Abstract
The Universal Ethiopian Students’ Association (UESA) mobilized the African Diaspora to fight against imperialism, colonialism, and Fascist Italy from 1927 to 1948. Continuing the activism of Ethiopianism, Communism, and Pan-Africanism and fostering the current ideals of the New Negro Movement and Garveyism, the UESA sought to educate the Diaspora on its glorious African past in relation to its current political, economic, social, and cultural conditions. This research critically examines the UESA’s developments and mobilizing contributions in Harlem and throughout the African Diaspora with their literary organ, The African: The Journal of African Affairs; and argues that the UESA played a central role as a mobilized African Diaspora organization through its ideological influences, African Diasporic international network, and the scope of the African. This work also highlights unspoken yet significant activists, such as Willis N. Huggins, Charles Henry Alston, Elton C. Fax, Victoria Johnson Schaak, Gladys P. Graham, and Akiki K. Nyabongo. This is the first study that thoroughly examines the developments and contributions of the UESA and the African.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
Joseph E. Harris, “The Global Dynamics of the African Diaspora ,” in The African Diaspora, edited by Alusine Jalloh and Stephen E. Maizlish (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1996), 7.
- 2.
Harris, “The African Diaspora in World History and Politics,” in African Roots American Cultures: Africa in the Creation of the Americas, edited by Sheila S. Walker (Lanham: Rowan and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2001), 113–115. *This early activism essentially laid the foundation for a foreign relations movement. In the late 1960s Congressman Charles Diggs founded the Congressional Black Caucus, which impacted African and Caribbean foreign policy. Randall Robinson later founded TransAfrica in 1977.
- 3.
Horace Campbell, Rasta and Resistance: From Marcus Garvey to Walter Rodney (Trenton: Africa World Press, Inc., 1987), 47–49.
- 4.
William Z. Foster, History of the Three Internationals: The World Socialist and Communist Movements from 1848 to the Present (New York: Greenwood Press, 1968), 200–203.
- 5.
Hakim Adi, Pan-Africanism and Communism: The Communist International, Africa and the Diaspora, 1919–1939 (Trenton: African World Press, 2013), XVIII.
- 6.
Box 164-121 Folder 42, Alain Locke Papers, Manuscript Division, Moorland-Spingarn Research Center; Alain Locke, “Enter the New Negro,” The Survey: Graphic Number LIII, no. 1 (March 1, 1925), 632.
- 7.
James Weldon Johnson, “The Making of Harlem,” The Survey: Graphic Number LIII, no. 1 (March 1, 1925), 635; Box 164-121 Folder 42, Alain Locke Papers, Manuscript Division, Moorland-Spingarn Research Center.
- 8.
“Marcus Mosiah Garvey, 1887–1940,” Box 29 Folder 29/3, John Henrik Clarke Papers, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library.
- 9.
SC. Micro R-1571 r. 4 Box 12 e. 81 Folder 11, Schomburg Center for Black Research, The New York Public Library.
- 10.
Letter to Marcus Garvey from James L. Brown, President of UESA, 19 October 1933, Box 39 Folder 39-4, John Henrik Clarke Papers, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library.
- 11.
Tony Martin, Race First (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1976), 6.
- 12.
Aims and Objectives, Box 39 Folder 39-2, John Henrik Clarke Papers, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library.
- 13.
Letter to S.A. Haynes from Ridley Lewis, Chair of Propaganda Committee of UESA, 4 June 1936, Box 39 Folder 39-4, John Henrik Clarke Papers, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library.
- 14.
Roderick Bush, We Are Not What We Seem: Black Nationalism and Class Struggle in the American Century (New York: New York University Press, 1999), 149; Joseph E. Harris, African-American Reactions to War in Ethiopia, 1936–1941 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1994), 66; Michael L. Krenn, Race and U.S. Foreign Policy From 1900 to World War II (New York: Garland Publishers, 1998), 141; William R. Scott, “Black Nationalism and the Italo-Ethiopian Conflict 1934–1936,” Journal of Negro History, 63 (April 1978), 126; and “Donations Are Asked for Aid of Ethiopians,” Norfolk Journal and Guide, November 2, 1935, 3.
- 15.
Clare Courbould, Becoming African-Americans: Black Public Life in Harlem, 1919–1939 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2009), 27, 97.
- 16.
John Munro, “Ethiopia Stretches Forth Across the Atlantic: African American Ant Colonialism During Interwar Period,” Left History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Historical Inquiry and Debate 13, no. 2 (2008), 45.
- 17.
Keisha N. Blain, Set the World on Fire (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018), 161.
- 18.
Daniel A. Dalrymple, “In the Shadow of Garvey: Garveyites in New York and the British Caribbean, 1925–1950” (PhD dissertation, Michigan State University, 2008), 157.
- 19.
Jinny Kathleen Prais, “Imperial Travelers: The Formation of West African Urban Culture, Identity, and Citizenship in London and Accra, 1925–1935” (PhD dissertation, Michigan State University, 2008), 77, 159.
- 20.
