us to scorn, declaring that the Universal Negro Improvement Association would never again work in San Pedro de Macoris. That our hall would remain a Negro statue to be seen but never entered. But in accord with our prayer, “Not by might nor by power, but by my spirit saith the Lord of Hosts[,]” “The God of right did our battles fight,” and today we may safely say, “Jehovah has triumphed, his people are free.” On March 21, a letter from the Military Governor to His Excellency announced the release of our general secretary, Brother James M. Halley, after spending six months and 19 days in the public prison here. On the 22nd His Excellency held an interview with Colonel Lyman and his official staff on the “Status of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League,” whereupon they immediately gave permission to hold a meeting to draw the members together to explain the object of said interview. Invitations were then issued to the military authorities to attend said meeting, which was held on March 26. Colonel Moses, Secretary of Interior and Police, responded in place of the District Commander. His Excellency took for his subject, “Can Any Human Power Destroy the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League,” spoke for nearly forty-five minutes, proving God’s hand in the movement. Colonel Moses made some brief remarks, among other things saying, that he agreed with the program of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, as he believed in equal rights for all men. He then invited His Excellency to call on him the next day for a further conference, which I have since learned was held. Then on March 25, in a letter received from Colonel Lyman, he pointed out that the Military Government had withdrawn its control of the organization and that we were now in the hands of the Dominican Government, and on April 6, in company with the General Secretary who was now released from
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prison and one of the members of the Trustee Board, he went to the Alcaldia and received all that had been confiscated, charter, books, flags, etc. The enthusiasm of the people ran high, and, on April 16, the doors of our Emancipation Hall were again thrown open to an eager crowd; when His Excellency delivered an able address touching on those members who were too weak-kneed to stand by the organization, taking for his subject: “Why seek ye the living among the dead.” But the day never to be forgotten by the organization as one of supreme triumph was Sunday, April 30, when in response to certain invitations issued, punctually at three-thirty p.m. we were honored with the presence of the CivilGovernor, of the Province of San Pedro de Macoris, Seybo; the Provost-Marshal, representing the Military Government; two members of the Honorable Ayuntamiento, and other distinguished Dominican officials. After the singing of the Dominican anthem the chairman, Brother Joseph Thomas, introduced His Excellency, Hon. John Sydney de Bourg to the audience, who arose and in a calm and dignified manner, bowed to the distinguished officers; then addressing the people took for his subject: “Be not as the horse or mule that hath no understanding.” This he, with marked accuracy and great diplomacy, beautifully analyzed, justifying the opinion of his hearers as being indeed a “bold and untiring plenipotentiary of the race.” Among other things to be mentioned is the address in Spanish by Sister Labega, Lady Secretary, which was ended with the recital of the Ethiopian National Anthem in Spanish. She endeavored in a short and simple manner to explain the aims and objects of the Association as set down in the constitution, dwelling largely upon the words of His Excellency, Hon. Marcus Garvey, “That the Universal Negro Improvement Association teaches loyalty to all governments.” Whereupon the civil governor arose and expressed his entire satisfaction, saying, in part: “That as he was now fully convinced that the organization tended to the advancement of the race, he will henceforth give to it all the support and strength that lay within the limits of the law.” The military officer then addressed the people. He seemed deeply interested, and said: “After listening to the instructions given you by your leader there is little left for me to say except that I am greatly in favor of your laws as set down in your constitution, but this advice I will leave with you: remember you have undertaken a great task, that of building a nation, and a nation cannot be built in a year, or two, therefore do not be discouraged at the first appearance of difficulties, for they will come. All you have got to do is to stick to it with a determination to accomplish that which you have in view.” The president of the Consuelo Chapter, Bro. A. Labega, then held the audience spellbound for about fifteen minutes on loyalty to the cause. Just here it would be well to note the broadmindedness of the administration Consuelo, principally Messrs. Albert Bass and Kilbourne, who placed their steamboat at the service of the members of the said chapter to bring them to town and take them back. They left our meeting at about 5 o’clock p.m., when we stood up and joined as one in giving 310
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three cheers for the administration of Consuelo. After the departure of the Consuelians Mr. Anthony Bastian, our treasurer, dwelt at length upon the work of his excellence and the signal triumph he had gained. Then the executive secretary said that above all he wished to say that we owed a great deal to his excellency, the Hon. Marcus Garvey, for when on the morning of September 4 we cabled him our great trouble he did not forsake us but came to our relief in sending us the representative that we have. He then moved three cheers for His Excellency the Hon. Marcus Garvey, whereupon the audience arose and their voices echoed again and again in loud and deafening applause. Bro. Bynes [Haynes], of the Porvenir Plantation, also made some befitting remarks, regretting that the administrator of said estate unlike those of the Consuelo estate is not favorably disposed towards the activities of the Universal Negro Improvement Association on that plantation. Just here I must make mention of Bro. T. D. Nichols, who, though not possessed of any legal or literary attainments, yet through his love for the association has been very faithful in going about with His Excellency as a sort of “body guard” throughout his official movements whilst straightening out the troubles of our association in this Republic. After singing the Ethiopian Anthem this memorable meeting came to a close, creating a favorable impression on the minds of all who witnessed it. Division No. 26 has, indeed, suffered, but out of sorrow has indeed come great joy, as this served to advertise to the general public of this Republic the powerful influence of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Printed in NW, 10 June 1922.
Gustavius Timothy Marigot1 in the Negro World [[DOMINICA, B.W.I., ca. 17 June 1922]]
MISSIONARIES IN WEST INDIES ALARMED AT GROWTH OF NEGROISM ANNUAL REPORT OF WESLEYAN METHODIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY2 TINGED WITH TALES OF SPIRITUAL AND SOCIAL REVOLT OF BLACK GROUPS Let me explain. Every district or circuit every year sends their report to England and a general report is written on the work by the ministers. Under the section, “Facing the Difficulties in the West Indies,” in the third report—New Race Bitterness—it reads thus:
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three cheers for the administration of Consuelo. After the departure of the Consuelians Mr. Anthony Bastian, our treasurer, dwelt at length upon the work of his excellence and the signal triumph he had gained. Then the executive secretary said that above all he wished to say that we owed a great deal to his excellency, the Hon. Marcus Garvey, for when on the morning of September 4 we cabled him our great trouble he did not forsake us but came to our relief in sending us the representative that we have. He then moved three cheers for His Excellency the Hon. Marcus Garvey, whereupon the audience arose and their voices echoed again and again in loud and deafening applause. Bro. Bynes [Haynes], of the Porvenir Plantation, also made some befitting remarks, regretting that the administrator of said estate unlike those of the Consuelo estate is not favorably disposed towards the activities of the Universal Negro Improvement Association on that plantation. Just here I must make mention of Bro. T. D. Nichols, who, though not possessed of any legal or literary attainments, yet through his love for the association has been very faithful in going about with His Excellency as a sort of “body guard” throughout his official movements whilst straightening out the troubles of our association in this Republic. After singing the Ethiopian Anthem this memorable meeting came to a close, creating a favorable impression on the minds of all who witnessed it. Division No. 26 has, indeed, suffered, but out of sorrow has indeed come great joy, as this served to advertise to the general public of this Republic the powerful influence of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Printed in NW, 10 June 1922.
Gustavius Timothy Marigot1 in the Negro World [[DOMINICA, B.W.I., ca. 17 June 1922]]
MISSIONARIES IN WEST INDIES ALARMED AT GROWTH OF NEGROISM ANNUAL REPORT OF WESLEYAN METHODIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY2 TINGED WITH TALES OF SPIRITUAL AND SOCIAL REVOLT OF BLACK GROUPS Let me explain. Every district or circuit every year sends their report to England and a general report is written on the work by the ministers. Under the section, “Facing the Difficulties in the West Indies,” in the third report—New Race Bitterness—it reads thus:
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This is a new feature, for the West Indies have hitherto been singularly free from anything resembling an acute color problem. But unhappily the great wave of race feeling that is sweeping around the world has not left the islands of the Caribbean Sea untouched. The growing self-consciousness of the Negro race is spreading from the Southern States to the West Indies. Up to the present it is felt most in the Bahama[s] Islands and in Honduras. In itself the race movement is natural and even laudable. Every nation naturally desires opportunity for self-development and self-expression. But during the past year the catchword “self-determination” has been made an excuse for the development of a race bitterness that can only lead to hatred and strife. The report from one circuit in the Bahamas says: “It is impossible for us to place too great an emphasis on the seriousness of the situation, not only in its effect on our work in this particular church, but in its possible effect on the work in our churches in the Bahamas.” Much more serious is a report from Spanish Honduras: “A race movement capably and resolutely directed from the United States, exclusively pro-African, and by consequence uncompromisingly and bitterly anti-British, has engaged the sympathy of the majority of our colored communities, and extremists have made a determined effort to subvert public institutions of alien (i.e., British or American) origin.” Efforts have been made by propagandists to obtain self-government of the churches, which of course during our years of work among the colored races it has been our aim to promote, but the form in which it is desired by these agitators would be the worst possible thing which could happen to these churches on which the labor and toil of several generations have been expended. Methodism, the professed friend of all and the enemy of none, has a difficult and unenviable task before her in dealing with the ramifications of this organization known as the Universal Negro Improvement Association. We are glad to find that the illusion is breaking in the best minds, but the task of European missionaries and West Indian ministers has been doubly and trebly increased by the bitter racial prejudice which has been manifested by supporters of this movement. Not only has the church suffered numerically on this account, but its life has been weakened as well. Bitterness and animosity have been aroused. What I have written is just how it is in the book. Printed in NW, 17 June 1922. 1. The name should probably have read “Gustavius Timothy of Marigot.” Marigot was the seat of Wesleyan activity in Dominica. 2. The Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society (WMMS) was organized in 1818 with the adoption of a formal constitution. It followed the unification of District Missionary Societies that began to be formed in 1813. The first Methodist congregation outside the British and Irish Isles was formed in 1759 in Antigua by Nathaniel Gilbert, later to be speaker of the island’s House of Assembly. In 1786 the first missionaries to the Caribbean—Thomas Coke (1747–1814), the founder of
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JUNE 1922 Methodist overseas missions, and three companions—arrived in Antigua on Christmas Day 1786. Coke was for many years the chief promoter and pioneer of Methodist foreign missions. He made eighteen transatlantic voyages, visited thirteen Caribbean islands, presided over many Irish Conferences, and single-handedly organized the recruitment, travel, and support of the early missionaries. In 1885, the West Indies Conference was established, but the area had been brought back under the British Conference by 1903. Despite its name, the WMMS was not a self-regulated “Society,” but rather the Methodist Church “mobilized for foreign missionary service” (Methodist Missionary Society, Our Missions Overseas—Past and Present. The First Annual Report of the Methodist Missionary Society, 1932 [1932]; G. Findlay and W. W. Holdsworth, The History of the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society [5 vols., 1921]; John A. Vickers, “Coke, Thomas (1747–1814),” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/5830, accessed 17 April 2015]).
Mary Philip to J. R. Ralph Casimir Guaico Tdad B.W.I. [17th] June 1922 Dear Son Hoping the reaches will meet you & circle enjoying health as it leaves us well. We are also very busy about the transferring of our div., it seem as it will be prosperous up there for the negro that way seem to be quite enthused over the matter. Edward1 is also in Town and as soon thing is convenience he will settle with you for the paper. Sonny you can look out soon for some of the family will be coming your way to take passage for the states, so I ask you if you can send me full information towards the voyage of the liner hoping to hear soon. I also ask please to send me the copy of my african contry [country?] I am busy fear to lost the mail. My love to mother, sister, brother & likewise yourself. Happy times I am MRS M. PHILIP JRCC. ALS, recipient’s copy. 1. Edward Philip was secretary of the Guaico branch of the UNIA.
Mary Philip to the UNIA Roseau Division #217 Div Guaico Tdad B.W.I. 17th June 1922 Fellowmen Greeting[:] It affords me much pleasure in extending to //you// sincere wishes from Officers & members of my division[.] Your sincere greeting ha[s] reach[ed] our div safe[.] I am glad to know that your div (w) is still keeping up the good fight for the #217 mean to rally until the flag of the Red, Black & Green is seen float-
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JUNE 1922 Methodist overseas missions, and three companions—arrived in Antigua on Christmas Day 1786. Coke was for many years the chief promoter and pioneer of Methodist foreign missions. He made eighteen transatlantic voyages, visited thirteen Caribbean islands, presided over many Irish Conferences, and single-handedly organized the recruitment, travel, and support of the early missionaries. In 1885, the West Indies Conference was established, but the area had been brought back under the British Conference by 1903. Despite its name, the WMMS was not a self-regulated “Society,” but rather the Methodist Church “mobilized for foreign missionary service” (Methodist Missionary Society, Our Missions Overseas—Past and Present. The First Annual Report of the Methodist Missionary Society, 1932 [1932]; G. Findlay and W. W. Holdsworth, The History of the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society [5 vols., 1921]; John A. Vickers, “Coke, Thomas (1747–1814),” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/5830, accessed 17 April 2015]).
Mary Philip to J. R. Ralph Casimir Guaico Tdad B.W.I. [17th] June 1922 Dear Son Hoping the reaches will meet you & circle enjoying health as it leaves us well. We are also very busy about the transferring of our div., it seem as it will be prosperous up there for the negro that way seem to be quite enthused over the matter. Edward1 is also in Town and as soon thing is convenience he will settle with you for the paper. Sonny you can look out soon for some of the family will be coming your way to take passage for the states, so I ask you if you can send me full information towards the voyage of the liner hoping to hear soon. I also ask please to send me the copy of my african contry [country?] I am busy fear to lost the mail. My love to mother, sister, brother & likewise yourself. Happy times I am MRS M. PHILIP JRCC. ALS, recipient’s copy. 1. Edward Philip was secretary of the Guaico branch of the UNIA.
Mary Philip to the UNIA Roseau Division #217 Div Guaico Tdad B.W.I. 17th June 1922 Fellowmen Greeting[:] It affords me much pleasure in extending to //you// sincere wishes from Officers & members of my division[.] Your sincere greeting ha[s] reach[ed] our div safe[.] I am glad to know that your div (w) is still keeping up the good fight for the #217 mean to rally until the flag of the Red, Black & Green is seen float-
313
JUNE 1922 Methodist overseas missions, and three companions—arrived in Antigua on Christmas Day 1786. Coke was for many years the chief promoter and pioneer of Methodist foreign missions. He made eighteen transatlantic voyages, visited thirteen Caribbean islands, presided over many Irish Conferences, and single-handedly organized the recruitment, travel, and support of the early missionaries. In 1885, the West Indies Conference was established, but the area had been brought back under the British Conference by 1903. Despite its name, the WMMS was not a self-regulated “Society,” but rather the Methodist Church “mobilized for foreign missionary service” (Methodist Missionary Society, Our Missions Overseas—Past and Present. The First Annual Report of the Methodist Missionary Society, 1932 [1932]; G. Findlay and W. W. Holdsworth, The History of the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society [5 vols., 1921]; John A. Vickers, “Coke, Thomas (1747–1814),” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/5830, accessed 17 April 2015]).
Mary Philip to J. R. Ralph Casimir Guaico Tdad B.W.I. [17th] June 1922 Dear Son Hoping the reaches will meet you & circle enjoying health as it leaves us well. We are also very busy about the transferring of our div., it seem as it will be prosperous up there for the negro that way seem to be quite enthused over the matter. Edward1 is also in Town and as soon thing is convenience he will settle with you for the paper. Sonny you can look out soon for some of the family will be coming your way to take passage for the states, so I ask you if you can send me full information towards the voyage of the liner hoping to hear soon. I also ask please to send me the copy of my african contry [country?] I am busy fear to lost the mail. My love to mother, sister, brother & likewise yourself. Happy times I am MRS M. PHILIP JRCC. ALS, recipient’s copy. 1. Edward Philip was secretary of the Guaico branch of the UNIA.
Mary Philip to the UNIA Roseau Division #217 Div Guaico Tdad B.W.I. 17th June 1922 Fellowmen Greeting[:] It affords me much pleasure in extending to //you// sincere wishes from Officers & members of my division[.] Your sincere greeting ha[s] reach[ed] our div safe[.] I am glad to know that your div (w) is still keeping up the good fight for the #217 mean to rally until the flag of the Red, Black & Green is seen float-
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ing on the mountain top of Africa. Brothers & Sisters do not be discouraged[.] “Africa’s redemption linge[rs] near.” Why should we slumber when day light is near. Arise shine for the light is come For the glory of Ethiopia. Will be soon shining on us. For God ha[s] send us a Moses Who is going to lead us out of bondage Into the land of peace and plenty. Brotheren less be not //Brethren let us not be// discouraged for our faith without works is dead, so is work without faith. Be patient and follow our honest leader. With Best wishes for your success MRS MARY PHILIP [Addressed to:] J. R. R. Casimi[r] Pres; #85 Div Roseau Dca JRRC. ALS, recipient’s copy. Handwritten letterhead: “One God One Aim One Destin[y] Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League.”
Article in the Negro World [New York, 17 June 1922]
VIRGIN ISLANDS AT MONSTER MASS MEETING PROTEST NAVAL RULE IN ST. CROIX Several hundred Virgin Islanders, mainly from St. Croix, packed St. Marks’ Hall to its fullest capacity last Sunday afternoon to express their dissatisfaction over conditions in the islands under the autocratic rule of the Navy Department in whose hands rests the government of the islands and to formulate plans by which Virgin Islanders on this side may be able to afford help to their brethren on the other side in the fight for decent conditions. The mass meeting was called by the various Virgin Island societies and organizations of New York and vicinity, and although the circulars were distributed only the night before, standing room was at a premium before the meeting was called to order. Mr. Max Smith, president of the Virgin Islands’ Protective League, was in the chair, and the battery of speakers included Joseph James, president of the American-West Indian Society; Frank Crosswaithe, Socialist lecturer and prospective candidate for Congress, and Caspar Holstein, a prominent Harlemite who had recently returned from a six months’ stay in St. Croix, where he had
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ing on the mountain top of Africa. Brothers & Sisters do not be discouraged[.] “Africa’s redemption linge[rs] near.” Why should we slumber when day light is near. Arise shine for the light is come For the glory of Ethiopia. Will be soon shining on us. For God ha[s] send us a Moses Who is going to lead us out of bondage Into the land of peace and plenty. Brotheren less be not //Brethren let us not be// discouraged for our faith without works is dead, so is work without faith. Be patient and follow our honest leader. With Best wishes for your success MRS MARY PHILIP [Addressed to:] J. R. R. Casimi[r] Pres; #85 Div Roseau Dca JRRC. ALS, recipient’s copy. Handwritten letterhead: “One God One Aim One Destin[y] Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League.”
Article in the Negro World [New York, 17 June 1922]
VIRGIN ISLANDS AT MONSTER MASS MEETING PROTEST NAVAL RULE IN ST. CROIX Several hundred Virgin Islanders, mainly from St. Croix, packed St. Marks’ Hall to its fullest capacity last Sunday afternoon to express their dissatisfaction over conditions in the islands under the autocratic rule of the Navy Department in whose hands rests the government of the islands and to formulate plans by which Virgin Islanders on this side may be able to afford help to their brethren on the other side in the fight for decent conditions. The mass meeting was called by the various Virgin Island societies and organizations of New York and vicinity, and although the circulars were distributed only the night before, standing room was at a premium before the meeting was called to order. Mr. Max Smith, president of the Virgin Islands’ Protective League, was in the chair, and the battery of speakers included Joseph James, president of the American-West Indian Society; Frank Crosswaithe, Socialist lecturer and prospective candidate for Congress, and Caspar Holstein, a prominent Harlemite who had recently returned from a six months’ stay in St. Croix, where he had
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served the natives in the capacity of labor superintendent and whose report of conditions appeared in the Negro World a few weeks ago. Holstein was the speaker of the day, as the meeting had been called to hear his report on conditions in the islands. This report covered a great deal and was made the basis of a set of formal resolutions which were drawn up to be sent to the authorities in Washington, public bodies in the United States and the Virgin Islanders at home. Holstein insisted that the great Labor Union, which was organized by D. Hamilton Jackson, was the one main hope for constructive reforms in the island of St. Croix, where it had opened the door of hope to thousands of struggling black workers. This door of hope, he said, the “carpet-baggers” had been attempting to close. “If they can get away with this dastardly attempt,” he explained, “it would not be long before the black people of St. Croix would be in the same state of social and political slavery as the black people of Tennessee about whom Mr. Stribling wrote in his novel, ‘Birthright.’ But we who are accustomed to the reality of freedom under Danish rule1 are not going to tamely accept a bastard democracy and a mutilated manhood under the glorious Stars and Stripes of the American Republic. It would be to our eternal disgrace if we did. And, therefore, we who live on the mainland must band together in political solidarity to help our brethren at home to carry their fight against serfdom to a successful conclusion.” This declaration was greeted with deafening applause. The meeting decided to take immediate steps to furnish aid to the islands, and several hundred dollars were subscribed for that purpose. The following resolutions were then adopted: We, the natives of the Virgin Islands resident in New York city and owing allegiance to the United States, desiring to enlist in our behalf that sense of civic justice and political freedom for which our common countrymen on this side are well known, have assembled in mass meeting in the city of New York on this 4th day of June, 1922, and after due deliberate consideration have adopted the following resolutions:— Resolved, That we protest against the hitherto unheard of doctrine of political serfdom which puts the government of an American colony into the hands of the Navy Department. We can readily understand how a conquered territory, prior to the establishment of civil government can be administered under martial law by the military forces which had effected its subjugation, but we fail to find any precedent in the history or laws of the United States or any other English-speaking country, for the present arrangement which turns over the civil rights of a free people whose territory was peac[a]bly acquired by treaty and by purchase to the by-nomeans tender mercies of that same Navy Department which has achieved such an unsavory reputation in Haiti, and we insist that the dignity and 315
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self-respect of the United States are involved until such time as the administration of the Virgin Islands is put under the appropriate department of the government; That we invite the attention of the American people to the record of brutal Prussianism which the Navy Department has made in the Virgin Islands during the past seven years, the outrages, rapes and raids upon the rights of law-abiding people of which its marines have been many times proved guilty and for which they have never been punished; We denounce the present code of so-called laws under which the courts are a disgrace and justice a farce as barba[ro]us, medieval and destructive of that respect which citizens or subjects should have for the government under which they live; And we pledge our selves to the task of agitating these grievances until the people and Congress of the United States incline the ear of justice to our cause, remove the evils of which we complain, and establish a regime under which we can be mutually proud of each other. The meeting came to an end with fervid assurances of further aid to follow and a series of similar meetings is being planned by the combined societies of Virgin Islanders. Printed in NW, 17 June 1922. 1. For the most part, the U.S. Navy continued the political practices that the Danes had established. At the same time, however, the new American rulers more blatantly expressed their own racial prejudices than had the Danes previously (Gregory R. LaMotta, “The Americanization of the Virgin Islands, 1917–1946: Politics and Class Struggle during the First Thirty Years of American Rule” [Ph.D. diss., University of Maryland, 1992], pp. 121–122; Albert Campbell, “St. Thomas Negroes: A Study of Personality and Culture,” Psychological Monographs 55, no. 5 [1943]: 1–93; J. Antonio Jarvis, A Brief History of the Virgin Islands [St. Thomas, V.I.: The Art Shop, 1938], pp. 138–145; Gordon K. Lewis, The Virgin Islands: A Caribbean Lilliput [Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1972], pp. 51–54; Geraldo Guirty, Harlem’s Danish-American West Indians, 1899–1964 [New York: Vantage Press, 1989], pp. 18–30).
Poem by J. R. Ralph Casimir [Roseau] 24/6/22
OUR FLAG 1. See that flag, see that flag, Stripe Red and Black and Green. Raise it high, yes, that flag, Where you will ever be seen 2. ’Tis your flag, ’tis your flag, 316
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self-respect of the United States are involved until such time as the administration of the Virgin Islands is put under the appropriate department of the government; That we invite the attention of the American people to the record of brutal Prussianism which the Navy Department has made in the Virgin Islands during the past seven years, the outrages, rapes and raids upon the rights of law-abiding people of which its marines have been many times proved guilty and for which they have never been punished; We denounce the present code of so-called laws under which the courts are a disgrace and justice a farce as barba[ro]us, medieval and destructive of that respect which citizens or subjects should have for the government under which they live; And we pledge our selves to the task of agitating these grievances until the people and Congress of the United States incline the ear of justice to our cause, remove the evils of which we complain, and establish a regime under which we can be mutually proud of each other. The meeting came to an end with fervid assurances of further aid to follow and a series of similar meetings is being planned by the combined societies of Virgin Islanders. Printed in NW, 17 June 1922. 1. For the most part, the U.S. Navy continued the political practices that the Danes had established. At the same time, however, the new American rulers more blatantly expressed their own racial prejudices than had the Danes previously (Gregory R. LaMotta, “The Americanization of the Virgin Islands, 1917–1946: Politics and Class Struggle during the First Thirty Years of American Rule” [Ph.D. diss., University of Maryland, 1992], pp. 121–122; Albert Campbell, “St. Thomas Negroes: A Study of Personality and Culture,” Psychological Monographs 55, no. 5 [1943]: 1–93; J. Antonio Jarvis, A Brief History of the Virgin Islands [St. Thomas, V.I.: The Art Shop, 1938], pp. 138–145; Gordon K. Lewis, The Virgin Islands: A Caribbean Lilliput [Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1972], pp. 51–54; Geraldo Guirty, Harlem’s Danish-American West Indians, 1899–1964 [New York: Vantage Press, 1989], pp. 18–30).
Poem by J. R. Ralph Casimir [Roseau] 24/6/22
OUR FLAG 1. See that flag, see that flag, Stripe Red and Black and Green. Raise it high, yes, that flag, Where you will ever be seen 2. ’Tis your flag, ’tis your flag, 316
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Negroes—black yellow and brown— Of others flags don’t you brag, See that yours never go down. 3. Oh the Red, what means that? Well for your race, you, I pray Shed your blood with all your heart Whether it is night or day 4. Let him see that you can fight Black man you’re no slacker, Face the foe with all your might; Be he king or cracker. 5. Pine not ’cause they bind your hand, Keep strong your faith, keep it Green; The mighty shall be brought low, stand By the Red the Black the Green 6. If e’er you’re offended have no fear Wrap yourself with the flag with all your might And say: “Fire on me if you dare, Four hundred million will demand my right” 7. If others our flag do assail Let us defend it free from harm Our splendid flag shall prevail To [words illegible] 8. Our flag is stainless, Hurrah! hurrah. keep it clean; Pray god our flag to bless, Three cheers for the Red, Black and Green! JRRC. AD.
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Wilfred Collet, Governor, British Guiana, to Winston S. Churchill, Secretary of State, Colonial Office GOVERNMENT HOUSE, Georgetown, Demerara, 6th July, 1922
Sir, I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Confidential despatch of the 20th April with regard to the withdrawal of the prohibition of the circulation of the Negro World in British Guiana. 2. My own inclination is to allow this publication to come into the Colony until something appears in it which will render the publication liable to prosecution for sedition, and of such a gross nature as to ensure conviction by a jury. I do not think that half measures with regard to objectionable publications do any good. 3. As regards the Negro Improvement Association, I consider that in its inception it was a gigantic folly and appealed to the worst sentiments of the negro race; but so far as I have seen copies of this publication I have found nothing that is likely to do any more harm in this Colony than any other publications which no one would think of stopping. All kinds of abominable sentiments have been attributed to members of the Association, but I have not seen these sentiments expressed in any publication of the Association itself. At the present moment, the Association is not making headway here, and it is occasionally attacked by the local negro newspaper.1 I also believe that the general tone of the Association is different from what it was three years ago. 3. In the circumstances, I am inclined to allow the Negro World to come in in the same way as objectionable newspapers are allowed from England; but on reference to the Executive Council I find that some members are strongly opposed to the admission of this paper, and none appear willing to take the responsibility of recommending the removal of the prohibition. The paper seems to be admitted into all the West Indian colonies except British Guiana and Trinidad. In the latter colony it has been declared by proclamation to be a seditious publication. The Reverend Dr. Tobitt, who has represented the Association in this Colony, informs me that he was one of the persons invited by the Governor of Bermuda to dine with the Prince of Wales in 1920. As far as I can ascertain, Dr. Tobitt was not guilty of any seditious utterances during his two visits to this Colony. It appears to me undesirable that some of the West Indian colonies should admit the Negro World freely, whilst in one it should be declared to be a seditious publication, and I have some hesitation in acting on my own view, so long as the prohibition exists in Trinidad. I am strongly of opinion that the embargo should be raised, but I would defer doing so until I
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hear your views. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your most obedient, humble servant, WILFRED COLLET Governor [Handwritten minutes:] I agree with the Gov’s view as expressed paragraph 2: but the Exec. C[oun]cil dissent from this. As the Gov states that he is disinclined to act on his own, while the prohibition remains in force in Trinidad—we might ask the Gov T’dad for his view, sending a copy of this //& [of on?] 15942/22.// A. B. [A. Bevir, West Indian Department] 3/8/22 The proclamation of the N. World in T’dad as a seditious publication was reported in 60718/20. See your minute on 15942/22 as regards B Guiana. Trinidad might be asked whether the withdrawal of the prohibition in B Guiana would be likely to lead to a similar demand in T’dad: whether such a demand would cause any embarrassment or whether T’dad would also now be prepared to withdraw the prohibition there: & send copy desp to B.G. promising a further [consideration] when a reply is rec’d. J. M. S. [Permanent Under Secretary Sir James Masterson Smith] 3/8/22 I do not see why B Guiana shd. not act independently of T’dad, especially as the paper appears to be admitted into all the other W.I. Colonies. But it will do no harm to consult T’dad as proposed. H. J. R. [Assistant Under Secretary Sir H. J. Read] 4/8/22 TNA: PRO CO 318/371/33396. TLS, recipient’s copy. Marked “Confidential.” Stamped “C.O. 37349.” 1. This possibly refers to the Labourer Magazine, a newspaper that circulated around 1919. No other newspapers fit the description “local negro newspaper.” However, one of the main newspapers, the Daily Argosy, was also hostile to the local UNIA.
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José Martinez to the Negro World [[San Juan, P.R. July 11 1922]]
PORTO RICO AGAIN UNDER THE COLORS OF THE RED, THE BLACK AND THE GREEN MASS MEETING HELD AT THE MUNICIPAL THEATRE, SAN JUAN, P.R. HIS EXCELLENCY HON. JOHN SIDNEY [SYDNEY] DE BOURG ENROLLED MANY MEMBERS After a disappointment the very day of the meeting at the Casino Hijos de Borinquen,1 a hall belonging to Negroes, a large audience went to hear his Excellency Hon. John Sidney de Bourg in the Municipal Theatre. Division No. 45 of San Juan has come again to life through the efforts of its new president, Senor Jaime A. Bishop,2 and its old, loyal members. On the platform were his Excellency John Sidney de Bourg, Senor Jaime A. Bishop, president; Senor Conrado Rosario, general secretary; Senor Jose Biszanito, first vice-president; Mr. John Mathews, financial secretary, and Mr. Jose Mills, second vice-president. The opening ode was sung, followed by prayer. Senor Jaime A. Bishop was the first speaker. In a clear and forceful manner he addressed the audience in Spanish, explaining the aims and objects of the U.N.I.A. He said that the two main reasons for the delay of his countrymen in enrolling under the banner of the Red, the Black and the Green were, first, the election of ignorant and selfish officers in the division, and, second, the foolish conception of many Porto Rican Negroes in thinking that they are not Negroes. As to the first, he said we have cleaned house, and the new officers must be self-sacrificing or quit their post. As to the second, the fact must be faced that it is not an easy job to take from the mind of our people in one or two years the idea that the word Negro means inferiority, when we consider that for more than three hundred years the white people have beaten that belief into our brains. In my opinion it will take some years of Garveyism to reach our destination. The next speaker was Senor Conrado Rosario, our general secretary. He spoke to the audience in Spanish, and received much applause for his forceful and virile remarks. He explained the obligations of the members to the association and the benefits to be obtained by being a member. He said that the Negroes have been living here under the impression that Porto Rico was a paradise for Negroes because the white people greeted them with a salute and a smile. This idea may have satisfied the old Negroes, but the new Negroes want to see the race progress in education, in industry, in commerce and in every avenue of human activity and to live under our own [flag].
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The next speaker was Mr. John Mathews, our financial secretary, a natural born orator, who was cheered and applauded by the audience. He said, among other things, that he does not understand why many Porto Rican Negroes say that they are satisfied with their condition, unless it is impossible for them to see beyond their own noses. He said that in the many years he has been in Porto Rico he has seen no Negro enterprises, no Negro business places and no Negroes working even as clerks in any of the many stores in the island, and that the only time he has ever seen a group of Negroes receive recognition was during the World War, when many of the best trained young Negroes were made officers in the army that was to face German guns in France. Today, however, if any of those former officers desires to be even a simple private in the Porto Rican army his color will deprive him of the chance. The last speaker was our leader, his Excellency Hon. John Sidney de Bourg, who in a masterly way held the audience spellbound. He took for his subject, “Go to the ant, thou sluggard, and learn to be wise.”3 He impressed upon the audience the necessity and the duty of the Porto Rican Negroes cooperating in the work of the U.N.I.A., the largest Negro movement in the world today. He made a detailed explanation of the case of Santo Domingo, where the divisions of the association were closed by the Santo Domingo and military governments and many of the members jailed. As a result of his endeavors, however, all the divisions were in operation before he left the island, the members of the association having been discharged from jail, and Santo Domingo is again a safe place for the members of the U.N.I.A. He also described the condition of the Porto Rican Negroes with a familiarity of one who had lived there for many years. He drew a picture of the ills afflicting the Negroes of the race in Porto Rico and suggested remedies for their cure. His Excellency’s speech was so impressive that when he had finished speaking many proceeded to the rostrum for the honor of shaking his hand and to become members of the organization. Printed in NW, 29 July 1922. 1. Casino Hijos de Borinquen was an artisan’s club in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Its members included James Benjamin and Conrado Rosario, as well as other people associated with UNIA division 45 (see Casino Hijos de Borinquen, “Artículos de Incorporación,” Expediente 237, Caja 17A, Serie: Corporaciones sin fines de lucro, Fondo: Departamento de Estado, AGPR; Reinaldo L. Román, “Scandalous Race: Garveyism, the Bomba, and the Discourses of Blackness in 1920s Puerto Rico” Caribbean Studies 31, no. 1, special issue: Garveyism in the Hispanic Caribbean, ed. Jorge L. Giovannetti and Reinaldo L. Román [January–June 2003]). 2. Jaime A. Bishop was the fourth president of UNIA division 45, replacing Alfredo Prince. Bishop’s only known surviving writings, originally published in El Mundo, 10 August 1922, and El Tiempo, 16 August 1922, are reproduced in this volume. 3. Proverbs 6:6.
