Many black leaders (such as pastors) and even some white leaders (such as Abraham Lincoln) began to favor a separate black nation during this tem. .
After the Civil War, during Reconstruction, not much militant Black Nationalist activity stirred as a result of terrorism from the Ku Klux Klan and lack of political interest. However, in response to the horrid conditions of "separate but equal" (Jim Crow Laws), in 1878 blacks organized the Liberian Exodus Joint Stock Steamship Company which took repatriates to Liberia. They only made one trip. Later, one Benjamin Singleton, known as the "Moses of the Colored Exodus," led some 8,000 Southern blacks to settle in Kansas in 1879. The community survived for a short time, but soon racism forced Singleton and his people to look elsewhere. In 1885, he founded the United Transatlantic Society to expedite blacks to Africa. It never really went anywhere. (Third Way, 3) In 1891, Henry Turner visited Africa and returned to encourage emigration. That same year, he and Professor Edward Blyden of Liberia lobbied in congress for the Butler Bill, which would grant financial aid to all blacks wishing to emigrate. The bill never passed, but Blyden's writings still had a profound impact on one Jamaican man, Marcus Garvey. (Third Way, 3).
In 1913, Garvey (living in London) founded the United Negro Improvement and Conservation Association and African Communities League. It became known as UNIA. Its purpose was to promote self-help programs for blacks, African independence struggles, back-to-Africa plans, and racial pride. After one year, Garvey realized that his organization was in trouble and he went to America to raise funds. He founded a chapter of UNIA in New York City and began publishing a newspaper called Negro World. It carried a message of racial solidarity. Yet, the success of Marcus Garvey was short-lived. Because of opposition to his views, he was imprisoned on trumped-up charges of mail fraud.
