View source for Black Star Line

{{Short description|Defunct Garveyist American shipping company}}
{{for|the 19th-century company operating transatlantic sailing vessels|Williams & Guion Black Star Line}}
{{Infobox company
| name = The Oceanic Steam Navigation Company (Black Star Line)
| logo = BLACK STAR LINER.JPG
| image_caption = Photo of [[SS Yarmouth|''Yarmouth'']], first ship in the Black Star Liner Fleet.
| type = Partnership
| foundation = {{start date|1919}}
| fate = 
| defunct = {{end date|1922}}
| area_served = Transatlantic
| industry = Shipping, transportation
| products = 
| revenue = 
| operating_income = 
| net_income = 
| num_employees = 
| successor = 
| parent = 
}}

The '''Black Star Line''' (1919–1922) was a shipping line incorporated by [[Marcus Garvey]], the organizer of the [[Universal Negro Improvement Association]] (UNIA), and other members of the UNIA. The shipping line was created to facilitate the transportation of goods and eventually [[African American]]s throughout the African global economy. It derived its name from the [[White Star Line]], a line whose success Garvey felt he could duplicate.<ref name= "Grant p. 187">{{harvnb|Grant|2009|p=187}}</ref> The Black Star Line became a key part of Garvey's contribution to the [[Back-to-Africa movement]], but it was mostly unsuccessful, partly due to infiltration by FBI agents.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/individuals/marcus-garvey#:~:text=Through%20the%20UNIA%2C%20Garvey%20also,to%20encourage%20black%20economic%20independence|title=Marcus Garvey (August 17, 1887 - June 10, 1940)|website=archives.gov|access-date=2024-08-02}}</ref> It was only one among many businesses which the UNIA originated, such as the Universal Printing House, [[Negro Factories Corporation]], and the widely distributed and highly successful ''[[Negro World]]'' weekly newspaper.

The Black Star Line and its successor, the '''Black Cross Navigation and Trading Company''', operated between 1919 and the mid-1920s. It stands today as a major symbol for Garvey followers and [[Pan-Africanism|Pan-Africanists]]. It is not to be confused with the later Black Star Line, the state shipping corporation of [[Ghana]].

==History==
[[File:Black Star Line Stock Certificate.jpg|thumb|1919 Black Star Line stock certificate]]
The Black Star Line was incorporated as a [[Delaware General Corporation Law|Delaware corporation]] on June 27, 1919.<ref name="keyamsha">{{cite web |title=The Black Star Line was incorporated 96 years ago today |url= https://keyamsha.wordpress.com/2015/06/27/the-black-star-line-was-incorporated-96-years-ago-today/ |website=Keyamsha.wordpress.com |date=27 June 2015 |access-date=28 June 2015}}</ref> Having a maximum capitalization of $500,000, BSL shares were sold at UNIA conventions at five dollars each.

The first directors of the Black Star Line were Marcus Garvey, Edgar M. Grey, Richard E. Warner, George Tobias, Jeremiah Certain, [[Henrietta Vinton Davis]], and Janie Jenkins. The officers of the corporation were President Marcus Garvey, First Vice President — Jeremiah Certain, Second Vice President Henrietta Vinton Davis, Treasurer George Tobias, Secretary Richard E. Warner, Assistant Secretary Edgar M. Grey and Assistant Treasurer Janie Jenkins. Six months after incorporation the board of directors voted to increase the Black Star Line market capitalization to $10&nbsp;million (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|10|1919|r=0}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation/year|US}}).<ref name=keyamsha/>

