African Redemption Struggle in Hartford: The Honorable Marcus Garvey and the UNIA, 1920-36
Introduction
Born in 1887 in St. Ann’s Bay on the island of Jamaica, Marcus Garvey brought a message of hope and redemption to millions of people of African ancestry worldwide. Garvey, who was the son of a stonemason and deeply religious mother, received his education in the colonial system in Jamaica. He eventually learned and mastered the trade of printer. A descendant of the Jamaican maroons, Garvey longed for freedom for all African people. In 1910, Garvey decided to travel to Costa Rica. He eventually found work as a timekeeper for a United Fruit Company banana plantation. After his travel through the Caribbean and Central America, he began to truly realize the role that laborers of African descent played in the development of the world economy. In 1912, a trip to England provided the opportunity to acquire work at the African Times and Orient Review, two of the leading Pan-Africanist paper of the period. Garvey routinely read articles about and written by leaders such as W.E.B. DuBois, Booker T. Washington, John Edward Bruce, and William Ferris. In fact, his reading of Washington’s Up from Slavery was one of the major turning points in his life. Garvey knew that African people once controlled great civilizations in ancient Africa. He argued and believed that African people could be great again. In 1914, Garvey created the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), which served as the organizational and unifying apparatus of his movement. Garvey boldly made the call of “Africa for Africans.” In his speeches, he urged people of African ancestry to own property, buy stock, support Black run schools, businesses, and shipping lines.
In addition, Garvey made plans to meet with Tuskegee Institute’s Booker T. Washington. Washington, legendary leader of the Tuskegee, Alabama school, was arguably the most powerful Black man in the country. By the time Garvey made his appeal to visit Tuskegee, the leader of Tuskegee Institute already managed unify a generation of people around his nationalist views. Tragically, Washington’s death in 1915 ended any opportunity for the two men to meet. Nevertheless, Garvey did move to the United States, where he resided in Harlem. In 1918, Garvey incorporated the UNIA in New York. It would be from Harlem that he went on a nationwide speaking tour to introduce potential followers to his program of redemption.
From his base in Harlem, he became a powerful voice confronting America’s racist and violent attacks against Black people. When the NAACP, the nation’s oldest civil rights organization and supporters of integration, offered a silent protest parade after the East St. Louis Riots, Garvey boldly condemned local authorities for their complicity in the ghoulish massacre of Black people. Given the heinous massacre and other crimes against Blacks, Garvey believed that people of African ancestry needed to defend themselves against such attacks by whites.
By 1919, ambitious efforts for liberation led to the creation and incorporation of the Black Star Line, a shipping line funded and owned by people of African ancestry. Because of his unwavering commitment to the liberation of millions of people of African descent and audacious effort to build an international shipping line, opponents leveled biting criticisms. Some of his critics charged that it was lunacy to attempt such plans. Not fazed by his critics, Garvey continued to move forward with his plans. Although well-known in large metropolitan areas, Garvey’s Pan-Africanism, African redemption, and racial uplift maintained a persistent foothold in the greater Hartford area for more than a decade because of southern migration, persistent racism, Marcus Garvey’s magnetism, and dedicated local and national leadership.
Garvey Scholars
The presence of his program of redemption certainly became well-known in New York City and other large cities; however, it also grew in smaller locales. In the upcoming years, Garvey’s UNIA found a foothold in areas of Connecticut such as East Berlin, Bridgeport, East Granby, Hartford, Middletown, New Britain, New Haven, Norwalk, Plainville, Norwich, Portland, Rockville, and Tariffville. While the scholarship on Marcus Garvey and the UNIA is vast, no specific study exists on the movement in the Greater Hartford area. The works of scholars such as Tony Martin, Rupert Lewis, Judith Stein, Randall Burkett, and Robert Hill are essential in studying the Garvey movement throughout the world. Emory Tolbert’s work on Garveyism in Los Angeles remains a standard in the study of the movement in one community. Mary Rollinson’s research provides insight into the growth and development of Garveyism in the South. Ronald J. Stephens’ “Garveyism in Idlewild” focuses on the movement in an all-Black community in Michigan. With the aid of the divisional news from the Negro World, census data, local newspapers, and other records, this essay focuses on the emergence, growth, and impact of the UNIA in the Greater Hartford area. As a result, it will add crucial scholarship on the development of the movement in New England. For this research, the area includes Hartford, East Berlin, East Granby, Plainville, New Britain, Portland, and Middletown.
William H. Ferris, Yale graduate and Editor for Negro World
While records clearly indicate that the Hartford branch functioned as early as 1920, in 1922, William H. Ferris, an editor for the Negro World, made the first significant recorded foray of a UNIA national leader to the Greater Hartford area. Given his background, Ferris, a native son of Connecticut, appeared to be a perfect fit for the job of editor. The scholar, minister, and journalist received his A.B. and M.A. from Yale University in New Haven. Ferris also found time to earn a M.A. from Harvard University and study at Cambridge’s divinity school. Ferris once served as the pastor for a “Congregational church in Wilmington, North Carolina, between 1905 and 1910.” Historian Mary Rollinson argued that Ferris played an instrumental role in the development of the UNIA in southeastern North Carolina. In 1905, Ferris, an associate of W.E.B. DuBois, was one of the fifty-nine people at the famous Niagara Movement. Niagara helped to spawn the NAACP. He later moved to pastor AME Zion churches in Massachusetts.
Although the Ivy League educated Ferris idolized DuBois, the NAACP founder considered Ferris lacking in social graces. In 1913, DuBois verbally flayed Ferris about the Nutmegger’s untidy appearance and slothful behavior. According to DuBois, the state of uncleanliness and sloth of Ferris led to his inability to frequently intermingle with his intellectual peers within the Talented Tenth. Given this inability to find an inroad among African American elites, Ferris remained a well-educated outsider on the fringes. Unable to find his niche among African American elites, Ferris eventually found opportunity in the world of Pan-Africanism espoused by Marcus Garvey.