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Casper Holstein, President, Virgin Islands Congressional Council, in the Negro World [New York, July 15, 1922]
THE NEGRO WORLD KNOCKS A “HOME-RUN” IN THE VIRGIN ISLANDS BLACK AND WHITE ENEMIES OF NEGRO MANHOOD MOVEMENT ON THE RUN IN ST. CROIX, SAYS CASPER HOLSTEIN— NEGRO WORLD EXPOSE THROWS THEM INTO CONSTERNATION While the cause of the Virgin Islanders in St. Croix has been taken up by quite a few American newspapers and magazines, including the Nation, the greatest national organ of liberal opinion, yet I not sure whether any of these publications have reached the people in the islands. But the readers of The Negro World will be glad to know that this paper is a power of sorts in St. Croix and that its recent articles on crackerism in that island have caused a flutter of consternation in the breasts of the cracker enemies of Negro manhood and their few black henchmen. JUDAS HAS THE JUMPS One of the latter, Mr. Ralph Chabert, has felt so flabbergasted that he has been making a dead set at me as the writer of the first article giving my impression of things in St. Croix. Chabert contends that my publication of the hard facts is an attempt to lower the people of the Virgin Islands in the opinion of the outside world. Which is just as if a Southern Negro should deplore the fight which Northern Negroes are waging against lynching, Jim Crow and disfranchisement, on the ground that the telling of these things lowers the Southern Negroes in the eyes of other people. The contention would be a silly and dishonest one in either case. Chabert goes further in a personal form of controversy and tries to asperse my personal motives in the matter, blustering and collecting money from a few unfortunate people which he says is for a fund to have me brought back to the island. I am not fond of personal arguments; but I think that my own race-love and loyalty to the cause of Negro manhood, whether in Liberty Hall or the Virgin Islands, hardly need to be stated by me. They stand already manifested in my deeds; deeds that were not done for pay, like those of Messrs. Chabert and Granady—but freely and fairly in the cause of justice and liberty. Therefore, if I venture to put certain questions to Mr. Chabert I trust that the readers of The Negro World will realize that I do so only as a part of that work which The Negro World and its backers are doing all over the world where Negroes live, viz.: The championing of Negro manhood rights by challenging oppression and wrong and attacking racial treachery and sycophancy wherever these things raise their ugly heads. Surely if we attack these things in Africa and the British 322
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possessions we should attack them with even more energy in the Virgin Islands, because we can bring direct political pressure to bear there where the American flag floats, and with far greater success than in Hayti, where our marines can make pretense to the role of conquerors. In the Virgin Islands the people are Americans and can claim justice and freedom under the flag and the aid of all white and black Americans “at home” to achieve that justice and freedom. A WORD IN SEASON It should seem that when a group of people set out to agitate for reforms they are bound to set forth the facts of the situation which constitute their case if they want other people to give them sympathy and support. Therefore, Mr. Chabert in opposing a statement of the facts must be also opposing any reform of the wrongs which those facts make clear. Which is a singular stand for a Negro who pretends to be a leader to take. As a man of public pretensions, Chabert shows a callous contempt for the people’s welfare. As to his raising money to bring me back I went to St. Croix, where I was born, on my own free will. I was able to pay my way there and back once, and am certainly able to do so again. I will take passage for St. Croix at any time when the public welfare of the people in that island may require it. On the other hand, Chabert will not and cannot come to New York, while Granady, his disbarred legal adviser, dares not. A FEW QUESTIONS And now let me address a few questions to Chabert and his chum which may help to make the conditions in St. Croix clearer to the readers of The Negro World. In their program of disruption and destruction of the St. Croix Labor Union didn’t they declare during the early days of September that the union was bankrupt and had no money? Since it had money when they took charge in Mr. Jackson’s absence it is fair to ask them how did the money go? Isn’t it true that in December (late December, mind you) just before Jackson resumed the reins of management over the union’s affairs, the following items appeared in the records: “Paid to R. Chabert $300 for wages: Paid to R. Chabert $1,150 for provisions to be given to laborers during strike?” Isn’t it true that when Chabert purchased these provisions, groceries, etc., from the wholesale merchants he often made his own grocery store the distributing center rather than the union’s headquarters? And isn’t it true that his shelves were stacked for [months?] after with the same kind of goods that were then on sale as his own? And were not the friends of Chabert the ones who mainly profited from such distributions as were made while the great bulk of honest union men and women were passed over and discriminated against? After Granady and Chabert had enacted a new law compelling the union’s members to pay an additional tax for a death fund from which Chabert and Granady had promised death payments of $75, didn’t they fail to keep their word? And isn’t it true that 323
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the few payments made were made exclusively to the friends and supporters of Chabert? THE RECEIVERSHIP Concerning the attempt now being made by these two men who left the union under a heavy cloud to get possession of the union’s funds and other properties it is proper to ask if their administration of the union’s affairs was an honest and not a dishonest one; why did they hide and carry away secretly many of the books of the union when they ended their own administration of its funds? In seeking the receivership for the union’s property (apart from the bank) after they had declared the union bankrupt and insolvent, Chabert and Granady are moved more by the thought of the sum of from twelve to fifteen thousand dollars which would accrue to them through such receivership than by any desire to help the union’s members, who (despite the backing which Chabert and Granady get from the judge of the District Court and Magistrate Payne) still stand solidly behind Jackson and the regular officers of the union. Under these circumstances is the raid on the receivership an evidence of honest intent? Why, in addition, are they seeking the receivership of the only bank in the West Indies which was founded by black men under Jackson’s directions? Why are these outsiders hungry to get their hands on the affairs of the bank of the St. Croix Labor Union? Is it not because by getting control of the outstanding debts to the bank they hope to be able to squeeze the “Herald”1 and the labor union out of existence, while they themselves grow rich on the fees which would be assigned them as receivers by their white cracker friends who are to make the assignment? To form a secret, underhanded alliance with a judiciary already notorious for its race prejudice and hostility to Negroes is hardly the right way to win greatness among Negroes either in St. Croix or anywhere else. And even a Turkish judiciary would be lowered in the eyes of its friends by consorting with men practicing such trick as are common to the aforementioned gentlemen. Let them answer before the bar of public opinion whether it isn’t true that they collected in the name of the union purchase money from poor people who were buying their land on the instal[l]ment plan at C. and G.’s urgent request, and issued to them receipts which are dishonest and worthless, since these receipts read: Received from . . . . . . . . . . on a parcel of land at estate Blessing. (Signed) St. Croix Labor Union. In such a form it is easy to go into court and argue that these were receipts for rent and not for payments on the purchase price; so that these poor dupes of Granady and Chabert will find that when Chabert and Granady as receivers come to administer the union’s affairs they will be dispossessed of 324
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their holdings because they can’t prove by these receipts that they have been paying money for the purchase of the land? And isn’t that a lowdown trick for men of education to play on their less fortunate followers? These are some of the things to which these former officials of the St. Croix Labor Union have resorted in their efforts to destroy it in their mad career of “Rule or Ruin.” Now that they are preparing to launch a newspaper for their own petty purposes to fight Jackson and the labor union and stab them in the back just when all Virgin Islanders of the working class especially need unity more than ever, I want to recall to Christian readers a little episode in the New Testament. It will be found in the 26th chapter of Matthew’s gospel: “Now when the even was come He sat down with the twelve. And as they gave ear, He said ‘Verily I say unto you that one of you shall betray me’; and they were exceedingly sorrowful and began every one of them to say unto Him, Lord, ‘is it I?’ and He answered and said, ‘He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me. The Son of Man goeth as it is written of Him, but woe unto that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed!’ It had been good for that man if he had not been born. Then Judas, who betrayed him, answered and said, ‘Master is it I?’ He said unto him, ‘Thou hast said.’” May I claim the privilege of giving a name to the new journal, even though I won’t be at home to hail its appearance—a name which anyone who picks up a copy may mentally assign to the production of the honest minds of Granady and Chabert? I nominate it The Judas Journal—and I pray that the name will stick.2 The world today appreciates the man of deeds, the organizer, the man who can weld masses together for uplift and improvement. For the sycophant who aspires to destroy by race-treason, dishonesty and double-dealing it has nothing but unmeasured contempt. That is why the names of D. Hamilton Jackson, R. Chabert and O. Granady will descend to our posterity, the first as the Saviour of his people from degradation, poverty and ignorance, and the other two for the same reasons that made us remember Benedict Arnold and Judas Iscariot. The program of the Virgin Islanders in the United States is taking shape and gathering such impetus that it will not let up nor yield ground until the deniers of Negro manhood, the vultures of the Virgin Islands and the traitors of the people’s cause are put down or driven out. Printed in NW, 15 July 1922. 1. The Herald (1915–1925) was a daily newspaper edited by D. Hamilton Jackson; it was published in Christiansted, St. Croix. 2. Ralph de Chabert did publish his own newspaper, the St. Croix Tribune, which was a daily newspaper and was published by the St. Croix Co-operative Society in Christiansted, St. Croix. It was edited by Ralph De Chabert and was published between 1922 and 1937.
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Antonio Beltrán Rentas to the Negro World1 [[New York, 15 July 1922]]
IMPRESSIONS OF OUR SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO DIVISION We are convinced that the members of our race in Puerto Rico live in the greatest error. All believe that race division or prejudice is a dead thing and it worries them very little (it would seem) that a Division of the Universal Association for the Advancement of the Negro Race is in progress and has set down roots in the capital of the island. For lack of space it has not been possible to relate the history of this Division, but let us say that as in every other place where the banner of our Organization has been unfurled, the leading men of the movement have received the most scathing and harshest criticism and their meetings and smallest steps have been interrupted by members of our own race, who fearful of finding themselves deprived of the favors they receive from whites and blocked in their negotiations by their supposed friends, close their ears to our preaching and their doors to their brothers in [the] race. Consummate hypocrites, they lack the courage to declare themselves openly in favor of one [our] side because they are unable, or for the other because they believe themselves superior. They isolate themselves and instead of giving the world their knowledge and helping the race in some way, they end up declaring themselves its involuntary enemies, instruments of whites, working[,] incidentally[,] against their own progress and well being. Like many other Divisions, the San Juan Division has passed through its cri[si]s. At the present moment and under the interim presidency of Mr. Jaime A. Bishop, said Division gives signs of life as if [it were] following the life of Christ among mortals. The difficulties with which we have been presented notwithstanding, we have inducted a large number of young progressives from our race; some professionals, others workers, who convinced of the falsehood of the terrain of brotherhood and limited solidarity proclaimed by whites and their satellites, have not hesitated for a moment to take their place by our side, so that we now count on a Division willing to work for the Negro’s future in Puerto Rico and above all to establish the best business relations among members of the race in the country. To mark the arrival in San Juan, in transit to New York, of Mr. John Sidney de Bourg, leader of the movement in the Antilles, an assembly was called which should have taken place in the hall of the “Hijos de Borinquen” casino, a social club for members (it would seem) of our race. [B]ut for reasons that we still ignore, the assembly was held in the Municipal Theater of the city. Mr. de Bourg addressed the public in English, with Mr. Bishop interpreting, making a pleasing impression among his listeners.
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We do not hesitate for a moment to say that within a year, the San Juan Division will be at the head of the movement in the Antilles District and for making it thus, we congratulate the directors and encourage them to find in a brave and decisive manner[,] as soon as possible, the means to liberate our race brothers from the general boycott in which they find themselves[,] and this is achieved by preaching the wise doctrines of the Hon. Marcus Garvey and the goal of our organization. ANTONIO BELTRÁN RENTAS Printed in NW, 22 July 1922. Translated from Spanish. 1. This letter was published subsequently in El Mundo in San Juan, Puerto Rico, with the title “The Colored Race in Puerto Rico Is Ready to Enter Upon a Genuine Era of Improvement” (El Mundo, 3 August 1922).
John Sydney de Bourg to Charles Evans Hughes, U.S. Secretary of State No. 214 West 140th Street, New York City, N. Y., July 17th, 1922 Honorable Sir, 1. I have the honor to now acknowledge receipt of your favor of “May 5th, 1922” with reference to “So 339.1121—Bourg, John Sydney de” in connection with my illegal arrest and imprisonment by the authorities of the United States Military Government at San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic of Santo Domingo. 2. You will please perc[ei]ve by the above address that I have returned to this Grand Republic, and it may be well to declare [that I plan] to stay for the rest of my life under the “Star Spangled Banner” the flag of liberty and opportunity. My family consisting of a wife and four childre[n] will soon join me and what with my nephews who have served your army in the recent World War. 3. I firstly arrived in this City in the month of March, 1920 as a British subject a name by which I conscientiously abhorred to have for years past called myself. And early in 1921, as enclosed copy of document would show, I on oath protested against being called anymore a British subject by renouncing all alleg[i]ence to George V, King of Great Britian and Ireland, feeling myself a born American Negro. The enclosed document marked “A” is a true copy of my renunciation paper—a renunciation made by me and of my own free will and accord, because of my honest conviction and with no speculative intention. 4. During the month of October last, I was detailed by the Universal Negro Improvement Association, Incorporated in this City to go there as its Representative to straighten out certain matters in connection with an unwar327
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We do not hesitate for a moment to say that within a year, the San Juan Division will be at the head of the movement in the Antilles District and for making it thus, we congratulate the directors and encourage them to find in a brave and decisive manner[,] as soon as possible, the means to liberate our race brothers from the general boycott in which they find themselves[,] and this is achieved by preaching the wise doctrines of the Hon. Marcus Garvey and the goal of our organization. ANTONIO BELTRÁN RENTAS Printed in NW, 22 July 1922. Translated from Spanish. 1. This letter was published subsequently in El Mundo in San Juan, Puerto Rico, with the title “The Colored Race in Puerto Rico Is Ready to Enter Upon a Genuine Era of Improvement” (El Mundo, 3 August 1922).
John Sydney de Bourg to Charles Evans Hughes, U.S. Secretary of State No. 214 West 140th Street, New York City, N. Y., July 17th, 1922 Honorable Sir, 1. I have the honor to now acknowledge receipt of your favor of “May 5th, 1922” with reference to “So 339.1121—Bourg, John Sydney de” in connection with my illegal arrest and imprisonment by the authorities of the United States Military Government at San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic of Santo Domingo. 2. You will please perc[ei]ve by the above address that I have returned to this Grand Republic, and it may be well to declare [that I plan] to stay for the rest of my life under the “Star Spangled Banner” the flag of liberty and opportunity. My family consisting of a wife and four childre[n] will soon join me and what with my nephews who have served your army in the recent World War. 3. I firstly arrived in this City in the month of March, 1920 as a British subject a name by which I conscientiously abhorred to have for years past called myself. And early in 1921, as enclosed copy of document would show, I on oath protested against being called anymore a British subject by renouncing all alleg[i]ence to George V, King of Great Britian and Ireland, feeling myself a born American Negro. The enclosed document marked “A” is a true copy of my renunciation paper—a renunciation made by me and of my own free will and accord, because of my honest conviction and with no speculative intention. 4. During the month of October last, I was detailed by the Universal Negro Improvement Association, Incorporated in this City to go there as its Representative to straighten out certain matters in connection with an unwar327
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ranted raid made by said United States Military Authorities. In this raid the properties of the said Association were confiscated and about 17 persons— Negroes—members and friends of said Association were seized and imprisoned without any just cause by the said Military Authorities in San Pedro de Macoris. 5. By my illegal vindictive and malicious arrest and imprisonment I suffered the greatest indignities and mal-treatment by the Military Authorities for no offence whatever as if I were one of the greatest reputed felons of that district. I was refused by the Provost Marshal to be conveyed in a coach proffered myself and my armed conductor. But I was paraded through[ou]t the public streets to and from the jail by armed conductors as a common bandit beaten unmeritedly by one as it has been proved by [in]vestigation by the said Military Authorities. And I was made to sleep in that jail without a bunk. 6. By referring to the documents which I have already forwarded to your department enclosed in my letter of 23rd April last which I am impressed you have already perused. You will assuredly agree with me that this was an infringement of my liberty, honor and integrity. And that the indignities inflicted on me have been actuated by purely wicked vindictive and malicious motives to injur[e] me for being a Negro and my reputation in the eyes of our Government, under whose flag I have sworn allegience and looked for protection, particularly in that Republic. 7. I feel so injured over this ill-treatment that my mind is now seriously exercised over what amount of money compensation could repay the suffering and indignities a man of my age, character and position have been subjected to at the hands of said Military Authorites in the said district. 8. There seems to be a very strong manifestation of Negrophobiaism against my race by our government of occupation of this Dominican Republic which is greatly assisting in the annihilating of the affection of my race for the Military Government there. 9. I have herein enclosed a true and correct copy marked “B”1 and in Spanish of a most iniquitious enactment now enforced there by our Government of occupation. In this enactment it is provided: THAT ANY PERSON OF PURE WHITE RACE has not the necessity to procure or present any permit to enter in any part of the said Republic. Whereas NO NEGRO CAN ENTER IN ANY PART OF SAID REPUBLIC WITHOUT HAVING PREVIOUSLY APPLIED FOR SUCH WRITTEN PERMIT from the hands of the United States Military Secretary of
Agriculture and Immigration in said Republic, who has the power to refuse it. 10. I beg now to most solemnly protest against the imposition of such an un-American trav[esty] of justice on my Race. I make this appeal to you with the full confidence that you would cause the necessary steps to be immediately taken to cause its cancellation, not only because of the very great stigma a[n]d hardship it is inflicting on my Race, but because of its serious reflection on the magnanimity of the grandest of all constitutions of Liberty as that of the American Republic.
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11. I now leave these i[m]portant matters into your very valuable hands with the fullest confidence that you would with as little delay as possible bring them to a satisfactory issue with credit to our government and yourself. I have the honor to be, Honorable Sir, Very anxiously, Your most humble and obedient servant[,] JOHN SYDNEY DE BOURG Accepted Representative DNA, RG 59, 339.1121. TLS. Recipient’s copy. 1. The original document does not contain enclosure “B.”
Enclosure: U.S. Immigration Form New York, 14 February 1921
FORM 2203 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR NA[T]URALIZATION SERVICE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA DECLARATION OF INTENTION INVALID FOR ALL PURPOSES //SE//VEN YEARS AFTER THE DATE HEREOF (State of New York,)ss (County of New York,) In the Supreme Court of New York County. I—JOHN SYDNEY DE BOURG—, aged 67 years, occupation Commission Agent do declare on oath that my p//er//sonal description is: COLOR black, COMPLEXION light, height 5 feet 4 inches, Weight 133 Pounds, Color of hair—Grey, Co//l//or of eyes Brown other visible distinctive marks None[.] I was born in Gr[e]nad//a//, British West Indies on the 1 day of October, anno Domini 1853; I now reside at 105 W. 138th St. New York City, N. Y. I emigrated to the United States of America from San Pedro de Macoris, Santa Domingo on the Vessel Iroquois; my last foreign residence was Trinidad, B. W. Indies; I am married; the name of my wife is [Be]atrice; she was born at British W. Indies and now resides at British West Indies. It is my bona fide intention to reno[u]nce forever all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, and particularly to GEORGE V KING OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND of whom I am no[w] a subject; I arrived at the port of New York; in the State of New York on or about the 28th, day of March, anno Domini 1920; I am not an anarchist; I am not a polygamist nor a beli[e]ver in the practice of polygamy; and it is my intention
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in good faith to become a citizen of the UNITED STATES of AMERICA and to permanently reside therein: SO HELP ME GOD. Sgd JOHN SYDNEY DE BOURG Subscribed and sworn to before me in the office of the Clerk [of] said Court at New York City, N.Y. this 14th, day of Februar[y] anno Domini 1921. WILLIAM F. SCHNEIDER Clerk of the Supreme Court By AGES S. STUART? Special Clerk DNA, RG 59 339/1121. TDS.
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John Sydney de Bourg Naturalization Petition, 14 February 1921 (Source: RG 21 Records of District Courts of the United States, Petitions for Naturalization of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 1897–1944, No. 242383)
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Enid H. Lamos,1 Corresponding Secretary, UNIA, to J. R. Ralph Casimir UNIVERSAL BUILDING, 56 WEST 135TH STREET NEW YORK, U.S.A. July 21, 1922
My dear Mr. Cassimir [Casimir]:— Your kind letter of the 1st inst., to hand. Your many letters requesting that an Executive Officer from the Parent Body be sent to visit your Division have been received, but you will understand that Dominica is very far off from the United States of America, and it is not possible to send Officers to your Division, as it is to send them to Divisions in the United States of America. Having sent Rev. Tobitt to that part of the West Indies, we felt that he would do for the Divisions there, quite as much as another Officer of the Association would. At the present time we are busily engaged in preparing for our forthcoming International Convention, and all the Officers are out on the field getting the Divisions in order for the Convention. We are expecting that this Convention will surpass the previous ones held, and we had hoped that you would find it possible to be with us. We regret that this will not be, nevertheless we know you will be with us in spirit, and you may be assured that everything that will be said and done at the Convention will be as much for the good of those absent, as those who will be present. We note the good work you are doing in Dominica, and the visits you paid the Divisions in Trinidad, and we desire to assure you of our appreciation. We are hoping that some time after the Convention, we will be able to send a strong man to visit the Divisions in that part of the West Indies, but until then, keep up the good work, continue to do all you can to spread the doctrine of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, because there is a very bright future in store for those of us who stand upholding the colors of the Red, the Black, and the Green. Wishing you continued success, Yours fraternally, ENID H. LAMOS Corr. Secy. to President-General [Addressed to:] Mr. J. Relph Cassimir [Ralph Casimir], Roseau. Dominica, B.W.I. JRRC. TLS, recipient’s copy. On UNIA and ACL parent body letterhead. 1. Enid H. Lamos (1898–1951) was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and immigrated to the United States in July 1920, although in her court testimony she claimed to have begun working for Garvey as his stenographer in October 1919. She travelled with Garvey and Amy and Cleveland Jacques during the spring and summer of 1921. With Amy Jacques she was responsible for receiving and recording money taken in at Garvey’s meetings in the West Indies and Central America. She also recorded the testimony at Garvey’s mail fraud trial for publication in the Negro World. In November 1925, Enid Lamos became a U.S. citizen (U.S. Department of Labour, certificate of naturaliza-
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JULY 1922 tion no. 2137621; Marcus Garvey v. United States, no. 8317, Ct. App., 2nd Cir., 2 February 1925, pp. 1,650–1,656; Lionel A. Francis to Amy Ashwood Garvey, 6 August 1951; MGP 3: 723 n. 1).
Lyllian M. Galloway, Manager, Universal Publishing House, to J. R. Ralph Casimir 2305 SEVENTH AVENUE NEW YORK, U.S.A. July 25, 1922 My dear Mr. Casimir:— We have your communication under date of July 12th, requesting an estimate for printing 50 or 25, sixty or eighty page books. We beg to inform you that we cannot handle that job at all, unless you could see where you would be able to use 500 or 1000 Copies of such a book. Roughly estimating, we might say that the price for 500 Copies of such a book would be (approximately) $195 or 200, and for 1000 Copies of same about, $250 or $260. But for a small order, we could make it [up]. It would cost us more to produce it, than we would be able to sell it for. Trusting that you will see your way to increase your order at the prices given, we are, Very truly yours LYLLIAN M. GALLOWAY Universal Publishing House Mgr [Addressed to:] Mr. J. R. Ralph Casimir, Market Street, Roseau, Dominica, B.W.I. JRRC. TLS, recipient’s copy. On Office of the Universal Negro Improvement Association’s Printing and Publishing House letterhead.
H. N. Huggins, President, UNIA St. Vincent Division, to J. R. Ralph Casimir Stubbs P.O. St Vincent B.W.I. 28th July 1922 Dear Fellowman, I am in rec[ei]pt of your letter so many mails past, I guess you thought I am dead, or careless for responding, its not none of these, hard work in the garden the season came down so late, we had to hurry up with our plants, any way, I am still struggling, my Division is flat on the ground, its only God knows 333
JULY 1922 tion no. 2137621; Marcus Garvey v. United States, no. 8317, Ct. App., 2nd Cir., 2 February 1925, pp. 1,650–1,656; Lionel A. Francis to Amy Ashwood Garvey, 6 August 1951; MGP 3: 723 n. 1).
Lyllian M. Galloway, Manager, Universal Publishing House, to J. R. Ralph Casimir 2305 SEVENTH AVENUE NEW YORK, U.S.A. July 25, 1922 My dear Mr. Casimir:— We have your communication under date of July 12th, requesting an estimate for printing 50 or 25, sixty or eighty page books. We beg to inform you that we cannot handle that job at all, unless you could see where you would be able to use 500 or 1000 Copies of such a book. Roughly estimating, we might say that the price for 500 Copies of such a book would be (approximately) $195 or 200, and for 1000 Copies of same about, $250 or $260. But for a small order, we could make it [up]. It would cost us more to produce it, than we would be able to sell it for. Trusting that you will see your way to increase your order at the prices given, we are, Very truly yours LYLLIAN M. GALLOWAY Universal Publishing House Mgr [Addressed to:] Mr. J. R. Ralph Casimir, Market Street, Roseau, Dominica, B.W.I. JRRC. TLS, recipient’s copy. On Office of the Universal Negro Improvement Association’s Printing and Publishing House letterhead.
H. N. Huggins, President, UNIA St. Vincent Division, to J. R. Ralph Casimir Stubbs P.O. St Vincent B.W.I. 28th July 1922 Dear Fellowman, I am in rec[ei]pt of your letter so many mails past, I guess you thought I am dead, or careless for responding, its not none of these, hard work in the garden the season came down so late, we had to hurry up with our plants, any way, I am still struggling, my Division is flat on the ground, its only God knows 333
JULY 1922 tion no. 2137621; Marcus Garvey v. United States, no. 8317, Ct. App., 2nd Cir., 2 February 1925, pp. 1,650–1,656; Lionel A. Francis to Amy Ashwood Garvey, 6 August 1951; MGP 3: 723 n. 1).
Lyllian M. Galloway, Manager, Universal Publishing House, to J. R. Ralph Casimir 2305 SEVENTH AVENUE NEW YORK, U.S.A. July 25, 1922 My dear Mr. Casimir:— We have your communication under date of July 12th, requesting an estimate for printing 50 or 25, sixty or eighty page books. We beg to inform you that we cannot handle that job at all, unless you could see where you would be able to use 500 or 1000 Copies of such a book. Roughly estimating, we might say that the price for 500 Copies of such a book would be (approximately) $195 or 200, and for 1000 Copies of same about, $250 or $260. But for a small order, we could make it [up]. It would cost us more to produce it, than we would be able to sell it for. Trusting that you will see your way to increase your order at the prices given, we are, Very truly yours LYLLIAN M. GALLOWAY Universal Publishing House Mgr [Addressed to:] Mr. J. R. Ralph Casimir, Market Street, Roseau, Dominica, B.W.I. JRRC. TLS, recipient’s copy. On Office of the Universal Negro Improvement Association’s Printing and Publishing House letterhead.
H. N. Huggins, President, UNIA St. Vincent Division, to J. R. Ralph Casimir Stubbs P.O. St Vincent B.W.I. 28th July 1922 Dear Fellowman, I am in rec[ei]pt of your letter so many mails past, I guess you thought I am dead, or careless for responding, its not none of these, hard work in the garden the season came down so late, we had to hurry up with our plants, any way, I am still struggling, my Division is flat on the ground, its only God knows 333
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when it will lift again. I am expecting after the convention to see some one from the Parent Body, unti[l] then before it would rise again. I am very sorry to keep cash so long, and another thing is, I am so far from Town when I have these small amounts to post my expense is more than that, so I am actually afraid to go in Town sometimes, any way; I am glad for your patience, accept the amount of 40 cents in rec[ei]ved postal order enclosed, trusting to rec[ei]ve some more by mail, I have not written to parent Body for one mail past, nor to convention, I am hearing so many different things, had I not courage, I would fail already, any way; I am not surrendering unti[l], you send to let me know, that there is no more to be said or done with regard the U.N.I.A. Wishing yourself and members happiness and prosperity for the coming Holidays. I remain sincerely yours. H. N. HUGGINS JRRC. ALS, recipient’s copy.
Alfredo Prince, Ex-President, UNIA San Juan Division, to Enrique Colón Baerga,1 Editor, La Correspondencia de Puerto Rico2 [San Juan, 28 July 1922]
THE UNIVERSAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE NEGRO RACE The name of this Association has produced an immense sensation around the world. There is scarcely a place in which there are members of the Race where Marcus Garvey’s name is not known[,] for it is him that is now at the front of this vast organization. Right here in Puerto Rico the spirit of Garveyism has not been asleep. Since this movement began in Puerto Rico, three individuals have been legally elected presidents of the Pto. Rico Division. Great efforts were undertaken by these individuals to bring success to the work in this country[,] but unfortunately it has all been failures, and in regard to the native-born, the number of admirers of the cause among them was extremely insignificant. Will the world movement initiated by Garvey be a success? Will blacks gain anything by following Garvey? I am almost tempted to give a definitive answer to the extent that my mental capacity allows, but I will leave it for another time if the opportunity presents itself.
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when it will lift again. I am expecting after the convention to see some one from the Parent Body, unti[l] then before it would rise again. I am very sorry to keep cash so long, and another thing is, I am so far from Town when I have these small amounts to post my expense is more than that, so I am actually afraid to go in Town sometimes, any way; I am glad for your patience, accept the amount of 40 cents in rec[ei]ved postal order enclosed, trusting to rec[ei]ve some more by mail, I have not written to parent Body for one mail past, nor to convention, I am hearing so many different things, had I not courage, I would fail already, any way; I am not surrendering unti[l], you send to let me know, that there is no more to be said or done with regard the U.N.I.A. Wishing yourself and members happiness and prosperity for the coming Holidays. I remain sincerely yours. H. N. HUGGINS JRRC. ALS, recipient’s copy.
Alfredo Prince, Ex-President, UNIA San Juan Division, to Enrique Colón Baerga,1 Editor, La Correspondencia de Puerto Rico2 [San Juan, 28 July 1922]
THE UNIVERSAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE NEGRO RACE The name of this Association has produced an immense sensation around the world. There is scarcely a place in which there are members of the Race where Marcus Garvey’s name is not known[,] for it is him that is now at the front of this vast organization. Right here in Puerto Rico the spirit of Garveyism has not been asleep. Since this movement began in Puerto Rico, three individuals have been legally elected presidents of the Pto. Rico Division. Great efforts were undertaken by these individuals to bring success to the work in this country[,] but unfortunately it has all been failures, and in regard to the native-born, the number of admirers of the cause among them was extremely insignificant. Will the world movement initiated by Garvey be a success? Will blacks gain anything by following Garvey? I am almost tempted to give a definitive answer to the extent that my mental capacity allows, but I will leave it for another time if the opportunity presents itself.
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Meanwhile I will say to my friends who have an interest in this cause— “Watch and Wait” not only for yourselves but for the others as well. Due to numerous articles that have appeared in foreign newspapers as well as in some local ones [,] among which “La Correspondencia” has distinguished itself[,] and because of other causes which I believe appropriate not to mention at the present, the undersigned has believed it prudent to disconnect his name from this association as member and as president of the same. After consulting the central body of the Organization the “Charter” under which vain efforts were carried out in Puerto Rico has been returned. It should then be of interest to all to know that no legally organized Division exists in this district and I wish also that my complete separation from the aforementioned organization be known. ALFREDO PRINCE Ex-Pres. San Juan Division Printed in La Correspondencia de Puerto Rico, 28 July 1922. Translated from Spanish. 1. Puerto Rican journalist Enrique Colón Baerga (b. 1877) directed La Correspondencia between 1917 and 1927. Colón, trained as a teacher in a normal school in Puerto Rico, was active in the Unionist party and regularly contributed to most of the island’s major publications. He headed El Día in Ponce in 1915 and again in 1928. Later, he served as El Mundo’s correspondent in Ponce (Conrado Asenjo, Quién es quien en Puerto Rico: Diccionario biográfico de récord personal, 3rd ed. [San Juan: Cantero Fernández & Co., 1942], p. 64). 2. Ramón B. López founded La Correspondencia de Puerto Rico, a San Juan daily, on 18 December 1890. Subsequent editors included prominent men of letters such as Francisco Ortea, Dr. Manuel Zeno Gandía, Juan Braschi, and Francisco M. Zeno. Journalist and historian Antonio S. Pedreira described La Correspondencia as the first “popular,” “industrial” newspaper in the island, and argued that its editorial policies were “absolutely impartial” (Antonio S. Pedreira, El periodismo en Puerto Rico [Río Piedras: Editorial Edil, 1969], pp. 260–266, 423). In the 1920s, nonetheless, La Correspondencia was identified with pro-Spanish sentiment and socially conservative factions.
Article in the Savannah Tribune [[New York, July 30, 1922]]
DR. THORNE TO LEAD EXODUS 100 NEGRO FAMILIES TO START FOR AFRICA NEXT SPRING Within the year, according to the expectations of Dr. J. Albert Thorne,1 now at No. 117 West 131st street, there will begin an exodus of Negroes to Africa, which will be the beginning of a repatriation of the race from the “dark continent.” This will be the frui[t]ion of more than twenty-one years of propaganda and education of Negroes of the West Indian islands and the United States, backed by such white people as Lord Bryce,2 Henry M. Stanley3 and the Archbishops of Canterbury and New York. Dr. Thorne is a native of Barbados, but got his degrees both in medicine and surgery from the University of Edinburgh. He is a Negro. In opening 335
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Meanwhile I will say to my friends who have an interest in this cause— “Watch and Wait” not only for yourselves but for the others as well. Due to numerous articles that have appeared in foreign newspapers as well as in some local ones [,] among which “La Correspondencia” has distinguished itself[,] and because of other causes which I believe appropriate not to mention at the present, the undersigned has believed it prudent to disconnect his name from this association as member and as president of the same. After consulting the central body of the Organization the “Charter” under which vain efforts were carried out in Puerto Rico has been returned. It should then be of interest to all to know that no legally organized Division exists in this district and I wish also that my complete separation from the aforementioned organization be known. ALFREDO PRINCE Ex-Pres. San Juan Division Printed in La Correspondencia de Puerto Rico, 28 July 1922. Translated from Spanish. 1. Puerto Rican journalist Enrique Colón Baerga (b. 1877) directed La Correspondencia between 1917 and 1927. Colón, trained as a teacher in a normal school in Puerto Rico, was active in the Unionist party and regularly contributed to most of the island’s major publications. He headed El Día in Ponce in 1915 and again in 1928. Later, he served as El Mundo’s correspondent in Ponce (Conrado Asenjo, Quién es quien en Puerto Rico: Diccionario biográfico de récord personal, 3rd ed. [San Juan: Cantero Fernández & Co., 1942], p. 64). 2. Ramón B. López founded La Correspondencia de Puerto Rico, a San Juan daily, on 18 December 1890. Subsequent editors included prominent men of letters such as Francisco Ortea, Dr. Manuel Zeno Gandía, Juan Braschi, and Francisco M. Zeno. Journalist and historian Antonio S. Pedreira described La Correspondencia as the first “popular,” “industrial” newspaper in the island, and argued that its editorial policies were “absolutely impartial” (Antonio S. Pedreira, El periodismo en Puerto Rico [Río Piedras: Editorial Edil, 1969], pp. 260–266, 423). In the 1920s, nonetheless, La Correspondencia was identified with pro-Spanish sentiment and socially conservative factions.
