www.alkebulan.org The Mosiah season in the UK continues apace. On 25/08 penultimate session the Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement Spiritual Leader Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka will deliver a message on How Garvey Took The Caribbean By Storm, while the season finale– as it has been the last nine years – is Mosiah Storm – A Night of Konscious Edutainment taking place on 28/08 (for info: alkebulan.org/mosiah). Meanwhile in the USA the parent body of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League of the World (UNIA-ACL) hosted its 58th international convention of the Afrikan people of the world from 19/08-23/08 in Chicago, USA. The convention will feature addresses from the UNIA-ACL President General and 9th successor to the Most Eminent Prophet and King, His Excellency Marcus Mosiah Garvey, BaBa Senghor Jawara Baye, Mama Marimba Ani, Baba Runoko Rashidi and legendary musician Kelan Philip Cohran (father of the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble). At its height it is said that more than half of the UNIA-ACL membership were women. While not necessarily always assuming official roles the likes of Marcus Garvey’s two wives Amy Ashwood and Amy Jacques, as well as the likes of Henrietta Vinton Davis, Maymie De Mena, Isabella Lawrence, Ida B. Wells, Augusta Savage, Ethel Trew Dunlap and through auxiliaries like the Black Cross Nurses and Universal Motor Corps had a tremendous impact on the organisation across a multiplicity of spheres. For example, apart from providing a striking spectacle at parades and events little is known about the programmes and structure of the Black Cross Nurses. At a period when Jim Crow racism meant that out of 17,000 nurses graduating annually, literally only a few Afrikans were permitted to do so. So the estimated 20,000 Black Cross Nurses worldwide provided vital services to their communities – beyond the membership of the organisation and encompassing mainstream medicine and homeopathic treatments. Sis. Natanya Duncan, Assistant Professor of History & of Africana Studies at Lehigh University (USA) has done extensive studies on women in the UNIA. In her dissertation The ‘Efficient Womanhood’ Of The Universal Negro Improvement Association: 1919-1930, she concludes: “Women of the organization developed a rhetoric and a myriad of related practical strategies – an efficient womanhood – which enabled them to influence, direct, and shape the organization in significant ways… Efficient Womanhood posits that, within the rhetoric of UNIA gendered concerns often merged with nationalist concerns. In this way Black Nationalism was fashioned by these women to address their concerns… UNIA women came to view the progress of the race as based in part on the progress of their gender and openly argued that the progress of the race would be measured through the progress of its women.” However, what Prof. Duncan’s research reveals is how much research needs to be done in uncovering the full legacy of the women in the Garvey Movement. It may also serve as a useful comparison of female involvement in the present. While we know that, for instance, that three sisters Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi co-founded the Black Lives Matter movement it would be useful to discern the level of female involvement in it and whether they share the nationalist concerns of the “efficient women” of the UNIA-ACL. So we ask the question, Can the women of the Garvey Movement inspire today’s female activists? How effective were the women in the Garvey Movement? What lessons can we learn today from their involvement? How involved are women in today’s liberation movements? Our special guests are: Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka: Resident guest who is Spiritual Leader of the Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement and UNIA-ACL Ambassador for the UK. A veteran activist of over 30 years standing, a featured columnist in The Whirlwind newspaper and author of Mosiah Daily Affirmations and Education: An Africentric Guide To Excellence. Natanya Duncan, PhD: is Assistant Professor of History & of Africana Studies in the Department of History at Lehigh University located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Her areas of research include a focus on the development of Black Nationalist practices prevalent amongst female members of the UNIA and subsequent derivative groups. Dr. Duncan is presently revising her dissertation into a manuscript entitled, Crossing Waters, Fighting Tides: The `Efficient Womanhood’ of the Universal Negro Improvement Association 1919-1930 and has started her second full length book project which will focus on the life work of Queen Mother Audley Moore. Dr Duncan is also an Officer in Association of Black Women Historians (ABWH)

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