The Black Star Line and its successor, the Black Cross Navigation and Trading Company, was founded by Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association (U.N.I.A.). The Black Star Line was incorporated in Delaware on June 23, 1919, and operated between 1919 and 1922.
The company was capitalized at a maximum of $500,000. Shares were valued at five dollars each, and individuals could purchase a maximum of two hundred shares. Black Star Line stock was sold at U.N.I.A. meetings and conventions, by traveling agents, by mailed circulars, and through advertisements in the Negro newspaper.
The Black Star Line was envisioned to be the U.N.I.A.'s vehicle for promoting worldwide commerce among black communities. Black Star Line ships would transport manufactured goods, raw materials, and produce among black businesses in North America, the Caribbean, and Africa, and become the linchpin in a global black economy. To the surprise of the critics, just three months after the incorporation, Black Star Line announced the purchase of its first ship. The "S. S. Yarmouth," to be renamed the "Frederick Douglas," and would set sail with an all-black crew under the command of a black captain, Joshua Cockburn.
From the beginning the company faced chaos and betrayal. The "Yarmouth" had been used as a coal boat in World War I, and was in very poor condition at the time of its sale. The ship was reportedly worth no more than $25,000, yet the U.N.I.A. paid $165,000 for it. Joshua Cockburn, Garvey's hand-picked captain, would later be accused of taking a kickback from the purchase price.
In 1920 Garvey spent another two hundred thousand dollars, raised from his followers, to purchase additional over-priced ships. The "S. S. Shadyside," which would be used as a Hudson River excursion boat, carrying black passengers on a "cruise to nowhere" for one summer, then in the fall, sprang a leak and sank. The second ship purchased, was a steam yacht called "Kanawha" (renamed the "S. S. Antonio Maceo") was grandly displayed on a Harlem pier for all of Garvey's admirers to see. But on its maiden voyage, the "Kanawha" blew a boiler, killing a crewman.
The Black Star Line fell victim to overcharging by engineers, thievery by representatives and officers, and sabotage. But it was also plagued by mismanagement. The "Yarmouth's" first commission was to transport a cargo of whiskey out of the U.S. and into Cuba before the start of Prohibition. The ship made the trip in record time, but arrived in Cuba without docking arrangements, and quickly became entangled in a longshoremen's strike. The "Yarmouth" sat stranded on the docks of Havana, waiting -- and losing money -- for weeks on end. On another Black Star Line voyage, a cargo load of coconuts rotted at sea because Garvey insisted the ship make ceremonial visits to politically important ports. As a business venture, the Black Star Line quickly became a disaster. Garvey's supporters invested what was in many cases their life's savings. Estimates of the company's losses are as high as $1.25 million dollars.
Though it was ultimately a business fiasco, the Black Star Line was an important symbol of black potential. Thousands crowded the dock at 135th Street in Harlem to witness the launching of the "Yarmouth." In Cuba and Central America, thousands of black supporters on horses, donkeys, and makeshift carts descended on the docks to witness the arrival of the first ship they'd ever seen owned and operated by black men.
In February of 1922, the company formally announced the suspended operations of the Black Star Lines.
Comments
Post a Comment