By 1917 Ferris, then working at Champion Magazine in Chicago, met Garvey. Their meetings and discussion eventually provided an opening for Ferris to use his talents. In 1919, Garvey offered Ferris the position of literary editor of the Negro World. Ferris soon accepted. Long before becoming literary editor, Ferris immersed himself in the history of people of African ancestry. The publication of The African Abroad; or, His Evolution in Western Civilization; Tracing His Development Under Caucasian Milieu revealed the depth of his knowledge about the past and plight of people of African ancestry in the West Indies, Africa, Europe, and the United States. Given his vast knowledge of the experience of African people, Ferris easily learned more about local UNIA divisions as he traveled the country. When he came to know the mood and feeling of UNIA members in the greater Hartford area, the readers of the Negro World also knew.
After a 1922 trip through towns near Hartford, Ferris wrote joyously about UNIA members in the Rockville tobacco area, East Berlin, East Granby, Plainville, New Britain, Middletown, and Hartford. On July 2, 1922, the UNIA national officer traveled to organized the rousing program. Lowrie was a Connecticut convention delegate to the UNIA New York Convention, former North Carolina carpenter, and resident of Hartford’s Village Street. Hall, president and chaplain of the Rockville local, and his congregation, many from South Carolina, worked diligently to raise funds for the UNIA convention. His other officers were Edward Peters, vice-president; Lulu Dunbar, secretary; Mrs. Lela Reedy, lady president; and Mrs. Robert Reedy, treasurer. One of their dedicated members, I.H. Johnson, owned a large farm in Ellington. Johnson was successful enough to purchase an automobile. The local president and officers considered him an “enthusiastic race man.”
The Black Hartford community knew Hall well. In 1918, Hartford’s Shiloh Baptist Church hosted the ordination ceremony for Hall. Rev. W.B. Reed, pastor of the church, presented the ordination address. Rev. C.L. Fisher, pastor of Union Baptist Church, also addressed the audience at the ceremony. Union and Shiloh were the two oldest African American congregations within the Baptist denomination in Hartford. Over the years, Reed and Fisher, both activist pastors, boldly confronted the racism permeating the country.
The following day, Ferris, accompanied by Rev. H.C. Lowrie, attended a meeting in the eastern section of Berlin. Members in the Berlin division also impressed the national representative. An event at the home of R.J. Young, whom he considered a “staunch” UNIA member, drew high praise from Ferris. When those in attendance discussed the African Redemption Fund, the discussion quickly pulled in Young. The officials also encountered a very successful farmer and businessman, a Mr. Evans. He (Evans) and his sons operated three trucking teams. The men hauled items for the Berlin brickyard and a lumber mill in Chester, Pennsylvania. The census revealed that a small pool of African American workers earned a living laboring in the brickyards. His ties to the brickyard gave Berlin’s local a small pool of African Americans to draw from to attend UNIA meetings.
On the 4th of July, the UNIA officer traveled to a Pentecostal Church in East Granby for an extraordinary service and barbecue. The church service and barbecue included people from Tariffville, Middletown, Portland, Windsor, and Hartford. A white carpenter, a Mr. Wakely, led the services before the barbecue, assisted by Rev. and Mrs. Mifflin from Portland, Connecticut. Rev. Robert Evans cooked the food for the barbecue. Thomas Jefferson, the leader of the East Granby chapter, left before the national officer arrived. Jefferson, a native of Alabama, probably migrated from Georgia, given that the census information for 1920 listed Georgia as the birthplace for all his children. Like numerous WWI era migrants from Georgia, Jefferson, his wife, and teenage children worked in a tobacco warehouse. Three children were far too young for full-time work. Circumstances allowed Ferris to meet T.A. DeLoach, vice-president of the local East Granby chapter. Ferris found DeLoach, a farmer and store owner, performing carpentry. After a tour of the farm and store, the national officer thought both efficiently organized. Jefferson and DeLoach organized and scheduled a chapter meeting for the following Sunday. People throughout Black Hartford knew that East Granby employed tobacco workers from Southwest Georgia, some that had a connection to Mt. Olive Baptist Church.
When Ferris eventually made his way to Plainville, New Britain, and Middletown, support for Garvey proved enthusiastic as well. Officers and members included talented ministers and women. They organized lectures, newspaper sales, and monetary pledges. Ferris scheduled an appointment in Plainville with Rev. W.B. Washington. Ferris referred to the minister as a “brilliant and scholarly pastor” of the AME Church. Like most AME ministers, Rev. W. B. (Benjamin) Washington had undergone an enormous amount of educational training before becoming a pastor. When he stopped in New Britain, Ferris found that Mrs. A. Burton Tavores, leader of New Britain’s UNIA, encouraged community wide interest by circulating copies of the Negro World. Not shy in the least, Tavores prodded members to commit funds to the convention. On a sojourn to Middletown, Ferris met and spoke with Rev. John S. Banks, who eagerly solicited funds for the UNIA convention.
While many of the locals he visited seemed to be making headway, one seemed to be floundering. Willis Holman, a Portland, Connecticut UNIA member, indicated that members left because of a lack of economic opportunity in the region for African Americans. Although Portland’s local languished, Hartford’s branch contained one of the largest and well-organized memberships in New England.
The Beginning of the Hartford UNIA
On September 6, 1920, the headline of a local Courant article read: “African Mayor to Speak Tonight.” Members of the local division of Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League held a mass meeting the day before in which they defended their leader Marcus Garvey, deplored rapes of Black female youngsters, and railed against lynching. After critics referred to Garvey as a “fanatic,” Mary Johnson, an ardent local member, rebutted the charge. For Johnson, Garvey was “God-inspired” and “well balanced and firm.” Furthermore, Garvey proved that Black people could unite. Johnson informed members and supporters that over 3,000 leaders met at the 1920 convention of the UNIA in New York. On the issue of lynching, UNIA members urged unity to stop the crime of lynching. Rev. Benjamin Washington, who spoke on the crime in Paris, Texas, verbally flayed those that talked of a “civilized world” with lynching. For whites that failed to treat people of African ancestry fairly, Washington said: “You are a heathen.” Another member argued that in the South “bad melons are growing when the seeds are rotten.” This UNIA member argued that the racist pollution of the South was already 250 years old. Before the meeting ended, J.F.C. Cesar, division vice president, and another officer addressed the audience at the meeting hall. Local leaders also announced that Gabriel Johnson, mayor of Monrovia, Liberia, was the guest for a meeting the following day at the Labor Lyceum. The mayor of Monrovia was among the participants at the New York convention.