The Black Star Line surprised all its critics when, only three months after being incorporated, the first of four ships, ''{{SS|Yarmouth||2}}'' was bought with the intention of renaming it ''Frederick Douglass''. ''Yarmouth'' was a [[Collier (ship)|collier]] in the First World War, and was in poor condition when the Black Star Line bought her. Once reconditioned, ''Yarmouth'' sailed for three years between the US and the West Indies as the first Black Star Line ship with an all-black crew and a black captain. Later Joshua Cockburn, the captain of ''Yarmouth'', was accused of receiving a "kick back from the purchase price".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thomas-quirk.com/2013/02/21/joshua-cockburn-first-captain-of-the-black-star-line/ |title=Joshua Cockburn: First Captain of The Black Star Line &#124; The Essential Writing of Thomas Quirk |website=Thomas-quirk.com |date=21 February 2013 |access-date=2015-12-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://thomas-quirk.com/2014/08/05/captain-joshua-cockburn-the-black-star-line-the-whiskey-cruise-and-the-origin-of-rum-row-3/ |title=Captain Joshua Cockburn: The Black Star Line, The Whiskey Cruise and The Origin of Rum Row &#124; The Essential Writing of Thomas Quirk |website=Thomas-quirk.com |date=5 August 2014 |access-date=2015-12-24}}</ref>

[[File:USS Piqua 102128.jpg|thumb|Kanawha before her purchase by the Black Star Line]]
''Yarmouth'' was not the only ship that BSL bought in poor condition and completely oversold. Garvey spent another $200,000 for more ships (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|0.2|1920|r=1}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation/year|US}}).<ref name=pbsblackstar>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/garvey/peopleevents/e_blackstar.html |title=American Experience &#124; Marcus Garvey &#124; People & Events |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010218141429/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/garvey/peopleevents/e_blackstar.html |website=Pbs.org |date=1919-06-23 |access-date=2015-12-24|archive-date=2001-02-18 }}</ref> One, {{ship||Shady Side|steamboat|2}}, sailed the "cruise to nowhere" on the [[Hudson River]] one summer and sank the next fall because of a leak.<ref name=pbsblackstar/> Another was the steam yacht {{ship||Kanawha|1899|2}}, once owned by [[Henry Huttleston Rogers]]. [[Booker T. Washington]] had been an honored guest aboard the ship when it was owned by his friend and confidant, Rogers. However, Rogers had died in 1909, and the once well-maintained yacht had also served in the first World War. After having been renamed ''[[Antonio Maceo Grajales|Antonio Maceo]]'' by the Black Star Line, it blew a [[boiler]] and killed a man.<ref name=pbsblackstar/>

Besides oversold and poorly conditioned ships, the Black Star Line was beset by mismanagement and infiltration by agents of [[J. Edgar Hoover]]'s Bureau of Investigation (the forerunner to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]), including the first African-American agent hired by the bureau, [[James Wormley Jones]], who became an intimate of Garvey, and other agents who − according to historian [[Winston James]] − sabotaged it by throwing foreign matter into the fuel, damaging the engines.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/garvey/filmmore/pt.html |title=Transcript of "Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind", American Experience |website=[[PBS]] |access-date=2017-08-24 |archive-date=2017-03-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170311192731/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/garvey/filmmore/pt.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{better source needed|date=March 2015}} On its first commission, the ''Yarmouth'' brought a shipment of [[whiskey]] from the US to [[Republic of Cuba (1902–1959)|Cuba]] (before [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]]) in record time, but because it did not have docking arrangements in Havana, it lost money sitting in the docks while the [[stevedore|longshoremen]] had a strike.<ref name=pbsblackstar/> A cargo-load of [[coconut]]s rotted in the hull of a ship on another voyage because Garvey insisted on having the ships make ceremonial stops at politically important ports.<ref name=pbsblackstar/>