Article in the Savannah Tribune [[New York, July 30, 1922]]
DR. THORNE TO LEAD EXODUS 100 NEGRO FAMILIES TO START FOR AFRICA NEXT SPRING Within the year, according to the expectations of Dr. J. Albert Thorne,1 now at No. 117 West 131st street, there will begin an exodus of Negroes to Africa, which will be the beginning of a repatriation of the race from the “dark continent.” This will be the frui[t]ion of more than twenty-one years of propaganda and education of Negroes of the West Indian islands and the United States, backed by such white people as Lord Bryce,2 Henry M. Stanley3 and the Archbishops of Canterbury and New York. Dr. Thorne is a native of Barbados, but got his degrees both in medicine and surgery from the University of Edinburgh. He is a Negro. In opening 335
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Nyassaland4 to Negroes he has obtained a concession of 10,000 acres on the Zambesi River on terms which indicate the co-operation of the British Foreign office.5 Every thirty acres in each hundred is given gratis by the Government, and the remaining seventy are priced at 60 cents an acre. The African Colonial Enterprise is the legal title of the organization. He told a reporter yesterday that Marcus Garvey got the scheme he is fathering from the first proulgation of “Ethiopia’s Cry,”6 the slogan of the African Colonial Enterprise. The main objects of the Thorne plan are the “repatriation of the exiles” and “civilization of the natives.” This will be done by assisting members of the African race, now resident in the Western Hemisphere to return and settle down in their fatherland. The agricultural, commercial and other available resources will first have to be developed by pioneers who will be the first settlers with Dr. Thorne before the influx is expected, or even welcome. The first unit will contain 100 Negro families. These will receive 90 acres of land, but as well as being tillers of the soil, those chosen as pioneers will be handicraftsmen in other lines as well. The allocation of 90 acres is so that [in] the 10,000 of the British concession there will be enough common land for a town site where the schools, churches and hospital, the latter of which has been promised as a gift from wealthy Canadian Negroes, can be located. Already several Jamaicans and Bermudians have expressed their willingness to go with Dr. Thorne and subdue the jungle.7 At present few American Negroes are among the volunteers, but many have promised financial support. It is calculated that $10,000 will be required to put the plan into operation. In a few weeks Dr. Thorne will be required to put the plan into operation. In a few weeks Dr. Thorne will go to Barbados, making Bridgetown his headquarters until spring, when the exodus is expected to begin. Printed in the Savannah Tribune, 3 August 1922. 1. Dr. John Albert Thorne (1860–1939) was born in Carrington Village, St. Thomas, Barbados, the last of thirteen children. He left Barbados for England in 1884 and studied medicine, first at Aberdeen University and then at Edinburgh University in Scotland, where he graduated with Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degrees in 1893. Shortly after graduating, he organized and launched the African Colonial Enterprise, a scheme for the colonization and settlement of West Indian families in British Central Africa. He left England in 1897 and spent the next two years in America, primarily in Philadelphia, promoting and trying to garner support for his African colonization project. In 1899, on his return from a brief visit to Belize, he stopped in Jamaica, where he would remain for the next twenty years. In Jamaica, he established a medical practice in various parts of the island and organized the Aboukir Industrial Institution at Cave Valley, St. Ann. In 1914, he announced his plan to leave Jamaica, which he was finally able to do, in August 1920. He returned to the United States in December 1920 hoping to reestablish and revive the African Colonial Enterprise (“The ‘African Colonial Enterprise’: Some Facts about Dr. J. A. Thorne,” DG, 30 October 1899; “The People’s Convention . . . The Claims of the Fatherland,” DG, 2 August 1900; “Happenings in the Parishes . . . Plans of Dr. Thorne,” DG, 7 April 1914; “Memorial Sent to the Right Honourable Viscount Milner, Secretary of State, by Dr. J. A. Thorne,” DG, 24 July 1919; Robert A. Hill, “Zion on the Zambezi: Dr. J. Albert Thorne, ‘A Descendant of Africa, of Barbados,’ and the African Colonial Enterprise—The ‘Preliminary Stage,’ 1894–97,” in Jagdish S. Gundara and Ian Duffield, eds., Essays
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JULY 1922 on the History of Blacks in Britain: From Roman Times to the Mid-Twentieth Century [Aldershot, England: Avebury, 1992], pp. 99–123; see also D. Augustus Straker, A Trip to the Windward Islands or Then and Now [Detroit: Press of James H. Stone, 1896], pp. 50–51; Roger Lane, William Dorsey’s Philadelphia and Ours: On the Past and Future of the Black City in America [New York: Oxford University Press, 1991], pp. 265–266). 2. James Bryce (1838–1922), Viscount Bryce, British academic, jurist, historian, and prominent Liberal politician, was best known for his 1888 work, The American Commonwealth (John T. Seaman Jr., A Citizen of the World: The Life of James Bryce [London and New York: Tauris Academic Studies, 2006]; Christopher Harvie, “Bryce, James, Viscount Bryce (1838–1922),” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online ed., Jan 2011 [http:// www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/32141, accessed 20 April 2015]). 3. Henry Morton Stanley (1841–1904), born John Rowlands, was a late-nineteenth-century Welsh explorer made famous for finding David Livingstone and navigating the many rivers and lakes of the Congo region—missions that cost hundreds of lives. He also published several works on his time traveling in Africa (Henry Morton Stanley, How I Found Livingstone [New York: Arno, 1970]; Through the Dark Continent, vols. 1 and 2 [New York: Dover, 1988]; Alan Gallop, Mr. Stanley, I Presume: The Life and Explorations of Henry Morton Stanley [Thrupp, Gloucestershire, England: Sutton, 2004]; Tim Jeal, Stanley: The Impossible Life of Africa’s Greatest Explorer [New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007]). 4. In 1907, Nyasaland, or the Nyasaland Protectorate, was established in British Central Africa. Nyasaland became famous in nineteenth-century Europe as a result of David Livingstone’s travels in the area in the 1850s and 1860s and his reports about commercial opportunities in the region. From 1897 through the 1920s, Dr. J. Albert Thorne targeted Nyasaland as the destination for his vision of African American colonization of Central Africa. In 1964, the Nyasaland Protectorate became the Republic of Malawi (George Shepperson, “Notes on Negro American Influences on the Emergence of African Nationalism,” Journal of African History 1, no. 2 [1960]: 299–312; Melvin E. Page, “Nyasaland [British Central Africa Protectorate, Malawi],” in Colonialism: An International Social, Cultural, and Political Encyclopedia, ed. Melvin E. Page [Santa Barbara, CA: ABCCLIO, 2003], pp. 434–435; S. S. Murray, Handbook of Nyasaland [London: Waterlow and Sons, 1932]; Bridglal Pachai, Malawi: The History of the Nation [London: Longman, 1973]; Roderick J. Macdonald, From Nyasaland to Malawi: Studies in Colonial History [Nairobi: East African Publishing House, 1975]; Martin Chanock, Law, Custom and Social Order: The Colonial Experience in Malawi and Zambia [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985]). 5. In an interview in August 1920, Thorne described the genesis of his African Colonial Enterprise and discussed the question of the land concession in British Central Africa that he sought to obtain from the British government. According to the report of the interview, Thorne explained, Just before taking my degree in the Edinburgh University, [. . .] I conceived a plan for the advancement of the African race, which plan I had arrived at by extensive knowledge gained from the West Indies and the United States of America where I spent some time, prior to my leaving Barbados, my native land, for Europe. The result was, you see, that I prepared a scheme to the effect that the British Government should give us a concession of land in Africa on which a well-chosen nucleus of members of the race in these islands, skilled artisans, should settle, cultivating the soil and practicing their trades, and, of course, civilizing and educating the natives, who, when qualified would take their place side by side with us in the work. The idea was not to depopulate the West Indies; because Africa has a very large population of its own, but to civilize and educate the natives. That was the differentiating idea. The British Government, [. . .] gave me a concession in British Central Africa, a country administered by Sir Harry Johns[t]on and I was able to obtain it through the good offices of Sir Henry Stanley, the great explorer, who saw him in London, and liked my scheme. Sir Henry Stanley advised me to see the country, whether it was well invested, if the soil was fertile and if all the conditions were favorable. He gave me a letter of introduction to Sir Harry Johns[t]on and just as I was preparing to go to Africa, Sir Harry Johns[t]on arrived in England and I saw him personally. After talking over the matter with him, he said he would write to me and in an official way state his terms; but before he could do that he would have to confer with the Marquis of Salisbury [British Foreign Secretary]. He subsequently wrote one
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS letter stating that if a body of men were willing to go from the West Indies to Africa, he would be ready to give them land under certain conditions. Those conditions were that each man would receive a freehold of 30 acres with the right to purchase as many more as he might require to cultivate at the rate of 2/6 per acre; the colonists must however, be of reputation and they must cultivate the land, for a period, at least of two years, after which time, each man would be given his own bona fide property. We could have had as much land as our capital allowed. The Commissioner from the said Protectorate said he had no funds to help us to get there and thought the best thing to do was to interest the friends of my race in England (“Advancement of The African Race—The Enterprise to Colonize a Portion of Dark Continent with West Indians—Details of Scheme—Interesting Interview Given by Dr. J. Albert Thorne to Gleaner Representative,” Daily Gleaner, 6 August 1920). For a discussion of Thorne’s scheme, see M. M. Mapuranga, “Dr. Albert Thorne’s Unsuccessful Attempt at Setting Up a Black Colony in Malawi 1894–1923,” Journal of Social Science (Malawi), 5 (1976): 44–56. 6. “Ethiopia’s cry” was a phrase in common usage from the late nineteenth century, particularly in connection with the idea of African colonization and the missionization and Christianization of Africa, as evidenced in “The time draweth nigh when Ethiopia’s cry will be answered effectually by the educated Christian colored people of America” (“Preparing for Africa,” The African Repository, 54, no. 2 [April 1878]: 54) and Thomas I. Johnson’s hymn “Ethiopia’s Cry” (Johnson was the author of Africa for Christ. Twenty-Eight Years a Slave, 6th ed. [London: Alexander and Shepheard, 1892). Thorne composed a number of patriotic odes, among them The Moral of King Edward’s Life and Death . . . An Elegy—“I think I have done my Duty” (Kingston: Aboukir Industrial Institution, 1911); A Nation that’s Bless’d (Kingston: Aboukir Industrial Institution, 1911); “Britannia’s Pride”: Barbados the gem of the Antilles (Kingston, 1920); and The Dew of Hermon, or, Dwelling together in unity (An ode on two devoted sisters) (Toronto, 1920). No evidence has been found that would corroborate Thorne’s claim that Garvey was inspired or influenced by the example of the African Colonial Enterprise or by Thorne’s presence in Jamaica, though writers have mistakenly attempted to establish a link between the two men with Thorne as a precursor to Garvey (see Richard B. Moore, “Barbadians Overseas,” New World Barbados Independence issue [1966], reprinted in extended form in Souvenir Journal [New York: Barbados Independence Committee, 1966]; Robert G. Weisbord, “J. Albert Thorne, Back-to-Africanist,” Negro History Bulletin (March 1969): 14–16; Ebony Kinship: Africa, Africans and the Afro American [Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1973], 41–43). For examples of the appeals issued by Thorne, see African Colonial Enterprise, Philadelphia Executive Board, An appeal addressed to the friends of the African race (Philadelphia: African Colonial Enterprise, 1899), and Tackling a Great Problem; Trying for a Jamaica Tuskegee: Who Will Help? (Jamaica Times, 11 December 1909, Christmas Number, and 15 January 1910), reprinted as a pamphlet; contained in TNA, PRO, CO 137/731, Memorial from Dr. J. A. Thorne suggesting a scheme of African colonization by those of African descent living in the Western Hemisphere, 3 May 1919). 7. After a dormancy of twenty years, Thorne attempted to revive the colonization program of the African Colonial Enterprise in 1919. In August 1920, he left Jamaica for England, explaining the purpose of his mission thus: “I am going to England for the benefit of my health and from there I shall go to Barbados to see my relatives and friends whom I have not met for over 36 years. I will be a long time away from Jamaica but I will be leaving an organized committee to carry on the work until I return. I may see the authorities in London but I prefer to defer that business until my arrival at Barbados for then I shall be able to do so with greater force” (“Advancement of the African Race—The Enterprise to Colonize a Portion of Dark Continent with West Indians—Details of Scheme,” DG, 6 August 1920). Thorne never returned to Jamaica, however. After spending a couple of months in England, he arrived in Canada in October 1920 to visit his sister. In December 1920, he immigrated to the United States. He eventually returned, early in 1921, to Barbados, where he would remain until May 1922, when he went back to the United States. Thorne was listed in the 1930 U.S. Federal Census, living as a single lodger on West 150th Street in Manhattan, New York; his occupation was listed as that of a social services investigator. He died on 27 April 1939 (Library and Archives Canada, Form 30A, Ocean Arrivals [Individual Manifests], 1919–1924, Rolls T-14939 through T-15248, record for J. Albert Thorne; 1930 U.S. Federal Census, census place: Manhattan, New York, New York, roll 1577, page 4B, enumeration district 1019, image 299.0, FHL microfilm 2341312l; Robert A. Hill, “Zion on the Zambezi: Dr. J. Albert Thorne, ‘A Descendant of Africa, of Barbados,’ and the African Colonial Enterprise—The ‘Preliminary Stage,’ 1894–97,” in
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AUGUST 1922 Jagdish S. Gundara and Ian Duffield, eds., Essays on the History of Blacks in Britain: From Roman Times to the Mid-Twentieth Century [Aldershot, England: Avebury, 1992], p. 118).
Article in El Mundo [San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2 August 1922]
THE GRAND ASSEMBLY OF THE COLORED RACE BEGAN ITS SESSIONS YESTERDAY IN NEW YORK UNITED PRESS, VIA ALL AMERICAN CABLES The third Annual International Convention of the Negro peoples is being celebrated today in this city. Thousands of delegates representing the interests of some 400 million members of the colored race are present at the event. It has been some time since the Universal Association for the improvement of the Negro race announced the celebration of this great convention. In the program presented at the Assembly during the first hours of the morning, there is a point that will contribute to hard-fought controversies and lengthy arguments. This matter concerns the religious future of the colored race. Another point of exceedingly vital importance pertains to the discussion of the educational future. Many delegates say[,] referring to this part of the program, that until now the colored race has been enslaved intellectually by the preachings and teachings of the other races. Many lawyers, doctors and educators have also been invited to give their opinions on some problems of great interest. Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, Central and South America, the United States and the Antilles are represented in the meeting rooms of the Convention building. Numerous radio-telephone sets[,] which communicate preliminary news of the discussions in all four directions, are set up in the “Liberty Hall” building, where this very important convention is being celebrated. Printed in El Mundo, 2 August 1922. Translated from Spanish.
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AUGUST 1922 Jagdish S. Gundara and Ian Duffield, eds., Essays on the History of Blacks in Britain: From Roman Times to the Mid-Twentieth Century [Aldershot, England: Avebury, 1992], p. 118).
Article in El Mundo [San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2 August 1922]
THE GRAND ASSEMBLY OF THE COLORED RACE BEGAN ITS SESSIONS YESTERDAY IN NEW YORK UNITED PRESS, VIA ALL AMERICAN CABLES The third Annual International Convention of the Negro peoples is being celebrated today in this city. Thousands of delegates representing the interests of some 400 million members of the colored race are present at the event. It has been some time since the Universal Association for the improvement of the Negro race announced the celebration of this great convention. In the program presented at the Assembly during the first hours of the morning, there is a point that will contribute to hard-fought controversies and lengthy arguments. This matter concerns the religious future of the colored race. Another point of exceedingly vital importance pertains to the discussion of the educational future. Many delegates say[,] referring to this part of the program, that until now the colored race has been enslaved intellectually by the preachings and teachings of the other races. Many lawyers, doctors and educators have also been invited to give their opinions on some problems of great interest. Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, Central and South America, the United States and the Antilles are represented in the meeting rooms of the Convention building. Numerous radio-telephone sets[,] which communicate preliminary news of the discussions in all four directions, are set up in the “Liberty Hall” building, where this very important convention is being celebrated. Printed in El Mundo, 2 August 1922. Translated from Spanish.
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Casper Holstein, President, Virgin Islands Congressional Council, to the Negro World [New York, 5 August 1922]
HOLSTEIN GOES DEEPER INTO VIRGIN ISLANDS IMBROGLIO The following letter to the editor by Mr. Casper Holstein is self-explanatory. It shows that despite the efforts of the enemies of the outraged Virgin Islanders a great deal of good has been effected by Mr. Holstein’s article in the Negro World. To the Editor of the Negro World: Sir: I learn from friends in the Virgin Islands that the Negro World is going strong down there at present because of the valorous way in which it has been taking up the people’s cause against white oppressors and colored lick-spittles. The Black people of St. Croix are thanking you and singing the praises of the paper as never before. On the other hand the people whom you are exposing are buzzing like bees in a barrel. His Excellency the Governor has been answering the June resolutions by lofty lucubrations addressed to school children. Mr. R. Chabert, after frothing at the mouth in his “judas journal” has begun to beg to call off the dogs of publicity and try to besmirch the character of Mr. D. Hamilton Jackson, who seems to ignore all heated language and foul abuse of Chabert and his king-consort. This, of course, riles them all the more and Chabert is reported to have said that “for every unkind word written against me I shall write two about him (Mr. Jackson) and let him go to court.” I note that in the issue of Chabert’s paper dated July 14th, he himself admits that “the laws which are being enforced in the courts in St. Croix conflict with American principles,” yet he is attacking us more over here for denouncing these laws which “conflict with American principles.” In the issue of July 11th he prints the letter of a simple minded governor’s secretary who tells the director of the American Civil Liberties’ Union that the United States Constitution does not apply in the Colonial possessions. Among these he mentions freedom of speech and the press and trial by jury. Here is how the sweet Mr. Chabert lifts his dainty voice against this damnable doctrine: “The acting government secretary doubts whether the Constitution privileges of the freedom of the press extends to the colonial possessions. We believe that if no other constitutional provision were applied here this one ought to be.” Why such a gentle cooing in the face of the awful fact that there is not freedom of the press in St. Croix. Because one who is a stool-pigeon dares not speak out boldly and like a man against his masters. Mr. Chabert agrees with us
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in his editorial perceptions, but he attacks us, not for seeing what he sees, but for saying what we see—which he dares to do. In his attacks on Jackson he acts like a hydrophobiac and goes so far in foolishness as to assume that Mr. Jackson wrote the articles which have appeared in the Negro World. We wish that this had been so. But perhaps Mr. Jackson is too busy with the people’s business to pay any attention to such barking dogs. So this end of the job, Brother Chabert, is left to us poor devils over here who want to strike an honest blow in defence of the liberties those whom the cowards like you have deserted both in the press in St. Croix and in the Colonial Council in St. Thomas. He says that we unduly boost the white Danes when we say that they acted on principles of equality before the law, irrespective of race, and he thinks that he scores when he cites Mr. Jackson’s speech of November, 1919. Now let any Virgin Islander refer to the files of the St. Croix Herald between the 15th of November and the 1st of December, 1920, and over Chabert’s own signature they will find him saying exactly what he tries to condemn us for saying in the Tribune of July 14.1 Chabert’s memory is either very short or else he and truth are not on speaking terms. Mr. Chabert’s attacks on Mr. Jackson are based on personal spite, envy, jealousy, and malice. These things blind one somewhat. He tells in so many words that Mr. Jackson emptied the treasury and borrowed $10,000 to pay for Grove place for the Union. This speaks well for Jackson, since it was he who raised the loan. But Chabert is too blind to see that he is helping the man instead of hurting him. Then there are the North Side estates. Chabert says that they were in debt. Of course they were—the Union was acquiring them by time payments. But Jackson left them with assets which Chabert’s administration managed to eat up, and every one in St. Croix knows that the Union was ruptured and raped under Chabert and Granady—not under Jackson. It is just recovering from the ravages wrought by Chabert. “Three islands are almost in a chaos. Help is needed in the way of good legislation and representation to Congress openly, forcefully, truthfully.” That is one way of stating the case. “We denounce the present code of so-called laws under which the courts are a disgrace and justice a farce as barbarous, medieval and destructive of that respect which citizens or subjects should have for the government under which they live; and we pledge ourselves to the task of agitating these grievances until the people and the Congress of the United States incline the ear of justice to our cause, remove the evils of which we complain, and establish a regime under which we can be mutually proud of each other.” That is another way of stating it. One was written by Chabert, the other appeared in our resolutions. They both tell the same story—except that ours is “open and forceful.” What is Mr. Chabert kicking about, then? Personal matters—that’s all. Let us see. 341
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We told the truth about certain matters, like that of the specious receipts for money paid in on land. These things hurt, and besides, Chabert has not answered these charges yet, nor even tried to. Instead he tells us that “funds of the Union could only disappear through those who handled them.” (In Chabert’s system of English “it” squares with “funds.”). Well, suppose we ask Chabert who handled “it”? He and Granady know better than anyone else. Why don’t they tell the truth, then? The people voted to give Jackson the house at No. 2 Company street, to live in; Chabert was so jealous and envious that he spitefully ignored the people’s vote during Jackson’s stay in the U.S. They voted Jackson $75 a month while he was in the States, but for the last six months of his stay here he did not receive one cent of it—thanks to Chabert and Granady. This and many other facts which rile Chabert were obtained by me from such records as Chabert and Granady left when they were put out—not by Jackson, but by the people’s vote. I was one of the auditors of these books and records, so that at least my source of information is perfect. Keep up the good work, Mr. Editor, for the results are already apparent. The Virgin Islanders are with you and your paper, which has lit a strong fire under the iron chairs of the oppressors and the lickspittles. Your very truly, CASPER HOLSTEIN Printed in NW, 5 August 1922. 1. St. Croix Tribune (“A Journal for the Progress of the People”).
E. C. Adams, Superintendent of Agriculture, United Fruit Company, Panama, to H. S. Blair, Division Manager, United Fruit Company Guabito, Panama, August 8, 1922 Dear Sir:— Referring to your letter of July 18th, with copy and translation of order issued by the Alcalde: While there has been less evidence of the military feature of the organizations mentioned, they are still active and although they have discontinued carrying their wooden rifles, a number of the members still appear in uniform and caps. They have had drills and parades in Changuinola since the order was issued. The branch of the “U.A.L.[”][Universal African Legion] at Farms 2 & 3 was the last to give up practice with the guns. They had drills during week ending August 1st, but have not appeared with their guns since then. Following men are leaders at Farms 2 & 3: Wm. Fraser, Captain; Dance Thomas, Second in Command and Henry Clayton, President.
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We told the truth about certain matters, like that of the specious receipts for money paid in on land. These things hurt, and besides, Chabert has not answered these charges yet, nor even tried to. Instead he tells us that “funds of the Union could only disappear through those who handled them.” (In Chabert’s system of English “it” squares with “funds.”). Well, suppose we ask Chabert who handled “it”? He and Granady know better than anyone else. Why don’t they tell the truth, then? The people voted to give Jackson the house at No. 2 Company street, to live in; Chabert was so jealous and envious that he spitefully ignored the people’s vote during Jackson’s stay in the U.S. They voted Jackson $75 a month while he was in the States, but for the last six months of his stay here he did not receive one cent of it—thanks to Chabert and Granady. This and many other facts which rile Chabert were obtained by me from such records as Chabert and Granady left when they were put out—not by Jackson, but by the people’s vote. I was one of the auditors of these books and records, so that at least my source of information is perfect. Keep up the good work, Mr. Editor, for the results are already apparent. The Virgin Islanders are with you and your paper, which has lit a strong fire under the iron chairs of the oppressors and the lickspittles. Your very truly, CASPER HOLSTEIN Printed in NW, 5 August 1922. 1. St. Croix Tribune (“A Journal for the Progress of the People”).
E. C. Adams, Superintendent of Agriculture, United Fruit Company, Panama, to H. S. Blair, Division Manager, United Fruit Company Guabito, Panama, August 8, 1922 Dear Sir:— Referring to your letter of July 18th, with copy and translation of order issued by the Alcalde: While there has been less evidence of the military feature of the organizations mentioned, they are still active and although they have discontinued carrying their wooden rifles, a number of the members still appear in uniform and caps. They have had drills and parades in Changuinola since the order was issued. The branch of the “U.A.L.[”][Universal African Legion] at Farms 2 & 3 was the last to give up practice with the guns. They had drills during week ending August 1st, but have not appeared with their guns since then. Following men are leaders at Farms 2 & 3: Wm. Fraser, Captain; Dance Thomas, Second in Command and Henry Clayton, President.
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There are also branches at Farms 4, 5, & 6 but as their meeting places and drill grounds are on outside property, we have not been able to keep a very close check on them. They have a meeting hall at farm 4 and also on James Chong’s places at Farms 5 & 6. Since the removal of Thomas, the Telephone Operator at Base Line, who was reported for his activities, there has not been so much activity there and it appears that the movement is not so popular there as some weeks ago. There is still considerable activity and agitation in Guabito[.] It has been reported to me, by a Jamaican, that a meeting was held in Guabito Liberty Hall, on the night of Wednesday August 2nd, attended by delegates from the various branches in Changuinola and nearby Sixaola Farms. My informant said that there was some very rebellious and inflammatory language used by the speakers. “One of the//m// is supposed to have told the audience that the time would soon be here when the negroes would be in control. They have a large number [of] armed and when the time comes, they are to take control by force.” This man states that one Fraser, who is a painter working for the Construction Department at Guabito and who, while the Boy Scout movement was alive, was the head of it, is now Colonel of the U.A.L. at Guabito. Thomas, the custodian of the Material Yard is Secretary and J. Clarke, a fireman on the Railroad, is Captain. I have seen each of the above men in uniform and at various places along the lines and suspected that they were active in the U.A.L. movement. My informant also told me that he heard one of the black Panamanian Policemen (No. 411) curse all white people and say that he was waiting his chance to get at them. While it would be impossible for us to prove these statements, I believe that the Panamanian police officials could get first hand evidence of such statements if they would remove the present policemen and bring in some English speaking natives who could attend the meetings or at least manage to hear the speeches. We have locked all vacant farm buildings, some of which were being used as meeting places and there has been some resentment expressed on the farms. We are sifting out those on the farms who are taking an active interest in the U.A.L. and will drop them from their employment. Yours very truly, E. C. ADAMS Superintendent of Agriculture UFC. TLS. Marked “Personal.” On UFC letterhead, Panama Division.
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Jaime A. Bishop, President, UNIA San Juan Division, to Romualdo Real,1 Editor, El Mundo [San Juan, 10 August 1922]
“THE YOUTH OF THE BLACK RACE” ARE TIRED OF SIMPLE-MINDED WISE MEN2 In the few months that we have been organizing in San Juan a Branch of the Universal Association for the improvement of the black race our way has been blocked by a band of “simple-minded wise men” of our race criticizing our good labor in a harsh manner. These men who do not know the great goal that we seek[,] nor do they have much interest in knowing them, since it is the work of their own race, tell us that this association has no reason for being here; that we are going to divide the race; that we will engender hatred; that we are crazy and other such foolishness. We will take the trouble to say for the hundredth time that the Universal Association for the Improvement of the black race has been founded with the sole purpose of uniting in feeling and action all blacks in the world regardless of nationality. Thus, it is a Social, Friendly, humanitarian, Educational organization, deserving the membership and support of every element of progressive ideas. Let us delineate its fundamental aims: “The Universal Negro Improvement Association”3 has been founded to Establish universal fraternity among the members of the race, to uplift the true spirit of love and friendship, to help the fallen; to help civilize Africa’s backward tribes; to assist in the development of independent nationalities composed of blacks; name commissioners and establish agencies in the most important countries and cities in the world to represent and protect the race regardless of nationality; to spread the true Christian spirit among African tribes; establish universities, colleges, academies and schools for the education of the race and the well-being of humankind; to establish around the world a complete development of all communities whose members are of black blood. The life of the organization revolves around these principles: it is then, something of manifest importance for the colored race. He who opposes the development of so noble a [word illegible] cannot call himself a lover of progress, but on the contrary, is screaming that he is a retrograde lover of stagnation and inertia. We have to disagree with the ideas of the “simple-minded wise men.” They can go on believing that these ideas engender hatred[;] we are certain that they will bring us respect and consideration from the other races. Since you are opposed to assisting in the progress of your race: since you admit to being blacks among whites and you pretend to be whites among blacks: since you do not have enough courage to share our struggle with us, common sense ought to tell you that you should leave in peace those of us who 344
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in good faith want to give what little we have for the exaltation of our noble race. If our parents were naïve enough to entrust their fate to another race[,] so that we find ourselves today in the same place as 300 years ago[,] we are not willing to emulate them. We have thumbed through history to find this bitter truth: That there has never been a people nor a race that has troubled itself with another except to enslave and exploit it and we are convinced to the core that black redemption must be the work of blacks themselves. For this reason, our young people[,] who are alert and follow with hawks’ eyes contemporary events and the coming dangers, come hurriedly every week to become members of the “Universal Negro Improvement Association,” ignoring the weak arguments of its many anathematizers. Simple-minded wise men, your cooperation is not necessary; it would be very useful to us, but since you do not want to cooperate with your own cause, “Please Shut Your Mouth and Keep it close[d]: will you?” JAIME A. BISHOP President[,] San Juan Branch Printed in El Mundo, 10 August 1922. Translated from Spanish. 1. The Real brothers founded El Mundo in 1919. Though claiming no explicit party affiliations, the publishers noted in the first editorial that they looked to Washington as “a lighthouse spilling its light over the earth.” Editorial policy was to shift significantly over the decades, however. Romualdo Real headed the paper between 1920 and 1922, Sergio Romanacce followed between 1923 and 1925, and José Coll Vidal took over in 1926. Antonio S. Pedreira places Cristóbal Real as director at some point in 1922, but this chronology is not supported by other sources. During the 1930s, now under the direction and ownership of Angel Ramos, El Mundo came to be regarded as one of the finest dailies published in the Americas (Antonio S. Pedreira, El periodismo en Puerto Rico [Río Piedras: Editorial Edil, 1969], pp. 345–347; José A. Romeu, Panorama del periodismo puertorriqueño [Río Piedras: Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1985], pp. 122–144; Adolfo de Hostos, ed., Tesauro de datos históricos [Río Piedras: Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1995]). 2. The compound term “mono-sabios” has been rendered as “simple-minded wise men,” a phrase that does not convey all the potential connotations of the Spanish original, which implies false wisdom and limited knowledge. Because of an apparent typographical error, the original printed headline reads “monos-sabios,” which translated literally suggests “wise apes” or “wise monkeys.” This pluralization may have been unintentional since it is not repeated in the body of the actual text. 3. The phrase appears in English in the original article.
Article in the Central American Express [Bocas del Toro, Panama, 12 August 1922] GARVEY’S AFRICAN LEGIONS PLACED UNDER ARREST1 According to an official order issued some weeks ago by the Alcalde of this Province, no one is to be seen in military attire in the name of the U.N.I.A. as 345
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in good faith want to give what little we have for the exaltation of our noble race. If our parents were naïve enough to entrust their fate to another race[,] so that we find ourselves today in the same place as 300 years ago[,] we are not willing to emulate them. We have thumbed through history to find this bitter truth: That there has never been a people nor a race that has troubled itself with another except to enslave and exploit it and we are convinced to the core that black redemption must be the work of blacks themselves. For this reason, our young people[,] who are alert and follow with hawks’ eyes contemporary events and the coming dangers, come hurriedly every week to become members of the “Universal Negro Improvement Association,” ignoring the weak arguments of its many anathematizers. Simple-minded wise men, your cooperation is not necessary; it would be very useful to us, but since you do not want to cooperate with your own cause, “Please Shut Your Mouth and Keep it close[d]: will you?” JAIME A. BISHOP President[,] San Juan Branch Printed in El Mundo, 10 August 1922. Translated from Spanish. 1. The Real brothers founded El Mundo in 1919. Though claiming no explicit party affiliations, the publishers noted in the first editorial that they looked to Washington as “a lighthouse spilling its light over the earth.” Editorial policy was to shift significantly over the decades, however. Romualdo Real headed the paper between 1920 and 1922, Sergio Romanacce followed between 1923 and 1925, and José Coll Vidal took over in 1926. Antonio S. Pedreira places Cristóbal Real as director at some point in 1922, but this chronology is not supported by other sources. During the 1930s, now under the direction and ownership of Angel Ramos, El Mundo came to be regarded as one of the finest dailies published in the Americas (Antonio S. Pedreira, El periodismo en Puerto Rico [Río Piedras: Editorial Edil, 1969], pp. 345–347; José A. Romeu, Panorama del periodismo puertorriqueño [Río Piedras: Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1985], pp. 122–144; Adolfo de Hostos, ed., Tesauro de datos históricos [Río Piedras: Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1995]). 2. The compound term “mono-sabios” has been rendered as “simple-minded wise men,” a phrase that does not convey all the potential connotations of the Spanish original, which implies false wisdom and limited knowledge. Because of an apparent typographical error, the original printed headline reads “monos-sabios,” which translated literally suggests “wise apes” or “wise monkeys.” This pluralization may have been unintentional since it is not repeated in the body of the actual text. 3. The phrase appears in English in the original article.
Article in the Central American Express [Bocas del Toro, Panama, 12 August 1922] GARVEY’S AFRICAN LEGIONS PLACED UNDER ARREST1 According to an official order issued some weeks ago by the Alcalde of this Province, no one is to be seen in military attire in the name of the U.N.I.A. as 345
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no permission was granted them for that purpose. And for the infri[n]gement of this order 27 persons were arrested at Almirante that evening and brought to town by special launch to answer to charge on Friday, 11th. inst. A sentence of 15 days was inflicted on each with the exception to I[.] Hancock of Farm 2, and Chas Thomas of Daytonia. C.R. Charles Comber Thom. Fegan Jack Allen Wm. McQueem Amos Walters Wm. Fraser Wilfred Ferguson John Grant Solomon Walters Norman Hotes Solomon Harrison Cornelius Rowe Jos. Davis Abraham Campbell Ezecel Miles Cecil Davis Daniel Mighty Charles Service Jacob Graham Dalbert Grif[f]iths D. Thomas
Pan. ” St. Lucian Jamaican ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” Barbadian Jamaican
Farm 2 ” 2 ” 3 ” 2 ” 5 ” 2 ” 2 ” 2 ” 5 ” 5 ” 5 ” 2 ” 2 ” 2 ” 2 ” 6 San San ” 2 ” 2 6 ” 2
Those Under Criminal Charge Are: 1. Isaiah; Ja. Farm 2. Eustace Hail; Ja. Farm 5, Rufus Forbes; Barbadian Farm 5. Thomas Bargo, Jamaican Farm 2. Printed in the Central American Express (Panama), 12 August 1922. 1. Following the strike in Bocas del Toro of late 1919, which coincided roughly with the arrival of the Negro World and the UNIA in the region, there was open talk of the prospect of a future race war in the plantation region that spanned the Costa Rican and Panamanian border on the Atlantic coast. This concern precipitated one of the most radical events in the history of the UNIA in Panama and provided the context in which the military drill exercises of the ACL in 1922 were suppressed. One of the biggest concerns for the UFC at this time was that West Indian workers’ grievances would become anchored to and focused on the issues of racism. Consequently, the company reacted quickly in 1922, when managers became alarmed that the UNIA was preparing for what they perceived to be a race war. Under pressure from the company to do something to counteract the UNIA, the government on the Panama side of the Sixaola River issued an order banning the wearing of the military uniform of the UAL. Despite the official ban, however, UFC’s division headquarters received a report from its superintendent of agriculture indicating that the UNIA’s legions were still holding drills and parades. The result was that the Panamanian government reacted by arresting the twenty-seven people listed in this document. The company also used its informants to compile a list of individuals who were active with the UAL on both sides of the river
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AUGUST 1922 and dismissed them from service. Thus, the UFC used its spies to infiltrate UNIA meetings and report on statements made by individuals. After enough information had been collected, the company took up the issue with the authorities on both sides of the river. UFC’s hand on the Panama side was greatly strengthened, when, on 1 September 1922, President Belisario Porras presented congress with a proposal that granted the company absolute authority over the granting of permission for meetings on its plantations and prohibited all paramilitary activities and organizations. Consequently, with the removal of key militants on its plantations and with the requirement that the company approve permission for all meetings, UNIA activities in the region were hamstrung and were soon brought under effective control (Ron Harpelle, “Radicalism, Accommodation and Decline: Garveyism in a United Fruit Company Enclave,” JILAS 6, no. 1 [July 2000]).
Article in the Workman [[Bocas del Toro, ca. 14 August 1922]]
GARVEY’S “ARMY” MARCHES WITH FIXED BAYONETS AT BOCAS DEL TORO The Bocas del Toro correspondent to the Jamaica Gleaner writing to that paper under date Aug. 14 states as follows:— Thursday, 10th instant, was the day set apart by U.N.I.A. members in this vicinity for a gala demonstration in honour of Marcus Garvey’s third annual convention said to be now in progress at Harlem, New York. Almirante was the place chosen for the great show and eighteen mixed passenger, banana, and merchandized cars, packed to their utmost capacity, carried hundreds of men, women and children to the U.F. Coy’s shipping port from all distances—as far as seventy miles inland. Among the large crowd was a number of Garvey’s pan-African Legionaries in their full uniform carrying guns with fixed bayonets, made of wood but painted to look the real thing. On arrival at Almirante, these “armed” men were promptly arrested by Panamanian police men and conveyed on special launch across the Bight to this town. Before Señor Felix Icaza P. in the Alcalde’s Court on Friday morning, 11th instant, the twenty-six men were charged with wearing a certain prohibited uniform and fined 7 dollars 50 cents each or 15 days’ imprisonment. On nearly every farm along the Changuinola Railway, a company of Garvey’s Legion is organized; and it is a regular complaint that during nocturnal hours parties of these men sally from one farm to another making sham attacks, marching sometimes as far as from fifteen to twenty miles under cover of darkness. While writing the report, comes to hand that the Belle View, one of the cays in this archipelago, a factional confusion has occurred among U.N.I.A. members, and that in the affray the secretary there gave the president a nasty
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AUGUST 1922 and dismissed them from service. Thus, the UFC used its spies to infiltrate UNIA meetings and report on statements made by individuals. After enough information had been collected, the company took up the issue with the authorities on both sides of the river. UFC’s hand on the Panama side was greatly strengthened, when, on 1 September 1922, President Belisario Porras presented congress with a proposal that granted the company absolute authority over the granting of permission for meetings on its plantations and prohibited all paramilitary activities and organizations. Consequently, with the removal of key militants on its plantations and with the requirement that the company approve permission for all meetings, UNIA activities in the region were hamstrung and were soon brought under effective control (Ron Harpelle, “Radicalism, Accommodation and Decline: Garveyism in a United Fruit Company Enclave,” JILAS 6, no. 1 [July 2000]).
Article in the Workman [[Bocas del Toro, ca. 14 August 1922]]
GARVEY’S “ARMY” MARCHES WITH FIXED BAYONETS AT BOCAS DEL TORO The Bocas del Toro correspondent to the Jamaica Gleaner writing to that paper under date Aug. 14 states as follows:— Thursday, 10th instant, was the day set apart by U.N.I.A. members in this vicinity for a gala demonstration in honour of Marcus Garvey’s third annual convention said to be now in progress at Harlem, New York. Almirante was the place chosen for the great show and eighteen mixed passenger, banana, and merchandized cars, packed to their utmost capacity, carried hundreds of men, women and children to the U.F. Coy’s shipping port from all distances—as far as seventy miles inland. Among the large crowd was a number of Garvey’s pan-African Legionaries in their full uniform carrying guns with fixed bayonets, made of wood but painted to look the real thing. On arrival at Almirante, these “armed” men were promptly arrested by Panamanian police men and conveyed on special launch across the Bight to this town. Before Señor Felix Icaza P. in the Alcalde’s Court on Friday morning, 11th instant, the twenty-six men were charged with wearing a certain prohibited uniform and fined 7 dollars 50 cents each or 15 days’ imprisonment. On nearly every farm along the Changuinola Railway, a company of Garvey’s Legion is organized; and it is a regular complaint that during nocturnal hours parties of these men sally from one farm to another making sham attacks, marching sometimes as far as from fifteen to twenty miles under cover of darkness. While writing the report, comes to hand that the Belle View, one of the cays in this archipelago, a factional confusion has occurred among U.N.I.A. members, and that in the affray the secretary there gave the president a nasty
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stab. The bunch has been brought across, and while the wounded are in hospital the accused are in jail. Printed in the Workman (Panama City), 9 September 1922.
Conrado Rosario, Secretary General, UNIA San Juan Division, to José Coll Vidal,1 Editor, La Democracia2 [[San Juan, P.R., 14 August 1922]]
INTERESTING LETTER THAT WE APPRECIATE IN ITS FULL WORTH Sir:— Allow me to express my most sincere thanks for the attitude of censure that you, and the newspaper under your able direction, have assumed in regards to the actions taken by the directors of the Union Club,3 who presented in their program a number that tends to ridicule the people of Puerto Rico.4 Not simply the people of Puerto Rico, but a class that is well above the level of all the directors of that club in culture and education. And it is a disgrace that there are Puerto Rican members of the same who did not blush, who did not protest at such ignominy. At this very moment when an attempt is under way to organize in San Juan Division no. 45 of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, an association that aims at the development of the black race and that must demonstrate its readiness to undertake weighty enterprises, to seek its own development and to demonstrate true civilization, a group of bad Americans, lacking in character, amuse themselves by presenting Puerto Ricans as an uncultured and savage people, and presenting blacks in a state of savagery like the one of three hundred years ago. We know, Mr. Director, that you know what the black in Puerto Rico is, know the institutions of our race, what he is and what he represents, but what is truly shameful is, that the representatives of that race in our island, those who should feel truly hurt, are wrapped in indifference, without a sign of protest, making themselves supporters of a campaign that defames their people and their race. Your protest, Mr. Director, is the protest of all Puerto Ricans, and especially [of] the black race in Puerto Rico and we join it, saying like you: “that the most inferior black in Puerto Rico is superior in every regard to each and every one of such people,” since they have demonstrated their lack of culture and their hatred toward us, manifested in the Union Club’s program and the performance that they put on. 348
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stab. The bunch has been brought across, and while the wounded are in hospital the accused are in jail. Printed in the Workman (Panama City), 9 September 1922.
