The Black Star Line (1919−1922) was a shipping line incorporated by
Marcus Garvey
Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr. (17 August 188710 June 1940) was a Jamaican political activist. He was the founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) (commonly known a ...
, the organizer of the
Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), and other members of the UNIA. The shipping line was created to facilitate the transportation of goods and eventually
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
s throughout the African global economy. It derived its name from the
White Star Line
The White Star Line was a British shipping line. Founded out of the remains of a defunct Packet trade, packet company, it gradually grew to become one of the most prominent shipping companies in the world, providing passenger and cargo service ...
, a line whose success Garvey felt he could duplicate.
The Black Star Line became a key part of Garvey's contribution to the
Back-to-Africa movement, but it was mostly unsuccessful, partly due to infiltration by FBI agents. It was only one among many businesses which the UNIA originated, such as the Universal Printing House,
Negro Factories Corporation, and the widely distributed and highly successful ''
Negro World'' weekly newspaper.
The Black Star Line and its successor, the Black Cross Navigation and Trading Company, operated between 1919 and the mid-1920s. It stands today as a major symbol for Garvey followers and
Pan-Africanists
Pan-Africanism is a nationalist movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all indigenous peoples and diasporas of African ancestry. Based on a common goal dating back to the Atlantic slave trade, the Trans-Sa ...
. It is not to be confused with the later Black Star Line, the state shipping corporation of
Ghana
Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...
.
History

The Black Star Line was incorporated as a
Delaware corporation
The Delaware General Corporation Law (sometimes abbreviated DGCL), officially the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware (Title 8, Chapter 1 of the Delaware Code), is the statute of the Delaware Code that governs corporate law in the U. ...
on June 27, 1919.
Having a maximum capitalization of $500,000, BSL shares were sold at UNIA conventions at five dollars each.
The first directors of the Black Star Line were Marcus Garvey, Edgar M. Grey, Richard E. Warner, George Tobias, Jeremiah Certain,
Henrietta Vinton Davis, and Janie Jenkins. The officers of the corporation were President Marcus Garvey, First Vice President — Jeremiah Certain, Second Vice President Henrietta Vinton Davis, Treasurer George Tobias, Secretary Richard E. Warner, Assistant Secretary Edgar M. Grey and Assistant Treasurer Janie Jenkins. Six months after incorporation the board of directors voted to increase the Black Star Line market capitalization to $10 million (equivalent to $ million in ).
[
The Black Star Line surprised all its critics when, only three months after being incorporated, the first of four ships, ' was bought with the intention of renaming it ''Frederick Douglass''. ''Yarmouth'' was a collier in the First World War, and was in poor condition when the Black Star Line bought her. Once reconditioned, ''Yarmouth'' sailed for three years between the US and the West Indies as the first Black Star Line ship with an all-black crew and a black captain. Later Joshua Cockburn, the captain of ''Yarmouth'', was accused of receiving a "kick back from the purchase price".
]
''Yarmouth'' was not the only ship that BSL bought in poor condition and completely oversold. Garvey spent another $200,000 for more ships (equivalent to $ million in ). One, , sailed the "cruise to nowhere" on the Hudson River
The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...
one summer and sank the next fall because of a leak.[ Another was the steam yacht , once owned by Henry Huttleston Rogers. Booker T. Washington had been an honored guest aboard the ship when it was owned by his friend and confidant, Rogers. However, Rogers had died in 1909, and the once well-maintained yacht had also served in the first World War. After having been renamed '' Antonio Maceo'' by the Black Star Line, it blew a ]boiler
A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, centra ...
and killed a man.[
Besides oversold and poorly conditioned ships, the Black Star Line was beset by mismanagement and infiltration by agents of ]J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American attorney and law enforcement administrator who served as the fifth and final director of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) and the first director of the Federal Bureau o ...
's Bureau of Investigation (the forerunner to the Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
), including the first African-American agent hired by the bureau, James Wormley Jones, who became an intimate of Garvey, and other agents who − according to historian Winston James − sabotaged it by throwing foreign matter into the fuel, damaging the engines. On its first commission, the ''Yarmouth'' brought a shipment of whiskey
Whisky or whiskey is a type of liquor made from Fermentation in food processing, fermented grain mashing, mash. Various grains (which may be Malting, malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, Maize, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky ...
from the US to Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
(before Prohibition
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...
) in record time, but because it did not have docking arrangements in Havana, it lost money sitting in the docks while the longshoremen had a strike.[ A cargo-load of ]coconut
The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...
s rotted in the hull of a ship on another voyage because Garvey insisted on having the ships make ceremonial stops at politically important ports.[
]
In 1919, J. Edgar Hoover and the BOI charged Marcus Garvey and three other officers with mail fraud. The prosecution stated that the brochure of the Black Star Line contained a picture of a ship that the BSL did not own. The ship pictured was '' Orion'', which in the brochure was renamed '' Phyllis Wheatley''. The BSL was trying to buy the ship at the time, but did not own her yet. The fact that the ship was not owned yet by the BSL constituted mail fraud. "In 1922, Garvey and three other Black Star Line officials were indicted by the US government for using the mails fraudulently to solicit stock for the recently defunct steamship line." On the witness stand, Garvey admitted that $600,000 ($ in ) had been "blown to the wind". The jury convicted only Garvey, but not the other three officers, and he was sentenced to five years in prison. In 1927, President Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States, serving from 1923 to 1929. A Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer from Massachusetts, he previously ...
deported Garvey back to Jamaica.