[[File:Prinz Oskar hapag.jpg|thumb|''[[SS Prinz Oskar|Orion]]'']]
In 1919, J. Edgar Hoover and the BOI charged Marcus Garvey and three other officers with mail fraud. The prosecution stated that the brochure of the Black Star Line contained a picture of a ship that the BSL did not own. The ship pictured was ''[[SS Prinz Oskar|Orion]]'', which in the brochure was renamed ''[[Phyllis Wheatley]]''. The BSL was trying to buy the ship at the time, but did not own her yet.<ref name= "Garvey p. 238 ">{{harvnb|Garvey|1995|p=238 }}</ref> The fact that the ship was not owned yet by the BSL constituted mail fraud. "In 1922, Garvey and three other Black Star Line officials were indicted by the US government for using the mails fraudulently to solicit stock for the recently defunct steamship line." On the witness stand, Garvey admitted that $600,000 (${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|600000|1922|r=-3}}}} in {{inflation/year|US}}) had been "blown to the wind".<ref name= "The Broad Ax p. 1">{{harvnb|The Broad Ax|1922|p=1}}</ref> The jury convicted only Garvey, but not the other three officers, and he was sentenced to five years in prison. In 1927, President [[Calvin Coolidge]] deported Garvey back to Jamaica.

The Black Star Line was suspended by Garvey in February 1922, following his arrest on mail fraud charges. The ''Shady Side'' was abandoned on mudflats at [[Fort Lee, New Jersey]].<ref name= "Murdock p. ">{{harvnb|Murdock|1939|p=}}</ref> The line was reconstituted as the '''Black Cross Navigation and Trading Company''' thereafter, which purchased a new ship, the SS ''General G W Goethals'', in October 1924. It was then renamed the SS ''Booker T. Washington''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Advertisement announcing the launching of the ocean liner S. S. Booker T. Washington |url=https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/8eab5ce5-8b55-7264-e040-e00a18067efa |access-date=2025-01-22 |website=NYPL Digital Collections |language=en}}</ref> The ship sailed to Cuba and Panama in 1925, but it is unclear whether it ever returned to New York, due to lack of funds.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cronon |first=E. David |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Black_Moses/8Ya5iEb7_8YC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Black+Cross+Navigation+and+Trading+Company+defunct&pg=PA121&printsec=frontcover |title=Black Moses: The Story of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association |date=1960-03-15 |publisher=Univ of Wisconsin Press |isbn=978-0-299-01213-7 |pages=122-124 |language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Mac 218.JPG|thumb|'''Liberty Hall''', a.k.a. ''Black Star Line Building'' in [[Limón]], Costa Rica. The original building was erected in 1922,<ref name= "Murillo-Chaverri p. 197">{{harvnb|Murillo-Chaverri|1999|p=197}}</ref> and then used as UNIA and Black Star Line offices.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://si.cultura.cr/infraestructura/black-star-line-limon.html|title=Black Star Line (Limón)|website=Si.cultura.cr|access-date=2016-02-11}}</ref> It was damaged beyond repair by the [[1991 Limon earthquake|Limon earthquake]] on April 22, 1991, and subsequently reconstructed based on the original plans. On April 29, 2016, a fire destroyed the building completely.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.crhoy.com/se-quema-famoso-black-star-line-en-limon/nacionales/|title=Se quema famoso "Black Star Line" en Limón / Crhoy.com|website=CRHoy.com / Periodico Digital / Costa Rica Noticias 24/7|language=es-ES|access-date=2016-04-30}}</ref> After the fire, it was confirmed that the building would be rebuilt with aid from organizations and civilian donations.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.nacion.com/ciencia/patrimonio/black-star-line-se-reconstruira-con-donativos-de-los-ciudadanos/QHIXUYGHQFBVDL2DL3JJKFGZTA/story/|title=Black Star Line se reconstruirá con donativos de los ciudadanos|work=La Nación, Grupo Nación|first=Silvia|last=Artavia|date=2017-08-31|access-date=2017-12-05|language=es-LA}}</ref>]]