On his visit, William H. Ferris met a group of leadership with a powerful message and immense talent. In 1922, F.D. (Frederick) Smart, president of the local; J.E. Strickland, vice-president; Mrs. T.B. Dowden, lady president; Benjamin Washington, chaplain; Horace Smith, treasurer; and “Mr. Campbell,” thoroughly engrossed members with a stirring meeting and agenda. Smith, who census workers listed as janitor, made enough money to begin the process of purchasing a home. Because of work commitments on a Wethersfield farm, J.F.C. Cesar, a botanist and agricultural chemist, arrived later. Cesar served as the division’s secretary. According to the census of 1920, in 1907 Cesar, a native of the Caribbean, immigrated to the U.S. By 1918, Cesar became a naturalized citizen. In 1920, Caesar, who then worked at the local rubber works, lodged at the home of Horace Smith, branch treasurer.
Ferris indicated that at least 50 people attended the vibrant weekly Hartford meetings. The June 1922 meeting, which he observed, included a full program of speeches, songs, and music. Members Andreas Anderson, Carlton Hinkson, J.E. Brown, and Chaplain Benjamin Washington addressed those in attendance. Solos sung by Grace Nash, accompanied by Frances Wilson on piano, were splendid. The Hartford UNIA choir and band made a lasting impression Ferris, particularly the voices of Mrs. E.O. Gaines and Mrs. A.B. Carney. Ferris also raved about Kenneth A. Roane’s musical direction. People that Ferris met and wrote about to the readers of the Negro World were clearly an impressive group of people. In 1922, the divisions of greater Hartford were probably at their zenith. In many ways, the career of Ferris in the UNIA was also.
Ferris Severs Ties with UNIA
By 1923, Ferris severed his ties to the UNIA and Negro World. The membership in New York wanted Ferris for second vice-president, a high post in the UNIA; however, Garvey opposed his appointment to such a position. While this issue probably led to his departure, the full reason may never be known. The years that Ferris spent with the UNIA were the highlight of his activism. From 1927-41 he spent time as a free-lance writer, dean of the Glasgow, Kentucky, Normal and Theological Institute, and staff editor for the Louisville Defender. In 1941, he ended his career working for the Christian Review. One major criticism Ferris had of Garvey concerned a belief Ferris held that Garvey failed to acknowledge that the success of the UNIA was due in part to talented associates. Ferris was one of these associates. Ferris passed away a year after Marcus Garvey. His last days were not that of a great hero. A Yale classmate, who wanted to keep him from being buried in “Potter’s Field,” agreed to pay for a more dignified burial and funeral for Ferris.
Southern Migration and Hartford’s UNIA
Spurred by the potential of economic opportunity that opened because of World War I labor shortages in tobacco, escaping the Jim Crow system, social uplift, and political freedom, thousands of working class African Americans migrated to Connecticut. Tobacco labor recruiters from Connecticut, with an initial focus on African American college students, Southwest Georgia and North Florida, scoured the South to encourage workers to make the trek to Connecticut. The temptation of pay at $2.00 or $2.50 a day seemed like a small fortune to those paid at sharecropper or day laborer wages. Newly arrived family members and friends wrote home to encourage family members to join them. The fear of southern white lynch mobs remained constant for those that remained in the South. Throughout the South, lynch mobs ghoulishly continued to terrorize and murder African Americans. White police and authorities rarely intervened to save African Americans. In fact, they sometimes sanctioned the crimes. Almost every southern migrant knew of some community impacted by the crimes. The system of Jim Crow also limited mobility. It gave white police and sheriffs the legal right to threaten and intimidate migrating passengers at train stations.
By the early twenties, most of the city’s more than 2,000 residents of African ancestry found themselves crowded into the city’s North End. Bellevue, Canton, Portland, and Pavilion Streets became major housing and areas of gathering for migrants, while tobacco fields and warehouses near Hartford offered an opportunity for weekly pay. As for employment opportunities, major companies with large defense contracts and large insurance firms hired few African Americans. Given the treatment of African Americans in rural areas of the South, increased economic opportunity, and dashed hopes for some upon arrival, the climate for a strong Garvey movement was in place in Hartford.
Although Caribbean immigrants dominated the UNIA ranks in New York, Greater Hartford and Hartford’s UNIA movement was one of the combined efforts of southern African Americans and Caribbean immigrants. Southern migrants consistently held prominent positions in the local division. In fact, Georgia migrants were certainly not surprised by the teachings of Garvey. The reason, Garvey’s movement had divisions and chapters in rural areas of Georgia such as Baker County, Camilla, Damascus, Pelham, and Sylvester. The same was true for other southern states. African American ministers organized most of these local chapters. In addition, southern migrants were already believers in a self-help tradition, taught by Booker T. Washington. Edward Countryman, a Southwest Georgia migrant, eventually became a prominent member of the local UNIA. Born on July 8, 1888, Countryman moved to Hartford in 1918 with Baurel Countryman, his brother. From 1920 to 22, Countryman, a resident of Windsor Street in the city’s North End, worked at Billings and Spencer in Hartford. Lizzie and Jack Woods, also migrants from Georgia and relatives of the Countryman family, frequently contributed to the growth of the local division. Thomas Jefferson, who served as the leader of the East Granby division, migrated from Alabama. The well-regarded Rev. H.C. Lowrie was a native of North Carolina, while Rev. Napoleon Hall’s congregation that primarily came from South Carolina, filled the ranks of the Rockville division. They joined with Caribbean born members such as Frederick Smart, J.F.C. Cesar, and William H. Wood, a native of Barbados, to push Garvey’s redemptive message in the greater Hartford area.