The Black Star Line was suspended by Garvey in February 1922, following his arrest on mail fraud charges. The ''Shady Side'' was abandoned on mudflats at Fort Lee, New Jersey
Fort Lee is a Borough (New Jersey), borough at the eastern border of Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, situated along the Hudson River atop The Palisades (Hudson River), The Palisades.
As of the 2020 Uni ...
. The line was reconstituted as the Black Cross Navigation and Trading Company thereafter, which purchased a new ship, the SS ''General G W Goethals'', in October 1924. It was then renamed the SS ''Booker T. Washington''. The ship sailed to Cuba and Panama in 1925, but it is unclear whether it ever returned to New York, due to lack of funds.
In popular culture
*Reggae singer Fred Locks re-introduced the Black Star Line to a Jamaican audience with his 1976 hit "Black Star Liner" (which has been called one of "the most important songs in reggae music of the 1970s"), portraying Garvey as a Moses-like prophet: "Seven miles of Black Star Liners coming in the harbor ..I can hear the elders saying. These are the days for which we've been praying ... Marcus Garvey told us that the Black Star Liners are coming one day for us".
*The 1977 reggae album by Culture
Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...
, '' Two Sevens Clash'', featured a song called "Black Starliner Must Come".
*A 1978 reggae song named "Black Star Liner" by The Regulars (later renamed to Reggae Regular) appears to still be a popular song on YouTube. Also Black Slate on their album ''Amigo'' recorded a song called "Freedom Time (Black Star Liner)", with references to Marcus Garvey and "seven miles of Black Star Liner".
*The Black Star Line was also commemorated by blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
singers such as Hazel Meyers and Rosa Henderson; by the musical group Brand Nubian (on their 1993 album ''In God We Trust
"In God We Trust" (also rendered as "In God we trust") is the United States national motto, official motto of the United States as well as the motto of the U.S. state of Florida, along with the nation of Nicaragua (Spanish language, Spanish: '' ...
''); and by Ranking Dread with "Black Starlina" on his ''Kunta Kinte Roots'' album.
*"Train to Zion" by Linval Thompson (writer) and U Brown featured the lines: "Train to Zion is coming / Don't want no one to miss it / It's the Black Star Liner / It's going to Zion..."
* Black Star Liner was the name of a British electronic group, who won a Mercury Music Prize
The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual Music award, music prize awarded for the best album released by a musical act from the Music of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom or Music of Ireland, Ireland. It was cre ...
nomination in 1999 for their album ''Bengali Batam Youth Foundation''.
*"Marcus Senior" by Burning Spear
Winston Rodney Order of Distinction, OD (born 1 March 1945), better known by the stage name Burning Spear, is a Jamaican roots reggae singer-songwriter, vocalist, and musician. Burning Spear is a Rastafarian movement, Rastafarian and one of the ...
on their '' Marcus' Children'' album, contained lyrics about the struggle Marcus Garvey endured.
*Spanish singer-songwriter Javier Ruibal sings about the North American slaves' dream of going back to their plundered and subdued Africa, in his song "Black Star Line". Ruibal sings along with Chico Cesar and the song was released on his 2018 album "Paraisos Mejores".
* Black Star is the group name adopted by Mos Def
Yasiin Bey ( ; born Dante Terrell Smith; December 11, 1973), formerly known as Mos Def ( ), is an American rapper, singer, and actor. A prominent figure in conscious hip hop, he is recognized for his use of wordplay and commentary on social an ...
and Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli Greene (; born October 3, 1975) is an American rapper. He first earned recognition through his collaboration with fellow Brooklyn rapper Mos Def (now known as Yasiin Bey) in 1997, when they formed the group Black Star. Kweli's music ...
for their work as a duo. Their 1998 album '' Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star'', was a reference to Garvey and the Black Star Line.
*In the Xenowealth series of future science fiction novels by Caribbean-American author Tobias Buckell, the Black Starliner Corporation is an interstellar shipping company responsible for resettling marginalized, primarily Black, emigrants from Earth on a number of terraformed planets.
*The BlackStar Film Festival, a Philadelphia film festival
A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theater, cinemas or screening venues, usually annually and in a single city or region. Some film festivals show films outdoors or online.
Films may be of recent ...
focused on films about and by black, brown and indigenous people from around the world, was named after the shipping company.
*Black Star Line Festival, founded in 2022 by the artist Chance the Rapper
Chancelor Johnathan Bennett (born April 16, 1993), known professionally as Chance the Rapper, is an American rapper. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, he released his debut mixtape '' 10 Day'' (2012) during one of his high school suspension ...
was inspired by the shipping company.
Legacy
The flag of Ghana
The national flag of Ghana consists of a horizontal triband of red, yellow, and green. It replaced the British Gold Coast's Blue Ensign.
The flag, which was adopted upon the independence of the Dominion of Ghana on 6 March 1957, was designe ...
adopted a black star as an homage to their own shipping line, The Black Star Line, which was the national shipping corporation of Ghana.
Bibliography
Notes
References
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External links
People & Events: The Black Star Line
“The Collapse of the Only Thing in the Garvey Movement Which Was Original or Promising”: Du Bois on Garvey
“The Black Star Line”: Singing a Song of Garveyism
{{DEFAULTSORT:Black Star Line, The
1919 establishments in Delaware
1922 disestablishments in Delaware
African-American history between emancipation and the civil rights movement
American companies established in 1919
Black-owned companies of the United States
Defunct companies based in Delaware
Defunct shipping companies of the United States
Transportation companies based in Delaware
Transport companies established in 1919
Transport companies disestablished in 1922
Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League