Conrado Rosario, Secretary General, UNIA San Juan Division, to José Coll Vidal,1 Editor, La Democracia2 [[San Juan, P.R., 14 August 1922]]
INTERESTING LETTER THAT WE APPRECIATE IN ITS FULL WORTH Sir:— Allow me to express my most sincere thanks for the attitude of censure that you, and the newspaper under your able direction, have assumed in regards to the actions taken by the directors of the Union Club,3 who presented in their program a number that tends to ridicule the people of Puerto Rico.4 Not simply the people of Puerto Rico, but a class that is well above the level of all the directors of that club in culture and education. And it is a disgrace that there are Puerto Rican members of the same who did not blush, who did not protest at such ignominy. At this very moment when an attempt is under way to organize in San Juan Division no. 45 of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, an association that aims at the development of the black race and that must demonstrate its readiness to undertake weighty enterprises, to seek its own development and to demonstrate true civilization, a group of bad Americans, lacking in character, amuse themselves by presenting Puerto Ricans as an uncultured and savage people, and presenting blacks in a state of savagery like the one of three hundred years ago. We know, Mr. Director, that you know what the black in Puerto Rico is, know the institutions of our race, what he is and what he represents, but what is truly shameful is, that the representatives of that race in our island, those who should feel truly hurt, are wrapped in indifference, without a sign of protest, making themselves supporters of a campaign that defames their people and their race. Your protest, Mr. Director, is the protest of all Puerto Ricans, and especially [of] the black race in Puerto Rico and we join it, saying like you: “that the most inferior black in Puerto Rico is superior in every regard to each and every one of such people,” since they have demonstrated their lack of culture and their hatred toward us, manifested in the Union Club’s program and the performance that they put on. 348
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Thank you, Mr. Director, for your attitude in defense of our people and our race. CONRADO ROSARIO Sec. General, Division 45 U.N.I.A. [Addressed to:] Sr. Director de LA DEMOCRACIA, San Juan, P.R. Printed in La Democracia, 15 August 1922.Translated from Spanish. 1. Puerto Rican journalist José Coll Vidal (1892–1970) directed La Democracia from 1917 to 1924. Coll was prominent in political and official circles; he was a member of the central boards of the Union and Liberal parties and was also appointed head of the Comisión de Indemnización de Obreros (Workers’ Compensation Commission) between 1921 and 1924. From 1921 Coll led the campaign against Governor E. Mont T. Reily, who was notorious for mismanagement and for his contempt of Puerto Ricans. In a number of inflammatory pronouncements, Reily antagonized a large Unionist faction when he discounted the possibility of independence for Puerto Rico. In the period between 1925 and the early 1930s, Coll also directed El Mundo and Puerto Rico Ilustrado (Conrado Asenjo, Quién es quien en Puerto Rico, 3rd ed. [San Juan: Cantero Fernández & Co., 1942], p. 63; Teófilo Maldonado, Este fué mi maestro: don José Coll Vidal [San Juan: La Primavera, 1960]). 2. Luis Muñoz Rivera founded La Democracia in 1890. Initially, the paper was published three times a week in Ponce, but by 1893 La Democracia was a daily. Soon thereafter, the paper’s offices were relocated to Caguas and later to San Juan. Its most prominent editors were Muñoz Rivera, Mariano Abril, and Luis Rodríguez Cabrero. In its early years, La Democracia was critical of the Spanish regime, and its directors suffered numerous trials for voicing their discontent. In the 1920s La Democracia was based in San Juan and was regarded as an organ of the Unionist party, an organization typically associated with Puerto Rican hacienda owners and with the urban professional and commercial sectors. At the time of the bomba scandal in 1922, the Unionist party was in power in the legislature; its platform advocated autonomy and independence for the island, while the Republican opposition favored annexation (Antonio S. Pedreira, El periodismo en Puerto Rico [Rio Piedras: Editorial Edil, 1969], pp. 253–259; Bolívar Pagán, Historia de los partidos políticos puertorriqueños (1898–1956), vol. 1 [San Juan: n.p., 1972]). 3. The Union Club was founded as a “social center” in 1903. The club grouped U.S. expatriates in San Juan with some sectors of the Puerto Rican elite, particularly businessmen and government officials. According to reports in 1922, blacks were excluded from membership as well as from many social functions (Adolfo de Hostos, ed., Tesauro de datos históricos, vol. V [Río Piedras: Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1995], pp. 607–608). 4. The act in reference was the staging of a bomba, an Afro-Puerto Rican dance with a long and contentious history. The performance was part of a gala dinner that the Union Club put on in honor of Admiral Cole and the crew of the Birmingham, a U.S. Navy vessel that had called at San Juan’s port. More than the dance itself, La Democracia and its supporters—which included UNIA Secretary Conrado Rosario—objected to the evening’s program. According to La Democracia, the booklet’s front cover bore a black figure, “though not the figure of one of our civilized and cultured negroes who worthily share civic life with us in Porto Rico, but that of an unfortunate, uncivilized and uncultured denizen of the Congo region in Africa.” Most offensive of all was the text found inside, which read: “The next and last number will be the native negro dance the Bomba, typical of the negro life of the country, the ancestor of the hoedown and the descendant of the Obi dance of the Congo” (La Democracia, 12 and 14 August 1922). For an account of the performance and the scandal surrounding it, see Reinaldo L. Román, “On How the Bomba Defeated Garvey: Race and the State of Civilization in Puerto Rico (ca. 1922)” (paper presented at the 31st Annual Conference of the Association of Caribbean Historians in Havana, Cuba, 15 April 1999); and Román, “Scandalous Race: Garveyism, the Bomba, and the Discourses of Blackness in 1920s Puerto Rico” Caribbean Studies 31, no. 1, special issue: Garveyism in the Hispanic Caribbean, ed. Jorge L. Giovannetti and Reinaldo L. Román [January–June 2003]).
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J. D. W. Ross to the Negro World [[Panama City, Aug. 15, 1922]]
A MESSAGE FROM PANAMA Dear Mr. Editor— As a member of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L. and a stockholder of the Black Star Line Steamship Corporation and one who holds in soul race integrity, I beg to submit to my people the world over that at this time when every thinking Negro who has had the vision is now assembled, to plan the great future of the Negro success and to make all things possible, I hereby call upon you to keep in line, have your eyes and ears open to the glorious message which is sounding o’er land and sea. Fellowmen of this noble race, you who for time past have been dominated and who are prepared to champion your cause and mine, while we fight for Liberty, Freedom or Give Us Death, I say retrace not your steps one inch, and unto those who have not yet cast in your lot, I say at once on the march. Awake from your lethargy, the trumpet is blowing, hark, the sound, the time is now; fetter not, go to the goal. Africa must be redeemed, soon, and very soon, a spiritual revolution is on; go to the fight for freedom. Remember, we are 400,000,000 strong the world over. We do not want half the number; nay, we want all, yet we know among us are cringing sycophants who are striving to uproot this great noble work that is laid down by the hands of the Great Supreme Architect of the Universe and as a spiritual revolutionist, he stirred the Hon. Marcus Garvey, the greatest Negro of today, the medium of this colossal movement, the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L., and he whose hand is upheld by the creator of all men and which no earthly demon can overthrow save the same majestic power. I say fear not, for lo the trumpet of Gabriel is blowing high in the heavens. “Children of Ethiopia, go forth to the land of memory, the land where the gods loved to be. I was sent to guide your ships and to direct your captains to be your pilot; fear not, only bridges now seem guffed around you.” Behold this is the time for economic struggle, the time for industrial, commercial, social and political emancipation; lose no time in the fight, for victory is near. But remember, those who are in the fight and remain in the fight shall bear the insignia of free salvationists, while to you cringing parasites who live to uproot others, doing yours of the mischief through selfish gains, I say, beware! It is better a millstone be hung around your neck and you cast into the sea. As conscience the mother of all things shall bring you to ridicule; last, but not least, herald the champion of the great movement. Fight for him and again remember that in fighting for him you are fighting for yourselves and for your children’s children to bring about the universal peace on earth and good will toward men, for then, and only then, can you unify yourself with your Creator; ask Him to hasten the day when man shall acknowledge the universal brotherhood of man and the supreme fatherhood of God. Now, brethren, I call upon you to take the gauntlet and follow your leader and mine; brave the waves, the 350
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tempest will soon be o’er; fear God and know no other; teach your children the doctrine of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L.; there is no doctrine on earth like it. It means godliness to you and to your children. It means your heritage to Africa’s Sunny Land, where you and I will be able to breathe heaven’s purest air while on this mundane shore, and if there be any wolves among you in sheep’s clothing, I say strip them so that they can be seen and known. Keep your eyes and ears on the U.N.I.A.; learn and inwardly digest its doctrines; teach it to your children; see that they inculcate it, for tomorrow they wil[l] be needed to fill the position that will be vacant. Educate boys and girls alike, for remember that the redemption of Africa rests on the mothers. We want lawyers, doctors, ministers, skilled workmen, nurses, lecturers and women to fill new positions; therefore, be on the onward march. Ethiopia is calling. Awake in the light. J. D. W. ROSS, D.D., PH.D., F.L.L.C. Bishop of the Theomistic Department, Teacher and Lecturer in Arabic, Madazma Philosophy [Addressed:] To the Negro People of the World Printed in NW, 16 September 1922.
Editorial in La Correspondencia de Puerto Rico [San Juan, 15 August, 1922]
UNDERSTANDING THE RESULTS OF THE FAMOUS BOMBA DANCE IN SAN JUAN’S UNION CLUB MORE ON THE “UNION CLUB” THE SECRETARY OF THE ASSOCIATION OF THE BLACK RACE CENSURES STRONGLY THE ATTITUDE OF “EL TIEMPO’S” PEOPLE1 We have news that Mr. José Coll y Vidal, Director of “La Democracia” has received a letter of congratulations, signed by Mr. Conrado Rosario, secretary of the “Universal Negro Improvement Association,” an organization whose aims and goals are directed at the greater intellectual and moral development of the colored race in all parts of the globe and which is erecting now in Puerto Rico, [its] 45th chapter. Referring to the incomprehensible attitude of “El Tiempo’s” people, Mr. Conrado Rosario says the following: “but what is truly shameful is that the representatives of that race in our island, THOSE WHO SHOULD FEEL TRULY HURT, are wrapped in indifference, 351
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tempest will soon be o’er; fear God and know no other; teach your children the doctrine of the U.N.I.A. and A.C.L.; there is no doctrine on earth like it. It means godliness to you and to your children. It means your heritage to Africa’s Sunny Land, where you and I will be able to breathe heaven’s purest air while on this mundane shore, and if there be any wolves among you in sheep’s clothing, I say strip them so that they can be seen and known. Keep your eyes and ears on the U.N.I.A.; learn and inwardly digest its doctrines; teach it to your children; see that they inculcate it, for tomorrow they wil[l] be needed to fill the position that will be vacant. Educate boys and girls alike, for remember that the redemption of Africa rests on the mothers. We want lawyers, doctors, ministers, skilled workmen, nurses, lecturers and women to fill new positions; therefore, be on the onward march. Ethiopia is calling. Awake in the light. J. D. W. ROSS, D.D., PH.D., F.L.L.C. Bishop of the Theomistic Department, Teacher and Lecturer in Arabic, Madazma Philosophy [Addressed:] To the Negro People of the World Printed in NW, 16 September 1922.
Editorial in La Correspondencia de Puerto Rico [San Juan, 15 August, 1922]
UNDERSTANDING THE RESULTS OF THE FAMOUS BOMBA DANCE IN SAN JUAN’S UNION CLUB MORE ON THE “UNION CLUB” THE SECRETARY OF THE ASSOCIATION OF THE BLACK RACE CENSURES STRONGLY THE ATTITUDE OF “EL TIEMPO’S” PEOPLE1 We have news that Mr. José Coll y Vidal, Director of “La Democracia” has received a letter of congratulations, signed by Mr. Conrado Rosario, secretary of the “Universal Negro Improvement Association,” an organization whose aims and goals are directed at the greater intellectual and moral development of the colored race in all parts of the globe and which is erecting now in Puerto Rico, [its] 45th chapter. Referring to the incomprehensible attitude of “El Tiempo’s” people, Mr. Conrado Rosario says the following: “but what is truly shameful is that the representatives of that race in our island, THOSE WHO SHOULD FEEL TRULY HURT, are wrapped in indifference, 351
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without a sign of protest, making themselves supporters of a campaign that defames their people and their race.” Printed in La Correspondencia de Puerto Rico, 15 August 1922. Translated from Spanish. 1. El Tiempo was a San Juan daily founded in 1907 by Dr. José Celso Barbosa Alcalá (1857– 1921), the most prominent black politician in Puerto Rico in the early decades of the twentieth century. Barbosa is credited with founding the pro-statehood Republican Party and setting its agenda, and remains the most revered black leader in Puerto Rican political history. His birthday, now an official holiday, is still an important date on the calendar of the movement that favors the annexation of the island to the United States, and even opponents of annexation celebrate Barbosa’s rise from humble origins, dedication to public service, and defense of black respectability. The son of a brick mason, Barbosa graduated from the medical school at the University of Michigan in 1880 before joining the Puerto Rican autonomists seeking self-rule from Spain. Barbosa represented a faction that favored democratic republicanism and that viewed the United States as a political model as well as a vital economic outlet. By the 1890s, Barbosa led the anti-monarchist wing of the pro-autonomy movement, which was composed of sugar growers, professionals, and urban workers, many of whom were black artisans. Barbosa’s Ortodoxos opposed a larger group of coffee growers and their allies who, led by Luis Muñoz Rivera, aimed to “fuse” with a pro-monarchy party in Spain in exchange for autonomy. In July 1899, following the invasion by the United States, Barbosa founded the Republican Party, which sought a true “Americanization” of the island, including annexation, U.S. citizenship, universal suffrage, free trade, and the extension of the American judicial system. Although the establishment of colonial rule delivered a blow to the Republicans that allowed rivals to monopolize elected offices for decades, in the initial transition from Spanish colonialism, Republicans had a good showing. In 1902, they won most municipal elections, partly by suggesting that a victory for the Federales would bring a return to aristocratic privilege, or rule by “the whites.” The new government favored Barbosa with appointments to the executive council from 1900 to 1917. In 1917, and again in 1920, he was elected to the senate, where he was noted for legislation introducing trials by jury and habeas corpus provisions. Barbosa defended the interests of workers and helped to define the Republican Party as the advocate of black dignity in the island (Eileen J. Suárez Findlay, Imposing Decency: The Politics of Sexuality and Race in Puerto Rico, 1870–1920 [Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1999]). Contemporaries observed that most Afro–Puerto Ricans supported Barbosa, although the Republicans were by no means the “black party” that critics sometimes charged. Although the party was divided between sugar interests and workers, under Barbosa’s leadership the Republicans launched a program for “social peace,” advocating the economic rights of Puerto Ricans against foreign corporations. He made common cause with the proannexation Socialist Party that then led the labor movement. At the same time, he continued to defend merit-based hierarchies. Following Barbosa’s death, a faction that favored sugar-interests above workers gained control of the Republican Party (see Edgardo Meléndez, Puerto Rico’s Statehood Movement [Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1988]). Barbosa founded El Tiempo in 1907, and it replaced El Aguila (Ponce) both as the principal organ of the Republican party and as La Democracia’s leading rival. Manuel F. Rossy, José Gómez Brioso, and Roberto H. Todd, the black politician lampooned in La Democracia’s articles about the bomba scandal, were also directors of this paper. El Tiempo’s editorials favored Americanization, U.S. citizenship, American political institutions, and statehood for the island. Barbosa also used the newspaper to publish important essays on race relations in Puerto Rico and the United States. (Some of Barbosa’s most influential pieces on these topics were reprinted in a volume titled Problema de razas [San Juan: Imprenta Venezuela, 1937].) In many of these columns, Barbosa sought to reconcile his advocacy for Puerto Rico’s incorporation into the United States and his own and many other Puerto Ricans’ blackness. (For a discussion of the tensions in Barbosa’s political positions, see Miriam Jiménez Román, “Un hombre (negro) del pueblo: José Celso Barbosa and the Puerto Rican “Race” toward Whiteness” Centro 8 [Spring 1996]: 9–29.) To counter the charge that virulent American racism would spread to the new state, Barbosa argued that the constitution of the United States guaranteed that Puerto Rico’s patterns of race relations would prevail above Jim Crow. So long as the “element of color” refrained from crossing the “social line,” they would retain full access to “public life.” Barbosa was convinced that U.S. law would ensure a meritocracy and safeguard the rights of workers and non-whites. Nonetheless, Barbosa opposed political mobilization along racial lines (José C. Barbosa, “El problema del color,” El Tiempo, 30 July 1909). Garvey-
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AUGUST 1922 ites in Puerto Rico regarded Barbosa respectfully, but were often at odds with the Republican position (Reinaldo L. Román, “Scandalous Race: Garveyism, the Bomba, and the Discourses of Blackness in 1920s Puerto Rico” Caribbean Studies 31, no. 1, special issue: Garveyism in the Hispanic Caribbean, ed. Jorge L. Giovannetti and Reinaldo L. Román [January–June 2003]). A photograph of Barbosa was published along with his obituary (in Spanish) in the Negro World, 29 October 1921. El Tiempo ceased publication in 1930 (Antonio S. Pedreira, famed for the classic Insularismo (1934), wrote what remains the best-known biography of Barbosa; see Antonio S. Pedreira, Un hombre del pueblo: José Celso Barbosa [San Juan, Puerto Rico: n.p., 1938]. For a detailed account of Barbosa’s involvement in the autonomist movement, see José Celso Barbosa, La obra de José Celso Barbosa, vol. 5, Historia del autonomismo puertorriqueño. De Baldorioty a Barbosa, and vol. 6, Historia del autonomismo puertorriqueño. La comisión autonomista de 1896 [San Juan, PR: Imprenta Venezuela, 1957]; see also NW, 29 October 1921; La Democracia, 15 August 1922; Antonio S. Pedreira, El periodismo en Puerto Rico [Rio Piedras: Editorial Edil, 1969], pp. 330– 333, 544).
Editorial in La Democracia [San Juan, 15 August 1922]
OUR PROTEST IS THE COUNTRY’S PROTEST As an accurate portrait of its politics and as a historical document that we wish to preserve on our columns, we reproduce verbatim the article published yesterday in “El Tiempo” about what happened at the “Unión Club.” The Republican organ says the following: THE UNIONISTS’ DEMOCRACY With their insincere and despicable patriotic fakery, a vile article of commerce and exploitation so [excessively] handled by our adversaries, LA DEMOCRACIA attacks the Union Club furiously because during the recent dance held there in honor of the “Birmingham’s” sailors, a bomba dance was included in the program, as part of the party. Insolently, LA DEMOCRACIA employs every injury within its reach, not to defend the dignity of the Puerto Rican people which has not been offended at all, but to open a valve to the hatred that their men feel toward North Americans,1 a hatred that ordinarily they have to hide cowardly and which for that reason manifests itself so violently when a pretext can explain—[but] not justify—the attacks. Like all of LA DEMOCRACIA’s patriotic fusses, this one now does not have any consistency at all. The mouthpiece of pretentious clichés judges itself offended because the Union Club presented a bomba dance on its stage, and outdoes itself in insults against North Americans without saying why, without knowing herself, or even better, knowing that it has no motive other than the impotent rage that consumes Unionists.
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AUGUST 1922 ites in Puerto Rico regarded Barbosa respectfully, but were often at odds with the Republican position (Reinaldo L. Román, “Scandalous Race: Garveyism, the Bomba, and the Discourses of Blackness in 1920s Puerto Rico” Caribbean Studies 31, no. 1, special issue: Garveyism in the Hispanic Caribbean, ed. Jorge L. Giovannetti and Reinaldo L. Román [January–June 2003]). A photograph of Barbosa was published along with his obituary (in Spanish) in the Negro World, 29 October 1921. El Tiempo ceased publication in 1930 (Antonio S. Pedreira, famed for the classic Insularismo (1934), wrote what remains the best-known biography of Barbosa; see Antonio S. Pedreira, Un hombre del pueblo: José Celso Barbosa [San Juan, Puerto Rico: n.p., 1938]. For a detailed account of Barbosa’s involvement in the autonomist movement, see José Celso Barbosa, La obra de José Celso Barbosa, vol. 5, Historia del autonomismo puertorriqueño. De Baldorioty a Barbosa, and vol. 6, Historia del autonomismo puertorriqueño. La comisión autonomista de 1896 [San Juan, PR: Imprenta Venezuela, 1957]; see also NW, 29 October 1921; La Democracia, 15 August 1922; Antonio S. Pedreira, El periodismo en Puerto Rico [Rio Piedras: Editorial Edil, 1969], pp. 330– 333, 544).
Editorial in La Democracia [San Juan, 15 August 1922]
OUR PROTEST IS THE COUNTRY’S PROTEST As an accurate portrait of its politics and as a historical document that we wish to preserve on our columns, we reproduce verbatim the article published yesterday in “El Tiempo” about what happened at the “Unión Club.” The Republican organ says the following: THE UNIONISTS’ DEMOCRACY With their insincere and despicable patriotic fakery, a vile article of commerce and exploitation so [excessively] handled by our adversaries, LA DEMOCRACIA attacks the Union Club furiously because during the recent dance held there in honor of the “Birmingham’s” sailors, a bomba dance was included in the program, as part of the party. Insolently, LA DEMOCRACIA employs every injury within its reach, not to defend the dignity of the Puerto Rican people which has not been offended at all, but to open a valve to the hatred that their men feel toward North Americans,1 a hatred that ordinarily they have to hide cowardly and which for that reason manifests itself so violently when a pretext can explain—[but] not justify—the attacks. Like all of LA DEMOCRACIA’s patriotic fusses, this one now does not have any consistency at all. The mouthpiece of pretentious clichés judges itself offended because the Union Club presented a bomba dance on its stage, and outdoes itself in insults against North Americans without saying why, without knowing herself, or even better, knowing that it has no motive other than the impotent rage that consumes Unionists.
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What is so offensive to our society about the performance of a bomba dance as part of a party’s program? Why is the serenity of LA DEMOCRACIA’s men so incensed? It is customary everywhere to offer visitors new sensations; to show them what is not commonplace and intolerably monotonous . . . to them. Cuba does not feel humiliated by the rumba that is danced in its lowly social strata. On the contrary it opens the doors to its theaters and it displays it throughout the Antilles and the United States.2 Hawaii, with as solid a culture as ours, is not offended because vaudeville acts present its native dances, which are of no less savage a heritage than the bomba. Paris does not raise the villager’s [word illegible] of LA DEMOCRACIA’s because “the Apache dance,” which comes from a lower social background than the bomba, is making its way around the world. Etc., etc. The right to assume the attitude of [those who] utter hurt cries from the belfries, as they did last Saturday, is reserved for LA DEMOCRACIA, the poor mistaken DEMOCRACIA. And as if [she] realized how sad it is to be left alone—or in bad company, if it’s going to seek the company of the Spanish newspapers3—she says this: And our misfortune, the misfortune of our people, is that the protest against this policy emerges spontaneously and vigorously from the immense majority that we represent, but there are small but committed opinion groups, such as the one represented by “El Tiempo,” who in spite of being the main objects of this savage criticism still submit quietly and submissively as if they still felt enslaved through the years. Yes, that is the misfortune of our unhappy colleague: Not having us within their band;4 not having been able to gain our support for their pseudopatriotic posing in the most undignified of adulations of the people. And that will always be its misfortune, its incurable misfortune, even though it tries to make us stray from our way with clumsy allusions, as when it says that “the savage criticism” of the Union Club “is mainly against the opinion groups that ‘El Tiempo’ represents,” which is mistaken, since neither are all in our party’s rankand-file black, nor do “El Tiempo’s” men dance the bomba. The fact that [the] Union Club presented a bomba number in its party does not affect the good name of Puerto Rican society in the least. No one can see ill intentions in that. Just as it was a bomba dance, it could have been a jíbaro singing décimas,5 if the sailors [only] spoke Spanish, or any of the other things that are only seen here, which unfortunately, and in spite of our praiseworthy personality, are very scarce and of very little interest. In contrast, there is bad faith in the low-class racism with which “La Democracia” says that Mr. Roberto H. Todd was not among the cocolos singing the bomba chorus, since 354
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among us, because of an ancestral error, “cocolo” and “tórtolo” is synonymous with “black.”6 This clumsy insinuation, so inappropriate[;] was it not stupid for those who cannot search neither little nor much into their heritage without finding clear traces of their black stock? There are things that one does only when blinded by passion. And this time the Unionists’ hatred of North Americans, makes us look at things with merciful eyes. Until here, yesterday’s article from “El Tiempo.” To defend ourselves from the attack it signifies for us, it would be enough to publish the letter to our Director from the Secretary of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, which we have placed on this very page.7 None the less, we wish to answer it. And we wish to answer it because [this] article is the greatest ignominy that we can imagine, not just against Puerto Rican society in general, but also against compatriots that—for causes beyond their control and which represent no dishonor—do not have white skin. No; it is not because of “insincere and despicable patriotic fakery” that we have [word illegible] the act of savagery at the “Union Club.” It is not, and look at how easy it is for us to return that rudeness by reminding “El Tiempo” that the first protest publicized was not ours, but that of Mr. Ricardo Pesquera, brother of the Federal Director of the Prohibition in the Island and noted Republican.8 Is it that for “El Tiempo” their co-religionist Mr. Pesquera is an “insincere and despicable patriot?” Well, if he is in their judgement, stop using us to play your games . . . And the Republican organ talks of “commerce and exploitation!” But, what can be our exploitation and our commerce in this case? Our attitude represents precisely the opposite[;] we have put and maintained ourselves on the side of the masses, before an affluent group which none the less is not rich in culture befitting our times. The Republican organ is the one that has placed itself by the side of a few haughty ones, abandoning the people it makes a show of defending. It is thus the Republican organ that goes after exploitation and commerce, seeking the satisfaction of miserable greed, even if it must resort to flattery, and even [go] to the defense of those who injure it in the person of its respectable founder. Because “El Tiempo” deals with part of what we manifested against the conduct of the “Union Club,” but [it] ignores, silences, and hides in their reply the fact we called attention to when we said: We still remember that this very same “Union Club,” celebrated a dance on the night of the agony of our illustrious compatriot Dr. José Celso Barbosa, while he was in the “Clínica Miramar,” (which as is well known is next door to said “Union Club”), with no regard for the suffering of our people, with no respect for the family of the eminent Puerto Rican 355
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who suffered in the Clinic the cruelest anguish. The joyous musical notes and the noise of the party reached him full of vigor in the Clinic and penetrated in the ears of a man that was next to his last breath surrounded by his family . . . And we protested. That conduct by the “Union Club” was a challenge of contempt for a respectable family and for the Republican people, who in the head of that family had their own head. And what was the attitude of our adversaries in the press? Silence then, as it will be silence now. But it does not matter. We did our duty. And that was to tell the “Union Club” now, as we did on the last occasion, that their conduct was so miserable, so dirty, that in it we did not want to, because we must not, see a reflection of the American people, but rather of a group of adventurers who bring it disrepute and dishonor [by] aiming to distort the truth in presenting Puerto Rico in a state of wicked savagery for the benefit of their greed and personal ambitions. That, that is what “El Tiempo” silenced and hid because of fear of losing the official favors they enjoy today, that truly is exploitation and commerce! We are higher and we look higher still. Our commerce did not consist of selling everything[—]everything![—] to the highest bidder in Fortaleza9 or whomever pays best at the top, whom “El Tiempo” believes to be the “Union Club.” Our commerce, since the Republican organ does not know how to deal in ideals and principles if it is not a matter of dollars and cents, is very different. We owe ourselves to the people and it is from the people that we expect justice. And if seeking that justice is commerce, and admitting the trust that such justice represents is exploitation . . . then let that commerce be blessed and that exploitation glorified in which the people’s soul joins our very own! For “El Tiempo” to speak of our hatred of North Americans, fermenting one of our phrases to argue that we deemed ourselves personally insulted in our censure of the “Union Club,” is the last straw. Why should we feel such hatred? For us, the men of LA DEMOCRACIA, the doors to the “Union Club” have always been open. What is laughable is that those who have always had them shut, should react in anger when we have attempted, if not to open them for them, at least to make certain that they are considered decently in the cultural field. What is laughable, the truly shameful thing—as the Secretary of the Universal Negro Improvement Association so rightly points out—“is that the representatives of that race in our island, those who should feel truly hurt, are wrapped in indifference, without a sign of protest, making themselves supporters of a campaign that defames their people and their race.” And “El Tiempo” points at a number of black dances from other countries that are far from relevant to the case that concerns us, to ask: “What is so offensive to our society about the performance of a bomba dance as part of a party’s program?” 356
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In the first place, we have to point out that the question does not correspond with reality. The fact is that the program said as follows: The next and last number in the program will be the black native dance “La Bomba,” typical of the life of the country’s blacks, ancestor to the “hoedown” and descended from the Congo’s Obi dance. And well; if this does not offend our society; if our people’s culture, and especially that of the colored race to which the case is restricted, does not go beyond the bomba dance, that is simply “El Tiempo’s” opinion. And we are not going to deny them the right to believe themselves still in loincloths[,] wearing red beads[,] jumping to a disagreeable beat and rejoicing to the harsh rhythm of some savage hollering in the middle of unredeemed Africa. But, unlike “El Tiempo,” we deny that impression as false and unjust when it comes to the colored race of Puerto Rico. What is typical in our country is not the black race dancing bomba. What is typical in our country is the colored race, as civilized and cultured as whites, with social centers that do it honor[,] and with broad horizons in every activity, occupying privileged positions in civic struggles and opening for themselves broad paths into the practice of all the noble professions. The societies of the colored race established for the cultivation of intelligence have always been bright and have always succeeded in their aims. The Casinos where it gathers are models of courtesy where nothing is missed; and there has never been anyone who dared present a bomba dance in their halls as typical of their culture, not even as a special number [word illegible], but rather these [numbers] are and have always been the day’s dances, those that triumph and impose themselves in the most distinguished centers. And since we know this to be so, we protested and protest [still] against the distortion of this truth. If it is its taste or business, “El Tiempo” should accept the mockery against it, and do even more: justify those who injure it. But [it should] do it on its own and only for itself in exchange for the benefits they believe that they will gain in payment for their submission, without implicating in their acceptance of derision the people who are being injured and the race that is being vilified. In regards to the rest, we will not insist on demonstrating that the dances of which the Republican organ speaks cannot be compared to the bomba, unless one’s ears are clogged and one’s sight is lost, nor have they ever been presented in the manner nor with the consequences of the bomba dance presented in the program of the “Union Club” in Puerto Rico. This is too clear to require our explaining it. And as to whether or not “it would be stupid for those who cannot search neither little nor much into their heritage without finding clear traces of their black stock,” of whom “El Tiempo” remarks when referring to Mr. Todd, it is enough for us to say that we have not made, nor will we make, a racial matter 357
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out of this; and in this light, the attitude with which the Republican organ defends the white purity of its friend appears laughable. But since they invite us to, and without it being reason for vainglory, let us say that for our part we can tolerate a deep search without blushing for having pretended to appear what we are not. And “El Tiempo’s” imbecility lies precisely there: in wanting to take us into that terrain, when we are fully comfortable in ours, much unlike the Republican organ, who forgets its own at times of trial to become a defender of the “Union Club,” even though it cannot enter there except for the adulations of paper, leaving its personality outside beyond the door. . . . It is not, we repeat, a matter of race. It is a matter of an offense to the people of Puerto Rico. And, besides the spectacle at the “Union Club,” until now the only truly shameful thing is that those, who like “El Tiempo,” should feel it [the offense] more intimately, take it with satisfaction in exchange for a bit of Fortaleza’s pottage, even [if it is served] in the kitchen. Printed in La Democracia, 15 August 1922. Translated from Spanish. 1. The term used in the original Spanish-language document was “los continentales.” 2. Contrary to the editor’s assertions, the rumba was the subject of bitter controversies in Cuba. This dance was banned at various times and its staging, where it was permitted, required significant stylization of the street-based forms (Robin D. Moore, Nationalizing Blackness: Afrocubanismo and Artistic Revolution in Havana, 1920–1940 [Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1997], pp. 166–190). 3. The writer refers to La Correspondencia de Puerto Rico, a daily associated with pro-Spanish conservatism whose editorials supported La Democracia’s own position. 4. The word “band” does not convey the range of meanings of the Spanish “comparsa,” which designates Afro-Cuban, and by extension, Puerto Rican, carnival bands that performed during Three King’s Day (Epiphany) on 6 January (Moore, Nationalizing Blackness, pp. 62–86, 278). 5. The term “jíbaro” refers to white and mestizo peasants whose culture was believed to be predominantly Hispanic in origin. The “décima” is a poetic form similar to the ballad, consisting of ten rhyming verses of ten syllables each. 6. According to linguist Manuel Alvarez Nazario, “tórtolo” should, strictly speaking, refer only to migrants born in Tortola, but it has been employed in Puerto Rico to designate immigrants from any of the Virgin Islands. The term “cocolo,” for its part, has been used in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic since at least the nineteenth century to refer to black migrants from the British West Indies. By the 1970s, and possibly even before, “cocolo” acquired a pejorative connotation and has been used in Puerto Rico to refer derisively to dark-skinned, black Puerto Ricans. According to the census data that Nazario cites, there were 197 cocolo immigrants in Puerto Rico in 1910 and 1,111 by 1920 (Manuel Alvarez Nazario, El elemento afronegroide en el español de Puerto Rico: Contribución al estudio del negro en América, 2nd ed. [San Juan: Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, 1974], pp. 67–70, 256). 7. This is a reference to the letter from Conrado Rosario to La Democracia, dated 14 August 1922, and reproduced in this volume. 8. According to El Mundo, Ricardo Pesquera, a Club member, objected to the performance of the bomba dance and attempted to persuade the Union Club’s board of directors to exclude it from the program. Evidently, the board disregarded Pesquera’s efforts, which included a consultation with a San Juan police captain who assured him that an ordinance banning bomba dances was in place within city limits because the spectacle was deemed detrimental to public morals. It seems that Pesquera was the first to take issue with the dance. However, contrary to what is implied in La Democracia’s editorial, El Mundo’s report on Pesquera’s actions was published on 12 August 1922. La Democracia ran an article titled “Last Night’s ‘Act of Savagery’ at the Union Club” on the very same date. Ricardo R. Pesquera Sojo (b. 1891) was a successful businessman, vice-consul of the Republic of Latvia in Puerto Rico, and a 1909 graduate of the Albany Business College in New York. He was a Shriner and a Mason of the 32nd degree, as well as a member of the Union Club. He also belonged
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AUGUST 1922 to the Federación de Comerciantes (Businessmen’s Federation) and was elected president of the Liquor Wholesalers Association of Puerto Rico in 1935. This last post presents something of an irony in light of reports that Pesquera’s brother directed the implementation of Prohibition measures in the island in 1922. Pesquera served as an officer in the U.S. Army during the First World War and remained in the Army Reserves after the conclusion of the war (Conrado Ansenjo, ed., Quién es quien en Puerto Rico: Diccionario Biográfico de récord personal, 4th ed. [San Juan: Imprenta Venezuela, 1949], p. 131). 9. Known as “the fortress” or “la fortaleza,” the Castle of Santa Catalina in San Juan has been the official residence of the governor of Puerto Rico since the days of the Spanish colony.
Article in La Democracia [San Juan, 15 August 1922]
PONCE’S “EL AGUILA”1 ALSO ISSUES A PROTEST Writing our editorial today, we received yesterday’s issue of Ponce’s “El Aguila” from which the following is extracted: ON THE BOMBA DANCE AT THE UNION CLUB The program of the reception that the Union Club hosted for the officers of the national war cruiser “Birmingham,” in which a bomba dance figured, has been the subject of commentary and censure in San Juan; and El Aguila joins the protest of those who have shown their lack of conformity with that event, for the reason that this dance is not typical of the country but rather was brought by the unfortunate individuals who many years ago arrived in the country enslaved, ripped violently from the land of their birth. Besides, we all know that bomba dances are disappearing in the country and, thus, they do not reflect our present social existence at all. We do not know who thought to add this number to the program, but the idea was certainly unfortunate; as it was unfortunate that Mr. Pesquera’s protest was not supported by the rest of the Puerto Rican members of said social institution. It would be relevant to know the names of the Puerto Ricans who[,] belonging to the “Union Club’s” Board of Directors, consented to the performance of this [word illegible] act before the Admiral and his officers during the reception celebrated there for them. Till here the protest of “El Aguila.” And, would “El Tiempo” say that the protest of the republican daily from Ponce is “insincere and despicable patriotic fakery?” That would be something to see! Printed in La Democracia, 15 August 1922. Translated from Spanish. 1. El Aguila was first published in Ponce in 1902 and ceased publication in 1931, except for a brief two-month run in 1934. Although it operated as an apologist for Republican views, El Aguila
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AUGUST 1922 to the Federación de Comerciantes (Businessmen’s Federation) and was elected president of the Liquor Wholesalers Association of Puerto Rico in 1935. This last post presents something of an irony in light of reports that Pesquera’s brother directed the implementation of Prohibition measures in the island in 1922. Pesquera served as an officer in the U.S. Army during the First World War and remained in the Army Reserves after the conclusion of the war (Conrado Ansenjo, ed., Quién es quien en Puerto Rico: Diccionario Biográfico de récord personal, 4th ed. [San Juan: Imprenta Venezuela, 1949], p. 131). 9. Known as “the fortress” or “la fortaleza,” the Castle of Santa Catalina in San Juan has been the official residence of the governor of Puerto Rico since the days of the Spanish colony.
Article in La Democracia [San Juan, 15 August 1922]
PONCE’S “EL AGUILA”1 ALSO ISSUES A PROTEST Writing our editorial today, we received yesterday’s issue of Ponce’s “El Aguila” from which the following is extracted: ON THE BOMBA DANCE AT THE UNION CLUB The program of the reception that the Union Club hosted for the officers of the national war cruiser “Birmingham,” in which a bomba dance figured, has been the subject of commentary and censure in San Juan; and El Aguila joins the protest of those who have shown their lack of conformity with that event, for the reason that this dance is not typical of the country but rather was brought by the unfortunate individuals who many years ago arrived in the country enslaved, ripped violently from the land of their birth. Besides, we all know that bomba dances are disappearing in the country and, thus, they do not reflect our present social existence at all. We do not know who thought to add this number to the program, but the idea was certainly unfortunate; as it was unfortunate that Mr. Pesquera’s protest was not supported by the rest of the Puerto Rican members of said social institution. It would be relevant to know the names of the Puerto Ricans who[,] belonging to the “Union Club’s” Board of Directors, consented to the performance of this [word illegible] act before the Admiral and his officers during the reception celebrated there for them. Till here the protest of “El Aguila.” And, would “El Tiempo” say that the protest of the republican daily from Ponce is “insincere and despicable patriotic fakery?” That would be something to see! Printed in La Democracia, 15 August 1922. Translated from Spanish. 1. El Aguila was first published in Ponce in 1902 and ceased publication in 1931, except for a brief two-month run in 1934. Although it operated as an apologist for Republican views, El Aguila
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS was eclipsed by El Tiempo, which began publishing in 1907. José A. Ribas, Tomás Carrión Maduro, and Rafael Martínez Nadal were among the most prominent contributors to this daily (Antonio S. Pedreira, El periodismo en Puerto Rico [Rio Piedras: Editorial Edil, 1969], p. 330).