The Black Hartford community could clearly see the organization’s growing numbers. By August 1922, Hartford’s UNIA managed to garner a membership between 150-200 people. Local members nominated and sent delegates to the UNIA convention in New York City. Fred Smart represented the local as one of their delegates. Born in the West Indies, in 1918 he immigrated to the United States. By 1920, Smart boarded at the residence of Daniel Parrish, a Virginia migrant and local businessman. Smart listed his occupation as a reporter for a newspaper, undoubtedly the Negro World. Smart and other delegates planned to make official reports at the next local UNIA meeting to be held at the Elks Hall on Chapel Street.
Contentious Rivalry: Local NAACP and UNIA
The presence of the visible local UNIA division irritated and angered anti-Garvey forces in Hartford, who eagerly sought to discredit the UNIA. For example, in 1922, one local African American leader opposed Garvey because he believed that more intelligent people of African ancestry in Hartford wanted no connection with Garvey and his program of redemption. The Courant, the city’s leading newspaper, seemed skeptical that tens of thousands of people might turn out for Garvey conventions, parades, and rallies. A writer for the paper argued that reports from New York established a lack of enthusiasm for Garvey during his parade through Harlem. The truth was that tens of thousands attended his rallies and conventions in New York. In fact, Hartford’s division 74 members paraded in uniform and carried banners.
While the Garvey movement filled its ranks with only people of African ancestry, the local NAACP drew membership from distinguished members of the African American and white community. In 1917, twenty prominent supporters on integration first met in the home of Mary T. Seymour at 420 New Britain Avenue and discussed methods of better integrating African Americans from the South into Hartford’s community. Included at the meeting were Rev. R.R. Ball, Dr. Henry Furnis, Mary Bulkley, Katherine Beach Day, Rockwell Harmon Potter, and other prominent city leaders. This meeting served as the catalyst for the formation of Hartford’s NAACP. James Weldon Johnson, executive secretary of the parent body, and W.E.B. Du Bois, editor of Crisis magazine, attended the gathering. Mary T. Seymour, an African American, perceived of the organization as an “organization of Americans of all races, creeds, and colors.” This point made the NAACP the exact opposite of the UNIA. Garvey had little concern about integrating with whites. His concern was the well-being of Black people. By 1923, the local NAACP had three hundred members, which more than exceeded the national requirement for a functioning branch.
Under the leadership of Seymour and Bell, Hartford’s chapter of the NAACP maintained close ties to the national. In fact, Seymour seemed to be highly regarded. For example, Du Bois suggested that the national office contact Seymour about Hartford’s interest in the National NAACP’s Committee on Cooperation. Leaders of the NAACP designed the Committee on Co-Operation to be an apparatus to tie the African American business community together for economic growth. Du Bois later wrote to Seymour in October 1918 to formally inquire about her becoming a member of the committee.
While there is no proof that the local NAACP branch publicly denounced Garvey, national leaders such as W.E.B. Du Bois, James Weldon Johnson, and William Pickens all had the ear of the local chapter’s leadership. The leadership of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in New York developed a vehement dislike for Garvey. Garvey’s message and program outraged and angered W.E.B. Du Bois, other NAACP leaders, and the editors of the Chicago Defender. At times, Du Bois’ attack was cold and personal. Du Bois would eventually use the Crisis magazine to criticize Garvey to NAACP members. Both he and Johnson always championed cooperation with whites to combat racism and discrimination. Historian David Levering Lewis, author of When Harlem Was in Vogue, pointed out that Robert Bagnall and William Pickens, national NAACP leaders, played significant roles in the “Garvey Must Go” campaign. Garvey’s meeting with the Ku Klux Klan enraged Pickens and other leaders. Lewis indicated that Robert S. Abbott, editor of the Chicago Defender; Chandler Owen, editor of the Messenger; and Harry B. Pace, a businessman in Harlem joined their voices and urged the removal of Garvey. W.A. Domingo, a former Garvey supporter, called for his former leader’s ousting. While several well-known African American leaders signed an “open letter” to request that the Justice Department seek means to rid the nation of the Garvey, Lewis argued that Du Bois and A. Phillip Randolph, staunch critics and enemies of Garvey, refused to sign the letter. Nevertheless, both men clearly wanted Garvey off the streets. When the U.S. government, J. Edgar Hoover of the Department of Justice, and foreign powers put the full thrust of their power into destroying Garvey, in 1923, their efforts proved more than powerful enough to lead to Garvey’s conviction, imprisonment, and deportation for supposed mail fraud. Hoover and white imperialists in Africa clearly feared Garvey and his call for separation.
Not intimidated easily, Garvey and William Ferris, before he left the UNIA, fired their verbal volleys at NAACP leaders. Garvey countered that whites and very fair-skinned African Americans ran the NAACP. The basis for this statement resulted from a Garvey visit to the New York NAACP office, where he only saw whites and very fair-skinned African Americans at work. William Ferris, listed as Sir William Ferris, Assistant President General in UNIA records, focused his rage at DuBois, who Ferris earlier in his career flowered with accolades. He accused DuBois of pilfering the ideas of other prominent Black leaders like Ida B. Wells-Barnett, William Monroe Trotter and Duse Mohamed Ali without acknowledging their work. Ferris believed that Du Bois borrowed Wells-Barnett’s ideas on anti-lynching and used Trotter’s Guardian and race organization as a blueprint for the Crisis and NAACP. When Du Bois published his “short history of the negro,” Ferris considered it simply a version already completed by Duse Mohamed Ali, while Du Bois’ Pan-African Congress of 1921 seemed a copy of the UNIA’s convention.
Uplifting the Race: Day-to-Day Activities and Supporting the International Agenda
Although Garvey and UNIA headquarters battled with the government and critics for its very existence, Rupert Lewis, Garvey scholar, argued that local divisions controlled the everyday activities. A portion of local work included promoting the local division. One of the best records of divisional news came through weekly reports to the organization’s newspaper. Through the Negro World, members chronicled the local programs and activities for all UNIA members throughout the world to read. On April 21, 1923, a report to the Negro World described the proceedings of a local meeting. Division president, William G. Wilson, called the meeting to order. Songs, hymns, and a message by Rev. Benjamin Washington followed. One of the most respectful moments of the program came with the reading of the message of President General Marcus Garvey. Garvey members read the front-page message for those members that were unable to read. Mrs. Bessye Stephens gave the last address to members for the evening. The president then closed the program. William H. Wood, devoted member and secretary, submitted the story.
