WI: Successful Back-to-Africa Movement in the 1930s?

IOTL, the Universal Negro Improvement Association worked to establish a proper program for Americans of Sub-Saharan African descent to be repatriated to Liberia. However, this program was put out of action with the Liberian government's refusal to accept members of the UNIA's repatriation plans by the 1920s as the Firestone Rubber Company secured a commercial agreement with Monrovia to acquire the same piece of land that was to be leased out to the UNIA in order to extract and refine rubber.

Is there any way that the UNIA could be successful in its repatriation program?
 
To begin some discussion, I came up with my own scenario - what if the UNIA's Negro Factories Corporation had bought up lands from the Liberian government at an earlier time and began resettling African-Americans before the Firestone Rubber Company can attain their commercial concession?
 
Depends, if Firestone really have their heart set on that particular piece of land then chances are they simply pay the Liberian government to compulsory purchase it and then sell it on to them.
 
Depends, if Firestone really have their heart set on that particular piece of land then chances are they simply pay the Liberian government to compulsory purchase it and then sell it on to them.
Is there any way to avoid having Firestone purchasing that particular land in favor of a better deal with the Liberian government?
 
Is there any way to avoid having Firestone purchasing that particular land in favor of a better deal with the Liberian government?
A better deal? Going from memory our timeline's deal was embarrassingly favourable to Firestone. Without knowing the geological or meteorological details I honestly couldn't say whether the land claim they staked out was the only viable area or if another one elsewhere would do just as well.
 
A better deal? Going from memory our timeline's deal was embarrassingly favourable to Firestone. Without knowing the geological or meteorological details I honestly couldn't say whether the land claim they staked out was the only viable area or if another one elsewhere would do just as well.
That is a good point - what else could be done to prevent Firestone from purchasing that piece?
 

Deleted member 94680

That is a good point - what else could be done to prevent Firestone from purchasing that piece?

Why did the UNIA and Firestone want the same land?

It seems to many that the purchase of the land by Firestone and the refusal of the Monrovia government to take UNIA ships were linked.

Maybe have UNIA build it’s influence and finances elsewhere before moving to Liberia later on, after the Firestone concessions lessen their influence? Can the Gold Coast offices be expanded to give an African presence?

Having the UNIA maintain their direction under the leadership after Garvey’s arrest would also help.
 
Maybe have UNIA build it’s influence and finances elsewhere before moving to Liberia later on, after the Firestone concessions lessen their influence? Can the Gold Coast offices be expanded to give an African presence?

Having the UNIA maintain their direction under the leadership after Garvey’s arrest would also help.
Along the expansion of the Gold Coast offices, having the UNIA be active in Ethiopia might be somewhat plausible - an earlier Haile Selassie might see the UNIA as a better alternative to the Great Powers of Europe and invite the Negro Factories Corporation to invest in the country in the aftermath of World War 1.

Any ideas on how this could occur?
 

Deleted member 94680

Along the expansion of the Gold Coast offices, having the UNIA be active in Ethiopia might be somewhat plausible - an earlier Haile Selassie might see the UNIA as a better alternative to the Great Powers of Europe and invite the Negro Factories Corporation to invest in the country in the aftermath of World War 1.

Any ideas on how this could occur?

I can’t see the NFC replacing the Great Powers, but maybe being a significant investor alongside them?

Maybe basing the Black Star Line out of Ethiopia would stop the FBI from interfering with their ships if it was a foreign flagged carrier?
 
I can’t see the NFC replacing the Great Powers, but maybe being a significant investor alongside them?

Maybe basing the Black Star Line out of Ethiopia would stop the FBI from interfering with their ships if it was a foreign flagged carrier?
That was what I meant - sorry if I wasn't being clear enough.

That sounds like a good idea, might even provide more revenue for the BSL and UNIA in general.
 
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The black hebrews actually asked senator bilbo to "help" arrange repatriation for African Americans to the motherland.
 
Why not just have the UNIA find another piece of land? Surely in scouting out areas for settlement the eventual Firestone rubber plantation couldn't have been the only parcel of land considered?
 
Why not just have the UNIA find another piece of land? Surely in scouting out areas for settlement the eventual Firestone rubber plantation couldn't have been the only parcel of land considered?
I thought about that as well but there's also the Liberian government's refusal to allow any of UNIA's members through Liberia's ports subsequent to Firestone's acquisition of concessions.
 
Just a guess, but Firestones managers may have been concerned about Bolsheviks, Socialists, and other undesirables among the migrants from the US reaching Liberia. I'd have to check but recall Firestone was owned and managed by the usual suspects who were 'concerned' about their property rights and ability to do business in the unfettered market place.
 
Just a guess, but Firestones managers may have been concerned about Bolsheviks, Socialists, and other undesirables among the migrants from the US reaching Liberia. I'd have to check but recall Firestone was owned and managed by the usual suspects who were 'concerned' about their property rights and ability to do business in the unfettered market place.
This made me think - could the UNIA only offer to repatriate members of the organization if she takes more of an anti-Socialist position in the early 1920s?
 
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To expand more on the idea of the UNIA only accepting its own members to emigrate to Liberia after assuming an anti-Socialist/Communist streak, it could increase its existing base in West Africa - which includes Liberia, perhaps even placing a particular importance on the aforementioned country ITTL. The UNIA goes Fascist by the early 1920s, with Garvey viewing it as one of the only vehicles in which the Black race can advance as the UNIA reorganizes itself along the lines of the Italian National Fascist Party who shows interest in this nascent organization. They decide to support it as a means of expanding their influence in Africa as the NFC receives more revenues from basing the BSL in an Ethiopia that has managed to acquire a coastline after its involvement in WWI and the UNIA investing in Liberia as well. Buying up land in Liberia, the UNIA repatriates willing African-Americans to these purchased lands in the African country while encouraging wealthy Blacks (maybe even some Ethiopian nobles!) to invest in the country to establish autarky in Liberia as by the late 1920s, the UNIA possesses significant influence in the ranks of the average Liberian and promises are made to replicate Mussolini's successes during the Great Depression as the UNIA begins preparing for a March on Monrovia . . .
 
What are the other separatists like Nobel drew Ali, w.d. Fahd, and the Ethiopian peace movement up to?
I'm not sure about Nobel Drew Ali but I can see W.D. Fard joining the UNIA ITTL and even going to Liberia (maybe he converts to Ethiopian Orthodoxy after meeting an Ethiopian noble and the Nation of Islam instead becomes the Nation of Orthodoxy) while the Ethiopian Peace Movement plays an interesting role ITTL. Thanks to its contacts with the Japanese Black Dragon Society, the same Japanese Fascist literature that has spread to Ethiopia ends up reaching the upper echelons of the EPM who become a Fascist movement in all but name and joins the UNIA in promoting the Back-to-Africa movement during the 1930s which brings up something else - the possibility of the UNIA and other African-American Fascist organizations becoming particularly influential in Liberia. @Dan Yampton mentioned that Liberia might've eventually become organized along Fascist lines if Ethiopia avoids the Italian occupation - might happen in this timeline . . .
 
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