Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League
|
|
- See also uniatism for another meaning of 'unia'.
Redblackandgreen.PNG
The Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA) is, according to its 1929 constitution, a "social, friendly, humanitarian, charitable, educational, institutional, constructive and expansive society, and is founded by persons desiring to the utmost to work for the general uplift of the people of African ancestry of the world. And the members pledge themselves to do all in their power to conserve the rights of their noble race and to respect the rights of all mankind, believing always in the Brotherhood of Man and the Fatherhood of God. The motto of the organization is 'One God! One Aim! One Destiny!' Therefore, let justice be done to all mankind, realizing that if the strong oppresses the weak, confusion and discontent will ever mark the path of man but with love, faith and charity towards all the reign of peace and plenty will be heralded into the world and the generations of men shall be called Blessed."
Founded by Marcus Garvey in Jamaica during the year 1914 this organization has a history that is rich and telling of the experience of Africa and its diaspora. In 1920 the UNIA-ACL held its first convention at Madison Square Garden in New York City. During that convention the 20,000 members of the UNIA in attendance promulgated the "Declaration of Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World". In that declaration a number of articles stand out. One of which resolves that the colors Red, Black and Green symbolize all people of African ancestry. Another officially designated the song "Ethiopia the land of our fathers" as the official anthem of "Africa and the Africans, at home and Abroad".
3a03567r.jpg
Notable Members of the UNIA
- Marcus Garvey
- Henrietta Vinton Davis
- John E. (Bruce) Grit
- Hubert Henry Harrison
- T. Thomas Fortune
- Thomas W. Harvey
- Arnold Josiah Ford
- Benjamin E. Burrell
- Charles Lynell James
- Thomas W. Anderson
- G.O. Marke
- William Levon Sherrill
- William H. Ferris
- Eric D. Walrond
- James W.H. Eason
- Robert Lincoln Poston
- Capt. E.L. Gaines
- James R. Cato
- Elie Garcia
- A.L. Crawford
- Joseph Stewart
- Honorable Clifford Bourne
- E.R. Matthews
- Dusé Mohamed Ali
- Henry James Ramsay
- Norman Burton
- L.A. Davis
- S.B. Martin
- G.R. Christian
- Alberta Porter
- Henry Harris
- Mrs. Henry Harris
- M.A. Figueroa
- T.E. Smith
- Rev. D.L. Reed
- Effie Stepter
- Wheeler Sheppard
- Amy Jacques Garvey
- Hugh Mulzac
- Shirley Chisholm
- Rev. J.L. Diggs
- Zora Neale Hurston
- Joseph Robert Love
- Chief Alfred Sam
- Isaac B. Allen
- Irene Moorman Blackstone
- Walter J. Conway
- Carrie B. Mero
- Harriet Rogers
- Isaac S. Bright
- Irene W. Wingfield
- James Hamble Perkins
- Clarence A. Carpenter
- Fleming Du Bignon Webster
- Sidney Smith
- Janie Perkins
- Julia E. Rumford
- Daisy Dunn
- Amy Haynes
- James Haynes
- Henry Dolphin
- Granzaline Marshall
External link
- UNIA-ACL website (http://www.unia-acl.org/)