The July 1923 division news followed a similar pattern as the earlier meeting; however, Dr. Benjamin Osborne, guest speaker for the evening, leveled biting criticism at whites and the church. He argued that Blacks were being “camouflaged and hypnotized by the white race,” while the “church was the temple of avarice and greed.” Osborne argued that “it is through such leaders as Marcus Garvey that the Negro race will be de-hypnotized.” Although Garvey was currently on trial for mail fraud, Osborne argued that Garvey supporters were “seeking justice and fair play.” Osborne continued that Black people would carry out Garvey’s plan of establishing a Black nation in Africa. At the call for a Black nation in Africa, people shouted “amen” and “yea’s.” Osborne informed the crowd that Black people had no plans to control and “dominate” white people. As far as lynching, Osborne believed that “a million telegrams to Senator Lodge will not stop lynching in the South. They can only be stopped by unity on our part and if we do not unite, we will be wiped off the face of the earth within ten years.”
On November 23, 1923, Hartford announced the election of John J. Strickland as the new local president. The news also revealed that women had prominent voices in the UNIA local. Not only did women elect their own officers, Anna E. Gaines made an urgent plea to friends and supporters to join the UNIA. She specifically wanted women to fight “shoulder to shoulder” with men. Gaines believed that women needed to be ready to give their life for their “sacred honor, their children, and their motherland-Africa.”
Although male members were certainly willing to give their best for African redemption, in a 1924 report to the UNIA Convention William H. Wood and H.C. Lowrie, delegates from Connecticut, lodged concerns about increasing administrative problems. William H. Wood and H.C. Lowrie suggested that Hartford and Connecticut needed a strong division supervisor to deal with the increasing spirit to organize. It is unclear whether the two meant William G. Wilson or John J. Strickland, the current and past branch presidents. At a later meeting, Lowrie argued that efforts to “appeal” to Hartford area ministers produced some “results.” Lowrie then suggested that the UNIA needed to focus on appealing to national religious organizations. Even with the presence of internal problems, Hartford’s UNIA continued to function and provide hope for redemption and freedom.
Of the many things that occurred locally, the presence of the Honorable Marcus Garvey at Hartford’s Liberty Hall in 1924 was undoubtedly the greatest moment in the lives of many local division members. It was no longer Arthur Kennedy, William H. Wood, or Bessye Stephens standing at the podium lauding African redemption, now it was the “Moses of Black people.” Released on bail after appealing his conviction on mail fraud, Garvey addressed an evening meeting of the local division. On February 27, 1924, Garvey informed the audience that Mayor Kinsella planned to be on hand to welcome him to the city; however, “for some unexplained reason, had failed to show up.” Garvey also spoke about continued plans to build a homeland in Africa. The UNIA dispatched a commission to negotiate with Liberia for land concessions. According to the Courant, Liberia was the “headquarters for the new nation and expansion would be made from there.” The team of negotiators planned to return to New York in March with concessions for land use. UNIA headquarters also sent their proposal for the nation and land concessions to the League of Nations arguing that “some of the former German colonies in Africa be turned over for the project.” Garvey, always vigilant in the cause of redemption, believed it would take fifty years to establish the nation.
The leader of the UNIA was by no means alone in his continued vigilance. In 1924, supporters throughout the United States donated funds to help with the cost of colonization. Garvey donated $100 to the cause. Individuals in local UNIA chapters followed Garvey’s lead and gave donations for the UNIA’s proposed $2,000,000 campaign to defray the cost of building a colony in Africa. Frances Frederick, a local Hartford resident, donated $2.10 for the campaign, which was a sizeable sum at that time. Although Garvey and his dedicated followers tried in earnest to raise funds, the campaign never reached the desired goal. Nevertheless, enthusiasm for the UNIA remained.
When the UNIA created the Black Cross and Navigation Company, another shipping line, after the collapse of the Black Star Line; local members decided to the contribute funds to the Black Cross Reserve and Operating Fund to keep the Black Cross and Navigation Company afloat. Organizers of the fund drive urged members and supporters to give $1.00 a week for ten weeks to aid the line. On June 20, 1925, the Negro World reported that nineteen members of division 74 donated the tidy sum of $18.50. The following week members donated $17. The Negro World continued to acknowledge contributions of the division to the fund into the following year. A report in the Negro World on September 25, 1926 indicated that division members contributed more than $20 to the fund. Organization leaders in New York planned to award a medal showing a picture of the U.S.S. Booker T. Washington surrounded by the words Black Cross Navigation and Trading Company to “every Negro patriot” that gave $10 to the fund.
While division 74 clearly supported the Black Cross Reserve and Operating Fund, they also welcomed the opportunity to hear from national leaders and established full support for their imprisoned leader. Writing again for the local to the Negro World, William H. Wood encouraged all “nearby divisions” to attend the September 24, 1925 meeting at 85 Windsor Street. The Honorable William H. Sherrill planned to speak to branch members. With Garvey imprisoned on mail fraud charges by 1925, William H. Sherrill served as the Acting President General. Historians Tony Martin and Mary Rollinson stated that a barrage of letters poured into President Calvin Coolidge’s office to plead clemency for the Honorable Marcus Garvey. Hartford joined the effort with a telegram. Given that Local members believed that the courts wrongly convicted their leader, at a March 1925 meeting William H. Wood read a proposed telegram to be sent asking clemency for Garvey. Knowing the power of being democratic and open, leaders and members voted on whether to send the telegram. The division unanimously agreed to send the telegram to the president. Wood further revealed Hartford’s support for Garvey in a powerful letter to the Negro World. He wrote:
Frederick Douglass, Wendell Phillips, Wm. Lloyd Garrison, Toussaint L’Ouverture, Sojourner Truth fought for freedom and justice for the Negro. But Honorable Marcus Garvey suffered alone for the foibles of the Negro people. Division No. 74 of Hartford, Conn. is 100 per cent for Marcus Garvey and the UNIA until Africa is redeemed and the Negro free.