Jaime A. Bishop, President, UNIA San Juan Division, to Salvador Brau González,1 Editor, El Tiempo [San Juan, 16 August, 1922]
THE UNIA PRESIDENT DECLARES MR. CONRADO ROSARIO WITHOUT AUTHORITY Dear Sir: I beg that you publicize the following letter in the columns of your wellrespected daily. I thank you in anticipation with the most sincere courtesy and profound gratitude for this exceptional favor, which I hope to deserve. Respectfully, JAIME A. BISHO[P] TO THE MEMBERS OF THE UNIVERSAL NEGRO IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION Dear Fellow Members: In response to the multiple questions and requests by members and strangers in relation to the article signed by Mr. Conrado Rosario[,] secretary of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, I must inform the public in general and members in particular of the following regarding this much-debated matter: The institution [known as] Universal Negro Improvement Association is an Association that does not intervene nor does it support or share responsibility in anything of what its members may advocate, combat, or believe as individuals for or against any movement, with the understanding that every individual has opinions that must be respected by all, whether they are wrong or not. Therefore, the Association I preside [over] has nothing to do with the article in reference nor does it echo it, since Mr. Rosario has no direct authorization to use the title of secretary of this Association to advocate his worthy opinions. Let it be clear and defined to the public in general and to the members of the corporation that only the president’s articles or those that he has approved should be taken for [the] echo, sentiment or opinion to be espoused by the organized members. 360
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS was eclipsed by El Tiempo, which began publishing in 1907. José A. Ribas, Tomás Carrión Maduro, and Rafael Martínez Nadal were among the most prominent contributors to this daily (Antonio S. Pedreira, El periodismo en Puerto Rico [Rio Piedras: Editorial Edil, 1969], p. 330).
Jaime A. Bishop, President, UNIA San Juan Division, to Salvador Brau González,1 Editor, El Tiempo [San Juan, 16 August, 1922]
THE UNIA PRESIDENT DECLARES MR. CONRADO ROSARIO WITHOUT AUTHORITY Dear Sir: I beg that you publicize the following letter in the columns of your wellrespected daily. I thank you in anticipation with the most sincere courtesy and profound gratitude for this exceptional favor, which I hope to deserve. Respectfully, JAIME A. BISHO[P] TO THE MEMBERS OF THE UNIVERSAL NEGRO IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION Dear Fellow Members: In response to the multiple questions and requests by members and strangers in relation to the article signed by Mr. Conrado Rosario[,] secretary of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, I must inform the public in general and members in particular of the following regarding this much-debated matter: The institution [known as] Universal Negro Improvement Association is an Association that does not intervene nor does it support or share responsibility in anything of what its members may advocate, combat, or believe as individuals for or against any movement, with the understanding that every individual has opinions that must be respected by all, whether they are wrong or not. Therefore, the Association I preside [over] has nothing to do with the article in reference nor does it echo it, since Mr. Rosario has no direct authorization to use the title of secretary of this Association to advocate his worthy opinions. Let it be clear and defined to the public in general and to the members of the corporation that only the president’s articles or those that he has approved should be taken for [the] echo, sentiment or opinion to be espoused by the organized members. 360
AUGUST 1922
Shortly, I shall analyze certain points that shall direct our point of view and the conduct to be followed in the future. Fraternally, JAIME A. BISHOP President of the U.N.I.A. [Addressed to:] Sr. Director de “El Tiempo,” San Juan, P.R. Printed in El Tiempo, 16 August 1922. Translated from Spanish. 1. Salvador Brau González (b. 1880), a pharmacist by training, was not only editor of El Tiempo but also made a career as a journalist, contributing regularly to magazines and newspapers throughout the island, and authoring a technical book on Spanish grammar. He should not be confused with the noted man of letters, politician, and official historian of Puerto Rico, Salvador Brau y Asencio (1842–1912) (Conrado Asenjo, Quién es quien en Puerto Rico: Diccionario biográfico de récord personal, 3rd ed. [San Juan: Cantero Fernández & Co., 1942], p. 46).
Conrado Rosario, Secretary General, UNIA San Juan Division, to José Coll Vidal, Editor, La Democracia [[San Juan, P.R., 16 August 1922]]
J. A. BISHOP IS THE ONE WITHOUT AUTHORITY Sir: I take the liberty of replying through your worthy daily to Mr. Jaime A. Bishop that, as President of Division 45 of the UNIA, he is not authorized to declare without authority any member who publishes, as in the present case, an article that manifests the protest of a part of the people who have felt scoffed at by the behavior of a group that has attempted and carried out such acts intentionally. When it is a matter of introducing new sensations to a foreign gathering it can and is done by showing acts that tend to highlight their [Puerto Ricans’] social development and not their state of backwardness. For the first[,] one should be thankful; the second should be loathed. Mr. Bishop nor any other official is [not] authorized to declare anybody without authority individually, and I reject that he can deny anybody authority when he is not the UNIA in Puerto Rico, but rather it is a body called the “Advisory Board” which can sanction or declare without authority actions taken by a member, and being certain as I am, Mr. Director, that part of that Advisory Board thinks as you and I do about this matter, I dare assure you that it is Mr. Bishop who is without authority. Thank you, Mr. Director, I remain sincerely yours, CONRADO ROSARIO Sec. Gen. Div. 45 U.N.I.A. 361
AUGUST 1922
Shortly, I shall analyze certain points that shall direct our point of view and the conduct to be followed in the future. Fraternally, JAIME A. BISHOP President of the U.N.I.A. [Addressed to:] Sr. Director de “El Tiempo,” San Juan, P.R. Printed in El Tiempo, 16 August 1922. Translated from Spanish. 1. Salvador Brau González (b. 1880), a pharmacist by training, was not only editor of El Tiempo but also made a career as a journalist, contributing regularly to magazines and newspapers throughout the island, and authoring a technical book on Spanish grammar. He should not be confused with the noted man of letters, politician, and official historian of Puerto Rico, Salvador Brau y Asencio (1842–1912) (Conrado Asenjo, Quién es quien en Puerto Rico: Diccionario biográfico de récord personal, 3rd ed. [San Juan: Cantero Fernández & Co., 1942], p. 46).
Conrado Rosario, Secretary General, UNIA San Juan Division, to José Coll Vidal, Editor, La Democracia [[San Juan, P.R., 16 August 1922]]
J. A. BISHOP IS THE ONE WITHOUT AUTHORITY Sir: I take the liberty of replying through your worthy daily to Mr. Jaime A. Bishop that, as President of Division 45 of the UNIA, he is not authorized to declare without authority any member who publishes, as in the present case, an article that manifests the protest of a part of the people who have felt scoffed at by the behavior of a group that has attempted and carried out such acts intentionally. When it is a matter of introducing new sensations to a foreign gathering it can and is done by showing acts that tend to highlight their [Puerto Ricans’] social development and not their state of backwardness. For the first[,] one should be thankful; the second should be loathed. Mr. Bishop nor any other official is [not] authorized to declare anybody without authority individually, and I reject that he can deny anybody authority when he is not the UNIA in Puerto Rico, but rather it is a body called the “Advisory Board” which can sanction or declare without authority actions taken by a member, and being certain as I am, Mr. Director, that part of that Advisory Board thinks as you and I do about this matter, I dare assure you that it is Mr. Bishop who is without authority. Thank you, Mr. Director, I remain sincerely yours, CONRADO ROSARIO Sec. Gen. Div. 45 U.N.I.A. 361
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS [Addressed to:] Sr. Director de LA DEMOCRACIA, San Juan, P.R. Printed in La Democracia, 17 August 1922. Translated from Spanish.
J. Ananda to El Mundo [San Juan, 18 August 1922]
LET’S NOT DIVIDE HUMANITY ANY FURTHER We have been reading a number of articles in the country’s press about an Association among all the men of the colored race, that is to say “the Black race” and a number of friends have spoken to us about the same Association and have told us that this Society is formally called in English “International Negro Improvement Association,” or the “I.N.I.A.,” which translated means “International Association promoting the progress of the Black race,” or in other words, “International Association for the progress of the Black race.” The aim of this Society is still unknown in this country. It is said that it owns important commercial firms, Steamers and a big and important newspaper in the United States; but here nothing is known for certain about them, at least [among] us the common people. Things are said and said over and nothing else. Men of black skin, mestizos, men of white and black fathers and mothers, that is to say, those we call, mulattos, grifos,1 as well as Indians, those of yellow skin, the Japanese and the Chinese and various inhabitants of the African Continent are thought to be inferior by some men of the white race. Latin Americans are somewhat acquiescent in matters of race. It is said that North Americans are very rigid when it comes to race and that they are very tenacious because, it is said, they believe themselves superior to others in race matters. Which I doubt absolutely. Naturally we are against all of that division. Humanity is too divided already and we believe that building fraternity would be the best labor. Let us make no more divisions in humanity. J. ANANDA Printed in El Mundo, 18 August 1922. Translated from Spanish. 1. In Spanish America, the word “mestizo” was initially employed to designate the children of Europeans and indigenous peoples. In Puerto Rico, however, its meaning was eventually extended to persons with “a degree of admixture following the level of quarteroons,” themselves people of white and mulatto parentage. The progeny of black and mulatto parents were and sometimes still are called “grifos”; the term itself refers to hair texture (Manuel Alvarez Nazario, El elemento afronegroide en el español de Puerto Rico: Contribucíon al estudio del negro en América, 2nd ed. [San Juan: Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, 1974], pp. 351–357). For definitions of terms and a description of the hierarchy of Puerto Rican race categorizations, see Isabelo Zenón Cruz, Narciso descubre su trasero, 2nd ed. (Humacao, Puerto Rico: Editorial Furidi, 1975); Kelvin Santiago-Valles, “Subject Peoples” and Colonial Discourses: Economic Transformation and Social Disorder in Puerto Rico, 1898–1947 (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1994); Jay Hinsbruner, Not of Pure
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS [Addressed to:] Sr. Director de LA DEMOCRACIA, San Juan, P.R. Printed in La Democracia, 17 August 1922. Translated from Spanish.
J. Ananda to El Mundo [San Juan, 18 August 1922]
LET’S NOT DIVIDE HUMANITY ANY FURTHER We have been reading a number of articles in the country’s press about an Association among all the men of the colored race, that is to say “the Black race” and a number of friends have spoken to us about the same Association and have told us that this Society is formally called in English “International Negro Improvement Association,” or the “I.N.I.A.,” which translated means “International Association promoting the progress of the Black race,” or in other words, “International Association for the progress of the Black race.” The aim of this Society is still unknown in this country. It is said that it owns important commercial firms, Steamers and a big and important newspaper in the United States; but here nothing is known for certain about them, at least [among] us the common people. Things are said and said over and nothing else. Men of black skin, mestizos, men of white and black fathers and mothers, that is to say, those we call, mulattos, grifos,1 as well as Indians, those of yellow skin, the Japanese and the Chinese and various inhabitants of the African Continent are thought to be inferior by some men of the white race. Latin Americans are somewhat acquiescent in matters of race. It is said that North Americans are very rigid when it comes to race and that they are very tenacious because, it is said, they believe themselves superior to others in race matters. Which I doubt absolutely. Naturally we are against all of that division. Humanity is too divided already and we believe that building fraternity would be the best labor. Let us make no more divisions in humanity. J. ANANDA Printed in El Mundo, 18 August 1922. Translated from Spanish. 1. In Spanish America, the word “mestizo” was initially employed to designate the children of Europeans and indigenous peoples. In Puerto Rico, however, its meaning was eventually extended to persons with “a degree of admixture following the level of quarteroons,” themselves people of white and mulatto parentage. The progeny of black and mulatto parents were and sometimes still are called “grifos”; the term itself refers to hair texture (Manuel Alvarez Nazario, El elemento afronegroide en el español de Puerto Rico: Contribucíon al estudio del negro en América, 2nd ed. [San Juan: Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, 1974], pp. 351–357). For definitions of terms and a description of the hierarchy of Puerto Rican race categorizations, see Isabelo Zenón Cruz, Narciso descubre su trasero, 2nd ed. (Humacao, Puerto Rico: Editorial Furidi, 1975); Kelvin Santiago-Valles, “Subject Peoples” and Colonial Discourses: Economic Transformation and Social Disorder in Puerto Rico, 1898–1947 (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1994); Jay Hinsbruner, Not of Pure
362
AUGUST 1922 Blood: The Free People of Color and Racial Prejudice in Nineteenth-Century Puerto Rico (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1996).
Article in La Correspondencia de Puerto Rico [San Juan, 22 August 1922]
THE BLACKS’ THIRD CONVENTION 5,000 blacks paraded on some of New York’s streets before the opening of the third convention of the Universal Society for the improvement of their race. The third annual convention of the Universal Society for the Negro’s improvement has begun in New York. It will last one month. Representatives from various parts of the world are in attendance. The opening was preceded by a parade of 5,000 blacks, which went from 138th Street, West, to 7th Avenue, 110th Street. Some of the banners they carried said: “The white man rules America, the black man shall rule Africa[;]” “We want a black civilization;” “God and blacks shall triumph.” The parade was reviewed by Marcus Garvey, president general of the Society of Negroes United for their Improvement, and “Provisional President of the Republic of Africa.[”] He was dressed in the order’s uniform, which gave him the appearance of a Haitian major general, and was surrounded by his “Great Sovereign,” his “Chaplain General[,]” [“]the Representative of the American People to the Black House in Washington,” nurses of the Black Cross and members of the uniformed ranks. Marcus Garvey is the leader of a racist movement to get the greatest number of American blacks to migrate to Africa. Prominent blacks from New York have accused Garvey of having reached an understanding with the Ku-Klux-Klan1 and accuse him of having squandered the money collected for the Black Star Steamers Line. The National Association for the Progress of the colored Race has celebrated an important meeting in New York to make grave accusations against Garvey; the main one being that he constitutes a threat to blacks’ freedom. Printed in La Correspondencia de Puerto Rico, 22 August 1922. Translated from Spanish. 1. During the 1920s, Marcus Garvey met with a leader of the Ku Klux Klan to discuss how their ideologies might be mutually beneficial. Garvey believed in an Africa that was reserved strictly for blacks, while the KKK sought to turn America into a land for white people only. Garvey and the Klan were proponents of racial separatism and thus came together, looking to preserve their respective races. The imperial wizard of the Klan, who supported Garvey’s movement to take African Americans from the United States to Africa, met with him in Atlanta in 1922 to discuss their ideas and strategies. Garvey’s position was highly controversial, and other black leaders in the Americas, like W. E. B. Du Bois, harshly criticized him for meeting with the racist leadership. Garvey, however, made no apologies, and during a public speech given from the New York Public Library Hall in July 1922, he stated, “The attitude of the Ku Klux Klan is that America should be a white man’s country at all hazards, at all costs. The attitude of the Universal Negro Improvement Association is in a way similar to the Ku Klux Klan. Whilst the Ku Klux Klan desires to make America absolutely a white man’s country, the United Negro Improvement Association wants to make Africa absolutely
363
AUGUST 1922 Blood: The Free People of Color and Racial Prejudice in Nineteenth-Century Puerto Rico (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1996).
Article in La Correspondencia de Puerto Rico [San Juan, 22 August 1922]
THE BLACKS’ THIRD CONVENTION 5,000 blacks paraded on some of New York’s streets before the opening of the third convention of the Universal Society for the improvement of their race. The third annual convention of the Universal Society for the Negro’s improvement has begun in New York. It will last one month. Representatives from various parts of the world are in attendance. The opening was preceded by a parade of 5,000 blacks, which went from 138th Street, West, to 7th Avenue, 110th Street. Some of the banners they carried said: “The white man rules America, the black man shall rule Africa[;]” “We want a black civilization;” “God and blacks shall triumph.” The parade was reviewed by Marcus Garvey, president general of the Society of Negroes United for their Improvement, and “Provisional President of the Republic of Africa.[”] He was dressed in the order’s uniform, which gave him the appearance of a Haitian major general, and was surrounded by his “Great Sovereign,” his “Chaplain General[,]” [“]the Representative of the American People to the Black House in Washington,” nurses of the Black Cross and members of the uniformed ranks. Marcus Garvey is the leader of a racist movement to get the greatest number of American blacks to migrate to Africa. Prominent blacks from New York have accused Garvey of having reached an understanding with the Ku-Klux-Klan1 and accuse him of having squandered the money collected for the Black Star Steamers Line. The National Association for the Progress of the colored Race has celebrated an important meeting in New York to make grave accusations against Garvey; the main one being that he constitutes a threat to blacks’ freedom. Printed in La Correspondencia de Puerto Rico, 22 August 1922. Translated from Spanish. 1. During the 1920s, Marcus Garvey met with a leader of the Ku Klux Klan to discuss how their ideologies might be mutually beneficial. Garvey believed in an Africa that was reserved strictly for blacks, while the KKK sought to turn America into a land for white people only. Garvey and the Klan were proponents of racial separatism and thus came together, looking to preserve their respective races. The imperial wizard of the Klan, who supported Garvey’s movement to take African Americans from the United States to Africa, met with him in Atlanta in 1922 to discuss their ideas and strategies. Garvey’s position was highly controversial, and other black leaders in the Americas, like W. E. B. Du Bois, harshly criticized him for meeting with the racist leadership. Garvey, however, made no apologies, and during a public speech given from the New York Public Library Hall in July 1922, he stated, “The attitude of the Ku Klux Klan is that America should be a white man’s country at all hazards, at all costs. The attitude of the Universal Negro Improvement Association is in a way similar to the Ku Klux Klan. Whilst the Ku Klux Klan desires to make America absolutely a white man’s country, the United Negro Improvement Association wants to make Africa absolutely
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS a black man’s country . . .” (“Black Leader Marcus Garvey Finds Common Ground with the Ku Klux Klan” in In Our Own Words: Extraordinary Speeches of the American Century, ed. Robert G. Torricelli and Andrew Carroll [New York: Kodansha America, 1999], pp. 72–74; Judith Stein, The World of Marcus Garvey: Race and Class in Modern Society [Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1986], pp. 153–171).
Editorial in the Workman [Panama City, 26 August 1922]
MORE BUBBLES IN HARLEM The “New York World” of August 9th published a somewhat satirical report of the seventh day’s session of the Universal Negro Convention at Harlem which, during this month, is being attended by representatives of the African stock from all over the world. This report is reproduced in another column of this issue. It is astonishing to note that the tremendous loss of thousands of dollars in the abortive Black Star Line Steamship Company has not, in the least, taken the corporation gab out of the mouths of the members and supporters of an organization which has failed signally to justify the absurd claims and pretensions which have been announced with sonorous speech and thunderous reverberation all over the United States, in Central America and in the West Indies. Most of the money sunk in the wreckage of the Black Star Line Steamship Company has been the hard-earned and slowly accumulated dollars of daylaborers of both sexes of the race whose faith in the Negro Zionism with its objective, not in Palestine but in some unknown spot south of the Sudan, deluded them into heavy investments. In the face of the whole world the venture has proved itself to be an economic farce, and many of the shareholders who commenced to think too late, have given up their money for loss. Poor people have been ruined by throwing their all into a scheme which they were made to believe was destined to succeed because some supernatural agent shook Marcus Garvy [Garvey] in his sleep and told him so, in the same way that Moses was appointed to contest with the Phar[ao]hs the right to liberate the down-trodden and enslaved segment of an ancient civilization. It is not a small matter for hard-working people to throw away their labor in profitless bargains, and yet it is not an easy matter to convince them of their blunder, especially when the virulent types of economic fever become epidemic. Two years ago it would have been an absolute impossibility to have mentioned that the Black Star Line Corporation would not have succeeded. Such a pronouncement would have incurred treatment second-cousin to lynching; but time has exposed the emptiness of the scheme and exploded the fallacy of the venture.
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS a black man’s country . . .” (“Black Leader Marcus Garvey Finds Common Ground with the Ku Klux Klan” in In Our Own Words: Extraordinary Speeches of the American Century, ed. Robert G. Torricelli and Andrew Carroll [New York: Kodansha America, 1999], pp. 72–74; Judith Stein, The World of Marcus Garvey: Race and Class in Modern Society [Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1986], pp. 153–171).
Editorial in the Workman [Panama City, 26 August 1922]
MORE BUBBLES IN HARLEM The “New York World” of August 9th published a somewhat satirical report of the seventh day’s session of the Universal Negro Convention at Harlem which, during this month, is being attended by representatives of the African stock from all over the world. This report is reproduced in another column of this issue. It is astonishing to note that the tremendous loss of thousands of dollars in the abortive Black Star Line Steamship Company has not, in the least, taken the corporation gab out of the mouths of the members and supporters of an organization which has failed signally to justify the absurd claims and pretensions which have been announced with sonorous speech and thunderous reverberation all over the United States, in Central America and in the West Indies. Most of the money sunk in the wreckage of the Black Star Line Steamship Company has been the hard-earned and slowly accumulated dollars of daylaborers of both sexes of the race whose faith in the Negro Zionism with its objective, not in Palestine but in some unknown spot south of the Sudan, deluded them into heavy investments. In the face of the whole world the venture has proved itself to be an economic farce, and many of the shareholders who commenced to think too late, have given up their money for loss. Poor people have been ruined by throwing their all into a scheme which they were made to believe was destined to succeed because some supernatural agent shook Marcus Garvy [Garvey] in his sleep and told him so, in the same way that Moses was appointed to contest with the Phar[ao]hs the right to liberate the down-trodden and enslaved segment of an ancient civilization. It is not a small matter for hard-working people to throw away their labor in profitless bargains, and yet it is not an easy matter to convince them of their blunder, especially when the virulent types of economic fever become epidemic. Two years ago it would have been an absolute impossibility to have mentioned that the Black Star Line Corporation would not have succeeded. Such a pronouncement would have incurred treatment second-cousin to lynching; but time has exposed the emptiness of the scheme and exploded the fallacy of the venture.
364
AUGUST 1922
Now, in the face of all that has happened comes Mr. Marcus Garvey again trumpeting his merchant fleet propaganda. Have not his voluntary confessions in open court1 coupled with the depleted treasury of the Black Star Line Corporation given to the world sufficient information as to cause him to hesitate in advertising his impossible scheme? Does he think that he will find the people so fool-hardy as to subscribe to his bloated vision in the sum of dollars and cents after such a flat and r[i]diculous failure of the past two years? The vanished subscriptions came from people, many of whom are paupers today. Speaking for Panama, it is no exaggeration to state that ninety per cent of the shareholders are now reduced to the state of abject impecuniosity; and those who still cling to the organization do so on account of the benevolent feature which characterises one of its subsid[i]ary departments. What the poor people have already lost in the scheme is alarming when serious thought is exercised. They have lost their sweat, their strength, their savings, their careful toil. The poor woman at the wash-tub and scrubbing board, the huckster with her tray of vegetables from the field, the hourly worker and the day-laborer—these are the people who have suffered most and these are the very people who, if not warned, will be duped again. There were several individuals who were caught in the lost venture by his dazzling pledges and alluring promises but who have been enabled to see further than they saw at first[.] Such people will not be deceived again, because their judgment and discretion have been awakened and their economic insight quickened. These have had enough of the scheme and are through with it. What is preposterous is the fact that one of the Panama delegates (it has not been said which one) in endorsing Garvey’s plan for the resuscitation of the Black Star Line Corporation pledged one thousand dollars from his division on the Isthmus, as a start. Here is a man talking about ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS of poor people’s money as if he were talking about a package of peanuts, or a couple of crackers. It is noticeable that the reported advocates of the scheme are those from Central America where West Indians support the movement. Panama, Costa Rica and Cuba are the chief places that are backing up the plan through their delegates. What does this mean? I[s] it that the only fools remaining are those who are residing in these countries? Or, are they more prosperous here than elsewhere? What a travesty! The Panama Canal is repatriating hundreds of West Indian paupers every month. Reports from Costa Rica state that work is scarce, and suffering rife. Cuba has been telling her tale of woe for the past two years and her sighs are still heard across the waters. Where do the delegates of the Universal Negro Improvement Association get their inspiration from when they pledge unbounded support and financial backing to the impossible Black Star Line business. Individuals have a right to spend their money as, they please, but when large numbers of people find it necessary to seek aid from the Red Cross Soci365
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ety or depend on the generosity of their friends, a social problem involving public attention arises. Good natured persons must regard it as an imposition when people throw their money away and then appeal to charity for relief, and the time is fast coming when liberal hands will be closed against such a practice. Printed in the Workman (Panama City), 26 August 1922. 1. Garvey was examined in supplementary court proceedings on 24 August 1922 by attorney for the Pan Union Company that earlier had obtained a judgment for $6,000 against the Black Star Line. During the proceedings in the New York Supreme Court Garvey declared that “the steamship company has no money and of the three vessels it was organized to operate he said one is on the beach at Antilla, Cuba, another, an excursion vessel, is a wreck ‘somewhere in New York Harbor’ and the third, the Yarmouth, was sold for $1,800 to satisfy claims of almost $100,000 (“Garvey Files Libel Suits for $750,000 . . . Ship Company Tries to Collect $6,000 Mr. Garvey Owes Them,” Baltimore Afro-American, 25 August 1922). The Pan Union Company sued the Black Star Line and were awarded a judgment for the seizure of its shipment of Green River whiskey when the Yarmouth was disabled on its trip to Havana, Cuba, and had to put back to port in New York; the shipment was seized when the ban against the exportation of whiskey went into effect on 16 January 1920 following the passage of Prohibition. Garvey claimed in court that the Black Star Line represented an investment of $600,000, which was all gone, and that the Yarmouth had cost $145,000 but had lost $300,000 on her first trip. Garvey also stated that the Maceo had been purchased for $65,000 but had lost $75,000 on her maiden voyage, and he denied responsibility for or knowledge of the advertisements offering passage on the Phyllis Wheatley.
E. E. Mair,1 Circulation Manager, Negro World, to J. R. Ralph Casimir 56 WEST 135TH STREET NEW YORK August 28th 1922 Dear Sir, We have your letter of the 19th inst. complaining of not receiving your papers regularly and in reply thereto beg to say that the irregularities which we deplore every bit as much as you do, have been due to the P.O. Dept., or rather the Mailers of the N.W. confusing the Republic of Dominica with the Island of Dominica, thus causing the papers to be returned to us for more postage after they had been mailed in that the papers to the Republic go at U.S. 8th. zone rates while those to the B.W.I[.]’s are counted as “foreign mailings.” The matter having been brought to our notice and rectified you should now be receiving your papers with tolerable frequency . . . we hope such is the case. We are, Dear Sir, Yours truly, NEGRO WORLD E. E. MAIR
Circulation Manager JRRC. TLS, recipient’s copy. On Negro World letterhead, with two handwritten poems by Casimir, both dated 26 September 1922.
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ety or depend on the generosity of their friends, a social problem involving public attention arises. Good natured persons must regard it as an imposition when people throw their money away and then appeal to charity for relief, and the time is fast coming when liberal hands will be closed against such a practice. Printed in the Workman (Panama City), 26 August 1922. 1. Garvey was examined in supplementary court proceedings on 24 August 1922 by attorney for the Pan Union Company that earlier had obtained a judgment for $6,000 against the Black Star Line. During the proceedings in the New York Supreme Court Garvey declared that “the steamship company has no money and of the three vessels it was organized to operate he said one is on the beach at Antilla, Cuba, another, an excursion vessel, is a wreck ‘somewhere in New York Harbor’ and the third, the Yarmouth, was sold for $1,800 to satisfy claims of almost $100,000 (“Garvey Files Libel Suits for $750,000 . . . Ship Company Tries to Collect $6,000 Mr. Garvey Owes Them,” Baltimore Afro-American, 25 August 1922). The Pan Union Company sued the Black Star Line and were awarded a judgment for the seizure of its shipment of Green River whiskey when the Yarmouth was disabled on its trip to Havana, Cuba, and had to put back to port in New York; the shipment was seized when the ban against the exportation of whiskey went into effect on 16 January 1920 following the passage of Prohibition. Garvey claimed in court that the Black Star Line represented an investment of $600,000, which was all gone, and that the Yarmouth had cost $145,000 but had lost $300,000 on her first trip. Garvey also stated that the Maceo had been purchased for $65,000 but had lost $75,000 on her maiden voyage, and he denied responsibility for or knowledge of the advertisements offering passage on the Phyllis Wheatley.
E. E. Mair,1 Circulation Manager, Negro World, to J. R. Ralph Casimir 56 WEST 135TH STREET NEW YORK August 28th 1922 Dear Sir, We have your letter of the 19th inst. complaining of not receiving your papers regularly and in reply thereto beg to say that the irregularities which we deplore every bit as much as you do, have been due to the P.O. Dept., or rather the Mailers of the N.W. confusing the Republic of Dominica with the Island of Dominica, thus causing the papers to be returned to us for more postage after they had been mailed in that the papers to the Republic go at U.S. 8th. zone rates while those to the B.W.I[.]’s are counted as “foreign mailings.” The matter having been brought to our notice and rectified you should now be receiving your papers with tolerable frequency . . . we hope such is the case. We are, Dear Sir, Yours truly, NEGRO WORLD E. E. MAIR
Circulation Manager JRRC. TLS, recipient’s copy. On Negro World letterhead, with two handwritten poems by Casimir, both dated 26 September 1922.
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AUGUST 1922 1. E. E. Mair was business manager of the Negro World from June 1927 to July 1928 (MGP 6: 570 n. 1).
Article in the Labour Leader1 [[Liberty Hall, N.Y., Aug 31 1922]]
ABYSSINIAN KING TELLS MARCUS GARVEY TO COME HOME INVITATION EXTENDED TO U.N.I.A. CONVENTION GARVEY RE-ELECTED “Come back to the home land,” was the message received by the Universal Negro Improvement Association in the convention here from the King and Queen of Abyssinia at their session Monday morning. The message was delivered to the convention by H. H. Topakyn, Persian Consul General who represents Abyssinia in this country. When the part of the message was reached in which the King and Queen invited members of the association to come “back to the homeland” the delegates yelled themselves hoarse. Parts of the message delivered by the Persian Consul General, particularly pleasing to the delegates were; “During a recent audience with these venerable and distinguished rulers of a great historic land, I spoke of this approaching convention. The exalted ruler quickly caught as we do the significance of this gathering, and with visible emotion said: Kindly convey our greetings, congratulations and best wishes to the assembly. Here their race originated and here it can be lifted to its highest plane of usefulness and honor[.] Assure them of the cordiality with which I invite them back to the home land particularly those qualified to help solve our big problems and to develop our vast resources. Teachers and artisans, mechanics, writers[,] musicians[,] professional men and women—all who are to lend a hand in the constructive work which our country so deeply feels and greatly needs[.] Here we have abundant room and great opportunities and here destiny is working to elevate and enthrone a race which has suffered slavery and poverty and persecution and martyrdom, but whose expanding soul and growing genius is now the hope of many millions, of mankind[.] Thus the King of Abyssinia speaks and thus the thoughtful all around the world speak for the black man is showing his grit and conquering genius as never before in history, and future ages will witness his higher ascent in the
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AUGUST 1922 1. E. E. Mair was business manager of the Negro World from June 1927 to July 1928 (MGP 6: 570 n. 1).
Article in the Labour Leader1 [[Liberty Hall, N.Y., Aug 31 1922]]
ABYSSINIAN KING TELLS MARCUS GARVEY TO COME HOME INVITATION EXTENDED TO U.N.I.A. CONVENTION GARVEY RE-ELECTED “Come back to the home land,” was the message received by the Universal Negro Improvement Association in the convention here from the King and Queen of Abyssinia at their session Monday morning. The message was delivered to the convention by H. H. Topakyn, Persian Consul General who represents Abyssinia in this country. When the part of the message was reached in which the King and Queen invited members of the association to come “back to the homeland” the delegates yelled themselves hoarse. Parts of the message delivered by the Persian Consul General, particularly pleasing to the delegates were; “During a recent audience with these venerable and distinguished rulers of a great historic land, I spoke of this approaching convention. The exalted ruler quickly caught as we do the significance of this gathering, and with visible emotion said: Kindly convey our greetings, congratulations and best wishes to the assembly. Here their race originated and here it can be lifted to its highest plane of usefulness and honor[.] Assure them of the cordiality with which I invite them back to the home land particularly those qualified to help solve our big problems and to develop our vast resources. Teachers and artisans, mechanics, writers[,] musicians[,] professional men and women—all who are to lend a hand in the constructive work which our country so deeply feels and greatly needs[.] Here we have abundant room and great opportunities and here destiny is working to elevate and enthrone a race which has suffered slavery and poverty and persecution and martyrdom, but whose expanding soul and growing genius is now the hope of many millions, of mankind[.] Thus the King of Abyssinia speaks and thus the thoughtful all around the world speak for the black man is showing his grit and conquering genius as never before in history, and future ages will witness his higher ascent in the
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realm of science, law, literature, religion, industry and economics, and his growing contributions to the world wide structure of liberty and civilisation.” The convention unanimously voted thanks and cabled congratulations to the King and Queen of Abyssinia, Marcus Garvey was re-elected Provisional President of Africa. In his speech of acceptance he said: “This is the most troublesome office in the world declaring for freedom of Africa, when at this time it is coveted for its gold and other mineral wealth[.] Before many years roll by I hope we will have a real and active President of the Republic of Africa whose affairs will be administered from New York, the United States of Africa, instead of New York the United States of Americ[a.]” Printed in LL, 14 October 1922. 1. Labour Leader was the official organ of the Trinidad Workingmen’s Association (TWA); it began publication in 1922 and immediately achieve a phenomenal circulation among urban black workers. Howard Bishop, the editor and leading light in the TWA, reprinted articles from Negro World on a regular basis in the pages of the Labour Leader (Jerome Teelucksingh, Labour and the Decolonization Struggle in Trinidad and Tobago, Cambridge Imperial and Post-colonial Studies [London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015]).
Poem by Prince John [[St. Joseph, Trinidad, ca. 31 August 1922]]
THIRD ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION, AT LIBERTY HALL, NEW YORK CITY, U.S.A. (Editor’s Note.—Although the Convention is over, we regard this poem worthy of publication.) Who, who are they who meet in Third Convention great, As delegates and friends and deputies elect, For Negroes, everywhere, who Freedom doth await? They are God’s chosen people, as a band select, To execute His plan in freeing Afric’s gate And all her race, within, abroad, without defect. God Afric save! Long live the race! This August month of this year nineteen-twenty-two Proves an historic one for all the Negro race: It marks success to uplift the Royal Standard, too, With wonder to the hostile foes, by God’s good grace. Great Ethiopia stretch’d forth her hands to God,
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realm of science, law, literature, religion, industry and economics, and his growing contributions to the world wide structure of liberty and civilisation.” The convention unanimously voted thanks and cabled congratulations to the King and Queen of Abyssinia, Marcus Garvey was re-elected Provisional President of Africa. In his speech of acceptance he said: “This is the most troublesome office in the world declaring for freedom of Africa, when at this time it is coveted for its gold and other mineral wealth[.] Before many years roll by I hope we will have a real and active President of the Republic of Africa whose affairs will be administered from New York, the United States of Africa, instead of New York the United States of Americ[a.]” Printed in LL, 14 October 1922. 1. Labour Leader was the official organ of the Trinidad Workingmen’s Association (TWA); it began publication in 1922 and immediately achieve a phenomenal circulation among urban black workers. Howard Bishop, the editor and leading light in the TWA, reprinted articles from Negro World on a regular basis in the pages of the Labour Leader (Jerome Teelucksingh, Labour and the Decolonization Struggle in Trinidad and Tobago, Cambridge Imperial and Post-colonial Studies [London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015]).
Poem by Prince John [[St. Joseph, Trinidad, ca. 31 August 1922]]
THIRD ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION, AT LIBERTY HALL, NEW YORK CITY, U.S.A. (Editor’s Note.—Although the Convention is over, we regard this poem worthy of publication.) Who, who are they who meet in Third Convention great, As delegates and friends and deputies elect, For Negroes, everywhere, who Freedom doth await? They are God’s chosen people, as a band select, To execute His plan in freeing Afric’s gate And all her race, within, abroad, without defect. God Afric save! Long live the race! This August month of this year nineteen-twenty-two Proves an historic one for all the Negro race: It marks success to uplift the Royal Standard, too, With wonder to the hostile foes, by God’s good grace. Great Ethiopia stretch’d forth her hands to God,
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Who heard her cry, and now the vict’ry comes apace. God save her now! Long be her rule! Rejoice, all members of the great U.N.I.A.! Rejoice, all Afric’s sons and daughters o’er the globe! Give thanks to God, whose words fulfill from day to day, Ye members of this Third Convention, vest in robe, Spare not your voice, lean on the Lord and make your way To set up all due claims for Afric’s scattered race. God Afric bless! Long live her race! Let Johnson, principal, the Gabriel of the race, Now blow his horn to fully sum up the great Cause; Let Leader Garvey, hero, Moses of the race, Victorious be in cutting down the tigers’ paws; Let Prince John’s bounty claim be dealt with by the gods, And let them snatch away that part of golden sod. God Afric save! Long live the race! To all blest Afric’s race and the Convention firm The poet sends his greetings and his wishes best: Of the U.N.I.A., St. Joseph’s branch is warm With fervent prayers towards this great move in the far West. Its members, loyal heroes, wish a great success To the Convention, and fraternal greetings send. God bless the race! Long live the race! PRINCE JOHN Printed in NW, 16 September 1922.
