Grassroots Garveyism: The Universal Negro Improvement Association in the Rural South, 1920-1927 (The John Hope Franklin Series in African American History and Culture)

The Black Separatist Movement Led By Marcus Garvey Has Long Been Viewed As A Phenomenon Of African American Organization In The Urban North. But As Mary Rolinson Demonstrates, The Largest Number Of Universal Negro Improvement Association (unia) Divisions And Garvey#x19;s Most Devoted And Loyal Followers Were Found In The Southern Black Belt. Tracing The Path Of Organizers From Northern Cities To Virginia, And Then From The Upper To The Deep South, Rolinson Remaps The Movement To Include This Vital But Overlooked Region. Rolinson Shows How Garvey#x19;s Southern Constituency Sprang From Cities, Countryside Churches, And Sharecropper Cabins. Southern Garveyites Adopted Pertinent Elements Of The Movement's Ideology And Developed Strategies For Community Self-defense And Self-determination. These Southern African Americans Maintained A Spiritual Attachment To Their African Identities And Developed A Fiercely Racial Nationalism, Building On The Rhetoric And Experiences Of Black Organizers From The Nineteenth-century South. Garveyism Provided A Common Bond During The Upheaval Of The Great Migration, Rolinson Contends, And Even After The Unia Had All But Disappeared In The South In The 1930s, The Movement's Tenets Of Race Organization, Unity, And Pride Continued To Flourish In Other Forms Of Black Protest For Generations. (publisher). Introduction: Rediscovering Southern Garveyism 1 -- 1 Antecedents 24 -- 3 Growth 72 -- 4 Members 103 -- 5 Appeal 131 -- 6 Transition 161 -- Epilogue: Legacy 192 -- Appendix A Unia Divisions In The Eleven States Of The Former Confederacy 197 -- Appendix B Numbers Of Southern Members Of Unia Divisions By State 200 -- Appendix C Numbers Of Sympathizers Involved In Mass Meetings And Petitions For Garvey's Release From Jail And Prison, 1923-1927 201 -- Appendix D Phases Of Organization Of Unia Divisions In The South By State 202 -- Appendix E Ministers As Southern Unia Officers, 1926-1928 203 -- Appendix F Profiles Of Unia Members In Georgia, Arkansas, And Mississippi, 1922-1928, And Naacp Branch Leaders In Georgia, 1917-1920 204 -- Appendix G Women Organizers In The Unia In The South, 1922-1928 214. Mary G. Rolinson. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [251]-267) And Index. Dedication 6 Contents 8 List of Illustrations and Maps 9 Acknowledgments 10 Introduction: Rediscovering Southern Garveyism 16 1 Antecedents 39 2 Lessons 63 3 Growth 87 4 Members 118 5 Appeal 146 6 Transition 176 Epilogue: Legacy 207 Appendix A. UNIA: Divisions in the Eleven States of the Former Confederacy 212 Appendix B. Numbers of Southern Members of UNIA Divisions by State 215 Appendix C. Numbers of Sympathizers Involved in Mass Meetings and Petitions for Garvey’s Release from Jail and Prison, 1923–1927 216 Appendix D. Phases of Organization of UNIA Divisions in the South by State 217 Appendix E. Ministers as Southern UNIA Offcers, 1926–1928 218 Appendix F. Profiles of UNIA Members in Georgia, Arkansas, and Mississippi, 1922–1928, and NAACP Branch Leaders in Georgia, 1917–1920 219 Appendix G. Women Organizers in the unia in the South, 1922–1928 229 Notes 232 Bibliography 266 Index 284 The black separatist movement led by Marcus Garvey has long been viewed as a phenomenon of African American organisation in the urban North. But as this book demonstrates, the largest number of Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) divisions and Garvey's most devoted and loyal followers were found in the southern Black Belt. Tracing the path of organisers from northern cities to Virginia, and then from the Upper to the Deep South, the book remaps the movement to include this vital but overlooked region The black separatist movement led by Marcus Garvey has long been viewed as a phenomenon of African American organization in the urban North. This title demonstrates that the largest number of Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) divisions and Garvey's most devoted and loyal followers were found in the southern Black Belt.