Volume XII of the Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers covers a period of twelve months, from the opening of the UNIA's historic first international convention in New York, in August 1920, to Marcus Garvey's return to the United States in July 1921 after an extended tour of Cuba, Jamaica, Panama, Costa Rica, and Belize. In many ways the 1920 convention marked the high-point of the Garvey movement in the United States, while Garvey's tour of the Caribbean, in the winter and spring of 1921, registered the greatest outpouring of popular support for the UNIA in its history. The period covered in the present volume was the moment of the movement's political apotheosis, as well as the moment when the finances of Garvey's Black Star Line went into free fall.

Volume XII highlights the centrality of the Caribbean people not only to the convention, but also to the movement. The reports to the convention discussed the range of social and economic conditions obtaining in the Caribbean, particularly their impact on racial conditions. The quality of the discussions and debates were impressive. Contained in these reports are some of the earliest and most clearly enunciated statements in defense of social and political freedom in the Caribbean. These documents form an underappreciated and still underutilized record of the political awakening of Caribbean people of African descent.

About the Author
Robert A. Hill is Research Professor of History at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he is Editor in Chief and Project Director of The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers Project at the James S. Coleman African Studies Center.


Reviews
"The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers will take its place among the most important records of the Afro-American experience. . . . 'The Marcus Garvey Papers' lays the groundwork for a long overdue reassessment of Marcus Garvey and the legacy of racial pride, nationalism, and concern with Africa he bequeathed to today's black community." -- Eric Foner * New York Times Book Review *
"Until the publication of The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers, many of the documents necessary for a full assessment of Garvey's thought or of his movement's significance have not been easily accessible. Robert A. Hill and his staff . . . have gathered over 30,000 documents from libraries and other sources in many countries. . . . The Garvey papers will reshape our understanding of the history of black nationalism and perhaps increase our understanding of contemporary black politics."
-- Clayborne Carson * The Nation *
"Now is our chance, through these important volumes, to finally begin to come to terms with the significance of Garvey's complex, fascinating career and the meaning of the movement he built."
-- Lawrence W. Levine * The New Republic *
"The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Papers are much more than just the records of an exceptional individual and his organization. . . . The annotated footnotes can be read for profit independent of the documents. The identification of persons frequently goes well beyond brief sketches to become rich biographical entries. . . . [Historians] must rethink not only the place of Garveyism in the context of twentieth-century Afro-American history but, and in some ways more importantly, the place of the Afro-American experience in U.S. and world history during the period."
-- Thom W. Shick * Reviews in American History *



Book Information
ISBN 9780822357377
Author Marcus Garvey
Format Hardback
Page Count 472
Imprint Duke University Press
Publisher Duke University Press
Weight(grams) 930g