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INDEX A Note on the Index A page number followed by “n.” with a digit (e.g., 22 n. 5) indicates that the subject appears in the note cited. An asterisk (*) precedes a biographical annotation (e.g., *249 n. 1). Some pages contain more than one complete document, each with its own sequence of notes. On these pages, where two notes occur with the same number, the symbol “§” indicates the lower note with that number (e.g., 199 n. 1§ refers to the n. 1 in the second sequence of notes on page 199). A subject who appears both in the text and in a note on the same page is indicated by the page number only, except in the case of a biographical annotation. Captions of illustrations are indexed as text. Bibliographical information cited in the notes is not indexed. When there are variant spellings of a name, the spelling that seems most nearly correct or is most often used in the cited sources is given. Married names are enclosed in parentheses, e.g., “Ashwood, Amy (Garvey).” References are included for persons who are unnamed on a page but are otherwise identified by title or position. Topics of speeches and writings are indexed according to the wording used in the document. Aanan, C., 290 Abbot, Ann, 298 “A.B.C.,” in Listín Diario, 227 Abd el-Krim, 38 n. 2 Abolition and emancipation, 147, 237 n. 1, 251, 350; in British West Indies, 25 n. 1; celebration of, lxvii, 14–20, 60 n. 4; in St. Croix, 298 n. 2; under Victoria, 17 Aborigines Rights Protection Society (ARPS), 65 n. 3 Abraham, Joseph Bomper, 77 Abrams, G. C., 287 Abrigo, Elizabeth, 288 Abril, Mariano, 349 n. 2 Abyssinia, King and Queen of, 367–368 Adams, C., 289 Adams, E. C., letter from, 342–343 Adams, Emily, 291 Adams, Randolph, 163 Adderly, Mr. (British Honduras), 85, 87 Adeonis, James Edward, 289 Adrien, Mr. Am., 20
Africa, 156–157, 185, 344, 357; “Back to Africa” movement and, 10, 31; Black Star Line and, 115, 136; British and, 33–34, 335–339; colonization schemes of, 85, 335–336; “for the Africans,” 17, 62, 115, 158 n. 1, 237, 297, 336, 364; freedom and emancipation of, 10, 94, 238–239; Garvey as provisional president of, 74, 89, 159 n. 1, 227, 306 n. 1, 363, 368; hope of, 121– 122; as Motherland, 3, 12, 35, 64, 86, 123, 251, 260, 293; Negro republic and empire in, 38, 85, 86, 230, 234; redemption of, 12, 13, 40, 57, 79, 93, 94, 123, 209, 221, 233, 251, 260, 314, 350, 351; as ultimate objective of UNIA, 8, 142, 144, 363, 367– 368; West, 38 n. 1, 65 n. 3, 115, 136. See also names of African countries Africa and Orient Review, 63 African Americans: colonization of Africa by, 337 n. 4, 363 n. 1; light-skinned, lxix; NAACP and, 213, 277–278 n. 2, 281; in O’Neill’s works, 307 n. 3; Pan-Africanism and, lxviii,
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS African Americans (continued): 37, 38 n. 1, 49 n. 1, 65 n. 3, 235, 236 n. 2; World War I and, 64-65 n. 2 African Blood Brotherhood (ABB): Briggs and, lxvii, 63, 109–111; bulletin of, 201–202; in Dominica, 109, 110; in Dominican Republic, lxxi, lxxii, 200–202, 209–210, 219, 221–222, 232, 257, 262, 268, 269, 273–275; McGuire and, lxx; UNIA and, xliv, lxvii, lxviii, lxx, 49 n. 1, 68–70, 157–158, 188–189, 200–202, 219, 257 African Colonial Enterprise, 336, 336 n. 1, 338 nn. 6–7 African Communities League (ACL), 40, 48, 89, 108 n. 3, 115, 133, 138, 149, 203, 211, 346 n. 1, 257, 261, 268, 269, 297; in British Guiana, 285–286; in Colombia, 28; in Cuba, 70, 71, 79, 81, 149; in Dominica, 26, 236; in Dominican Republic, 76, 133, 134, 168, 210, 214, 216, 223, 224, 226, 228, 231–232, 244, 249, 256, 257, 309; in Honduras, 122, 123; in Panama, 34, 350; in St. Lucia, 5 n. 3; in Santo Domingo, 48–49. See also Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League African Legion, xliii, 107, 108 n. 3, 346 n. 1; armed, 342–343, 347; arrest of, 347–348; ban on, lxxii, 345–346; laws governing, 106; in Panama, 342–343, 345–347, 347–348; in processions, 107, 342; in Trinidad, 50 African Orthodox Church (AOC), xlii, lxviii, lxix, 49–50 n. 5, 171. See also Independent Episcopal Church African Redemption Fund, xxxix, lxviii, 234, 235 n. 1, 260 Agaral, Haman J., 290 Agard, Isaac, 286 Aird, Mrs. Bridget E., 142, 145–146 Aird, S. L., 143 Alcee, J. (Panama), 143 Alexander the Great, 158 Allen, C. (Panama), 143 Allen, Charles, 287 Allen, Jack, 346 Allen, Ursilla, 291 Allen, Judith Adina, 291 Allenby, Vernon, 290 Alleyne, Charles, 287 Alleyne, R. (British Guiana), 288 Alvarez, Charles A., 42, 142, 150, 295; address of, 150–151 Alvarez, W. W., 141
Alvarez Nazario, Manuel, 358 n. 6 American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), 306 n. 1, 340 American–West Indian Society, 314 Ananda, J. (Puerto Rico), letter from, 362–363 Anarchism, Anarchists, 59, 191, 329 Andersen, Folmer, 304, 306 n. 2 Anderson, Lydia, 291 Andre, Mr. R. (Dominica), 20 Andrew, (illegible) (British Guiana), 291 Andries, John, 289 Anglican Church (Church of England), 40 n. 1, 172 n. 3, 173 n. 3, 335 Anglin, I. N., 85, 87 Anthony, Mrs. (St. Thomas), letter from, 248–249 Antigua, 98, 174, 186, 193, 285, 312–313 n. 2 Antilles, 70, 326, 327, 339, 354 Applewhite, James, 291 Archer, Alice A., 291 Archer, Annie, 288 Ashwood, Amy (Garvey), lxxii Austin, Betsy, 290 Austin, Cecil, 290 Austin, Elizabeth, 290 Austin, Emile, 290 Austin, F. (British Guiana), 289 Austin, Francis, 290 Austin, Gladys, 290 Austin, Isabella, 290 Austin, Mary, 290 Austin, R. C., 142 Austin, Richard, 290 Austin, Stanley, 290 Australia, 64, 339 Babb, S. R., 291 Bahamas, Bahamians, 81, 109 n. 6, 312 Bailey, Cyril, 289 Bailey, Miss (Cuba), 208–209 Bailey, Rupert, 150 Baker, E. R., 287 Baldwin, Roger, 306 n. 1 Banana industry, 124 n. 1, 129, 347. See also United Fruit Company Banker, Chas., 287 Banter, W. T., 289 Baptise, Mr., L. (Dominica), 238 Baptiste, J. Leon, 142 Baptists, 85, 308 n. 11 Barbados, Barbadians, 27 n. 1, 52, 98, 137, 147 n. 7, 174, 297 n. 1, 299, 335, 346; Bridgetown, xl, 39–40, 336; Landship in, xliv, xlv, 142, 146–147 n. 5; newspapers in, 64, 285; Thorne
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INDEX and, 336, 337 n. 5, 338 n. 7; UNIA in, 39–40, 125 Barbados Landship Association, 142, 146–147 n. 5 Barbados Times, 64 Barker, Joseph, 291 Barnaby, Caroline, 291 Barnaby, Jeremiah, 288 Barnes, J. L., 34; letter from, 237 Barnett, John, 29 n. 1 Barnwall, Tommy, 291 Barrow, (illegible) (British Guiana), 288 Barrow, Isadora, 288 Barrow, James J., 290 Barrow, Millicent, 288 Barrow, S. A. B., 287 Bartley, James, 292 Bartram Brothers, 135 n. 2 Bartt, John, 289 Bash, Edward, 288 Bass, Albert, 298, 310 Bass, Alexander, 135 n. 1 Bass, William L. (“Dutch Standard Bass”), 134, *135 n.1, 298, 310 Bass & Kilbourne, 298, 310 Bastian, Anthony, 48, 174, 175, 192, 220, 311; fined, 101, 175, 225; release of, 164, 216, 220 Batson, Mrs. Florence, 143 Battersfield, Edward, 287 Battersfield, Thomas, 290 Baumfield, Jno. T., 289 Bayley, R. F., 286 Baynes, Adolphus, 288, *292 n. 4 Baynes, J. W., 7, 8 Baynes, Rebecca, 288 Beaton, James, 289 Beckles, Mr., 64 Beer, Rev. Alexander Henry, *172–173 n. 3, 202; San Pedro de Macorís affair and, xli–xlii, 60 n. 4, 101–103, 169–171, 204–205, 233, 242, 245, 249–250, 261 Beer, Kenneth Henry, 172 n. 3 Belgium, 20 n. 2; Brussels, lxviii, 38 n. 1 Belize, xl, 84, 87, 89, 93 n. 1, 198 nn. 1, 2, 336 n. 1; Garvey in, xxxvii–xxxviii, 83, 87, 89–93. See also British Honduras Bellisare, J. A., 143 Beltrán Rentas, Antonio, letter from, 326–327 Benevolent and mutual aid societies, 95, 113 n. 2, 365 Benjamin, Charles, 288 Benjamin, E. (Dominican Republic), 298 Benjamin, J. A., 286 Benjamin, James, 321 n. 1
Benjamin, Sophia, 286 Benjamin, W. (British Guiana), 288 Bennet, Marie-Gemenette, 291 Bennett, A. P., 291 Bennett, Mrs. G. (British Honduras), 197 Bennett, Richard A., xiv; letters from, 36–38 Bermuda, Bermudians, 92, 95, 96, 98, 99 n. 1, 285, 318, 336; governor of, 96, 97, 99, 318 Bermúdez, Federico, 172 n. 2 Best, William, 290 Bevir, A., 319 Bible and Biblical allusions: Aaron, 209, 209 n. 1; Babel, 32; Balaam’s ass in, 137, 138 n. 1; Caleb, 39; Daniel, 125, 125 n. 1; David, 41, 42; Elijah, 79; Ethiopia, 9, 350; Exodus, 139, 146 n. 3; Gabriel, 350, 369; Genesis, 39, 235 n. 2; Isaiah, 184 n. 1; John the Apostle, 145, 147 n. 8; John the Baptist, 79; Judas, 325; Lot, 234, 235 n. 2; manna in, 3; Matthew, 325; Miriam, 209, 209 n. 1; Noah, 21; Numbers, 39, 40 n. 2, 138 n. 1; Proverbs, 321, 321 n. 3; Psalms, 39; Romans, 154, 157 n. 4; Samuel, 79; Saul, 41; Solomon, 4, 42; UNIA and, 154, 237; vine and fig tree, 18; Zechariah, 237 n. 2. See also Moses Birmingham, C. (British Guiana), 291 Birmingham, U.S.S., 349 n. 4, 353, 359 Bishop, A. C., 143 Bishop, Howard, 368 n. 1 Bishop, Jaime A., 320, 321 n. 2, 326, 361; letters from, 344–345, 360–361 Bishop, Mr. (Trinidad), 50 Biszanito, Jose, 320 Black Cross Nurses, 21, 50, 104, 106, 135, 152, 363; training of, 93 n. 1, 197; uniforms of, 80, 105, 107, 139 Blackman, Alicia, 288 Blackman, George, 288 Blackman, Matilda, 288 Blackmore, Cecil H., 290 Blackmore, Joseph, 287 Black nationalism, 65 n. 3, 75, 103, 203, 344 Black Star Line (BSL), 3, 10, 43, 51, 115, 188, 194; Cuba and, lxix, 71–72, 81 n. 1, 110; finances of, xxxvii, xxxix, 110–111, 194–195, 364, 365, 366 n. 1; fraud and, xxxix, 229, 230, 234, 251, 277–278 n. 2, 278, 363; Garvey and, 34, 81 n. 1, 229–230, 234, 238, 254–255, 277, 277–278 n. 2, 278, 363, 365, 366 n. 1; officials of, xxxix, lxxii, 77, 81 n. 1, 254; stock sales of, lxxi, 34–35, 52, 77, 85–87, 111, 183, 251–252, 277; suits against, 110, 366 n. 1; support of, 10, 19, 122, 234, 251, 350, 365;
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS Black Star Line (BSL) (continued): U.S. Shipping Board and, 136, 136–137 n. 1, 254–255; UNIA and, 85, 88, 105, 134, 159– 160 n. 1, 164, 166, 167, 187, 188, 238. See also names of BSL vessels Black Star Line Band, 80, 139 Blair, H. S.: letter from, 182–183; letter to, 342–343 Blake, Robert S. F., letter from, 78–79 Blard, Herman C., 288 Bliss, Nurse (Cuba), 105 Blyden, Edward, 65 n. 3 Boberts, Ida, 291 Boland, Mr. M. L., 20 Bolívar, Simón, 28 n. 1 Bolivia, 161 n. 1 Bolshevism, 36, 59, 68, 160 n. 1, 191, 200 Bonnet, Joseph, 289 Borman, W., 287 Bouello, Edward H., letter from, 183–184 Bourne, C. S., 239 Bourne, E. (Panama), 143 Bovell, James H., 287, *292 n. 3 Bowen, Edward H., 287, *292 n. 2 Bowen, Martha, 290 Bowen, Will, 290 Bowman, Jonathan Isaac, 44, 214–215; letter from, 43–48; letter to, 218–219 Boyd, Samuel, 294, 296 Boy Scouts, 173 n. 3, 343 Bradshaw, Charles, 286 Bradshaw, Mrs. (British Guiana), 288 Braithwaite (Brathwaite), James, 50–51, 52 Branch, Agnes, 44; letter from, 43–48 Branche, Agarta, 292 Brandon, J. (British Guiana), 290 Braschi, Juan, 335 n. 2 Brathwaite, C. A., 147 n. 5 Brau González, Salvador, *361 n. 1; letter to, 360–361 Brau y Asencio, Salvador, *361 n. 1 Brea, Fernando A.: letter from, 221–222; letters to, 210–211, 215–216, 219–220 Breedy, Charles Carlton, 288 Brew, James Hutton, 65 n. 3 Brice, E., 72 n. 4; letter from, 66–67 Bridgewater, Edgar W.: San Pedro de Macorís affair and, 48, 101, 174, 175, 178, 192, 216, 220, 223, 225; letter from, 214–215 Briggs, Cyril Valentine, 64 n. 1; Crusader and, 49 n. 1, 63, 157, 158–160 n. 1, 190; Garvey and, lxvii, lxix, 49 n. 1, 62, 63, 158–160 n. 1, 189–190, 213; letters from, 109–111. See also African Blood Brotherhood
Briscoe, D. W., 298 British Central Africa, 336n. 1, 337 nn. 4, 5 British Guiana (Guyana), xl, 16, 25, 92, 98, 282, 283 n. 1; governor of, lxxii, 282, 318–319; Negro World and, lxxii, 282, 284, 286, 318–319; UNIA in, lx, lxxii, 285–292, 318 British Honduras, 29, 84–89; Belizario, 87; Garvey in, xxxvii, xl, 82–93; governor of, xxxvii, xl, lxx, 82, 83–84, 89–93; Negro World and, 130 n. 1, 285; Toledo, 29, 30 n. 2; Trixville, xl, 129; UFC in, 124 n. 1; UNIA in, xl, lxx, 82, 129–130, 196–198. See also Belize British West Indies, 98, 99, 136 n. 2; blacks in, 16, 172 n. 3, 358 n. 6; British West Indies Regiment (BWIR) and, 32, 33, 50, 107; de Bourg and, 329; governors of, 24; Shackleton committee in, 72 n. 4; Wood Commission in, 25 n. 1. See also West Indies Broaster, Mrs. Amy, letter from, 239–240 Brooks, Charles, 217–218 Brooks, James D., 213 Brooks, W. A., 137 Brooms, Mrs. A., 143 Brotherson, Egbert, 291 Brown, I. Augustus, article by, 208–209 Brown, Reverend, 171, 206 Brown, W., 289 Browne, William, 286 Bruce, John E., 65 n. 3 Brujería, 31 n. 1 Bryan, J. S., 108 Bryan, William, 12 Bryant, Lieutenant (Cuba), 107 Bryant, T. (Panama), 27 Bryce, James, Viscount Bryce, 335, *337 n. 2 Bureau of Investigation (U.S.): director of, 268, 276, 278; investigates Garvey, lxviii; UNIA and, lxxii, 268, 276–277, 278 Burger, William, 71–72 Burgess, Geraldine, 290 Burkley, Arthur George, letter from, 11 Burnet, Victor, 44; letter from, 43–48 Burnette, M. (British Guiana), 288 Burnette, R. H., 286 Burns, William J.: letters from, 278; letters to, 268, 276 Butler, Frederick G. A., *203 n. 1; letter from, 202–203 Butler, J. W., 48, 49 Butler, Rachel E., letter from, 93–94 Butler, W. J. E.: arrest and deportation of, 46, 73, 174–177, 192, 274; fined, 220, 225; letter
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INDEX from, 232–234; San Pedro de Macorís affair and, 101, 113, 114, 210, 211, 225, 225 n. 1 Byas, Alberto, 60 n. 4 Bynoe, Martha, 291 Cable, Philander L., letters from, 79, 81 Cadogan, Mary, 291 Cain, Eva, 87 Cain, H. H., 89 Caires, Henrietta A., 114, 133; letter from, 76 Callender, Rev. F. Bruce, 39 Callender, Henry, 289 Campbell, Abraham, 346 Campbell, Mr. (Trinidad), 129 Campbell, Rosalin, 289 Campbell, William A., 87, 89, 93, *93 n. 1, 129, 198 Canada, Canadians, 98, 251, 252 n. 1, 336, 338 Canadian Fisher, S.S., 84 Cardoso, Harry, letter from, 43–48 Carey, Henry, 46 Carey, Mr. S., 48 Carey, John T., 47 n. 3, 170, 174, 175, 210, 211, 216, 233; arrest of, 166, 220, 223, 225; deportation of, 46, 113, 176–177, 192, 224, 274 Caribbean, xlvii, 28 n. 1, 48, 196 n. 1, 250 n. 1; blacks and, lxxii, 31, 41 n. 2, 60 n. 4, 67 n. 1, 108 n. 2, 199 n. 2, 237 n. 1, 307 n. 3, 312; British, xliii, 60 n. 4, 66 n. 4; Diaspora from, xliv; eastern, xli, 298 n. 2; Garveyism and, xliv, xl, xliv, xlv; missionaries in, 312-313 n. 2; popular culture of, xliv–xlv. See also names of individual islands Carrión Maduro, Tomás, 360 n. 1 Casely Hayford, Joseph Ephraim, 63, 65 n. 3 Casimir, Joseph Raphael Ralph, 64, 65 n. 3, 125, 238; letters from, 184–186, 236–237; letters to, 11–12, 26, 68, 77–78, 109–111, 279–280, 292–293, 296, 313, 332–333, 333, 333–334, 366–367; photograph of, iv; poem by, 316–317; in Trinidad, lxvii, 11–12, 26, 50–52; UNIA and, xliii, lxvii, 19, 52, 53–54; writings of, 17, 50–52, 62–66 Castillo, José del, 135 n. 1 Castillo, Juan, 199 Catholicism, in Dominica, 15, 20 n. 2 Cavenaugh, Herbert James Lawrence, *84 n. 1; reports by, 84, 85–86, 86–87 Celso Barbosa Alcalá, José, 352 n. 1, 355 Censorship, 158 n. 1, 259 n. 1 Central America, lxxiv, 74, 102; Garvey’s visit to, 28, 34, 83, 254, 332 n. 1; UNIA in, 364, 365. See also names of individual Central American countries
Central American Express (Panama), article in, 345–347 Central Consuelo (Dominican Republic), 135 n. 2, 259 n. 1 Century Magazine, 297 n. 1 Chancellor, Sir John R., 98 Chandler, Mrs. Emily, letter from, 239–240 Chaplin, Charlie, 42, 108 Chapman, Cecil, 291 Chapman, James N., 291 Chapman, William A., 291 Charles, A. E., 143 Chase, Delcina, 286 Chase, Edgar, 287 Chase, Edward, 288 Chase, Martha, 288 Chase, Rose, 288 Chase, William, 288 Chaudiere, R.M.S.P., 98, 99 Children and youth: arrest of, lxviii, 49, 101, 131, 162, 167; boys, 13; in Cuba, 71, 72 n. 4; education of, 106, 154; under slavery, 16–17; UNIA and, 9, 10, 105, 108 n. 3, 138, 141 Chong, James, 343 Christian, Mr. (Cuba), 100 Christianity, Christians: Africans and, 187; Chief Sam and, 98 n. 2; civilization of, 71, 84–85, 187; Garvey on, 197–198, 288, 348; hymns of, 126, 253, 264, 292, 330, 331; in Jamaica, 240; missionaries and, 70–71, 72 n. 5, 85, 223 n. 12; Negroes and, 149, 190; persecution of, 352; violence against blacks by, 292. See also names of individual denominations Chubb, Ada C., 288 Churchill, Winston S., 25 n. 1, 32, 82, 97, 203 n. 1, *208 n. 2; colonial governors and, lxvii; letters from, 24–26, 95, 282–283; letters to, 83–84, 96, 98–99, 203–208, 318–319 Church of England (Anglican Church), 40 n. 1, 172 n. 3, 173 n. 3, 335 “Civis Africanus,” letter from, 238–239 Clarion (British Honduras), “G. F. B.” in, 196–198 Clarke, Mrs. Agnes, 143 Clarke, Charles C., 287 Clarke, Daniel, 121 Clarke, Edward Young, xxxix, lxxii Clarke, Hubert, 289 Clarke, J. (Panama), 343 Clarke, Jabez L., letters from, 21–22, 251–252 Clarke, Stanley J., 135–136 n. 2 Clayton, Henry, 343 Clementson, Margaret, 292
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS Clum, Harold D., *72 n. 1; letter from, 70–72 Codrington, J. R., 290 Coffee industry, 197, 352n1 Coke, Thomas, *312–313 n. 2 Cole, Admiral, 349 n. 4, 359 Cole, H. L. M., 129 Collet, Sir Wilfred, 24; letter from, 318–319; letter to, 282–283 Collins, Harold A., 104, 106 Collins, Mrs. Harold A., 105, 106 Collins, Pepper, 288 Coll Vidal, José, 345 n. 1; *349 n. 1, 351; letters to, 348–349, 361–362 Collymore, Millicent, 290 Colombia, 157 n. 2; Santa Marta, xl, 28, 28 n. 1; UNIA in, 28 Colón Baerga, Enrique, *335 n. 1; letters to, 334–335 Colón Boys’ Universal Service Association, 13 Colonialism: collapse of, 308 n. 8; Spanish, 352 n. 1 Colonial Office (Great Britain), 283 n. 1; letters from, 32–33, 82–83, 83–84, 95, 282–284; letters to, 24–26, 96, 98–99, 203–208, 318–319; Cuba and, 32–34; Wood Commission and, 25–26 n. 1. See also Churchill, Winston S. Comber, Charles, 346 Conway, J. A., 142 Cooks, James (Jaime), 46, 57–58, 59, 60, 138, 171, 176, 177, 182, 210, 211, 220; letter from, 43–48, 60–61 Coombs, Nurse (Cuba), 106 Cooper, D. F., 143 Cooten, Hilbert Tas Van, 289 Corbin, Princess V., 290 Cordle, William, 287 Corlins, Joseph, 287 Costa Rica, lxxii, 24, 109 n. 6, 122, 346–347 n. 1, 365 Cowper, William, *294 n. 1 Cox, Margret, 288 “Crackers,” 22, 48, 63, 297, 301–302, 317, 322, 324 Craig, Cyril, 287 Craig, W. E., 143 Creole, Creoles, 73n1, 300, 303, 304, 306 Crichlow, Cyril, 213 Crichlow, William, 156 Croft, Joseph, 287 Crooke, Joseph, letter from, 252–253 Crosswaithe, Frank, 314 Crusader, 27 n. 1, 62, 63, 68, 157–158, 158–160 n. 1, 189, 190, 202; “A Threat from Texas” to,
64 n. 1; Briggs and, 49 n. 1, 63, 109, 190; letters to, 48–50, 62–66 Cuba, xli, 9, 21–22, 60 n. 4, 81 n. 2, 100 n. 1, 116 n. 1, 121, 260; Antilla, xxxix, xl, lxviii, lxix, 80–81, 81 n. 2, 366 n. 1; Banes, xl, 78, 104, 114, 226; black West Indians in, lxix, 30–31, 32–33, 41 n. 2, 66–67, 67 n. 1, 70–72, 81, 100 n. 1, 108 n. 2, 121, 365; British and, 32–34, 100; Camagüey, xl, lxx, 36, 38, 149–150, 157–160; Céspedes, lxvii, 7–10, 121; Estrella, 121; Florida, lxvii, 7; Great Britain and, 66–67, 71, 72 n. 4; Guantánamo, xl, 31 n. 1, 198; Guaro, xl, 208–209; Havana, xl, 21–22, 79, 115, 121, 251, 260, 366 n. 1; independence of, lxix, 107, 109 n. 6; Jamaicans in, 30, 31 n. 1, 35, 100 n. 1; S.S. Kanawha abandoned in, xxxix, xl, lxviii, 110, 111, 366 n. 1; Manatí, xl, lxix, 107–108, 108 n. 1; newspapers in, 30, 235–236; president of, 108 n. 4, 115; Preston, xl, xliii, 33, 34 n. 1, 34, 99–100, 100 n. 3, 235; Puerto Padre, xl, 40–41, 183–184; rumba in, 354, 358 n. 2; Santiago de Cuba, xl, lxix, 35, 66–67, 67 n. 1, 72 nn. 1,3, 110, 111, 236; sugar industry in, 41 n. 2, 71, 81, 100 n. 1; UFC in, xliii, 34 n. 1, 99–100, 100 nn. 1, 3; United States and, 70–72, 79, 81, 100, 135 n. 1; UNIA in, xl, xliii, lxvii, lxix, lxx, 6, 7–10, 20–21, 30–31, 37, 38, 40–41, 67, 67 n. 1, 78–79, 79, 80–81, 81, 93, 99–100, 104–106, 107–108, 114, 115, 116 n. 1, 122, 149–150, 157–160, 183–184, 208–209, 235–236, 251–252, 260, 365 Cuban American Sugar Company, 41 n. 2 Cuban Dominican Sugar Development Syndicate, 135 n. 2 Cumberbatch, J. (British Guiana), 287 Cummings, Cyril C., 287 Cummings, George, 287 Cummings, Gertrude, 290 Cummings, James, 289 Cummins, Hugh, 147 n. 5 Curzon, George Nathaniel, Earl of Kedleston (Marquess Curzon of Kedleston), 32, 33, 82, 202 Cush, Frederick, 290 Cutter, Victor Macomber, letter to, 182–183 Da Costa, John, 290 Daily Argosy (British Guiana), 319 n. 1 Daily Chronicle (British Guiana), 234 Daily Gleaner (Jamaica), 35, 229–230, 230 n.1, 347 Daly, Theophilus, 289
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INDEX Daniel, Miss T. (Dominica), 238 Daniels, B. (British Guiana), 288 Danish Virgin Islands, Danish West Indies, 298 n. 2, 308 n. 11, 316 n. 1. See also Denmark, Danish; St. Croix, Virgin Islands; St. John, Virgin Islands; St. Thomas, Virgin Islands; U.S. Virgin Islands Dario, Mercedes, 48 Darnley, E. R., 24 Davidson, Dave, 67 n. 1 Davilar, R. (British Guiana), 287 Davis, Cecil, 26, 346 Davis, Henrietta Vinton, 34, 83, 84, 85, 87, 88, 240 Davis, Joseph, 346 Davis, William, 27 Dean, Nurse (Cuba), 105, 106 Deane, Joseph, 289 de Bourg, John Sydney, 11, 102, 269, 298; arrest and fine of, lxxi, 241–248, 264–265, 269, 270–271; in Dominican Republic, lxx, lxxi, 116–117, 117 n. 1, 134–136, 241–248; interview with, 118–120; letters from, 160–161, 179–180, 181–182, 203–208, 241–247, 249–250, 256–259, 327–329; letters to, 178–179, 214–215, 232–234, 264–265, 267, 272–273, 274–275; petitions of, 260–263; in Puerto Rico, lxxii, 320, 321, 326; restores San Pedro de Macorís UNIA branch, 309–311; San Pedro de Macorís affair and, xli-xlii, xliv, lxix, 116–117, 118–120, 126, 160–161, 200–201, 202, 203–207, 232–234, 241–248, 249–250, 256–259, 260–264, 272–273, 327–328; telegram from, 269, 270–271; as U.S. citizen, 327–330, 331; wards of, 217–218 de Bourg, Osiris, letter to, 11 de Chabert, Ralph, lxx, 302, 307 n. 5, *307 n. 6, 307 n. 7, 322–325, 340–342; St. Croix Tribune and, 325 n. 1, 340, 342 n. 1 Dees, James, 287 De Grellet, Stephen, *186 n. 2 Demerara, 282, 286, 292 n. 2, 318. See also British Guiana Denmark, Danish, 166, 169, 171, 297, 303, 306–307 n. 2, 315, 316 n. 1 Dennis, Gabriel L., 55 Dennis, George, 289 Denny, D. T. (British Guiana), 287 Denny, E. (British Guiana), 291 Denny, Rupert, 288 de Ridder, Father, 15 Des Voeux, Colonel, letters from, 96 Deville, Anna, 287
Devin, Mr. J. B., 20 Devonish, Charles, 288 Deweever, Edward, 291 Deweever, Miriam, 288 Deweever, Pricilla, 288 Diario de Cuba (Santiago de Cuba), 235, 236 n. 1 Diario de la Marina (Havana, Cuba), 115, 116 n. 2 Diclo, Nathaniel, 287 Dixter, Richard, 121 D’Lyon, Christopher, 290 D’Lyon, Elouise, 286 D’Lyon, Francis, 286 Dominica, xliv, lxxi; Casimir and, xliii, xliv, lxvii, 26, 62; Emancipation celebration in, 14–20; Marigot, xl, 313 n. 1; New Negros in, 109–110; newspapers in, 14, 65 n. 4, 366; Pointe Michel, xl, 18; Roseau, xl, lxvii, 14, 17, 18, 20, 50, 53, 54, 68, 125, 184, 236, 238; UNIA in, xl, xliii, xliv, lxvii, 14–20, 26, 52, 68, 125, 184–186, 236–237, 237–238, 332 Dominica Guardian, 14, 65n4 Dominican Republic, xliv, lxxi, 43, 135 n. 1, 253 n. 1, 281, 310, 358 n. 6, 366; Consuelo, xl, lxx, 134–136, 310; Emancipation Day in, 60 n. 4; Episcopal Church in, xli, xlii, 48, 102, 171, 172 n. 3; Great Britain and, 60 n. 4, 170–171, 172–173 n. 3, 202–203; guerrillas in, 163 n. 1; Odd Fellows in, 72–73, 73 n. 1; Sánchez, 252, 253 n. 1; Santo Domingo, lxxi, 48, 57, 59, 60, 61, 75, 101, 102, 116–117, 119, 126, 133, 161 n. 1, 168, 298, 321; sugar industry in, 117 n. 2, 135 n. 1, 135–136 n. 2, 218, 218 n. 1; Trujillo in, xlii, 47 n. 5, 173 n. 3; UNIA in, xl, lxix, lxx, lxxi, lxxii, 42, 43–44, 48–50, 57, 60–61, 75–76, 101–103, 113–114, 116–117, 117 n. 1, 120, 126–129, 130–131, 133, 134–136, 160–182, 188–194, 200–202, 214–215, 228, 231–232, 234 n. 1, 241–248, 252, 256–257, 267–268, 273, 274–276, 278–279, 281, 298, 309–311, 321; U.S. military occupation of, xli, lxviii, lxix, lxxi, 43–48, 48–50, 61, 75–76, 101–103, 112–113, 116–117, 118–120, 126–129, 130–131, 133, 135, 160–182, 187, 188–194, 200–201, 209–211, 214–215, 217–220, 223–224, 228, 241–248, 249–250, 250 n. 1, 257–259, 259 n. 1, 268, 270–271, 270 n. 1, 274–276, 327–328; West Indian migrants in, xli, xlii, 136 n. 2, 172 n. 3. See also San Pedro de Macorís Donfraid, William, 26, 77 Doris, John A., 292 Douglas, Nurse (Cuba), 105, 106
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS Douglas, Angelina, 289 Douglas, Margaret, 290 Douglass, Frederick, xxxiv Dowding, N. (British Guiana), 287 Downes, H. (Panama), 143 Downs, H. C., 289 Du Bois, W. E. B., 37, 38 n. 1, 62, 65 n. 3; Garvey and, lxviii, 229, 230 n. 3, 363 n. 1; letter to, 281 Duke, R. (British Guiana), 289 Duke, Ruby, 290 Duke, Samuel, 290 Dunbar, Richard S., letter from, 195–196 Dunbavin, Alfred, *76 n. 1, 114, 133; letter from, 75–76 Duncan, Abraham, 287 Duncan, E. (St. Lucia), 5 n. 1, 5 n. 5, 6 n. 6 Durant, Alfred, 287 Duruó, Mercedes, 167, 178 Duruó, Thomas, 167; letter from, 43–48 Dusé Mohammed Ali, 63 Dutch West Indies, 194 n. 1, 258 Eason, James W. F., lxxiii, 63 Eastman, Donald, 289 Eastman, John, 289 Ecoville, Mr. (Dominican Republic), 101 Edgehill, James, 288 Edmondson, J. (British Guiana), 292 Education and schools, 6, 173 n. 3; in Africa, 65 n. 3; of blacks, 154, 253, 304, 308 n. 11, 320, 339, 344, 351; colleges and universities, 203 n. 1, 285, 297 n. 1; female, 66 n. 4, 240; status and, 5 n. 5, 74; teachers and, 47 n. 3, 66 n. 5, 85, 98, 242, 335 n. 1; UNIA and, lxx, 75, 90, 92, 106, 111, 203, 214, 240, 244, 261, 285, 344 Edward VIII (Prince of Wales), 318 Edward (illegible) (British Guiana), 289 Edward, Vincent, 289 Edwards, Crosbee, 77 Edwards, James, 290 Edwards, Thomas, 290 Edy, Rebecca, 288 Egypt, 209 El Aguila (Ponce), 352 n. 1, 359, 359–360 n. 1 Elcock, Joseph, 287 El Día (Havana), 31 n. 1, 335n1 Elliot, Carl, 141, 157 Ellis, Cecilia, 150 Ellis, Charles J., 149, 150 El Mundo (San Juan), 321 n. 2, 327 n. 1, 335 n. 1, *345 n. 1, 349 n. 1, 358 n. 8; article in, 339; letters in, 344–345, 362–363
El Tiempo (San Juan), 321 n. 2, *352–353 n. 1, 353, 354–358, 359, 360 n. 1, 361 n. 1; letter in, 360–361 Elwin, H. J., 18, 20 Emperor (Brutus) Jones, 300, 305, 307 n. 3 Emperor Jones, The (O’Neill), 307 n. 3 Episcopal Church, xli, xlii, lxviii, 48, 49–50 n. 5, 102, 171, 172 n. 3 Escobar, Fernando (Escovar H., F.): letters from, 57–60; letters to, 60–61 Esdaisle, Ellis, 48, 174, 175, 192, 216, 220, 223, 225 Ethiopia, 6, 13, 112, 185, 186 n. 6; in Bible, 9; “Ethiopia’s Cry,” 336, 337 n. 6; God of, 228; “Ethiopia, Thou Land of our Fathers” (UNIA anthem), 4, 10, 13, 40, 88, 105, 107, 108, 134, 139, 148, 185, 209, 228, 238, 239, 310, 311 Etienne, Thomas, 19 Euclid, 185, 186 n. 3 Eversley, George, 289 Faber, George A., 286 Faber, George Adolph, 287 Fanfair, Edward, 287 Farley, C. (British Guiana), 288 Fegan, Thomas, 346 Ferguson, Wilfred, 346 Ferris, William Henry, 63, 69, 90, 160 n. 1; letters to, 21–22, 36–38, 78–79, 80–81, 112, 198–199 Fevrier, Meta, 77 Ficino, Marsilio, *186 n. 4 Figuero, M. A., letter to, 114–115 Fisher, J. C., 207 Fitzherbert, Mr. A. (Panama), 143 Flanders, 17, 64 n. 1 Fogherty, H. (Panama), 143 Ford, G. (British Guiana), 290 Forde, Catherine, 291 Forde, Frances, 288 Forde, G. (British Guiana), 287 Forde, S. (British Guiana), 288 Foreign Office (Great Britain): Cuba and, 32–34; letters from, 82, 202–203; letters to, 32–33, 82–83; officials of, 203 n. 1; Thorne and, 336, 337–338 n. 5 Forester, Charles, 288 Forrester, Gertrude, 290 “400 million Negroes,” 40, 41, 56, 153, 213, 251, 253, 317, 339 Fraiser, Edward, 290 France, French, 23, 32, 67 n. 1, 162–163, 185, 212; flag of, 15, 166; jazz in, 65 n. 2; in North Africa, 38 n. 2, 186 n. 6; in North America,
