Similarities Between The NAACP And The UNIA

The NAACP and the UNIA were two organizations concentrated on the lives of African Americans. These two organizations shared similarities and differences.
The NAACP stands for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Originally, the NAACP was called the Niagara Movement and it was founded it 1905 by W.E.B. Du Bois. The goal of the NAACP was for political and economical justice for African Americans. The NAACP believed blacks and whites were one and the same and wanted racial integration. For the most part, the NAACP membership was limited to the middle class just as other progressive organizations were. “Drawing members from both the white and black communities, the NAACP mounted legal challenges to segregation and

bigotry” (Bryan, HIS 202-W02 Overview Chapter 22). When the NAACP first began, the group was primarily white. Jane Addams, Lincoln Steffens, and John Dewey were some of the first white people to join the NAACP. W.E.B. Du Bois and Ida. B. Wells-Barnett was some of the first African American’s to join the organization. More than 90,000 members in more than 300 branches existed by 1919 in the NAACP. (Davidson, et al, p. 605)
The UNIA stands for Universal Negro Improvement Association.

Marcus Garvey founded the UNIA in 1916. Marcus Garvey was a black nationalist from Jamaica. He brought the UNIA to America in desires of reestablishing black pride by returning African Americans to Africa and Africa to Africans. (Davidson, et al, p. 661) Marcus Garvey pushed for the separation of the races. “When Garvey spoke at the first national UNIA convention in 1920, over 25,000 supporters jammed Madison Square Garden in New York City to listen” (Davidson, et at, p. 661). The gathering was the first mass movement of African Americans in history. (Davidson, et at, p. 661) The UNIA had over 30 branches and over half a million people. Marcus Garvey was sentenced to prison in 1925 for mail fraud. He oversold stock in his company, Black Star Line, which was founded to return African Americans to Africa. Although his vision was destroyed, the image of a dignified black man standing up against racial bigotry and intolerance was not. (Davidson, et at, p. 661)
Both the NAACP and the UNIA were organizations trying the better the lives of African Americans. W.E.B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey were both influential leaders of the African American community during the 1920’s. Marcus Garvey and W.E.B. Du Bois both demanded and end to colonialism. (Davidson, et at, p.

661)