The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers, Vol. VI: September 1924-December 1927

"If I die in Atlanta my work shall then only begin, but I shall live, in the physical or spiritual, to see the day of Africa's glory. . . . I shall write the history that will inspire the millions that are coming and leave the posterity of our enemies to reckon with the hosts for the deeds of their fathers."—Marcus Garvey upon his imprisonment in the Atlanta federal penitentiary, 1925

The sixth volume of The Marcus Garvey and UNIA Papers spans the great divide in the affairs of the American Garvey movement that resulted from the imprisonment of its charismatic leader in 1925. The volume tells the story of Garvey's failed efforts to win the appeal against his conviction for mail fraud, his incarceration, the legal battle to win his freedom, and the massive grass-roots petition movement mobilized in his defense. The activism inspired by Garvey's imprisonment was confounded by internecine struggles within the hierarchy of the movement and by growing financial difficulties, including the failure of the Black Cross Navigation and Trading Company, the loss of Liberty Hall, and the bankruptcy of Liberty University. The volume ends with Garvey's release from prison and his deportation from America. Although he never returned to the United States, Garvey continued his forceful shaping of the history of the movement that bore his name, first from Jamaica and then from his final exile in Britain.