Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League - First International Convention

First International Convention

By 1920 the association had over 1,900 divisions in more than 40 countries. Most of the divisions were located in the United States, which had become the UNIA's base of operations. There were, however, offices in several Caribbean countries, with Cuba having the most. Divisions also existed in such diverse countries as Panama, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Venezuela, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia, India, Australia, Nigeria, Namibia, and South Africa.

For the entire month of August 1920, the UNIA-ACL held its first international convention at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The 20,000 members in attendance promulgated The Declaration of Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World on August 13, 1920, and elected the leaders of the UNIA as "leaders for the Negro people of the world".

The organization put forth a program based on "The Declaration of Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World", marking the evolution of the movement into a black nationalist one. It sought to uplift of the black race and encouraged self-reliance and nationhood. Amongst the declarations was one proclaiming the red, black and green flag the official banner of the African race. (Beginning in the 1960s, black nationalists and Pan-Africanists adopted the same flag as the Black Liberation Flag.) UNIA-ACL officially designated the song "Ethiopia the land of our fathers" as the official anthem of "Africa and the Africans, at home and Abroad".

Under the provisions of the UNIA constitution, Gabriel Johnson was elected Supreme Potentate; G. O. Marke, Supreme Deputy Potentate; J. W. . Eason, leader of the fifteen million "Negroes" of the United States of America; and Henrietta Vinton Davis, International Organizer. Garvey was elected "Provisional President of Africa", a mostly ceremonial title.

The opening parade provided one of the most striking features of the convention. It began outside the UNIA headquarters on West 135th Street, went uptown as far as 145th and downtown as far as 125th Street, taking it beyond the boundaries of black residence into white areas. Four mounted policemen, and the heads of Black Star Line and Negro Factories Corporation, led the parade, followed by cars carrying Garvey and Mayor of Monrovia, capital of Liberia, and other UNIA officials, then the Black Star Line Choir, on foot, and contingents from throughout US and Caribbean, Canada, Nigeria, carrying banners, and including 12 bands, with about 500 cars bringing up the rear. Similar dramatic parades featured in the 1922 and 1924 conventions; even after Garvey had left Harlem, the UNIA paraded each August throughout the 1920s, with the place of honour given to portraits of their absent leader. The spectacle of uniformed members, particularly the African Legion and Black Cross Nurses, made a particular impact on the crowds. Many photographs survive of the 1924 Convention Parade, as Garvey employed noted photographer James Van Der Zee to record the event.