Although the incarceration of their noble leader clearly pained members, the election of Arthur Kennedy to the office of president for the local proved crucial. He called his first program to order in January 1926. Although the principal speaker was Joseph Ward of the New Haven branch, the division also received a rousing speech from Clement Nurse. Nurse, a division 74 leader, had the distinction of being aboard the S.S. Booker T. Washington, a UNIA vessel, on its first voyage. Division reporter Helen McGary argued that Ward’s message of “Perseverance and Courage” held the audience. Afterwards, members took up a liberal collection.
The message of perseverance and courage was a constant refrain within the local division. In 1926, Rev. H. C. Lowrie, who traveled with William Ferris on his 1922 forays in Connecticut, now served as a national official of the UNIA. Earlier in 1922, Lowrie served as a witness in the UNIA impeachment trial of Dr. J.D. Gibson. Apparently, Gibson claimed to be a physician; however, he never produced a certificate. Lowrie overheard Gibson derisively refer to Marcus Garvey as a “Czar.” His July 1926 message was one of “love and race pride.” Lowrie discussed things such as his time in the South and divisions that he organized in Dixie. Helen McCrary reported that Hartford’s membership numbers declined from that of previous years, but not the “faith” of remaining members in Marcus Garvey. Lowrie, to continue faith in Garvey, asked for Garvey, “Will they forget me?” The gathering of supporters resoundingly shouted, “No.” They would never forget about their imprisoned leader. As proof, in May 1925 local members supported a Garvey Day.
Division 74 cherished his memory and offered support for the downtrodden. On August 17, 1926, the division held a mass meeting to honor the birthday of Garvey. To a packed house that barely had any standing room, Arthur Kennedy, division president, reiterated the aims and objectives of the UNIA and the “Negro’s need for a government.” William H. Wood, who remained committed to the cause, continued to push the issue of “race consciousness.” The packed house also listened to the extraordinary music of the Jenkins Orphan band of Charleston, South Carolina and four girls of the jubilee quartet singers.” When the program ended, division leaders collected funds to support both the orphans and the UNIA cause.
Large gatherings were not unusual for local meetings. When space at Liberty Hall proved insufficient or unavailable, Division 74 sometimes enlisted the aid of Mt. Olive Baptist Church, one of the city’s transplanted southern congregations from Georgia. Located in the city’s North End, the church hosted a division meeting to honor Dr. J.G. St. Clair Drake, UNIA international organizer. In December 1926, the imminent scholar and organizer visited the city to promote Garvey’s message and Smallwood University in Claremont, Virginia. He addressed opposition to Garvey in his “Seven Answers to Objections to Garveyism.” The gathering responded to his appeal with “hearty applause.” The presentation also included the use of visual aids. Pictures of Garvey, UNIA officers, portions of the UNIA parade, Smallwood University (Smallwood Corey Industrial Institute), and words of songs filled a screen in the church during his presentation. Attendees also learned about the financial costs that UNIA membership incurred to keep the university afloat. Smallwood’s name eventually changed to Liberty University. A portion of the property reportedly connected to the James River and included wharves that served as the landing point in 1622 for Africans brought by the English to Virginia. The three-hour meeting and program ended with the national anthem and the showing of a photo of Garvey.
One month later, in January 1927, Rev. H.C. Lowrie, high commissioner of the state of New York and New Jersey, returned to the city for three mass meetings held at Liberty Hall and Mt. Olive Baptist Church. Lowrie’s talents and loyalty clearly served him well. National and local leaders organized the meetings to reassure and hold together a much-besieged organization. The local certainly benefited from hearing a trusted leader they knew. The initial January 16th meeting at Liberty Hall gave Lowrie the opportunity to discuss the vicious struggle to keep New York’s Liberty Hall from falling to the “enemy’s grasp.” He urged parents to send youngsters to Liberty University. A day later, the division held its meeting at Mt. Olive Baptist Church. Along with the usual order of service, the Negro World mentioned that Rev. Goode S. Clark, Mt. Olive’s highly respected pastor, gave the prayer for the program. Lowrie’s remarks, which lasted for an hour, highlighted the evening’s program. Members of the Rockville division took part in the final meeting. Mrs. Lulu Dunbar of the Rockville division blessed the gathering with a recitation, while Mrs. Lulu Reidy performed a solo. The Rockville choir sang “Hold the Fort,” which Helen McCrary believed fit the moment. When Lowrie’s opportunity to speak came at this meeting, the minister described Garvey and the UNIA’s efforts like that of Noah. His message was “Building Noah’s Ark Was like Building the UNIA.” Clearly, the UNIA believed it had built a Black movement to save African people from the continuing economic and political floods the world over, Hartford included.
Garvey’s Imprisonment, Organizational Stress, and Deportation
However, by 1922, the United States government, fearful of the growing might of the Garvey’s movement, arrested Garvey on charges of mail fraud charges, which resulted in a 1923 conviction and eventual imprisonment in 1925 at the federal prison in Atlanta. Local membership continued to soldier on in the struggle. When news circulated that Garvey’s was in declining health, in May 1927, Hartford division members, like other divisions, now openly worried about the depth of his deteriorating health. Even so, always willing to work with other Connecticut divisions, Hartford received another visit from Joseph Ward, president of the New Haven division. Before Ward took the rostrum, William G. Wilson, chaplain for the division, spoke on “Looking Forward to a Greater Day.” The division eagerly listened to Ward’s “Save Marcus Garvey before it is too late.” His conclusion included a reminder to “work unceasingly until Negroes established a government for themselves.” For the moment, Ward’s inspiring message probably provided a little solace for those at the meeting.
Even with such inspiring messages, the local UNIA began to show signs of organizational stress. When the local made efforts to rally support for the Negro World, the mouthpiece for the UNIA, a September 11, 1927 meeting had a low turnout, but enthusiastic response. In their report Hartford’s division believed that heavy rains hampered the attendance at the meeting with E.E. Mair, business manager of the Negro World. Mair’s subject was “What the Negro World Means to the New Negro.” The division report revealed that the Hartford division was “not as large as it once was, but the spirit of Garveyism is still strong in the members.” A driving force behind this meeting was William H. Wood. Ella Benefield and the rest of membership planned to “stick by the old ship until the last rafters go down.” The members also gave liberally to the UNIA. For people interested in purchasing copies of the Negro World, they needed to speak with Joseph Price, who served as the local agent for the paper. Division members considered Price “a young man of much promise.” In November 1927, UNIA membership received the painful news that the federal government released Marcus Garvey from prison and planned to deport him back to Jamaica.
