Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America

by Michael Harriot

Born in 1887 in Jamaica, Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr. became one of the most controversial figures of his time for his views on racial separatism. His Universal Negro Improvement Association’s “Back to Africa” movement was one of the most influential Black movements of its time. In 1919, the UNIA’s Negro World weekly publication boasted more readers than the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and many other “mainstream” papers. And the Negro World reported the events of 1919 as one unified singular event of racial terrorism. Speed was taking notes. As the Red Summer raged, Speed was still investigating “subversives.” But with no foreign war to build a reputation on and no formal experience in policing or detective work, he had to find a new way to keep his status as a rising star in the Bureau of Investigation. And he soon did, by casting white terrorism as a response to Black “subversive” activity. To convey his growing power, Speed decided to adopt a more dignified persona. He was now known as J. Edgar Hoover.