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INDEX 251, 252 n. 1; Paris, lxviii, 38 n. 1, 354; World War I and, 17, 47 n. 2, 64 n. 1, 64 n. 2, 240, 321 France, Joseph, 66 n. 4 Francis, Rothschild, 132 n. 1, 307–308 n. 7 Franklin, B. (Panama), 141 Franklin, G. (British Guiana), 291 Fraser, A. H., 289 Fraser, B. F., 157 Fraser, Benjamin, 286 Fraser, James, letter from, 28 Fraser, Moses, W., 287 Fraser, William, 343, 346 Frederick, N. C., letter from, 11–12 Frederick Douglass/Yarmouth, S.S., xxxix, 366 n. 1 Freemasons, 102, 358 n. 8 French (language), 60 nn. 1–3, 162; Negro World and, 199, 200 n. 6 Friendly societies, xliv, 146n5 Frost, A. C., letter from, 277–278 Gadsby, Joseph Evanson, 31, 41, 42, 95, 142, 265, 295; address by, 143–145; letter from, 211–213; letter to, 266 Galloway, Lyllian M., letter from, 333 García, Artuso, 199 García, Calixto, 109 n. 6 Garcia, Elie, lxxi García, Mr. (lawyer, Dominican Republic), 101 García B., Capt. Emiliano, 186–187, 193–194, 241; letters from, 215–216, 223, 223–224, 226; letter to, 224 García Menocal, Mario, 107, *108 n. 4, 109 n. 6 Gardier, Francis Louis, 14, 15, 19, 68 Garnett, Joseph, 288 Garnett, Mabel, 288 Garraway, Gladys, 288 Garvey, Amy Jacques. See Jacques, Amy Euphemia (Garvey) MARCUS GARVEY ABB and, 158; assassination attempt on, 229; Bureau of Investigation and, lxviii; divorces Amy Ashwood Garvey, lxxii; enemies of, 229, 230; interview of, xxxvii–xxxviii, xl, 83, 89–93; Lamos and, 332 n. 1; letter from, 81 n. 1; letter to, 251–252, 260, 293–294; marries Jacques, lxxii; Ku Klux Klan and, xxxix–xl, lxxii, 363, 363–364 n. 1; pictures of, 164; retreat from radicalism and anticolonialism of, xxxvii, xxxviii, xl; telegram from, 213 ON AFRICA Africa as homeland for blacks, 86, 363–364 n. 1; “Africa for the Africans,” 115; “Back to
Africa,” 17; on formation of Negro empire in, 85, 86, 88, 368; freedom of, 90; redemption of, lxviii LEGAL PROBLEMS OF arrested for mail fraud, xxxix, lxxi, 213, 213 n. 2, 226, 227, 229–230, 251, 277, 277–278 n. 2, 332 n. 1; Black Star Line and, xxxix, 366 n. 1; Criminal Code Section 215 and, lxx, lxxi; defense fund for, 213, 226; libel suit against, lxix OFFICES AND TITLES OF “Black Apostle,” 227; Commander-in-Chief, 234; High Potentate of the League and Association, 37, 89; His Excellency, 37; His Highness, 37; as leader of UNIA, 24; managing editor of Negro World, 92; as mayor of Monrovia, xxxviii; “Moses of the Black Race,” 17, 36, 41, 62, 121, 209, 314, 364, 369; president general of UNIA, 4, 74, 89, 92, 94, 189, 254, 293; President of the Provisional Republic of Africa or Provisional President of Africa, 89, 159 n. 1, 227, 306 n. 1, 363, 368; Savior of the Race, 4 OPINIONS OF OTHERS ON ABB, 201–202; “A.B.C.,” 227; Briggs, 49 n. 1, 158–159 n. 1; Casimir, 50, 52, 62–63; criticism of, 4, 136 n. 2; “100% Negro,” 3–4; Osborne, 40–41; praise and support of, 6–9, 19, 29, 40–41, 62–63, 107, 144, 148, 151, 153, 154, 220–221, 227, 234, 238, 248, 251–252, 292, 311, 327, 334, 350; Prince John, 369; Severin, 17; Thorne, 335, 338 n. 6; Workman, 364, 365 RELATIONS OF, WITH OTHER BLACK LEADERS Briggs, lxvii, lxix, 49 n. 1, 213; Brooks, 213; Crichlow, 213; Du Bois, lxviii; Gordon, 213; McGuire, 213 TOPICS IN SPEECHES AND WRITINGS OF arrest of UNIA defalcators, 104; black racial dignity, 85; black veterans, 85, 86, 88; Black Star Line, 34–35, 88, 213, 254–255; Great Britain, 90–91; his arrest, 213; industry, 34; Ku Klux Klan, 363–364 n. 1; Liberia Construction Loan, xxxviii, 34, 35, 86, 121– 122; loyalty to British, xxxvii–xxxviii, 83–84, 85, 88, 91–93; loyalty to governments, 310; McGuire, 34–35, 213; Negro World, 90; next world war, 90; Pan-African Conference, 37, 38 n. 1; UNIA aims and objects, 92, 255, 310; World War I, 85, 86 TRAVELS OF in British Honduras, xxxvii, xl, 82–93; Caribbean tour of, xxxvii, 24; in Central America,
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS MARCUS GARVEY (continued): 332 n. 1; in Cuba, 34, 115; in Dominican Republic, 187, 187 n. 1; in Jamaica, 83, 91, 136 n. 2, 229; in New York, xxxviii, xliv, lxvii, lxviii; in Panama, 34; in Philadelphia, 90, 91; in St. Lucia, 27 n. 1; in United States, xxxvii, 6, 28, 30, 91, 229, 254; in West Indies, 28, 34, 332 n. 1 AND UNIA, ITS AUXILIARIES, AND ITS OFFICERS addresses conventions, lxvii, lxviii; reviews parade, 363 Garvey, Marcus Mosiah, Jr., 306n1 Garveyism, 6, 209, 320; in Caribbean, xl, xliv, xlv; in Dominican Republic, 135–136 n. 2, 218 n. 1; meaning of, 211–213; in Puerto Rico, 320, 334, 352–353 n. 1; in St. Croix, 297 Garzon Carrion, Eladio Florenzio, 236 Gaynair, Mr. M., 83, 84 Geddes, Auckland Campbell, xvi, 82, 83 “Genuine Friend to the Negro Race, A,” to Workman, 74–75 George, H. R. P., 27; letter to, 56–57 George V, King of England, 85, 90, 91, 173 n. 3, 329, 338 n. 6; loyalty to, 19, 203, 207, 245, 286, 327; petitions to, 32–34 Germany, 23, 85 “G. F. B.,” in Clarion, 196–198 Gibb, J. E., 289 Gibbs, Orlando, 287 Gibson, Joseph D., lxxii, 39, 39 n. 1 Gibson, Nurse (Panama), 13 Gilbert, Nathaniel, 312 n. 2 Gill, Charles B., 291 Gill, Edward B. H., 289 Gill, Mr. (Belize), 87 Gill, Samuel, 291 Gilpin, Charles Sidney, 307 n. 3 Gisch, Christopher, 290 Gittans, R. F., 143 Gittens, John, 287 Glashen, Rev. T. C., 21–22 Glen, Abraham, 291 Glen, Amos, 287 Glen, Arthur, 291 Glen, Emily, 291 Glen, Gladstone, 291 Glen, Lydia, 288 Glen, Namani, 291 God, 62, 78–79, 106, 121, 123, 125, 134, 151, 154, 185, 212, 228, 252, 314, 350–351, 368–369; as black, 64, 66 n. 6; brotherhood of man and, 37; Garvey claims inspired by, 88; as Grand
Architect, 321; in hymns, 294; Jesus Christ, 145, 147 n. 8, 154, 157 nn. 1, 4, 234, 325; in Old Testament, 40 n. 2, 146 n. 3 Gold Coast, 65 n. 3 Gold Coast Leader, 65 n. 3 Goliath, Virginia, 290 Gómez Brioso, José, 352 n. 1 Gonzales, Governor (San Pedro de Macorís Province), 102 Gonzales, Louis I., letter from, 228 Gordon, Adolphus, 122–124 Gordon, Mrs. Adolphus, 122–124 Gordon, Thomas. C., 290 Gordon, W. B., 290 Graham, J., 291 Graham. Jacob, 346 Graham, Joseph, 291 Grainger, P. N., 289 Granady, Octavius, 302, *307–308 n. 7, 322–325, 341–342 Grandison, J. (British Guiana), 288 Grandison, Walter, 291 Granier, Marie, 298 Grant, James, 298 Grant. John, 346 Grant, Madison, 308 n. 8 Grant, Roscelane, 289 Gray, Caroline, letter from, 239–240 Grayson-Carey, John A. W., xxiii, *234 n. 1; letter from, 232–234 Great Britain, British, 303; Africa and, 186 n. 6, 335–336; appeasement and, 25–26 n. 1; Bermuda and, 99 n. 1; British Guiana and, 318–319; British Honduras and, xxxvii, xl, 82–93; colonial governors of, lxvii; Colonial Office, 24–26, 32–33, 82–84, 95–96, 98–99, 203–208, 282–284, 283 n. 1, 318–319; Costa Rica and, 24; Cuba and, 32–34, 35, 66–67, 71, 72 n. 4, 100, 109 n. 6; Dominican Republic and, xli–xlii, 60 n. 4, 126, 169, 170–171, 172– 173 n. 3, 202–203, 231, 269; Empire of, xlii, 33, 147 n. 7, 172 n. 3, 206, 286; England, 27 n. 1, 185, 186 n. 5; Foreign Office, 32–33, 82–83, 202–203, 203 n. 1; Garvey and, xxxvii–xxxviii, 83–84, 91–93; “God Save the King,” 19; Jamaica and, 24; London, lxviii, 38 n. 1; loyalty to, 19; Orders in Council of, 24, 25; Panama and, 24; Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII), 318; representative government and, 25 n. 1; “Rule Britannia,” 86, 88, 90; Scotland, 99 n. 1, 336 n. 1; Secretary of State for the Colonies, lxvii, 24–26; South Sea Bubble and, 74, 75 n. 1; Union Jack and, xli, 15, 59, 60 n. 4, 107,
380
INDEX 206–207, 231, 258, 269; United States and, xli–xlii, 82; Wood commission and, lxx, lxxi, 286, 292 n. 1. See also British West Indies Greenidge, C., 27 Greenidge, James W., 287 Gregoire, F., 27; letters from, 137–138, 299 Grell, Gerald, 19 Grenada, xlviii, lxxi, 27n. 1, 64, 137, 268, 269, 329 Griffith, Julia, 290 Griffith, Rosaline, 290 Griffiths, Dalbert, 346 Grindle, Gilbert E. A., xiv, xvi, 25; letters from, 32–33, 82–83 Guatemala, 34 n. 1, 239; Garvey in, 83; Guatemala City, 276, 277, 278; Los Amates, xl, 239; Puerto Barrios, xl, xliii, 239, 276, 277, 277 n. 1, 278; UFC and, xliii; United States and, 276–277, 278; UNIA in, xl, xliii, 239–240 Guirty, Geraldo, 132 n. 1 Gumbs, Mr. J. (New York), 97 Guy, Fitz, 129 Guzmán, Luis G., letter from, 72–73 Hackett, Adelene, 290 Hackett, Thomas, 289 Haiti, Haitians, 109 n. 6, 176 n. 5, 306; Cuba and, 70–72, 81, 100 n. 1, 121; U.S. military occupation of, 47 n. 5, 158 n. 1, 161 n. 1, 201, 297, 301, 315, 323; UNIA and, xlviii Hall, Christopher, 288 Hall, G. J., 289 Hall, Nurse (Cuba), 105, 106 Halley, James M., 46, 174, 175, 182, 210, 211, 216, 309; deportation of, 113, 176–177, 192, 201, 245, 256, 258, 261, 272, 274; imprisonment of, 73, 160, 164, 171, 180, 201, 224, 225, 233, 245–246, 256, 257, 258, 259, 261, 267, 272, 273, 274; release of, lxxi, 201, 259, 262, 267, 273, 275, 279, 309; sentencing of, 101, 220, 223, 225 n. 1; UNIA and, 49 Hallings, Violet, 101 Hamilton, James, 287 Hamilton, Tony, 197 Hamlet, Philip, 217–218 Hancock, I. (Panama), 346 Hannibal, 32 Harding, Warren G., 48, *49 n. 2, 201, 250 n. 1, 297; on blacks, 206, 208 n. 3; letters and petitions to, 249–250, 260–263 Harewood, James A., 287 Harllee, William C., *113 n. 1, 128, 261; interviews de Bourg, 118–120; letters from,
112–113, 118, 188–190, 217–218, 263–264; letters to, 190–192, 193–194 Harnsford, Martha, 44; letter from, 43–48 Harris, Joseph, 291 Harris, Joseph B., 289 Harris, Samuel, 287 Harrison, Charles, 9 Harrison, Hubert H., xliv, 63, 298 n. 1, 301 Harrison, Solomon, 346 Hatton, J. E., 135 n. 1 Haustin, E., 26 Hawaii, 354 Hayford, Joseph Ephraim Casely, 63, 65 n. 3 Hayford, Rev. Mark, 65 n. 3 Haynes, Mr. C. (Dominican Republic), 48 Haynes, E. G., 286 Haynes, Laura, 50 Haynes, Orlando, 166, 174, 175, 178, 192, 216, 220, 223, 225, 225 n. 1 Haynes, Samuel Alford, 87–88 Haywood, Bell, 291 Haywood, Rose, 291 Hazlewood, Carmen, 291 Hazlewood, David, 288 Hazlewood, Sarah L., 289 Hell Fighters, 64–65 n. 2 Henderson, W. J., 20 Hennessey, David S., 189, 200, 269 Henry, Miss A. D., 152–153 Henry, Charles A., 10, 46, 49; San Pedro de Macorís affair and, 73, 101, 113, 114, 131, 166, 174, 175, 176, 177, 192, 210, 211, 216, 220, 223, 224, 225, 274; letter from, 232–234 Henry, Cyril M., 290 Henry, Edgar, 291 Henry, Mrs. I., 143 Henry, Patrick, 212 Heredia, S.S., 182–183 Herald (Christiansted), 324, 325 n. 2 Heraldo de Cuba, 30, 31n1 Herbet, F. (British Guiana), 288 Herbert, Fitz, 295 Herbert, John Joseph, 114, 133; letter from, 76 Hercules, Jane, 291 Hermes Trismegistus, 185, 186 n. 4 Heureaux, Ulises, 135 n. 1 Hewitt, John. E., 291 Hicks, David: San Pedro de Macorís affair and, 49, 73, 101, 164, 174, 175, 178, 192, 216, 220, 224, 225; statement of, 163–164 Hill, E. (Panama), 143 Hill, Julian Hazel, 289 Hogge, F. W. B., 99, *100 n. 3
381
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS Holder, L. J., 290 Holder, Simeon A., 290 Hollingsworth, Violet (Violette), 48, 174, 175, 178, 220, 225 Holness, Agness, 208; letter from, 260 Holness, Miss (Cuba), 209 Holstein, Caspar, xliv, *306 n. 1, 314–315; articles by, 300–308, 322–325; letters from, 299, 322–325, 340–342; Virgin Islands Congressional Council and, lxx, 300, 322, 340 Homer, Horaver, 289 Homer, Theophilus J., 289 Honduras. See British Honduras; Spanish Honduras Honduras Sugar and Distilling Company, 124 n. 1 Hopkinson, A. (British Guiana), 291 Horsford, J. Gilman, letter from, 148 Hosannah, Caroline, 289 Hosannah, William, 289 Hotes, Norman, 346 Houston, Texas, 173 n. 3 Howard, R. (British Guiana), 288 Howe, Nathaniel, 289 Howley, R. V., 99, 100, *100 n. 2 Hoyt, Tom, 12 Hoyte, Jane, 289 Hoyte, Joseph, 289 Huey, J. McE., 45 Huggins, Horatio N., xxvi, xxvii; letters from, 292–293, 296, 333–334 Hughes, Charles Evans, letters to, 81, 269–270, 277–278, 327–329 Hugh Kelly & Company, 218 n. 1 Hunt, Stanley, 289 Hunte, James C., 287 Hunter, H. T., 129 Hurley, William L.: letters from, 268, 276; letter to, 278 Husband, H. (British Guiana), 287 Hutchinson, W. C., 277 Hutson, Sir Eyre: interviews Garvey, 89–93; letter from, 83–84, 89 Hymns. See Songs, anthems, and hymns Hymns Ancient and Modern, 39, 40 n. 1 Hynds, Irene, 290 Icaza P., Felix, 347 “Iconoclast,” in Workman, xliii, 34–36, 55, 74, 94–95 Illadge, Israel, 298 Independent Episcopal Church, xlii, 48, 49 n. 5, 102. See also African Orthodox Church
India, 25 n. 1 Ingenio Consuelo (Dominican Republic), 135 n. 1 Ingenio La Duquesa (Dominican Republic), 135 n. 1 Ingenio La Fe (Dominican Republic), 135 n. 1 International Workers of the World (IWW; Wobblies), lxv Ireland, 6, 185, 327, 329 Iron Duke, HMS, 142, 147 n. 6 Iroquois, S.S., 192, 329 Ivey, H. Leonard, xviii; letter from, 122–124 Jack, Mr. (St. Vincent), 296 Jack, Mrs. (St. Vincent), 296 Jackman, Alice, 289 Jackman, W. (British Guiana), 290 Jackson, David Hamilton, xliv, lxx, 297, 301, 304, 305, 306–307 n. 2, 307 nn. 5, 6, 308 n. 10, 315, 323–325, 325 n. 2; attacks on, 340–342; studies law, 302, 307 n.4; union activity of, 302–303, 306–307 n. 2, 307 nn. 5–6, 308 n. 10, 315, 323, 324 Jacline, Maggie, 291 Jacobs, Jonas, 289 Jacobs, William, 298 Jacques, Amy Euphemia (Garvey), lxiv, 35, 83, 84, 332 n. 1 Jacques, Cleveland Augustus, 83, 332 n. 1 Jaffreys, James, 291 Jamaica, Jamaicans, 3, 24, 36, 71, 107, 299, 336, 336 n. 1, 338 n. 6, 343, 346; Cuba and, 30, 31 n. 1, 35, 81, 100 n. 1, 108, 109 n. 6; Garvey and, 83, 89, 136 n. 2, 229; Kingston, 109 n. 6, 136 n. 2, 229, 332 n. 1; UNIA in, xl Jamaica Progressive League, lxv James, Alexander, 287 James, Augustus, 287 James, C. L., 286 James, Mrs. Eudarie, 44, 171; letter from, 43–48 James, Job E., 5 n. 3, 5 n. 4, 6 n. 6 James, Joseph, 314 James, Pearla, 4 n. 6 James, Percival C., report of, 7–10 James, V. L., 107, 108 James, Walcott W., 291 Japan, 115, 160 n. 1, 362 Jassimay, A. (British Guiana), 286 Jazz, 65 n. 2 Jim Crow laws, 322, 352 n. 1 Jimenes, Juan Isidro, 270 n. 1 Jimenes, Manuel Joaquin, 173, 175, 176 Johnson, Adrian F., lxxii
382
INDEX Johnson, Gabriel M., xlvii, 369 Johnson, Henry, 64 n. 2 Johnson, Philip, 208 Johnson, Samuel, 49 n. 4 Johnson, Thomas I., 338 n. 6 Johnson, William Samuel, 49 n. 4 Johnston, Harold, 291 Johnston, Sir Harry, 337 n. 5 Jones, A. N., 143 Jones, Arthur, 295 Jones, Miss D. (Cuba), 208, 209 Jones, E. S., 18, 20 Jones, George, 289 Jones, H. A., 289 Jones, Louisa, 288 Jones, Mr. (Dominica), 18 Jones, Nurse (Panama), 13 Jordan, Abraham, 287 Jordan, Alan, 44; letter from, 43–48 Joseph, A. (British Guiana), 286 Joseph, Egbert. See Holstein, Caspar Joseph, Hubert 289 Joseph, W. E., 143 Joseph, Z. (Dominica), 19 Joseph (illegible), 287 Josephs, S. J., xxiii; letter from, 235–236 Jované, Santiago, 295, 296 Judge, Jack, 108 n. 5 Junta Nacionalista, 161 n. 1
Ku Klux Klan, 48, 63; Garvey meets with, xxxix, lxxii
Kanawha, S.S./S.S. Antonio Maceo, xxxix, lxviii, lxix, 81 n. 1, 110, 111, 194n1 Keloo, J. A., letter from, 226 Kenn, C. C., 289 Kennedy, John, 114, 133; letter from, 76 Kershaw, A. J., 21–22 Kilbourne, Ana Rosa Santoni, 135 n. 2 Kilbourne, Edwin I., 134, *135–136 n. 2, 298, 310 Kincade, Major G. M., 241, 249, 258, 261, 262, 270; letter from, 190–192; letter to, 263–264; memorandum from, 43; statement of, 247–248 King, Beatrice, 286 King, Charles Dunbar Burgess, lxvii, 55, *55 n. 1 King, Emanuel, 287 King, Francis, 291 King, Inspector (Jamaica), 91 King, Isabella, 290 King, Isabella, 291 Kingston, Allan, 287 Kinkead, Nurse (Cuba), 106 Knights, Theresa, 289 Knowles, Horace, 161 n. 1
Labega, M. Abram., 44, 298, 134, 298, 310; letter from, 43–48, 134–136 Labega, Mrs. Martha, 44, 310; letter from, 43–48 Labor and trade unions: in British Honduras, 29–30 n. 1; in Puerto Rico, 352 n. 1; in St. Croix, lxx, 297, 300, 302–303, 306–307 n. 2, 315; in St. Lucia, 27 n. 1; in Trinidad, 50, 368 n. 1; UNIA and, 50; in U.S. Virgin Islands, xliii–xliv, 132–133 Labourer Magazine, 319 n. 1 Labourers and Unemployed Association (Belize), 29 n. 1 Labour Leader (Trinidad), *368 n. 1; article in, 367–368 Labour Spokesman, 66 n. 4 Lacorbiniere, Joseph, 4–5 La Correspondencia de Puerto Rico (San Juan), 335 n. 1, *335 n. 2, 358 n. 3; article in, 363–364; editorial in, 351–353; letter to, 334–335 La Democracia (Puerto Rico), lxxiii, 349 n. 1, *349 n. 2, 349 n. 4, 351, 352 n. 1, 358 nn. 3, 7, 8; article in, 359–360; editorial in, 353–359; letters in, 348–349, 361–362 Lahoodie, I. S., *29–30 n. 1; letter from, 29–30 Lahoodie, John, 29 n. 1 Lake, F. U., 46, 128, 257, 279 Lake, Lilian, 291 Lambert, Charles, 289 Lamela Díaz, Santiago, 168, 172 n. 2 Lamos, Enid H., *332 n. 1; letter from, 332–333 La Prensa (Havana), 171, 173 n. 4 Larkeque (Lakeque), Dr. (Dominican Republic), 163–164, 171 Lashley, Elizabeth, 287 Lashley, James, 286 Lashley, Ruth, 291, *292 n. 6 Lashley, Thomas, 291 Laviest (Lavrist), John Felix, 44; letter from, 43–48 Law, Andrew Bonar, 203 Lawrence, H. H. A., 286 Lawrence, John, 77 Lazar, Dr. (Cuba), 107 Ledger, C. K., *128 n. 1, 172 n. 3, 204, 207; letter from, 126–129; letters to, 202, 202–203 Lee, Harry, 45, *47 n. 2, 60, 104 n. 1, 181, 242, 257, 263 n. 4; letters from, 200–201, 209–210, 218–219, 231–232; letters to, 112–113, 118, 180–181, 188–190, 217–218; report by, 268
383
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS Leeward Islands: xli, xlviii, lxxi, 98 Leger, P. (Dominica), 19 Legister, Frank, 108 Lewis, C. E., 143 Lewis, Ciseely, 289 Lewis, Evanson, 295 Lewis, Joseph, 287 Lewis, Mrs. M. (Cuba), 105, 106 Lewis, P. F. John, 20, 236, 237 Liberia, 7, 22; “Back to Africa” and, 10, 86, 87; failed attempts to colonize, xxxviii–xxxix; Liberia Construction Loan and, xxxviii, 34, 35, 86, 121–122; Monrovia, xxxviii, 136; president of, lxvii, 55; UNIA colonization of, xxxviii, lxvii, 55, 85 Licorice, B. (British Guiana), 289 Lincoln, Abraham, 17, 65 n. 4 Linton, Richard, 288 Linwood, J. L., 129; Negro World article by, 129–130 Listín Diario (Dominican Republic), 168, 171, 172 n. 1, 227 Liverpool, E. A., 287 Liverpool, G. (British Guiana), 286 Livingstone, David, 337 n. 3 Lloyd George, David, 206, 207n1 London, S. A., 287 Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 10, *101 n. 1 López, Ramón B., *335 n. 2 Lora, Alfredo, 72 n. 3 Lorcks, Cecelia, 288 Lord, C. (British Guiana), 289 Louisiana, 69; New Orleans, 109 n. 6 Lowestall, Catherine, 288 Lucas, Helena, 114, 133; letter from, 76 Lugo, Américo, 172 n. 2, 173 n. 4 Luis, Augustus, letter from, 132–133 Lundy, Charles P., letter from, 43–48 Lyken, H. (British Guiana), 288 Lyman, Charles H., 259, *259 n. 1, 309 Lynch, Alonza, letter from, 13 Lynch, Galterin, 287 Lynch, Hollis R., xxxv Lynch, Joseph, 291 Lynch, Oscar, 287 Lynching, 114, 322, 364; in Cuba, 22, 31 n. 1; in Texas, 297 Lynds, G. (British Guiana), 288 Lynds, Joseph, 288 Maceo, Antonio, 4, 108, *109 n. 6, 166, *167 n. 4, 205, 210; death of, 167 n. 4, 180 Maceo (Black Star Line vessel), 366 n. 1
Machavous, Louis I., 44; letter from, 43–48 Mahoney, T. L., 150 Mair, E. E., *367 n. 1; letter from, 366–367 Matiú, José, 220 Malawi, 337 n. 4 Manati Sugar Company, 107, 108 n. 2 Mango, C. (British Guiana), 287 Mann Act, lxviii Mansfield, Edith, 288 Mansfield, Fred, 288 Mariana, S.S., 117 Marigot, Gustavius Timothy, article by, 311–313 Marryatta, Amelia, 109 n. 6 Marryshow, Mr. (Grenada), 64 Marshall, C. A. George, 287 Marshall, Charles, 290 Marshall, Vincent, 288 Martin, R. C., 15, 16, 18 Martinez, José Lucia, 114, 133; letters from, 75–75, 320–321 Martínez Nadal, Rafael, 360 n. 1 Martinique, 296 Marty, Antonio, 121 Mason, Catherine, 287 Mason, Joseph S., 287 Mata, Francisco, 296 Mathews, John, 320, 321 Matthews, John, 148 Matthews, Pearly, 291 Matthews, W. A., 288 Mattos, Henry O., 6 Mayers, General, 13, 142 Maynes, Miss F., 19 McCormick, Joseph Medill, 161 n. 1, 179, *180 n. 1 McDavid, Florence, 291 McDavid, Ruby, 290 McDonald, Alphonso, 265, 286 McDonald, H., xvii; report by, 87–89 McGarell, Maud, 291 McGarrell, C. (British Guiana), 291 McGarrell, J. (British Guiana), 291 McGarrell, L. (British Guiana), 291 McGuire, Rev. George Alexander, xlii; ABB and, lxx; African Orthodox Church and, lxviii, lxix, 49–50 n. 5; Independent Episcopal Church and, 49 n. 5; as UNIA chaplain-general, lxix, 34, 37, 50 n. 5; as traitor to UNIA, 213 McKenzie, Charles S., xviii, 8; letter from, 121–122 McLean, E. (Panama), 143 McLean, George, 308 n. 7 McLean, Morgiana B., 286
384
INDEX McPhun, James, 143 McQueem, William, 346 Mellor, Santiago, 218 n. 1 Methodism, 311, 312, 312–313 n. 2 Meusa, John A., 290 Mexico, 109 n. 6, 160 n. 3; Mexicali, 194 n. 1; Tampico, xl, 237, 237 n. 1; UNIA in, xl, 237 Micheaux, Oscar, 298 n. 1 Mighty, Daniel, 346 Miles, Ezecel, 346 Milkins, James J. A., 289 Miller, C. J., 45, 181, 257 Miller, Joseph, 8, 286 Miller, Mr. (Panama), 42 Millington, R. F., 139, 140–141 Mills, Jose, 320 Milner, Alfred, Viscount Milner, 96 Miranda (sloop), 205 Mitchell, Sophia, 290 M’Lean, Sidney L., letter from, 293–294 Moe, Esau Nathaniel, 289 Moncada, Guillermo, 198–199, 199 n. 4 Montgomery, Lucy Maud, 124 n. 2 Montgomery Pioneer (West Virginia), 308 n. 11 Moodie, Oshbourne E., letter from, 234–235 Moore, A. (British Guiana), 287 Moore, J. (British Guiana), 291 Moore, John Richard, 287 Moore, Lindon, 287 Moore, William, 290 Moore, William A., 289 Moors, Jaheel, 289 Morales, Eduardo V., lxix, *80–81 n. 1, 106; letters from, 80–81, 114–115, 198–200; letter to, 226 Morales, Mrs. (Cuba), 106 Morancie, Casimir, 15, 18, 20, 26, 77, 238 Morancie, Elbert, 50, 238, 279 Moravians, 171, 173 n. 3, 191, 205 Morehead, George A., 132, *132–133 n. 1 Morgan, J. S., 150 Morgan, Mr. (R.M.S.P. Chaudiere), 99 Moris, Father (Dominica), 15 Morocco, 37, 38 n. 2 Morris, Commander (Salvation Army, Panama), 153–154 Morris, D. (Panama), 143 Morter (Mortley), Isaiah E., 84, 87, 198 Morter, Mrs. Isaiah E., 87 Morúa Law (1910), 116 n. 1 Moses, 36, 40 n. 2, 41, 146 n. 3, 209, 209 n. 1, 364; Garvey as Black Moses, 17, 36, 41, 62, 121, 209, 314, 364, 369
Moses, L. H., 309; letter from, 278–279 Moton, Robert Russa, 62 Muñoz Rivera, Luis, 349 n. 2, 352 n. 1 Munro, Caroline, 290 Munro, William L., 286 Munroe, Caroline, 290 Murray, Joseph, 286 Murry, George, 291 music and dance: in Barbados Landship, 146–147 n. 5; bomba, xliv–xlv, lxxiii, 348–349, 349 nn. 2, 4, 351–360; in church services, 15; commercial, 219; in processions, 107; rumba, 354, 358 n. 2; at UNIA events, 4, 6 n. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 22, 42, 90, 105, 106, 108, 116, 134, 139, 141, 142, 143, 148, 152–153, 156, 208–209, 320. See also Songs, anthems, and hymns Nash, Lieutenant (Cuba), 107 Natera, Ramón, 163 n. 1 Nation, 322 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), 213, 277–278 n. 2, 281 National Congress of British West Africa (NCBWA), 65 n. 3 Negro Factories Corporation, 51 Negro Progress Convention (NPC), lxv Negro World, 51, 68, 160 n. 1, 188, 189, 202, 277 n. 1, 300, 346 n. 1; articles in, 4–6, 99–100, 129–130, 208–209, 298, 300–308, 309–311, 311–313, 314–316; ban on, lxxii, 280 n. 1, 318–319; Black Star Line in, 77; in British Guiana, lxxii, 282, 284, 285–286, 318–319; in British Honduras, 85; Christmas issue, 236–237; circulation manager of, 366–367; in Colombia, 28; editorial in, 296–298; Garvey in, xxxvii, 91–92, 238, 251, 332 n. 1; Garvey on, 90, 213; Holstein to, 315, 322–325, 340– 342; labor movement in, xliii–xliv; Labour Leader and, 368 n. 1; letters to, 3–4, 6, 13, 27, 29–30, 30–31, 36–38, 38–39, 39–40, 40– 41, 50–52, 55, 78–79, 80–81, 93–94, 101–103, 104–106, 107–109, 115–116, 121–122, 122– 124, 132–133, 134–136, 137–138, 148, 157– 160, 183–184, 184–186, 194–195, 195–196, 198–200, 220–221, 228, 234–235, 235–236, 236–237, 237, 238–239, 239–240, 248–249, 252–253, 320–321, 322–325, 326–327, 340– 342, 350–351; Linwood report in, 129–130; poetry in, 66 n. 5, 115, 116 n. 1; in St. Croix, 340, 341; Spanish section of, 37, 38 n. 3, 114– 115; subscriptions to, 237, 279–280, 366; in Trinidad, 62, 318, 319; in U.S. Virgin
385
THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS Islands, xliii–xliv; UNIA conventions covered in, 37, 38, 39 n. 1 Nelson, R. M. R., letter from, 115–116 Netherlands, Dutch, 46, 57–61, 113, 171, 176, 281 New Negro, 29, 110, 111, 157; Garveyism and, 212; movement of, 109; Old Negroes vs., 51, 62, 320; UNIA and, 18, 145, 158, 236, 238 Newspaper Surety (Amendment) Act (1919), 65 n. 4 Newton, Nurse (Cuba), 105, 106 New York City, lxx, 109 n. 6; Garvey returns to, xxxviii; Harlem, 306 n. 1, 314, 347, 364; Liberty Hall in, lxxii, 11, 17, 28, 74, 306 n. 1, 339; St. Mark’s Hall in, lxxii; theater in, 307 n. 3; Thorne in, 338 n. 7; U.S. Virgin Islanders in, xliv, lxxii, 315; UNIA conventions in, lxvii, lxviii, 363 New York Evening Post, 297, 298 n. 1, 300–301, 303 New York Herald, 308 n. 10 New York Times, 277–278 n. 2 New York World Magazine, 226, 229, 230 n. 2, 364 Nicaragua, lxxii, 124 n. 1 Nicholaus, A., 286 Nicholl, Teófilo, 219 Nichols, T. D., 311 Nigeria, lx, lxiii, 91, 117 n. 1 Niles, Miss V. (Panama), 141 Niles, Mrs. W. (Panama), 142 Nord, Mr. (British Honduras), 85 Norville, F. (British Guiana), 290 Norville, Wilberforce O., xliii, 4, 5 n. 1, 5 n. 3, 6 Nufville, C. C., 9 Nufville, Mrs. (Cuba), 9 Nurse, W., 289 (British Guiana) Nyasaland, 336, 337 n. 4 Odd Fellows, 72–73, 73 n. 1, 87, 102 Ogilvie, F. A., letter from, 38–39 Ogle, Alfred W., 245, 247 n. 2, 262 Oglive-Smith, Alfred, 294 Oliver, James, 307 n. 7 O’Neill, Eugene, 307 n. 3 “Onlooker, An,” to Negro World, 39–40 Order of the Nile, 78, 112, 117 n. 1 Orion, S.S. (formerly Prinz Oskar), 136 Ormsby-Gore, W. G. A., 283 n. 1 Ortea, Francisco, 335 n. 2 Osborne, Joseph U., xv, *41 n. 1; letter from, 40–41 Osborne, Walter, 288
Pan-Africanism, 49 n. 1, 65 n. 3 Pan-African Congresses, lxviii, 235, 236 n. 2; Garvey on, 37, 38 n. 1 Panama, 346; Almirante, lxxii, 182, 346, 347; Black Star Line and, 365; Bocas del Toro, xl, xliii, 345, 347; British and, 24; Changuinola, xl, 343, 347; Colón, xl, xliii, lxvii, lxix, 12, 27, 34, 56–57, 69–70, 103–104, 137, 139, 151, 156, 299; Cristóbal, xl, 13, 56; Cuba and, 109 n. 6; Darien, 153, 157 n. 2; Gamboa, xl, 139, 146 n. 1, 153; Guabito, xliii, 342, 343; Guachapali, xliii, lxvii, lxx, 31, 41–42, 138,144, 153,211, 265, 293–294; Las Cascadas, 153, 157 n. 3; newspapers in, xliii, 34–36, 55, 94–95; Panama City, xl, xliii, 31–32, 34, 41, 94, 95, 138, 150, 211, 254, 265, 293–294, 294–296; president of, 347 n. 1; railroads in, 347; Sixaola, xl, 343, 346 n. 1; Talamanca Valley, xl, 234–235; UFC in, xliii, 182–183, 342–343; UNIA in, xl, xliii, xliv, lxvii, lxix, lxx, lxxii, 12, 22–23, 27, 31–32, 34, 94–95, 103–104, 138–147, 150–157, 234–235, 294–296, 299, 343, 345–347, 347–348, 350–351, 365; West Indians in, 33, 157 n. 3 Panama Boys’ Universal Service Association, 13 Panama Canal, 146 n. 1; workers on, 3, 365 Panama Canal Zone, 137, 157 n. 3, 297 n. 1 Panama Star and Herald, articles in, 136–137 Panama Tribune, 146 n. 2 Pan Union Company, 366 n. 1 Parr, Mr. (Dominican Republic), 242, 247 n. 4 Parris, Eugene V., 287 Parris, James A., 291 Parris, S. A., 289 Parrot, Amelia, 298 Partido Independiente de Color (Cuba), 116 n. 1 Patria (Dominican Republic), 172 n. 2 Patterson, Guillermo, letter to, 79 Patteson, Angelina, 288 Paul, P. S., 291 Payne, Christopher H., 304, *308 n. 11, 324 Payne, Sophia, 291 Pedemonte, Jose, Jr., 174, 175 Pedreira, Antonio S., 335 n. 2, 345 n. 1 Peguere, Juan Félix, 225 n. 1; letter from, 224; letters to, 223, 225, 226 Pellerano Alfau, Arturo, 172 n. 1 Pérez, Gertrudis, 295, 296 Persia, 367 Pesquera Sojo, Ricardo R., 355, *358–359 n. 8, 359 Peter, Solomon G. W., 26, 238 Peterson, Elesia, 298 Philip, Edward, 313