When the government eventually deported Garvey from the U.S., key leaders soldiered on to rally remaining divisions to keep the idea of African redemption alive. On May 10, 1928, Clement Nurse, division president, and other members listened to an engaging address by Madame M.L.T. Ebimber, Assistant International Organizer for the UNIA. Her local Liberty Hall address “drove to the hearts of her hearers the urgent and absolute need of self help at home, in order to help Africa.” She also appealed to members to give to support a trip by the Honorable E.B. Knox to England. A more powerful leader visited the local in the winter. In December 1928 Madame M.L.T. DeMena, International Organizer of the UNIA, addressed a “fine mass meeting” at Liberty Hall on Windsor Street. The membership and guests listened and responded to her address with “frequent and hearty applause.” Over the years, DeMena grew to know and respect the divisional members for their work and sacrifice.
The Death of Arthur Kennedy
When Marcus Garvey made the call for a 1929 international convention to be held in Kingston, Jamaica, Hartford responded by sending William H. Wood and Arthur Kennedy, former president. On July 17, 1929, the two men sailed aboard the S.S. Yoro. They were among the second group of UNIA delegates to head from New York to Kingston. More than four hundred people in New York gave the delegates a rousing bon voyage.
Those at the docks and back in Hartford had no clue that this goodbye would be permanent for one of the two dedicated leaders. After Kennedy died tragically at the Sixth International Convention, the local division hosted a memorial service for him on September 22, 1929. The memorial was one of three meetings that included addresses by Madame M.L.T. DeMena. During the memorial, DeMena offered heartfelt sympathy to Kennedy’s widow and family. She assured the family and membership that the UNIA took care of Kennedy after he fell ill. In addition, the UNIA accorded Kennedy the proper respect in death. Rev. O. DeLoach, who knew Kennedy since birth, considered Kennedy a true believer in the “principles of the UNIA.” For DeLoach, Kennedy worked “that his children and ours shall be free.” When fellow traveler Wood spoke, he remembered that Kennedy made several friends among the delegates in Jamaica. The last two meetings focused on fund raising pledges and convention suggestions. The normal order of service still prevailed, which meant that the division president and Edward Countryman, vice-president addressed the membership. The delegates at the convention decided to support the UNIA program through pledges. The pledges could be at “five thousand, three thousand, two thousand, one thousand, or four hundred dollars,” which some local members agreed and made.
Although Hartford again remained loyal, the UNIA entered a period of splintering. Several divisions in the United States decided to break with Garvey’s UNIA and form their own groups. Out of the intense struggle, Garvey managed to maintain control over the Negro World. Historian Randall Burkett argued that Marcus Garvey and Amy Jacques Garvey, while they resided in the United States, managed to hold the organization together against frequent attacks, even during Garvey’s incarceration. It was difficult to hold divisions without the leaders in the country. Nevertheless, Hartford’s division decided to continue to support Garvey and his message of redemption.
The Countryman Family and the Local UNIA
By May 3, 1930, only a small group of Hartford UNIA members, under the leadership of Edward Countryman, remained. This group of local Garveyites petitioned and received a new charter. Garvey signed the charter on April 16, 1930. Edward Countryman, Charles W. Hughes, Bessie Stephens, Joseph Price, William J. Wilson, and Clement W. Nurse applied for the charter. While Countryman served as the local president, Stephens, Price, Wilson, and Nurse as lady president, legion master, assistant chaplain, and signing member.
On April 5, 1931, Negro World published divisional news from Hartford. Edward Countryman, now ex-president, opened the meeting. Because it was part of the August 1929 reorganization, Hartford’s new division number was 192. Members followed the program pattern of the previous decade. Mattie Jones, lady president, prayed for the local. William G. Wilson and Joseph M. Holmer gave the two major speeches. The most interesting part of the program included the involvement of young people. Master R.A. Countryman presented a recitation entitled: “I Did Not Come to Stay.” Miss Harinel Jones, Miss Georgia Countryman, Miss Gladys Woods, and Master T.J. Jones followed with recitations. Titles such as “The Blessed Hour,” “Easter Joy,” “In the End,” “Easter Lilies,” and “Easter Tidings” indicate that that the young people, like many African American youngsters on Easter, were saying Easter recitations.
Voice for Heroes of the Black World
Not only did Garveyite parents give young people a place in the organization, parents immersed their offspring with stories about the lives of heroes of the Black world such as Garvey, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, and George Washington Carver. Historian Rupert Lewis argued that the angels and dolls in the world of Garveyite children were Black. The Negro World routinely carried advertisements for Black dolls of different sizes. Local members knew that Garvey thought it rationale for people of African descent to believe that their God resembled them in physical features. Scholars and activists such as J.A. Rogers, Mary Church Terrell, and Dr. Carter G. Woodson, founder of the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History and Journal of Negro History, routinely published stories in the Negro World. On November 2, 1929, the paper included Rogers’ story on Alexander De Medici, whose mother was a Black slave. The Negro World also printed articles that he wrote on Alexander Dumas and George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower. His work on great men of color shocked and uplifted Black audiences. In 1930, Terrell enthralled readers with her article on Maggie Mitchell Walker, an African American bank president. In 1932, Woodson presented one of the best-written views of African American life in the North and South to Negro World readers.
Garveyite children quickly learned that skin color did not limit their intellectual abilities, nor did it hamper their parents organizing efforts. Children routinely saw their parents carrying out financial obligations. According to Rupert Lewis, all financial activity remained local, except for small sums sent to the national office. Local organizations sometimes engaged in benevolent activity. Sick members and family members of deceased members sometimes received benefits from the local.
