We of the U. N. I. A. believe that what is good for the other folks is good for us. If government is something that is worth while; if government is something that is appreciable and helpful and protective to others, then we also want to experiment in government.

The UNIVERSAL NEGRO IMPROVEMENT ASSN. (UNIA), active in Cleveland by 1921, was a branch of an international movement founded in 1914 that stressed black pride, racial unity of AFRICAN AMERICANS, and the need to redeem Africa from white rule.

The Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) was established by Marcus Garvey in Jamaica in 1914. Like the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) Garvey campaigned against lynching, Jim Crow laws, denial of black voting rights and racial discrimination.

Marcus Garvey

Marcus Garvey organized the United States’ first Black nationalist movement. In the years following World War I, he urged Black Americans to be proud of their identity. Garvey enjoyed a period of profound Black cultural and economic success, with the New York City neighbourhood of Harlem as the movement’s mecca.

Experts say Garvey’s philosophies of black nationalism and Pan-Africanism – movements that called for people of African descent to unify and establish an independent nation in Africa – helped pave the way for the civil rights movement. Garvey’s quest for black self-reliance, they say, would be felt for generations.

In 1916, Garvey moved to Harlem in New York where UNIA thrived. By now a formidable public speaker, Garvey spoke across America. He urged African-Americans to be proud of their race and return to Africa, their ancestral homeland and attracted thousands of supporters.

The Black Star Line ships were sometimes used to transport people and make largely symbolic port visits to cities in Latin America in celebration of black self-determination, business ownership, and economic potential. The ships visited various ports in Panama, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Cuba, and other countries.

The UNIA never revived. Although the organization did not transport a single person to Africa, its influence reached multitudes on both sides of the Atlantic, and it proved to be a forerunner of Black nationalism, which emerged in the U.S. after World War II.

Universal Negro Improvement Association Washington, the African American leader, author and activist who had been born into slavery. In 1916, Garvey boarded a ship bound for the United States, where—as a dramatic and invigorating public speaker—he intended to go on a lecture tour.

Marcus Mosiah Garvey, III

52 years (1887–1940)