Widespread misconceptions surround the aborted plans for a UNIA settlement program in the Republic of Liberia in the 1920s. Chief among these is that the Liberian upper classes were averse to Garvey's plans which would have undermined "Americo-Liberian hegemony" over the country. The more complicated truth has less to do with "Americo-Liberian hegemony" than a curious combination of French, British and American interests in Africa, an all-too-human rivalry between Garvey and African-American scholar W.E.B. Du Bois, and Marcus Garvey's own failure to keep his grandiose plans under the requisite cloak of secrecy.
Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association in 1914 and within a span of five years it was a world-wide organization of millions, headquartered in New York City. The UNIA launched the Black Star shipping line among other business ventures and began to look to Liberia, the only continuously independent state in colonial Africa, as the site of a Pan-African empire that would work for the upliftment, redemption and empowerment of people of African descent all over the world in the long term, and the decolonization of Africa in the short term.
In 1920, Garvey launched the Liberian Construction Loan program to raise two million dollars, for the UNIA settlement in Liberia and a sizable loan to the Government of Liberia. The loan was intended as an alternative to a five million dollar loan being offered to the Liberians by the United States Government. Overnight, Garvey's followers bought up nearly 150 thousand dollars worth of bonds to finance the scheme. Untold hundreds of thousands more would be collected in succeeding months from Garvey's mostly working class African-American followers.
Liberians, like Black people everywhere, were fascinated by Garvey's eloquence and appeal to African pride, and the UNIA had a large and growing presence in the African country. Also Like Black people everywhere, they were divided as to the practicality of the UNIA's ambitious schemes and not immune to the controversy surrounding Garvey's own colorful, brash, larger-than- life persona.
High ranking members of government as well as ordinary working people were members of the UNIA or followers of Marcus Garvey, including former presidents Arthur Barclay and Daniel E. Howard, Thomas J.R. Faulkner, the former Mayor of Monrovia, Montserrado County Representative Didhwo Twe, Associate Justice Frederick E.R. Johnson, and his brother Gabriel M. Johnson, then the incumbent Mayor of Liberia's capital city.
On August 1, 1920, the first International Convention of the Negro Peoples of The World opened at the UNIA's Liberty Hall in Harlem. Black New York turned out in full to watch the spectacular parade, twenty-five thousand packed Madison Square Garden that night for a rally at which Garvey spoke, and Gabriel Johnson was elected Supreme Potentate of the UNIA, a rank second only to Provisional President-General Marcus Garvey himself. Johnson was the son of Liberia's eleventh president Hilary R.W. Johnson, and grandson of Elijah Johnson, one of the country's founders.
The UNIA loan came at one of the lowest points in Liberia's history. The lucrative coffee trade had been co-opted by Brazil, revenues were near zero, and foreign loans with exorbitant compound interest were coming due. With the nation's very sovereignty threatened by its indebtedness, Liberia had turned to the United States for a five million dollar loan to rescue her from her dire predicament. President Charles D.B. King was planning to lead a delegation to Washington and New York to plead their case with the American Senate when the UNIA's Elie Garcia, head of the Black Star Line, assured King that the UNIA would "raise subscriptions all over the world" to help Liberia retire its burdensome foreign debt.
Since the American loan came with equally burdensome demands for Liberian fiscal and administrative reform, the UNIA's alternative offer was especially appealing. Liberia's Secretary of State, Edwin Barclay in turn assured the UNIA Executive Council that Liberia stood ready "to afford the Association every facility legally possible in effectuating in Liberia industry, agriculture and business prospects."
When Gabriel Johnson returned to Liberia, A UNIA delegation accompanied him, headed by Cyril Crichlow, the new Resident Commissioner for Liberia.
President Charles D. B. King welcomed the UNIA to Liberia and invited them to establish headquarters.
Cape Mount County was initially considered for the UNIA beachhead, but in the end five thousand square miles was set aside near Harper, Maryland County. Garvey issued a circular letter calling for 250 thousand dollars to secure a ship that would transport workmen and materials to the site. By mid-January 1921, that amount was raised and supplies were landed at Harper, even as President King and his delegation were arriving in New York for talks with US government and banking officials.
At this point Garvey's bold pronouncements of his Liberia scheme had begun to attract the attention of the country's colonial neighbors, France and Britain. As W.E.B. Du Bois put it, "Instead of keeping this plan hidden, Garvey yelled and shouted and telegraphed it all over the world," placing the beleaguered Liberians in a very difficult position.
Edwin Barclay had expressed a similar concern over unwarranted publicity in accepting the UNIA offer:
"It is not always advisable nor politic to openly expose our secret intentions, our secret thoughts. That is the way we do-or rather don't do-in Liberia. We don't tell them what we think; we only tell them what they like to hear."
Compounding matters even further, Cyril Crichlow had a falling out with Supreme Potentate Gabriel Johnson and other members of the UNIA delegation in Monrovia. Crichlow, penniless and stranded, went to the US Ambassador for help in returning home. The Ambassador somehow persuaded him to hand over confidential UNIA documents. These documents included a very unflattering appraisal of Liberian government officials that was published in the London-based AFRICAN WORLD. The UNIA plans had also become a source of friction and division in the True Whig Party halls of power, exacerbated by the fact that Garvey's promises of financial aid to replace that of the United States were not forthcoming; The Black Star Line was in financial trouble as business declined and contributions decreased due to the post World War I economic slump.
