Pan-Africanism and Ethiopia
Ethiopian World Federation
The Garvey controversy
To understand the rise of the Ethiopian World Federation (EWF), we must start with "Garveyism". Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican pan-Africanist, was undoubtedly responsible for drawing the attention of the African Diaspora to ancient Ethiopia in the 1910s and 1920s. Garvey is even said to have prophesised the coming of a "Black redeemer", and he sent the newly crowned Emperor Haile Selassie I greetings in 1930. From London in 1935, Garvey wrote of the Italian invasion that: “the facts reveal Mussolini as a barbarian compared to Haile Selassie.” Over the summer, Garvey publicly defended Ethiopia at speakers corner in Hyde Park.
However, Garvey's support started to diminish upon the arrival of Haile Selassie in Britain in June 1936. Garvey claimed that “a black delegation that was led by an association known as the Negro Federation was ignored”, although Garvey acknowledged that the Emperor “was, no doubt, advised by his Minister to receive the white delegation that waited on him.” Compare this version of events with the report given by Sylvia Pankhurst of the Emperor's arrival at Waterloo in 1936.
To understand the rise of the Ethiopian World Federation (EWF), we must start with "Garveyism". Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican pan-Africanist, was undoubtedly responsible for drawing the attention of the African Diaspora to ancient Ethiopia in the 1910s and 1920s. Garvey is even said to have prophesised the coming of a "Black redeemer", and he sent the newly crowned Emperor Haile Selassie I greetings in 1930. From London in 1935, Garvey wrote of the Italian invasion that: “the facts reveal Mussolini as a barbarian compared to Haile Selassie.” Over the summer, Garvey publicly defended Ethiopia at speakers corner in Hyde Park.
However, Garvey's support started to diminish upon the arrival of Haile Selassie in Britain in June 1936. Garvey claimed that “a black delegation that was led by an association known as the Negro Federation was ignored”, although Garvey acknowledged that the Emperor “was, no doubt, advised by his Minister to receive the white delegation that waited on him.” Compare this version of events with the report given by Sylvia Pankhurst of the Emperor's arrival at Waterloo in 1936.
In any case, Garvey's criticism of Haile Selassie I grew progressively stronger. His scathing commentaries enraged African students in London who, on one occasion, almost mobbed him; on another occasion, Trinidadian Pan-Africanist George Padmore had to protect Garvey from a white audience when he sided with Mussolini and proclaimed the Emperor to be a coward and trickster.
Ethiopian World Federation
By the 1930s the influence of Garvey's organization, the Universal Negro Improvement Assocation, had started to wane. With the onset of the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, and with Garvey's increasingly caustic comments on Haile Selassie I, many Garveyites began to associate themselves with Ethiopian aid societies. One delegation from Harlem travelled to Fairfield House in the summer of 1936 to discuss the organization of such societies directly with Haile Selassie I . Reverend William Lloyd Imes, Philip M. Savoy, and Cyril M. Philp asked for an emmisary to direct their efforts.
By the 1930s the influence of Garvey's organization, the Universal Negro Improvement Assocation, had started to wane. With the onset of the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, and with Garvey's increasingly caustic comments on Haile Selassie I, many Garveyites began to associate themselves with Ethiopian aid societies. One delegation from Harlem travelled to Fairfield House in the summer of 1936 to discuss the organization of such societies directly with Haile Selassie I . Reverend William Lloyd Imes, Philip M. Savoy, and Cyril M. Philp asked for an emmisary to direct their efforts.
Haile Selassie I tasked his cousin and physician to the task. Dr Malaku Emanuel Bayen had previously studied in the United States and there had married an African-American woman, Dorothy Hadley. The Bayen family then relocated to Ethiopia in 1935 before making the journey to Britain and Fairfield House with Haile Selassie I in 1936. Back in the United States, Dr Bayen formed a new entity, registered in Harlem in 1937: The Ethiopian World Federation (EWF) Incorporated.
The preamble to the EWF charter:
“We, the Black Peoples of the World, in order to effect Unity, Solidarity, Liberty, Freedom and Self-determination, to secure Justice and maintain the Integrity of Ethiopia, which is our divine heritage, do hereby establish and ordain this Constitution for the Ethiopian World Federation, Incorporated.”
Dr Bayen in the Voice of Ethiopia, the EWF's newspaper:
Of a truth, the people of Ethiopia have watched keenly into the prospects for the universal participation of the Blacks in the defense of justice and their natural rights. It is in the interest of the common good that the Black people of the earth should again be re-assured of the deep admiration and liberal sentiment which Ethiopia cherishes for them. Aroused by a grave anxiety for their racial destiny, Black men the world over are showing an increasing attachment for the defense of equal justice for all mankind.
“We, the Black Peoples of the World, in order to effect Unity, Solidarity, Liberty, Freedom and Self-determination, to secure Justice and maintain the Integrity of Ethiopia, which is our divine heritage, do hereby establish and ordain this Constitution for the Ethiopian World Federation, Incorporated.”
Dr Bayen in the Voice of Ethiopia, the EWF's newspaper:
Of a truth, the people of Ethiopia have watched keenly into the prospects for the universal participation of the Blacks in the defense of justice and their natural rights. It is in the interest of the common good that the Black people of the earth should again be re-assured of the deep admiration and liberal sentiment which Ethiopia cherishes for them. Aroused by a grave anxiety for their racial destiny, Black men the world over are showing an increasing attachment for the defense of equal justice for all mankind.