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INDEX Philip, Mary, 50; letters from, 313, 313–314 Philip, S., 280 n. 1; letter from, 279–280 Philip (illegible), 290 Philips, A. O., 286 Philips, L. (British Guiana), 288 Phillips, Rev. D. E., 46, 48, 49, 206, 219, 220; arrest of, 101, 166, 170, 171, 174, 175, 176, 177, 210, 228, 233, 234; deportation of, 205, 215 Phillips, E. C., 59–60 Phillips, Emily, 290 Phillips, Henry, 135–136 n. 2 Phillips, James, 143 Phyllis Wheatley, S.S., 19, 77, 254, 366 n. 1 Pickett, William P., 48, 48 n. 3 Pilgrim, John H., *27 n. 1, 137; letters from, 27 Ping, Reynold A., 287 Plummer, Gayle, xxxv Plunkett, Nurse (Cuba), 105 Plunkett, P. E., letter from, 104–106 Pollard, Barbara L., 286 Pollard, Dorothy, 290 Pollard, G. (British Guiana), 288 Pollard, Herbert F., 287 Pomerene, Attlee, *179 n. 1; letter from, 178–179 Pope, Alexander, quotations from, 22, 263 n. 5 Porras, Belisario, 347 n. 1 Porvenir Sugar Company, 218 n. 1 Potter, Ellen N., 48, 101, 172, 174, 175, 178, 192, 216, 224 Premdas, P., letter from, 77–78 Prescod, J. (British Guiana), 289 Prescod, R. F., 289 Prescot, L. (British Guiana), 290 Preston, Andrew W, *34 n. 1 Prevost, James, 20 Price, Albert, 291 Price, D., 298 Prims, Joseph, 290 Prince, Alfredo, 321 n. 2; letter from, 334–335 Prince John, poem of, 368–369 Puerto Rico, lxix, 297 n. 1; bomba in, xliv–xlv, lxxiii, 348–349, 349 nn. 2, 4, 351–360; Cuba and, 81; map of, 149; newspapers in, lxxiii, 335 n. 1; politics in, 335 nn. 1, 2, 349 nn. 1, 2, 352–353 n. 1, 353–358, 358 n. 3, 359–360 n. 1; Ponce, 335 n. 1, 349 n. 2, 359, 359 n. 1; San Juan, xl, xliv, lxxii, lxxiii, 148, 320, 321 n. 1, 326–327, 334, 335 n. 2, 339, 344–345, 348, 349 n. 4, 351, 358 n. 8, 359 n. 9, 359, 360, 361, 362; sugar industry in, 135 n. 1; U.S. conquest of, 172 n. 2; UNIA in, xl, xliv–xlv, lxxii, 148, 320–321, 326–327, 334–335,
344–345, 348–349, 351–352, 355, 356, 360–361, 361–362 Puerto Rico Ilustrado, 349 n. 1 Putnam, John Risley, *72 n. 2; letter to, 70–72 Putten, Phillip Van, 101, 173 n. 3, 191, 192 Race, races: Africa and, 6; democracy and, 206; equality between, 64 n. 2, 65 n 3, 206, 212; in Latin America, 362, 362 n. 1; selfdetermination of, 134, 312 Race consciousness, 3–4, 64, 150; Garvey and racial purity, xxxviii; pride and, 12, 16, 154, 155, 184–185, 301, 345; progress of, 320; in Puerto Rico, 348, 349 n. 4, 362 n. 1; racial uplift and, 3, 7, 8, 22, 28, 38, 59, 60, 68, 75, 79, 92, 135, 136, 148, 184, 185, 188, 191, 200, 203, 205, 231, 234, 244, 262, 285, 325; in West Indies, 312–313 Racial prejudice, 15, 297 n. 1, 305–306, 312, 316 n. 1, 326, 346 n. 1; in Cuba, 121; discrimination and, 38 n. 1; in Dominican Republic, 101; Negrophobia, 181, 244, 245, 257, 261, 328; propaganda and, 226, 229; in Puerto Rico, 349 n. 3, 352–353 n. 1, 354–355, 357; segregation and, 38 n. 1, 227, 310, 363 n. 1; in U.S. South, 48; in U.S. Virgin Islands, 324; violence and, 79, 101, 114, 131, 230 n. 2, 297, 303, 311–312, 346 n. 1; white supremacists and, 308 n. 8 Radway, Samuel Percival, 10; letter from, 149–150 Ramat, E. (British Guiana), 290 Ramos, Angel, 345 n. 1 Rampaul, Maria, 290 Ramsey, F. A., 46, *47–48 n. 5, 58, 126, 127; letters from, 210–211; letters to, 57–60, 126–129, 221–222 Raviak, Mrs. (Trinidad), 50 Rawlins, Zachariah A.: San Pedro de Macorís affair and, 49, 101, 163, 167, 174, 175, 178, 192, 216; statement of, 163–164 Read, H. J., 319 Real, Cristóbal, 345 n. 1 Real, Romualdo, 345 n. 1; letter to, 344–345 Rec Cross, 365–366 Redmand, R. (British Guiana), 288 Reeves, Sir Conrad, 144, *147 n. 7 Reid, C. A., letter from, 69–70 Reid, Samuel, 208, 209, 289 Reid, William, 289 Reily, E. Mont T., 349 n. 1 Reneau, Benjamin, 29 n. 1
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS Restrictions of Publications Regulations (1918), 65 n. 4 Ribas, José A., 360 n. 1 Richard, C. A., 143, 295 Richards, C. (British Guiana), 286 Richards, George S., 9 Richards, Maud B., 290 Richards, Samuel Augustus, letter from, 32–34 Richardson, Mrs. Doris F., 143, 151; address by, 151–152 Ridley, Rachel, 291 Rif, 38 n. 2 Rionda family, 108 n. 2 Risquet, Juan Felipe, 115, *116 n. 1 Roach, William, 20 Roberts, Francis F., 289 Roberts, Henrietta, 288 Roberts, Irene, 291 Roberts, J. R., 15, 19, 20 Roberts, Louise, 286 Roberts, Needman, 64 n. 2 Robertson, Frederick, 287 Robinson, Catherine, 288 Robinson, Margaret, 287 Robinson, W. Noel, letter from, 112 Robison, Samuel S., *47 n. 1, 73, 127, 246, 250 n. 1; de Bourg and, 181; declaration by, 273–274; letters from, 133, 177, 180–181, 264–265, 272, 272–273, 274–275, 275–276; letters to, 43–48, 72–73, 75–76, 130, 179– 180, 200–201, 241–247, 256–259, 267, 278–279; telegram to, 270–271 Rodney, Paul, 288 Rodríguez Almairall, Evelio, 31 n. 1 Rodríguez Cabrero, Luis, 349 n. 2 Rodríguez Objío, Miguel, 173 n. 4 Rogers, Ernest, 289 Rollon, Herschell, 286 Rollon, Theophilus, 287 Romanacce, Sergio, 345 n. 1 Roosevelt, Theodore, Jr.: letter from, 130; letters to, 130–132, 231–232, 275–276 Roosevelt, Theodore, Sr., 180 n. 1 Rorex, Major (Dominican Republic), 245, 249 Rosario, Conrado, 320, 321 n. 1, 349 n. 4, 351–352, 358 n. 7, 360; letters from, 348–349, 361–362 Ross, Alexander, 288 Ross, J. D. W., letter from, 350–351 Rossy, Manuel F., 352 n. 1 Rotary International, 72 n. 1 Rouse, W. A., 143 Rowe, Cornelius, 346
Rowland, Wilfred E., 47 n. 3, 136 n. 2, 173 n. 3, 218 n. 1 Rowlands, John, 337 n. 3 Royal Mail Packet Company, 98 Rumeau, Xavier, 67 n. 1 Russell, M., 290 Russell, William W., *270 n. 1; letter from, 269–270 Russia, 34 Ryan, Orinthia, 286 Ryan, William, 286 St. Clair-Bovman, 291 St. Croix, Virgin Islands, lxx, 297 n. 1, 300–308; Americans in, 296–298; blacks in, 322, 340–341; Christiansted, 298 n. 2, 325 n. 2, 342 n. 1; Frederiksted, 297, 298 n. 2, 308 n. 10; Garveyism in, 297; sugar industry in, 297, 306–307 n. 2, 307 n. 4; UNIA in, 314 St. Croix Cooperative Society, 307 n. 6 St. Croix Herald, 341 St. Croix Labour Union, lxx, 297, 300–303, 306–307 n. 2, 307–308 nn. 4–7, 315, 323–325, 341–342 St. Croix Tribune, 325 n. 1, 340, 341, 342 n. 1 St. John, Virgin Islands, 297 n. 1 St. Kitts-Nevis, lxx, 47 n. 3, 60 n. 4, 66 n. 4, 128 n. 1, 174, 234 n. 1; Basseterre, xl, 232; Dieppe Bay, 234 n. 1; newspapers in, 64; quarantine at, lxx, 233; UNIA in, xl St. Kitts-Nevis Trade and Labour Union, 66 n. 4 St. Louis, Geraldine, 77 St. Louis, John H., 142 St. Lucia, 137, 146 n. 2, 346; Castries, xl, 5 n. 3;Garvey’s visit to, 27 n. 1; newspapers in, 5 n. 3; UNIA in, xl, xliii, 4–6, 52; in Wood Report, lxxi St. Martin, 233 St. Rose, S. Edward, 27 St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, xl, 248, 297 n. 1, 298 n. 2, 307 n. 7, 341; Garveyism in, 297; UNIA in, 132–133 St. Thomas Labor Union, 132, 132 n. 1 St. Vincent and the Grenadines, 296, 333; Kingstown, xl; UNIA in, xl, xliii, 52, 125, 292–293, 333–334; in Wood Report, lxxi Salisbury, Marquess of, 337 n. 5 Salvation Army, 9, 139, 154 Sampson, Samuel Ezekiel, 287 Samuel, James, 287 Sandoal, John C., 287 San Pedro de Macorís, xl–xli, lxviii, lxix, 43– 44, 136–138; ABB and, xliv; anti-British
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INDEX incident in, xli–xlii, 59, 60 n. 4, 206–207, 231, 258, 269; arrest and imprisonment of UNIA leaders and members in, xli–xlii, lxviii, lxix, 43–48, 48–50, 57–61, 72–73, 75–76, 101–103, 116–117, 126, 131, 161– 163, 163–164, 164–165, 165–176, 178, 204–205, 220, 223–224, 225, 228, 231– 232, 256, 261, 267–268, 272, 274, 276; confiscations in, 175, 189, 222, 224, 226, 276, 310; de Bourg and, xli, xlii, xliv, lxix, 116–117, 118–120, 126–129, 160–182, 200–201, 203–207, 217–218, 241–248, 249–250, 256–259, 260–264, 267, 272– 273, 321, 327–328; deportation of UNIA members from, lxx, 46, 57, 60, 61, 113– 114, 127, 176–177, 205–206, 215, 222, 224, 232, 232–234, 245, 256, 272, 274, 276 San Salvador (Watlings) Island, 80, 81 n.3 Sargent, Beatrice, 291 Sargent, Silvester, 286 Sarjeant, James C., 288 Saturday Evening Post, 298 n. 1 Saunders, Mr., 183 Saunders, Philip, 289 Savannah Tribune, article in, 335–339 Scarlett, E. A., letter from, 157–160 Schneider, William F., 330 Scotland, Charles, 77 Scotland, Elvina, 77 Scott, Charles, 143 Scott, David, 287 Scott, Louisa, 290 Seagrille, J. (British Guiana), 289 Sealey, Albert N., 287 Sealey, T. (British Guiana), 287 Seaton, Florence, 60 n. 4 Sebastian, Joseph Matthew, 64, 65–66 n. 4 Seligman, Herbert J., 230 n. 2 Seraphin, R. A., 19, 20 Seraphin, W. J. D., 19, 20 Service, Charles, 346 Severin, Mr. H. D., 15, 17, 20 Seymour, J. H., 13 Shackleton, Henry, 72 n. 4 Shaker, Richard, 291 Shakespeare, William, quoted, 140, 146 n. 4, 240, 262 Shanton, George, 297 n. 1 Sierra Leone, 65 n. 3 Simms, B. B., 107 Simon, Cyril, 288 Simon, Elgina, 287 Simon, Gladys, 287
Simon, Hilton, 288 Simon, K. M. B., 90, *93 n. 1 Simpson, Hubert, 288 Sims, Mandaline, 288 Sinasty, Elizabeth, 287 Sinclair, T. A., 122 Singh, Mr. (Dominica), 238 Skeete, C. O., 143 Slater, B. (British Guiana), 291 Slater, Virginia, 290 Slavery, slaves, 15, 18, 25 n. 1, 185, 239, 308, 359, 367; atrocities against, 16–17; freeing of, 85; in Mexico, 237 n. 1; music of, 146 n. 5; revolts by, 298 n. 2; semi-, 48 Small, Joseph, 289 Small, R. C. (British Guiana), 286 Smith, Alfred C., 295 Smith, Alfred O., 142, 265 Smith, Anskin, 289 Smith, Eloise, 290 Smith, James, 291, *292 n. 7 Smith, James Masterson, 319 Smith, Jane, 288 Smith, Max, 314 Smith, Robert B., 289 Snowden, Thomas, 47 n. 1, 101–102, 131 Soar, Ellen, 298 Soberanis Gomez, Antonio, 29 n. 1 Socialists, 314 Somers Isles (Bermuda), 97, 98–99, 99 n. 1. See also Bermuda Songs, anthems, and hymns, 19, 208–209; “Africa,” 156–157; “The African Black Star Spangled Banner,” 238; “Afric’s our Home,” 15, 18; “Boy of Ethiopia,” 8; “Come, O Come With Me Where Love Is Beaming,” 8;“Come, Ye Children, Harken Unto Me,” 7; “Doxology,” 134; “Ethiopia, Thou Land of our Fathers,” 4, 10, 13, 40, 88, 105, 107, 108, 134, 139, 148, 185, 209, 228, 238, 239, 310, 311; “From Greenland’s Icy Mountains,” 14, 16, 32, 87, 134, 139, 238; “God Be with You Till We Meet Again,” 88; “God Save the King,” 19; Hallelujah Chorus,” 156; Holiness Becometh Thy House,” 153; hymnals, 39, 40 n. 1; “The Last Hymn,” 152–153; “Light Shining out of Darkness,” 294, 294 n. 1; “O God, Our Help in Ages Past,” 9; “Onward Christian Soldiers,” 148; “Seeking the Lost,” 8; “Sing Praise to God,” 142; “Softly and Low,” 10; “Stand Up, Stand Up, for Jesus,” 8; “Sun of My Soul,” 152; “Tell It Out among the Nations That Marcus
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS Songs (continued): Garvey Reigns,” 148; “Tipperary,” 107, 108 n. 5;“Ye Members of the Negro Race,” 238 South America, lxxiv, 28 n. 1, 75 n. 1, 116, 189, 339. See also names of South American countries South Sea Bubble, 74, 75 n. 1 Spain, Spanish, 28 n. 1, 204; Cuba and, 39, 80 n. 1, 109 n. 6, 115; Morocco and, 37, 38 n. 2; Puerto Rico and, 335 n. 2, 349 n. 2, 352 n. 1, 358 n. 3, 359 n. 9 Spanish Honduras, 312; El Porvenir, 122–124; Monte Cristo, 122, 124 n. 1; sugar industry in, 122, 124 n. 1; Tela, 37, 220–221; UNIA in, xl, 37, 122–124, 129–130, 130 n. 1, 220–221 Spanish Inquisition, 305 Spanish (language), 172 n. 3, 235, 328, 353 n. 1, 354; documents translated from, 43, 57–60, 60 nn. 1–2, 60–61, 61 nn. 1–2, 66–67, 72–73, 73 nn. 2–3, 133, 149–150, 173–176, 176–177, 210–211, 215–216, 219–220, 221–222, 223, 223–224, 225, 226, 227, 294–296, 326–327, 334–335, 339, 344–345, 345 n. 2, 348–349, 351–352, 353–358, 359, 360–361, 361–362, 362–363, 363–364; grammar books, 361 n. 1; in Negro World, 37, 38 n. 3, 114, 115, 198; newspapers in, 354, 358 n. 3; in UNIA meetings, 9, 107, 108, 198, 199 n. 2, 310, 320 Sperling, Sir Rowland Arthur Charles, letter from, 82 Springer, G. (British Guiana), 287 Squires, E. A., 143 Squires, Isaac, 289 Staine, C. N., 87, 89 Standard Fruit Company, 124 n. 1 Stanley, Henry Morton, 335, *337 nn. 3, 5 Steber, Mr. (Dominica), 14, 16 Steele, Thomas J., 163 n. 1 Stennett, William, 108; letter from, 107–109 Stephen, Charles, 288 Stephen, William Adolphus, 287 Stevens, J. A., 139–140 Stewart, G. E., lxxii Stewart, Harriett, 290 Steyn-Pavré, D. J., letter from, 281 Stockhausen, R. M., 129 Stoddard, Theodore Lothrop, 303, *308 n. 8 Stribling, Thomas Sigismund, 296–297, *298–299 n. 1, 300–302, 303, 304; Birthright, 297, 297–298 n. 1, 301, 315 Stuart, Ages S., 330 Sudan, 364
Sudwate, E., 290 Sugar industry, xli, 135 n. 1, 173 n. 3, 177 n. 1; Bethlehem (West Indian Sugar Factory) and, 297, 300, 303, 304, *306–307 n. 2; in Cuba, 41 n. 2, 71, 100 n. 1, 107, 108 n. 2; in Dominican Republic, 117 n. 2, 134, 135 n. 1, 135–136 n. 2; recession and, 117 n. 2, 291 n. 1; in St. Croix, 297, 306–307 n. 2, 307 n. 4; in Virgin Islands, 308 n. 9 Sutherland, F. A., 142, 295 Taite, Conrad, 287 Taitt, Glenroy, lxiii Tatem, Mr. (St. Kitts), 233 Taylor, Rev. A. E., 51 Taylor, Albertha, 291 Taylor, Cecil, 287 Taylor, E. (Panama), 143 Taylor, E. A., 289 Taylor, Edward, 287 Taylor, Ethel, 290 Taylor, Joseph, 290 Taylor, Julia, 291 Taylor, Martha, 287 Taylor, Robert, 287 Teapot Dome scandal, 179 n. 1 Telemaque, Daniel, 77 Telman, C. A., 288 Theobalds, Julian, 6 n. 6 Thomas, Allan A., 286 Thomas, Catherine, 291 Thomas, Charles, 346 Thomas, Charles (Cuba), 150 Thomas, Charles W., 286 Thomas, D. (Jamaica), 346 Thomas, Dance, 343 Thomas, Daniel, 289 Thomas, Emily, 288 Thomas, George, 286 Thomas, George, 287 Thomas, J. L., 129 Thomas, Joseph, 193–194, 310; statement of, 186–187 Thomas, Norman, 287 Thomas, Nurse (Cuba), 105, 106 Thomas, Sister (Cuba), 9 Thomas, Theresa, 291 Thompson, Caroline, 288 Thompson, C. H., 288 Thompson, Charles, 288 Thompson, Frederick, 291 Thompson, Herman D., 51–52 Thompson, John, 27
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INDEX Thompson, Mary, 290 Thompson, Mr. (Black Star Line), 77 Thompson, Orlando M., lxxi Thompson, Princess, 291 Thompson, R. H., letter from, 103–104 Thompson, Richard, 288, *292 n. 5 Thompson, S. O., 6 n. 6 Thorne, J. Albert, 335–336, *336 n. 1, 337 n. 4, 337–338 n. 5, 338 nn. 6–7 Thornhill, A. (British Guiana), 291 Thornhill, George, 287 Thorpe, D. Erastus, letter from, 220–221 Thorpe, J. A. H., 31 n. 1; letter from, 30–31 Thwaits, Charles, 298 Timothy, A. (Dominica), 20 Timothy, Gustavius, 313 n. 1 Tobias, George, lxxi Tobitt, Mrs. R. H., 97 Tobitt, Rev. Richard Hilton, 4, *5 n. 4, 68, 292, 318, 332; Black Star Line and, 77; deportation of, 24; letters from, 97, 98–99; Trinidad and, 95–99 Todd, Roberto H., 352 n. 1, 354, 357 Topakyn, H. H., 367 Tortola, 136 n. 2 Toote, Frederick Augustus, lxxii; letter from, 68; letter to, 28 Toussaint, William A., 288 Toussaint Louverture, 32 Trancosco, Mr. (Dominican Republic), 187 Trinidad, 98, 234, 297 n. 1; Brother’s Road, xl, 50, 51; Casimir in, lxvii, 26; Guaico, xl, 50, 51, 52, 279, 280, 280 n. 2, 313; labor movement in, 50; La Brea, xl, 11, 12 n. 1, 50, 51; Majuba, xl, 11; Negro World banned in, 318, 319; Penal, xl, 50, 51, 125; Port of Spain, 50, 98, 99, 234; Princes Town, 112, 112 n. 1; St. Joseph, xl; Sangre Grande, 280 n. 2; Siparia, xl; Tabaquite, xl, 50, 51; Tobitt and, 95–99; UNIA in, xl, xliii, 11–12, 50–52, 125, 280, 313, 313–314, 332; in Wood Report, lxxi Trinidad Workingmen’s Association, 368 n. 1 Tropeman, George, 288 Tropical Radio & Telegraph Company, 100 n. 2, 213 Tross, John, 290 Troy, E. T., 290 Trujillo, Rafael, xlii, 47 n. 5, 173 n. 3 Tudor, John, 291 Turks Island, 109 n. 6 Tuskegee Institute, 65
Uganda, 117 n. 1 Ulotrichian Universal Union (UUU) Friendly Society (Antigua), lxvi Union Messenger (St. Kitts), 64, 65–66 n. 4 United Fruit Company (UFC), lxxii, 124 n. 1, 277; in Cuba, xliii, 34 n. 1, 99–100, 100 nn. 1, 3, 213; intercepts Garvey’s telegram, 213 n. 1; in Panama, xliii, 182–183, 342–343, 347; vessels of, 182–183, 213; in United States, 100, 100 n. 2 United States: ABB in, 69; British and, 26 n. 1, 82, 83; Bureau of Investigation, lxviii, lxxii, 268, 276–277, 278; citizenship and, 327– 330, 331; Congress, 306 n. 1, 308 n. 7, 314, 316, 341; Constitution of, 340, 352 n. 1; Criminal Code Section 215 of, lxx, lxxi; Cuba and, 70–72, 100; Declaration of Independence, 304; Dominican Republic occupied by, xli, lxix, lxxi, 43–48, 58–60, 112–113, 116–117, 118–120, 126–129, 130– 132, 133, 135, 135 n. 1, 160–182, 188–194, 200–201, 209–211, 217–220, 231–232, 259 n. 1, 274–276; flag of, 315, 323, 327; Garvey arrested for mail fraud by, xxxix, lxxi; Guatemala and, 276–277, 278; Haiti occupied by, 201, 300, 301; inequality in, 102; lynchings and murders in, 114, 297, 303; merchant marine of, 136–137 n. 1; Navy, 101–102, 117, 177, 201, 275, 297, 300, 301–302, 306 n. 1, 307 n. 7, 308 n. 10, 314, 315–316, 316 n. 1, 349 n. 4; Persia and, 367; Prohibition in, 366 n. 1; Puerto Rico and, 172 n. 2, 349 nn. 3, 4, 352–353 n. 1, 353; racism in, 301–302; South, 302, 303, 312, 322; rumba in, 354; Senate, 160–161, 161 n. 1, 178–179; sugar industry and, 100, 100 n. 2, 308 n. 9; Tobitt in, 98 U.S. Marines, 201, 297, 302, 316; in Dominican Republic, lxviii, lxxi, 43, 45, 47 nn. 2, 4, 47–48 n. 5, 59, 61, 75–76, 101, 112, 118, 126–129, 131,160–163, 163 n. 1, 166, 187, 188–194, 201, 205, 214–215, 217–218, 223–224, 243, 257–259, 261, 262, 270–271 United States Shipping Board, 110, 136, 136–137 n. 1, 254–255 U.S. Virgin Islands and Islanders, 341–342; blacks in, 304, 322–325, 340–342; Charlotte Amalie, 298 n. 2; labor movement in, xliii–xliv; law in, 304–305; New York City and, lxxii; UNIA in, xl, xliii–xliv, 248, 314–316; U.S. Navy Department and, xliii–xliv, lxxii, 297, 304, 306 n. 1, 307 n. 7, 314, 315–316, 316 n. 1; Virgin Islands Congressional Council and,
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS U.S. Virgin Islands and Islanders (continued): lxx, 300, 306 n. 1, 322, 340; women in, 248, 305. See also names of individual islands Universal African Legion. See African Legion Universal Benevolent Association (UBA) 65–66 n. 4 UNIVERSAL NEGRO IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION AND AFRICAN COMMUNITIES LEAGUE (UNIA AND ACL). See also African Communities League ABB and, xliv, 157–160, 188–189, 200–202; action taken against members of, xl–xlii, lxx, 9; anthem of, 4, 10, 13, 14, 16, 32, 40, 87, 88, 105, 107, 108, 134, 139, 148, 185, 209, 228, 238, 239, 310, 311; constitution and bylaws of, 56, 104, 106, 131, 244; de Bourg on, 203–204; disloyalty in, lxvii; dissidents of, 130; finances of, xxxvii; flag and colors of, 13, 14, 41, 79, 80, 107, 115, 128, 138, 141, 142, 148, 166, 185, 209, 221, 228, 239, 313, 316–317, 320; formation of, 109 n. 2; fraud in, 315, 317; as friendly society, xliv; membership numbers of, 40, 158, 159 n. 1, 203, 227, 252, 285; membership records of, 53–54; motto of, 26, 41, 42, 79, 125, 152, 154, 185, 204, 314; popular support for, xliv AIMS AND OBJECTS OF Africa, 238–239, 285, 363; charity and education, lxx, 75, 90, 92, 111, 203, 204, 214, 240, 244, 261, 285, 344; colonizing Liberia, xxxviii, lxvii, 55; Garvey on, 85, 92–93; Liberia Construction Loan, xxxviii, 34, 35, 86, 121–122; West Indians in Cuba and, 35 BRANCHES, DIVISIONS, AND AREAS OF INFLUENCE OF Antilles District, 326, 327; archives of, 49, 76, 226, 275, 276, 309; Barbados, xliv, 39–40; British Guiana, lxxii, 285–292, 318; British Honduras (Belize), lxx, 82–93, 122–124, 129–130; in Caribbean, xliv; charters of, 4, 31, 44, 141, 152, 166, 335; children and, 9, 10, 105, 108 n. 3, 138, 141; Colombia, 28; Costa Rica, 346– 347 n. 1; Cuba, xliii, lxvii, lxix, lxx, 6, 7–10, 21–22, 37, 38, 40–41, 67, 78–79, 80–81, 81 n. 1, 81, 93, 104–106, 107–108, 149–150, 157– 160, 183–184, 208–209, 226, 251–252, 260; Dominica, xl, xliii, xliv, lxvii, 14–20, 26, 52, 68, 125, 184–186, 236–237, 237–238, 238–239, 332; Dominican Republic, xl–xlii, xliv, lxviii, lxx, lxxi, lxxii, 43–49, 57, 59, 60–61, 101–103, 126–129, 130–131, 133, 134–136, 160–182,
188–194, 200–202, 210, 214–215, 222, 226, 231–232, 234 n. 1, 241–248, 249, 252, 256, 273, 274–276, 278–279, 281, 298, 309–311, 327–328; Eastern Province of West Indies, 68; factionalism in, xliii, lxix, 4–6, 21–22, 27, 56– 57, 69–70, 103–104, 125, 137, 265–266, 293– 294, 299, 347–348, 360, 361–362; finances of, 110, 295, 299, 334; fundraising and collections by, 8, 10; Guatemala, xliii, 239–240; meetings of, 7–10, 39–40, 42, 129–130, 134–135, 138– 147, 150–157, 208–209, 294–296, 320–321; Mexico, xl, 237; Panama and the Canal Zone, xliii, lxvii, lxix, lxx, 13, 22–23, 27, 31–32, 34, 41–42, 56–57, 69–70, 94–95, 103–104, 137, 138–147, 150–157, 234–235, 265–266, 293– 294, 294–296, 299, 343, 345–347, 350–351, 365; parades of, xli, lxviii, 13, 59, 60 n. 4, 108 n. 3, 131, 132, 190, 231, 342, 346 n. 1, 363; Puerto Rico, lxxii, 148, 320–321, 326–327, 334–335, 344–345, 348–349, 351–352, 355, 356, 360–361, 361–362; rituals of, 18, 31–32; St. Lucia, xliii, 4–6, 52; St. Vincent and the Grenadines, xliii, 52, 333–334; Santo Domingo, 48–49, 76 n. 1; Spanish Honduras, 37, 129–130, 220–221; Trinidad, xliii, 11–12, 50–52, 279–280, 313, 313–314, 332; U.S. Virgin Islands, 132–133, 314–316; women and, lxvii, 7, 8, 9, 10, 50, 76, 108 n. 3, 140, 142–143, 145–146, 151–152, 239–240, 248, 260, 298 CONVENTIONS OF 1920, 102, 189 1921, xxxvii, 28, 36–37, 55, 189; ABB representatives expelled from, xliv, lxviii, 68, 69–70, 189, 202; addresses to, lxvii, lxviii; African Redemption Fund and, 235 n. 1; conclusion of, xli, lxviii, 101; debates in, lxviii; delegates to, 70, 103, 104, 105, 106; fund for, 9; Garvey and, xxxviii, lxvii, lxviii, 254; opening of, lxvii; proposals before, 38; report of, lxvii, 39 n. 1; resolutions of, 40; Women’s Day at, lxvii 1922, xxxvii, lxxiii, 332, 334, 347; Abyssinian King’s message to, 367–368; delegates to, 365; Garvey reelected at, 367; New York World on, 364; opening of, lxxii, 339, 363; parade of, 363; poetry about, 368–370 1926, 81 n. 1 DELEGATIONS, OFFICERS, PROGRAMS, AND AUXILIARIES OF African Legion, xxxix, xliii, lxviii, lxxii, 50, 106, 107, 108 n. 3, 342–343, 345–346, 346 n. 1, 347; African Redemption Fund, xxxix, lxviii, 234, 235 n. 1, 260; assistant president
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INDEX generals, 81 n. 1; assistant secretary general, 57; Black Cross Nurses, 21, 50, 80, 93 n. 1, 104–107, 135, 139, 152, 197, 363; chaplain general, xlii, 105, 363; chief executive officer, 94–95; death benefits, 113; executive council, 57; fracture in leadership, xxxvii; general secretary, 56; high chancellor, 35; Honorary Provisional Vice-President of Africa, 81 n. 1; impeachments of officers, lxxii; Leader of the Negroes of the Western Provinces of the West Indies and of Central and South America, 261; Liberia Construction Loan, xxxviii, 34, 35, 86, 121–122; medical departments, 38–39; Motor Corps, 108 n. 3; Negro Factories Corporation, 51; photograph of, 292; potentate, lxvii; president general, 56; publications of, 333; salaries of, 35, 36, 74; secretary general, xliii, 68; West Indian Leader of the Eastern Province, 81 n. 1. See also Black Star Line; Negro World OPINIONS OF OTHERS ON Colonial Office concern over, 74–75, 87–88, 103, 105, 120, 145–147; doubt of success of, 66, 67, 75, 117; Garvey on, 80–83, 166, 211–215, 288–289, 365–367; as money-making scheme, 101; reprisals against, xxxiv; seen as antagonistic, 120, 120–121 n. 1, 121–122; seen as anti-British, 252–253; seen as anti-white, 222, 252, 317 Universal Publishing House, 333 University of Edinburgh, 335, 336 n. 1, 337 n. 5 Vaccaro Brothers Corporation, 124 n. 1 Vanderhorst, Ezel, 114; letter from, 76, 116–117; letter to, 133 Van der Westerlaken, Father, 15 Van Fleck, Mrs., 206 Van Fleck, Reverend, 206 Van Krosigh, F., 135 n. 1 Van Putten, Philip, 173 n. 3, 191, 192; letter from, 101–103 Van Vleck, Reverend, 171 Vargas, Elias, Jr., 176 Vaughan, A. (British Guiana), 288 Vaughan, Victor, 286 Vaugn, Mary, 289 Vead, Charles, 291 Venezuela, 297 n. 1 Vicini Burgos, Juan Bautista, 47 n. 2 Virgin Islands Congressional Council (VICC), lxx, 300, 306 n. 1, 322, 340 Virgin Islands Protective League, 314
Vlaun, Luke, 170 Voice of Saint Lucia, 5 n. 3, 27 n. 1 von Struve, Henry Clay, 81 n. 1, *194 n. 1; telegram from, 194–195 Waddell, Samuel., 286, 290 Wages: in Guatemala, 277 n. 1; in St. Croix, 302, 307 n. 6, 323; in sugar industry, 124 n. 1, 173 n. 3, 307 nn. 4, 6; unions and, 132 n. 1, 301, 307 n. 4 Waithe, Aaron J., 290 Walrond, H. N., 139, 146 n. 2, 155–156 Walters, Amos, 346 Walters, Miss (Cuba), 10 Walters, Solomon, 346 Walters, William, 71, 72 n. 3 Walter-Smith, C. (British Guiana), 291 Ward, Catherine, 290 Ward, Mr. R. (Panama), 143 Warfield, R. M., 194; letter from, 176–177; letter to, 181–182 Washington, Booker T., 65 n. 3 Watkins, Alice, 291 Watkins, Lucian B., 64, *66 n. 5, 66 n. 6 Watkins, William E., 287 Watkins, Violet, 290 Wattley, Charles, 298 Webster, Margaret, 48, 167, 178 Welch, Joseph E., 164–165, 174, 175, 178, 192, 216, 220, 223, 225 Welcome, G. M., 286 Welles, Sumner, 163 n. 1 Wells, Mr. J. (Dominican Republic), 49 Welsh, Albetha, 290 Welsh, Mr. (Dominican Republic), 101 Wesleyan Boys’ High School, 65 n. 3 Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society (WMMS), 311, 312–313 n. 2 West, Edgar, 213 West, Mr. (Black Star Line), 182–183 West, Samuel, 287 Western Echo (Cape Coast), 65 n. 3 West Indian Crusader (St. Lucia), 27 West Indian (Grenada), 81 West Indians, 30–31, 338 n. 5, 365; in Costa Rica, 346–347 n. 1; in Cuba, lxix, 30–31, 32–33, 35, 41 n. 2, 66–67, 67 n. 1, 70–72, 72 n. 4, 81, 100 n. 1, 108 n. 2, 121, 365; in Dominican Republic, xli, xlii; Emancipation Day and, 60 n. 4; in Haiti, 70–72; as migrant laborers, xli, lxxii, 30–31, 32–34, 35; in Panama, 27 n. 1, 346–347 n. 1 West Indian Sugar Factory (St. Croix), 306 n. 2
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THE MARCUS GARVEY AND UNIA PAPERS West Indies, 17, 98; blacks in, 74, 311–313; BSL and,136; Crusader in, 63; Emancipation in, lxvii, 14, 17; friendly societies in, xliv; Garvey’s tour of, 28; Methodism in, 311–312, 312–313 n. 2; Negro World in, 318; newspapers in, 63– 64; Wood commission and, lxx, lxxi; UNIA and, xliv; visit of Prince of Wales to, 318 Wharton, Edwin, 289 White, Daisy, 291 White, Federico, 149 White, John, 290 White, Violet, 291 Whitehall, S. (British Guiana), 290 Whitmire, James E., 187; letter from, 193–194 Whittaker, R. N., 139, 142 Whyte, Daisy, 290 Wickham, Maud, 291 Wilkins, George, 289 Wilkinson, John, 286 Willcocks, Sir James, 96, 98; letter to, 97 Williams, Cholotte, 291 Williams, Constance, 288 Williams, Cyril E., 288 Williams, George Washington, 308 n. 10 Williams, Harry J., 108 n. 5 Williams, Jane, 48, 101, 166, 170, 174, 175, 178, 216, 220, 224, 225 Williams, Mary A., 290 Williams, Noah, 290 Williams, S. (British Guiana), 289 Williams, Ursula, 290 Williamson, Alan, 7 Williamson, Mrs. (Cuba), 8 Williamson, S. J., 7 Willing, Nathaniel, 289 Wilson, Mrs. Charles, 234 Wilson, E. S., 289 Wilson, J. (British Guiana), 286 Wilson, Marcelino, 199 Wilson, Mr. (Barbados), 39, 64 Wilson, W. J., 289
Wiltshire, Mary, 287 Windward Islands, 98 Wiseman, Robert Arthur, 25, 84, 283 n. 1 Wite, Alfred, 7 Witter, B. (British Guiana), 289 Women, 64, 90, 302; arrest and imprisonment of, 48, 49, 76, 101, 161–163, 166, 167, 169–170, 172, 174, 175, 178, 192, 216, 224; UNIA and, lxvii, 7, 8, 9, 10, 50, 76, 87, 88, 104–106, 108 n. 3, 140, 142–143, 145–146, 151–152, 239–240, 248, 260, 298 Wood, Edward Frederick Lindley, 24, *25–26 n. 1, 282, 283 n. 1; commission of, lxx, lxxi, 286, 292 n. 1; petition to, 285–292; report of, lxxi, 25 n. 1 Wood, Moses, 147 n. 5 Workman (Panama City), 146 n. 2, 155, 157 n. 3; articles in, 138–147, 150–157, 254–255, 265–266, 347–348; editorials in, 229–230, 364–366; editor of, 139, 146 n. 2; “Iconoclast” to xliii, 34–36, 55, 74, 94–95; letters in, 56–57, 69–70, 74–75, 103–104, 211–213, 299 World War I, xxxix, 17, 147 n. 6, 251, 359 n. 8; blacks in, 3, 17, 63, 64 nn. 1–2, 66 n. 5, 85, 86, 87, 88; France and, 17, 47 n. 2, 64 n. 1, 64 n. 2, 240, 321; sugar industry and, xli, 307 n. 6 Worrell, H. (Panama), 143 Wright, Walter, 291 Wyke, Samuel J. C., 20, 77; letter from, 26 Yarmouth, S.S., xxxix, 366 n. 1 Yearwood, George E., 287 Yearwood, James Benjamin, 103, 266; letters from, 56–57, 266; letter to, 116–117 Young, Wilfred W., 290 Zayas y Alfonso, Alfredo de, 115 Zeno, Francisco M., 335 n. 2 Zeno Gandia, Manuel, 335 n. 2
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