The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1920-09-17
Mr.. A. B. Williams Retells the Story
Story of the Liberian Expedition
Which Sailed From Charleston
43 Years Ago.

interest the following article oy
Mr.. A. B. Williams, which appeared
in the New York Times OF last
Sunday. Mr.. Williams is, best
known in this state through his edl-
torship of the Greenville News in the
,8Os and '9O's, when he made that
newspaper talked of far and wide.
In 1877 at the time of the voyage OF
which he writes he was reporter on
The News and Courier and made the
trip to Liberia for this newspaper, MS
articles, after being published in The
News and Courier, being collected
and bound. Copies of the book, how
ever, are exceedingly scarce.
IS, New York-and the country gen
eral:y to certain extent-has been
reading lately about the ambitious
schemes of one Marcus Garvey. Gar
yey. said to be a native of Jamaica
and yarriously described as head OF a
large laundry in Harlem, as president
Of the Black Star steamship line, and
as president general of the Universal
Negro Improvement association, has
been the central figure in large mass
meetings of negroes in this city, and
has been proeiaiming a grandlose
program for the races future.
In Madison Square Garden, on Au-
gust 2, according to the papers next
morning, ago 900 negroes yelled for
an Africa free, from the Strait OF
Gibraltar to the Cape of Coed Hope,
an immense negro republic of ne
groes, offcered by negroes, for the
negro"
Enthusiastic followers gathered
Garvey afterward and addressed him
as .syour majesty" At these gather
ings band of 40 pieces and a
choir: Of many :ces, male and fe-
male, furnish music, and red, black
and green banners of the Southern
African republic are displayed. Incl
5dentaliy (thongh this is declared not
to be at all the purpose of the assem-
blies) shares Of the Black Star steam
ship line are offered for sale and
sometimes purchased.
Garvey expressly denies that he is
sApreaching a wholesale exodus Of the
black race to Africa" "For me to do
that, he is quoted as saying, "would
be crazy. People don't care to give
up their six and seven room apart
ments in Harlem to sleep in a ham,
mock in Africa, As. he modestly ex-
planned it, what was proposed was
.ssso send some pioneers over there,
professional and laboring men, to es-
tabIish some kind of concerted plans
whereby we will eventually obtain
,the independence of the 4oo,ooo,ooo
backs Of the world.
Whatever the present scope Of his
plans, Garvey, with his slogan OF
tAfrica for Africans" and word pic
tures of a continent of negroes ruled
3 by negroes, is not quite original. An
undertaking along the same lines ne
indicates, startled the South AZ years
ago. Perhaps it was doomed to fail
ire by, the conditions Prince Deniyi
{ Of Nigeria outlined recently in The
Times, but the disaster resulted from
It's own sins and blunders, and the
following account of it is written
from personal knowledge:
When the last of the reconstruc-
ton governments and negro power
had been overthrown in the South
ern states, by the election of 1875,
number of negroes organized move
msnt for wholesale emigration of
their race to the black republic of
Liberia, on the west coast of Africa.
The idea spread fast in South and
North Carolina, Georgia and Ala
bama. The "Liberian Exodus asso-
citation" was created as stock COM
pany. Special appeal was made to
the religious tendencies of the people.
The negroes were to go out of Amer
lea as the children of Israel went out
Of Egypt. Africa was their promised
land, flowing with milk and honey,
which they were to possess, Chris
tianize, redeem and govern, civiliz-
ing and utilizing the natives, instead
of, fighting and destroying them as
: the Israelites did with the inhabi-
tants of Canaan. Many preachers
seized the suggestion with racial en-
thusiasm and expounded it with
apostolic zeal. With sweat pouring
over their faces they let loose their
inaginations and exhausted their vo-
cabularies before congregations in