Established in January 1866 to educate newly freed slaves of all ages, Fisk University -- originally known as the Fisk Free Colored School -- would eventually become a premiere liberal arts institution.
Read the words of Marcus Garvey on his organization, the Universal Negro Improvement Association; his Black Star Line venture into commercial shipping; and his 1925 arrest.
Booker T. Washington was one of the most powerful African Americans at the turn of the twentieth century. Washington was a leader in black education, and a strong influence as a racial representative in national politics.
Earl Little, a Baptist minister, and his second wife, Louise, born in Grenada, British West Indies, were long-standing members of Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association.
Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association form a critical link in black America's centuries-long struggle for freedom, justice, and equality. Garvey is now best remembered as a champion of the back-to-Africa movement.
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, one of the most influential intellectuals of the 20th century, was an editor, historian, sociologist, novelist, civil rights leader, socialist, and pan-Africanist.
The Universal Negro Improvement Association's first international convention opened in Liberty Hall, New York, on August 1, 1920. Approximately two thousand delegates from 22 countries were present.
Read about the Universal Negro Improvement Association, including the formation of the Black Star Line,The Negro Factories Corporation and The Negro World, and finally about what role women played in the organisation.
In East St. Louis, Illinois on July 1, 1917, a rumor spread claiming that a white man had been killed by a black man, and tensions boiled over. The next day, the city of East St. Louis exploded in the worst racial rioting the country had ever seen.
