We are reminded continuously about the efforts of the Civil Rights leaders and the Movement toward equal rights; however, we are not given enough information about the nationalist leaders past and present, who were defenders of Blacks from all American oppression. People like Gabriel Prosser, Joseph Cinqué, Divine, Father, Marcus Garvey, and John Mercer Langston.

Gabriel Prosser
slave revolt leader
Born: c. 1775 - Birthplace: Henrico County, Virginia

An educated slave, Prosser worked as a blacksmith. Inspired by the successful Haitian slave revolt, Prosser planned an insurrection to capture Richmond and massacre whites, except Methodists, Quakers, Frenchmen, and the poor, whom he regarded as sympathetic to blacks. He intended to make himself king of a new black nation. On Aug. 30, 1800, Prosser assembled a number of slaves outside Richmond.

However, heavy rains washed out bridges and roads, while an informer told authorities about the revolt. The militia captured several dozen slaves. Prosser was finally caught on board a ship in Norfolk and was hanged in Richmond. As a result of the planned revolt, Virginia's slave laws were tightened and abolitionist societies were forced to go underground.

Died: 1800

Joseph Cinqué
slave leader
Born: 1811 - Birthplace: Sierra Leone, Africa

Cinqué was a rice farmer in his native Sierra Leone when he was captured by Portuguese slavers and brought by ship to Havana, Cuba. This enslavement violated numerous treaties. Cinqué and 52 Africans, who had been sold to Spanish planters, were then boarded on the Spanish ship the Amistad, which was headed for a Caribbean plantation. Cinqué freed himself from his shackles and led a rebellion.

The captives killed all but the ship's navigator and demanded that he sail back to Africa. Instead, the navigator duped the Africans and headed for North America. Two months later, the ship was captured by a U.S. Navy ship off Long Island Sound and the slaves were charged with murder and imprisoned in Conn. The murder charges were dismissed, but the slaves remained in prison as the planters, the Spanish government, and the captain of the U.S. ship all laid claim to the Africans.

President Martin Van Buren, hoping to win Southern votes, sought to have the slaves extradited to Cuba. Abolitionists who opposed extradition hired a defense team for the slaves. The lawyers argued in federal court that the slaves were kidnap victims rather than property. The court ruled in favor of the defense, saying that the Africans were held illegally as slaves. The decision was appealed, and former President John Quincy Adams defended the group before the Supreme Court in January 1841. The court upheld the earlier decision. Thirty-five of the former slaves secured passage home to Africa with the help of sympathetic missionary societies in 1842. The others died either in prison or on the journey back to their homeland.

Died: 1852

Divine, Father, c. 1882-1965
African-American religious leader, founder of the Peace Mission movement
probably near Savannah, Ga. and named George Baker.

After preaching in the South, he moved to Harlem (1915) in New York City, became one of the neighborhood's biggest landlords, acquired wealth through other businesses, including restaurants and grocery stores, and began styling himself Major M. J. Divine, later Father Divine. Although once dismissed as a cult leader, he built the largest religious movement in northern ghettos during the Great Depression.

His role as an early civil-rights activist-he led antilynching campaigns, instituted economic cooperatives, and organized political action against racial discrimination-has come to be more appreciated. The movement spread beyond New York City to other places in the United States and abroad, sometimes after the group sent whites to purchase property in segregated areas. During the 1940s, his health and influence declined, but his movement symbolized the progressive spirit in the black church and helped define the church's active role in the civil-rights movement.

Garvey, Marcus, 1887-1940
American proponent of black nationalism, b. Jamaica.

At the age of 14, Garvey went to work as a printer's apprentice. After leading (1907) an unsuccessful printers' strike in Jamaica, he edited several newspapers in Costa Rica and Panama. During a period in London he became interested in African history and black nationalism. His concern for the problems of blacks led him to found (1914) the Universal Negro Improvement Association and in 1916 he moved to New York City and opened a branch in Harlem.

The UNIA was an organization designed "to promote the spirit of race pride." Broadly, its goals were to foster worldwide unity among all blacks and to establish the greatness of the African heritage. Garvey addressed himself to the lowest classes of blacks and rejected any notion of integration. Convinced that blacks could not secure their rights in countries where they were a minority race, he urged a "back to Africa" movement.

In Africa, an autonomous black state could be established, possessing its own culture and civilization, free from the domination of whites. Garvey was the most influential black leader of the early 1920s. His brilliant oratory and his newspaper, Negro World, brought him millions of followers. His importance declined, however, when his misuse of funds intended to establish a steamship company, the Black Star Line, resulted in a mail fraud conviction. He entered jail in 1925 and was deported to Jamaica two years later. From this time on his influence decreased, and he died in relative obscurity.

John Mercer Langston
U.S. public official, diplomat, educator
Born: 12/14/1829 Birthplace: Louisa County, Va.

Langston was the son of Ralph Quarles, a white plantation owner, and Jane Langston, a black slave. After his parents died when Langston was five, he and his brothers moved to Oberlin, Ohio, to live with family friends. Langston enrolled in Oberlin College at age 14 and earned bachelor's and master's degrees from the institution. Denied admission into law school, Langston studied law under attorney Philemon Bliss and was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1854.

He became actively involved in the antislavery movement, organizing antislavery societies locally and at the state level. He helped runaway slaves to escape to the North along the Ohio part of the Underground Railroad. In 1855 Langston became the country's first black elected official when he was elected town clerk of the Brownhelm Township. He was a founding member and president of the National Equal Rights League, which fought for black voting rights. During the Civil War Langston recruited African Americans to fight for the Union Army. After the war, he was appointed inspector general for the Freedmen's Bureau, a federal organization that helped freed slaves.

Langston moved to Washington, DC in 1868 to establish and serve as dean of Howard University's law school - the first black law school in the country. He was appointed acting president of the school in 1872. In 1877 Langston left to become U.S. minister to Haiti. He returned to Virginia in 1885 and was named president of Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute (now Virginia State University). In 1888 he ran for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives as an Independent. He lost to his Democratic opponent but contested the results of the election. After an 18-month fight, he won the election and served for six months. He lost his bid for reelection. Oklahoma's Langston University is named in his honor.

Died: 11/15/1897

Source from: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmpeople17.html

Posted 2004 By Afro Staff