Stewart, the leader of the UNIA-ACL after Marcus Garvey, from 1940 and 1964, was responsible for bringing the Parent Body of the UNIA-ACL to Cleveland from 1940 to 1949. It was under his tenure that events such as the Western Hemisphere Conference for the UNIA-ACL (August 1941) were held in Cleveland. It was estimated that 10,000 Garveyites from around the world were to attend the event. He also hosted the 9th international conference in August 1942. Blacks from the U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean all converged on the city. Stewart additionally made Cleveland the center for the revival of Garvey’s newspaper, now called the New Negro World. One of Stewart's downfalls was his position on emigration, and an evolving social climate. Due to Stewart's and the UNIA-ACL’s mindset of Africans as uncivilized and their remaining wedded to emigration and entrepreneurial endeavors, many African Americans thought the UNIA program was behind the times. Prompted by his flagging fortunes, he emigrated to Liberia, taking the seat of the UNIA-ACL parent organization with him from 1949 to 1964. | Date: 1940 | Source: Cleveland Memory Project, Cleveland State University Library Special Collections Download Original File
Source
Cleveland Memory Project, Cleveland State University Library Special Collections