Modernization and Black Workers
On June 4, 1931, Madame M.L.T. DeMena met with division 192 members to discuss the impact of modernization on Black workers. The Garvey leader’s message to Charles E. Hughes, division president, and other members focused on the pitfalls of failing to organize during the age of machines. DeMena’s theme was “Danger Ahead.” She also hammered home Garvey’s argument that the “God’s handwriting is on the wall” and discussed past events in the world. One of the greatest concerns centered on the increased mechanization of industry. Her point that machines put men of African ancestry out of work resonated with the audience. She argued that the only way to combat the increased use of machines was organization.
Hartford and the Negro World, 1931-32
News from the October 10, 1931 Negro World included nothing about division 192. Instead, the article included information on a rally by the AME Zion junior choir, the twentieth session of the Grand Fountain of the True Order of the Reformers, and news on recent visitors from Americus, Georgia to Hartford. News from other cities followed the same pattern.
By November 1931, division reports again found their way into the paper. A report on the October 11th meeting, though brief, mentioned that the members carried out their program in the “regular way” by beginning with the national anthem. Mattie Jones, Bessie Stephens, Mr. Richman, and Clement Nurse all made outstanding speeches. Adjens R. Ashoko, a native of Sierra Leone and Nigeria, chaired the October 29th meeting. To a packed house, William H. Wood discussed the meeting outline and efforts of the UNIA to raise the level of consciousness among African people throughout the world. After Mattie Jones, lady president, read the Aims and Objects of the organization, Bessie Stephens read Garvey’s message to those in attendance. Ashoko’s speech, “Education Advancement,” suggested that “opportunities” existed for African Americans in Africa. In a speech that kept the audience “spellbound for one hour and a half,” Ashoko argued that Africa needed machines, not missionaries.
The Negro World was also in need. The paper could no longer boast of the readership and subscribers of the early 1920s. To keep the paper afloat, leaders of the UNIA developed a Continuation Fund. The paper, in a show of thanks, published the names of the divisions that donated to the fund. Division 192 was among those listed in the June 18, 1932 edition of the Negro World as supporters. Earlier in the May 21, 1932 edition, William H. Wood wrote to the editor: “Enclosed you will find a Money Order as another contribution from the Hartford Division 192 to the Negro World.” With the Negro World teetering on failure, discussions flowed back and forth about efforts to organize and carryout a campaign to return Garvey to the United States. Wood disagreed with such plans. He also disagreed with continued UNIA redemptive efforts from the western hemisphere.
William H. Wood and Hartford’s UNIA, 1932-36
In 1932, Wood clearly wanted a more forceful approach, fulfillment of promises, and a new course for the UNIA. His frustrations came out in the Negro World. He argued fruits of such a plan would “ripen, turn yellow and drop as long as the Negroes stay in America and in the West Indies, and talking about redeeming Africa.” The local secretary argued: “To redeem Africa we got to be in Africa. Gandhi’s fighting for India in India; Ireland fought for Ireland in Ireland; all nations and races that were ever free were on the soil they wanted.” Wood asked: “Are we going to preach ten more years to arouse the Negro race of race consciousness?” Wood wondered if people of African ancestry “would ever wake up if the UNIA could not awake them.” As for resolutions, Wood suggested that resolutions needed to be fulfilled. It was “negative and trivial” to simply make resolutions. He ended his letter with “More power to you for the New Year?” In 1933, the run of the Negro World ended. True to his vigilant stance, Garvey soon published his message of redemption through the Blackman, a paper in Jamaica.
By 1936, internal upheaval continued to hamper the national and many UNIA locals. Some locals teetered towards total collapse and failure. To save the movement, international and national leaders suggested another reorganization plan, including the Hartford’s division. This reorganization plan failed to improve the local UNIA. Eventually, the Hartford area movement slowly trickled out of visible existence. As the old “Hoover Days”, as many African Americans, called the Great Depression rocked the nation; members of the local Garvey movement, mostly working-class people, felt the jolt deeply. While current and former members probably still discussed African redemption, their focus was increasingly on simply surviving.
The Moorish Science Temple, Hartford
Unable to sustain a chapter of the UNIA, a small group of former Garveyites decided to embrace the teachings of Noble Drew Ali. On May 10, 1936, Edward Countryman, former Hartford UNIA president, helped to form the local Moorish Science Temple at his home at 36 Bellevue Street. Members elected him Grand Sheikh of Temple number 35. Some of the cherished ideas that developed among local Garveyites remained among the members of the Moorish Science Temple. Hartford’s temple hosted a number of national and international Muslim leaders over the years. The Moors considered Garvey as equivalent to John the Baptist, who paved the way for the coming of Jesus. Garvey, in their view, paved the way for the coming of Noble Drew Ali, founder of the Moorish Science Temple. By the late 1930s, membership in the Moorish Science Temple grew to 600 to 700 people. Temple leaders believed that large numbers of people became converts to avert starvation. Frederick Turner-El and other members provided food and other items for the needy during the Great Depression. When the country mobilized to fight World War II, hundreds of members left the organization to seek employment. The Moors eventually managed to purchase property in Woodstock and Norfolk, towns in Connecticut. In Massachusetts, the organization owned property in Beckett and Great Barrington, the birthplace of Du Bois.
Malcolm X, Hartford, and Garvey’s Surviving Message
More than thirty years after Garvey’s only visit to the city, Malcolm X, then a minister in the Nation of Islam, helped to organize the first mosque on Albany Avenue in Hartford. A student and follower of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, was also the son of Garveyites, Earl and Louise Little. Muhammad’s message, expressed eloquently by Malcolm X, resonated well in former Garvey enclaves. Like Garvey before, Malcolm’s call for separation, self-defense, self-love, pride, redemption, and respect resonated with many people that listened to him. Malcolm first preached among the poor people living in Bellevue Square, a local housing project that was home to large numbers of southern African Americans. Garvey’s message of redemption among the wave of migrants that Malcolm met in 1954 survived, and in some cases thrived, particularly among the young people that fully embraced “Black Nationalism and Black Power” in the Greater Hartford area by 1965.
Drs. Stacey Close and Eunice Mathews are Professors on the faculty of Eastern Connecticut State University.