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HPSOL: MARCUS GARVEY'S U.N.I.A. IN LIBERIA
Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association in 1914 and within a span of five years it was a world-wide organization of millions, headquartered in New York City. The UNIA launched the Black Star shipping line among other business ventures and began to look to Liberia, the only continuously independent state in colonial Africa, as the site of a Pan-African empire that would work for the upliftment, redemption and empowerment of people of African descent all over the world in the long term, and the decolonization of Africa in the short term.
In 1920, Garvey launched the Liberian Construction Loan program to raise two million dollars, for the UNIA settlement in Liberia and a sizable loan to the Government of Liberia. The loan was intended as an alternative to a five million dollar loan being offered to the Liberians by the United States Government. Overnight, Garvey's followers bought up nearly 150 thousand dollars worth of bonds to finance the scheme. Untold hundreds of thousands more would be collected in succeeding months from Garvey's mostly working class African-American followers.
Liberians, like Black people everywhere, were fascinated by Garvey's eloquence and appeal to African pride, and the UNIA had a large and growing presence in the African country. Also Like Black people everywhere, they were divided as to the practicality of the UNIA's ambitious schemes and not immune to the controversy surrounding Garvey's own colorful, brash, larger-than- life persona.
High ranking members of government as well as ordinary working people were members of the UNIA or followers of Marcus Garvey, including former presidents Arthur Barclay and Daniel E. Howard, Thomas J.R. Faulkner, the former Mayor of Monrovia, Montserrado County Representative Didhwo Twe, Associate Justice Frederick E.R. Johnson, and his brother Gabriel M. Johnson, then the incumbent Mayor of Liberia's capital city.
On August 1, 1920, the first International Convention of the Negro Peoples of The World opened at the UNIA's Liberty Hall in Harlem. Black New York turned out in full to watch the spectacular parade, twenty-five thousand packed Madison Square Garden that night for a rally at which Garvey spoke, and Gabriel Johnson was elected Supreme Potentate of the UNIA, a rank second only to Provisional President-General Marcus Garvey himself. Johnson was the son of Liberia's eleventh president Hilary R.W. Johnson, and grandson of Elijah Johnson, one of the country's founders.
The UNIA loan came at one of the lowest points in Liberia's history. The lucrative coffee trade had been co-opted by Brazil, revenues were near zero, and foreign loans with exorbitant compound interest were coming due. With the nation's very sovereignty threatened by its indebtedness, Liberia had turned to the United States for a five million dollar loan to rescue her from her dire predicament. President Charles D.B. King was planning to lead a delegation to Washington and New York to plead their case with the American Senate when the UNIA's Elie Garcia, head of the Black Star Line, assured King that the UNIA would "raise subscriptions all over the world" to help Liberia retire its burdensome foreign debt.
Since the American loan came with equally burdensome demands for Liberian fiscal and administrative reform, the UNIA's alternative offer was especially appealing. Liberia's Secretary of State, Edwin Barclay in turn assured the UNIA Executive Council that Liberia stood ready "to afford the Association every facility legally possible in effectuating in Liberia industry, agriculture and business prospects."
When Gabriel Johnson returned to Liberia, A UNIA delegation accompanied him, headed by Cyril Crichlow, the new Resident Commissioner for Liberia.
President Charles D. B. King welcomed the UNIA to Liberia and invited them to establish headquarters.
Cape Mount County was initially considered for the UNIA beachhead, but in the end five thousand square miles was set aside near Harper, Maryland County. Garvey issued a circular letter calling for 250 thousand dollars to secure a ship that would transport workmen and materials to the site. By mid-January 1921, that amount was raised and supplies were landed at Harper, even as President King and his delegation were arriving in New York for talks with US government and banking officials.
At this point Garvey's bold pronouncements of his Liberia scheme had begun to attract the attention of the country's colonial neighbors, France and Britain. As W.E.B. Du Bois put it, "Instead of keeping this plan hidden, Garvey yelled and shouted and telegraphed it all over the world," placing the beleaguered Liberians in a very difficult position.
Edwin Barclay had expressed a similar concern over unwarranted publicity in accepting the UNIA offer:
"It is not always advisable nor politic to openly expose our secret intentions, our secret thoughts. That is the way we do-or rather don't do-in Liberia. We don't tell them what we think; we only tell them what they like to hear."
Compounding matters even further, Cyril Crichlow had a falling out with Supreme Potentate Gabriel Johnson and other members of the UNIA delegation in Monrovia. Crichlow, penniless and stranded, went to the US Ambassador for help in returning home. The Ambassador somehow persuaded him to hand over confidential UNIA documents. These documents included a very unflattering appraisal of Liberian government officials that was published in the London-based AFRICAN WORLD. The UNIA plans had also become a source of friction and division in the True Whig Party halls of power, exacerbated by the fact that Garvey's promises of financial aid to replace that of the United States were not forthcoming; The Black Star Line was in financial trouble as business declined and contributions decreased due to the post World War I economic slump.
See Link for Rest of Post..
HPSOL: MARCUS GARVEY'S U.N.I.A. IN LIBERIA
They never got the loan right? Instead goodyear made a deal for the rubber plantation .
