Harlem's Socrates: Race First in Jim Crow America
The ICUL and a Leader Lost In 1924 Harrison founded what became his last civil rights organization, the International Colored Unity League. Harking back to the days of the Liberty League, the new ICUL published in the organization’s new paper, The Voice of the Negro, a program of the founding principles of the organization. This new program heralded some major changes from the Liberty League platform from seven years prior. The organization hoped to bridge the gaps between factions, uniting for the benefit of African Americans in dealing with the “race problem” and effectively forgoing criticism of other African-American leaders and movements. Marking a drastic change in his public stance on religion, Harrison acknowledged that “the Negro Church … has done more for the education and spiritual uplift of the masses than any other agency in the race.” In making this acknowledgement, the ICUL planned to “work in friendly and active cooperation” with the church and all other African-American periodicals and organizations. The most radical call by Harrison in the ICUL was for the founding of an African-American “state or states” within the borders of the United States.116 Harrison seemed to have accepted the idea of a new African state, an idea core to Garveyism, yet adapted this idea to fit with his emphasis on solving the “race problem” in the United States. This could also signal disillusion on Harrison’s part concerning the capacity for American society to change quickly enough for African Americans to gain their civil rights in his lifetime. Throughout the document, Harrison consistently emphasized the role of the masses in solving the many problems African Americans faced, a core aspect of his Race First philosophy that he maintained his entire life. Although the ICUL did not experience the same level of initial popularity as the Liberty League, the 1924 ICUL program demonstrated Harrison’s years of gained experience since 1917. However, it seems Harrison’s influence at this point had greatly diminished in the
The University of Oregon McNair Research Journal [57]