Negro Factories Corporation

Originally from Saint Ann's Bay, Jamaica, Marcus Garvey left at 23 and traveled throughout Central America and moved for a time to England. During his travels he became convinced that uniting Blacks was the only way to improve their condition. Towards that end, he departed England on June 17, 1914, aboard the SS Trent, returning to Jamaica on July 7, 1914. He founded the UNIA in Kingston later that month, intending to unite all of Africa and its diaspora into the organization. After traveling through the United States beginning in March 1916, Garvey inaugurated the New York Division of the UNIA in 1918 with 13 members.

The Negro World was founded on August 17, 1918, as a weekly newspaper to express the ideas of the organization. Garvey contributed a front-page editorial each week in which he developed the organization's position on different issues related to people of African ancestry around the world, in general, and the UNIA, in particular. Eventually claiming a circulation of 500,000, the newspaper was printed in several languages. It contained a page specifically for women readers, documented international events related to people of African ancestry, and was distributed throughout the African diaspora until publication ceased in 1933.

In 1919, the UNIA purchased the first of what would be numerous Liberty Halls. Located at 114 West 138th Street, in Harlem, New York City, the building had a seating capacity of 6,000. The single-level hall with low ceilings had previously been home to the Metropolitan Baptist Tabernacle. It was dedicated on July 27, 1919. On Sunday evenings, it was the site of the weekly UNIA meeting; it also housed a restaurant. Later that year the Association organized the first of its two steamship companies and a separate business corporation.

Incorporated in Delaware as a domestic corporation on June 27, 1919, the Black Star Line, Inc. (BSL) was capitalized at 10 million dollars. It sold shares individually valued at five dollars to both UNIA members and non-members alike. Proceeds from stock sales were used to purchase first the SS Yarmouth and then the SS Shady Side. The Shady Side was used by the association for summer outings and excursions, as well as rented out on charter to other organizations. The BSL later purchased the Kanawha as its third vessel. This small yacht was intended for inter-island transportation in the West Indies and was rechristened the SS Antonio Maceo.

Also established in 1919 was the Negro Factories Corporation, with a capitalization of one million dollars. It generated income and provided around 700 jobs by its numerous enterprises: three grocery stores, two restaurants, a laundry, a tailor shop, a dressmaking shop, a millinery store, a printing company, and doll factory. However, most went out of business by 1922.

With the growth of its membership from 1918 through 1924, as well as income from its various economic enterprises, UNIA purchased additional Liberty Halls in the US, Canada, Costa Rica, Belize, Panama, Java, and other countries. UNIA also purchased farms in Ohio and other states. It purchased land in Claremont, Virginia with the intention of founding Liberty University.

The Negro Factories Corporation of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League, was the "finance arm", capitalized for $1 million, offering stock shares, at $5 each, for African-Americans to buy, to provide loans to establish black-owned businesses.

The Negro Factories Corporation was intended to "build and operate factories in the big industrial centers of the United States, Central America, the West Indies and Africa to manufacture every marketable commodity." It was an effort for economic development within communities of African descent. Businesses included a chain of grocery stores, a restaurant, a steam laundry, a tailor and dressmaking shop, a millinery store and a publishing house. The UNIA had difficulty keeping the businesses going, and by the mid-1920s, many had closed.

In 1921, Negro Factories Corporation became insolvent.

"Garvey appointed inexperienced people to run organizations because he valued loyalty over competence".