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...