Black Women and the Manifestations of “Inspirational Garveyism” in Depression-Era Chicago

This paper examines the political activism of Black nationalist women in the United States after the decline of Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), the largest and arguably most influential Black nationalist organization of the twentieth century.  The paper explores how women drew inspiration from Garveyism—Garvey’s race-based philosophy centered on Black pride, economic-self-sufficiency, racial separatism, African redemption and political self-determination—but also departed from it. Although nationalist women appropriated some aspects of Garveyism, they practiced an idiosyncratic style of politics, employing a wide range of strategies, combining numerous political and religious ideologies, and forging unlikely alliances in their struggle to combat racism, imperialism and colonialism. While much of the existing scholarship on gender and Garveyism centers on women’s activities during the heyday of the Garvey movement, this paper shifts focus to the era after the Garvey movement’s decline. By examining the political activities of Black nationalist women after the decline of the UNIA—and with it, “executive Garveyism”—this paper sheds light on the significant impact and enduring legacy of “inspirational Garveyism”—a more fluid discourse that Black men and women continued to invoke without Garvey’s direct influence.