Ibrahim K. Sudiata, Brothers and Strangers: Black Zion, Black Slavery 1914–1940 (Durham: Duke University Press, 2003), 188; Carole Boyce Davies, Encyclopedia of the African Diaspora : Origins, Experiences and Culture Volume 1 (Santa Barbra: ABC-CLIO, 2008), 309.
- 21.
Jared Ball , I Mix What I Like: A Mixtape Manifesto (Baltimore: AK Press, 2011), 121–122.
- 22.
Wayne F. Cooper, Claude McKay: Rebel Sojourner in the Harlem Renaissance: A Biography (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1987), 327; Claude McKay, A Long Way From Home (New York: L. Furman, Inc., 1937), xiv; and Howard Dodson, The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Christopher Moore, and Roberta Yancy, The Black New Yorker: The Schomburg Illustrated Chronology (Trenton: Wiley, 2001), 237.
- 23.
Ula Taylor, The Veiled Garvey: The Life and Times of Amy Jacques Garvey (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002), 173, 183.
- 24.
Hakim Adi, West Africans in Britain, 1900–1960 (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1998), 74.
- 25.
Harris, “The African Diaspora in World History and Politics,” 115; Harris, “The Dynamics of the Global African Diaspora,” 12.
Bibliography
Adi, Hakim. West Africans in Britain, 1900–1960. London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1998.
———. Pan-Africanism, and Communism: The Communist International, Africa, and the Diaspora, 1919–1939. Trenton: African World Press, 2013.
Ball, Jared. I Mix What I Like: A Mixtape Manifesto. Baltimore: AK Press, 2011.
Blain, Keisha N. Set the World on Fire: Black Nationalist Women and the Global Struggle for Freedom. Philadelphia: Pennsylvania University Press, 2018.
Bush, Roderick. We Are Not What We Seem: Black Nationalism and Class Struggle in the American Century. New York: New York University Press, 1999.
Campbell, Horace. Rasta and Resistance: From Marcus Garvey to Walter Rodney. Trenton: Africa World Press, Inc., 1987.
Cooper, Wayne F. Claude McKay: Rebel Sojourner in the Harlem Renaissance: A Biography. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1987.
Corbould, Clare. Becoming African-Americans: Black Public Life in Harlem, 1919–1939. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2009.
Dalrymple, Daniel A. “In the Shadow of Garvey: Garveyites in New York and the British Caribbean, 1925–1950.” PhD dissertation, Michigan State University, 2008.
Davies, Carole Boyce. Encyclopedia of the African Diaspora: Origins, Experiences and Culture, Volume 1. Santa Barbra: ABC-CLIO, 2008.
Dodson, Howard. “The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.” In The Black New Yorker: The Schomburg Illustrated Chronology. Edited by Christopher Moore, and Roberta Yancy. Trenton: Wiley, 2001.
Foster, William Z. History of the Three Internationals: The World Socialist and Communist Movements from 1848 to the Present. New York: Greenwood Press, 1968.
Harris, Joseph E. African American Reactions to War in Ethiopia, 1936–1941. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University, 1994.
———. “The Global Dynamics of the African Diaspora.” In The African Diaspora. Edited by Jalloh, Alusine and Stephen E. Maizlish, 7–21. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1996.
———. “The African Diaspora in World History and Politics.” In African Roots American Cultures: Africa in the Creation of the Americas. Edited by Sheila S. Walker, 104–117. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2001.
Krenn, Michael L. Race and U.S. Foreign Policy From 1900 to World War II. New York: Garland Publishers, 1998.
Martin, Tony. Race First. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1976.
Munro, John. “Ethiopia Stretches Forth Across the Atlantic: African American Anti-Colonialism During Interwar Period.” Left History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Historical Inquiry and Debate 13, no. 2 (2008), 32–63.
McKay, Claude. A Long Way from Home. New York: L. Furman, Inc., 1937.
Prais, Jinny Kathleen. “Imperial Travelers: The Formation of West African Urban Culture, Identity, and Citizenship in London and Accra, 1925–1935.” PhD dissertation, Michigan State University, 2008.
Seife, Hallina. “A New Generation of Ethiopianists: The Universal Ethiopian Students Association and The African: Journal of African Affairs, 1937–1948,” African and Black Diaspora: An International Journal 3 No. 2 (2010), 197–209.
Scott, William R. “Black Nationalism and the Italo-Ethiopian Conflict 1934–1936.” Journal of Negro History 63 (April 1978), 118–134.
Sudiata, Ibrahim K. Brothers and Strangers: Black Zion, Black Slavery 1914–1940. Durham: Duke University Press, 2003.
Taylor, Ula. The Veiled Garvey: The Life and Times of Amy Jacques Garvey. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002.
Weldon, James Weldon. “The Making of Harlem.” The Survey: Graphic Number LIII, no. 1 (March 1, 1925), 635–640.
West, Michael, William G. Martin and Fanon Che Wilkins. From Toussaint to Tupac: The Black International since the Age of Revolution. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2009.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Anthony, T.N. (2019). Introduction. In: The Universal Ethiopian Students' Association, 1927–1948. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02490-1_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02490-1_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-02489-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-02490-1
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)