Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League - Liberian Program

Liberian Program

Although UNIA was not solely a "Back to Africa" movement, the organization did work to arrange for migration for African Americans who wanted to go there. In late 1923, an official UNIA delegation which included Robert Lincoln Poston and Henrietta Vinton Davis travelled to Liberia to survey potential landsites. They also assessed the general condition of the country from the standpoint of UNIA members interested in living in Africa.

By 1924 the Chief Justice J.J. Dossen of Liberia wrote to UNIA conveying the government's support: "The President directs me to say in reply to your letter of June 8 setting forth the objects and purposes of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, that the Government of Liberia, appreciating as they do the aims of your organization as outlined by you, have no hesitancy in assuring you that they will afford the Association every facility legally possible in effectuating in Liberia its industrial, agricultural and business projects."

About two months later, however, the Liberian President unexpectedly ordered all Liberian ports to refuse entry to any member of the "Garvey Movement". This action closely followed the Firestone Rubber Company's agreement with Liberia for a 99-year lease of one million acres (4,000 km²) of land. The land deal had been assisted by American and European governments. Originally Liberia had intended to lease the land to UNIA at an unprecedented dollar an acre ($247/km²). The commercial agreement with Firestone Tire dealt a severe blow to the UNIA's African repatriation program and inspired speculation that the actions were linked.