==In popular culture==
*Reggae singer [[Fred Locks]] re-introduced the Black Star Line to a Jamaican audience with his 1976 hit "Black Star Liner" (which has been called one of "the most important songs in reggae music of the 1970s"), portraying Garvey as a Moses-like prophet:<ref>[http://www.reggaehead.com/song-blackstarliner.htm]{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090304175333/http://www.reggaehead.com/song-blackstarliner.htm|date=March 4, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.reggae-vibes.com/concert/fredlocks/fredlocks1.htm |title=Article : Fred Locks |website=Reggae-vibes.com |access-date=2015-12-24}}</ref> "Seven miles of Black Star Liners coming in the harbor [...] I can hear the elders saying. These are the days for which we've been praying ... Marcus Garvey told us that the Black Star Liners are coming one day for us".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jah-lyrics.com/song/fred-locks-black-star-liners |title=Fred Locks - Black Star Liners Lyrics |website=Jah-lyrics.com |access-date=2015-12-24}}</ref>
*The 1977 reggae album by [[Culture (band)|Culture]], ''[[Two Sevens Clash]]'', featured a song called "Black Starliner Must Come".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.discogs.com/Culture-Two-Sevens-Clash/release/3091124 |title=Culture - Two Sevens Clash (Vinyl, LP, Album) |website=Discogs.com |date=2014-07-10 |access-date=2015-12-24}}</ref>
*A 1978 reggae song named "Black Star Liner" by The Regulars (later renamed to Reggae Regular) appears to still be a popular song on YouTube.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLzQnaLhCkw |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/wLzQnaLhCkw |archive-date=2021-12-22 |url-status=live|title=Reggae Regular - The Black Star Liner. |publisher=[[YouTube]] |date=2009-09-15 |access-date=2015-12-24}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Also [[Black Slate]] on their album ''Amigo'' recorded a song called "Freedom Time (Black Star Liner)",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.discogs.com/Black-Slate-Amigo/release/1641721 |title=Black Slate - Amigo (Vinyl, LP, Album) |website=Discogs.com |date=2013-12-11 |access-date=2015-12-24}}</ref> with references to Marcus Garvey and "seven miles of Black Star Liner".
*The Black Star Line was also commemorated by [[blues]] singers such as [[Hazel Meyers]] and [[Rosa Henderson]];<ref name= "Springer p. 198">{{harvnb|Springer|2006|p=198}}</ref> by the musical group [[Brand Nubian]] (on their 1993 album ''[[In God We Trust (Brand Nubian album)|In God We Trust]]'');<ref>{{cite web|first=Andy |last=Kellman |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/in-god-we-trust-mw0000090991 |title=In God We Trust - Brand Nubian &#124; Songs, Reviews, Credits |website=[[AllMusic]] |date=1993-02-02 |access-date=2015-12-24}}</ref> and by [[Ranking Dread]] with "Black Starlina" on his ''Kunta Kinte Roots'' album.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.discogs.com/Ranking-Dread-Kunta-Kinte-Roots-/release/5780089 |title=Ranking Dread - Kunta Kinte Roots (Vinyl, LP) |website=Discogs.com |access-date=2015-12-24}}</ref> 
*"Train to Zion" by [[Linval Thompson]] (writer) and [[U Brown]] featured the lines: "Train to Zion is coming / Don't want no one to miss it / It's the Black Star Liner / It's going to Zion..."<ref>{{cite web|author=Song Review by Jo-Ann Greene |url=http://www.allmusic.com/song/train-to-zion-mt0000142388 |title=Train to Zion - U-Brown &#124; Song Info |website=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=2015-12-24}}</ref>
*[[Black Star Liner]] was the name of a British electronic group, who won a [[Mercury Music Prize]] nomination in 1999 for their album ''Bengali Batam Youth Foundation''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.list.co.uk/article/10361-mercury-music-prize-2008-shortlist-announced/|title=Mercury Music Prize 2008 shortlist announced|website=List.co.uk|date=22 July 2008}}</ref>
*"Marcus Senior" by [[Burning Spear]] on their ''[[Marcus' Children]]'' album, contained lyrics about the struggle Marcus Garvey endured.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=[[YouTube]]|title=Burning Spear - Social Living - 05 - Marcus Senior|date=2012-05-27|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd6YPPmsF90 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/wd6YPPmsF90 |archive-date=2021-12-22 |url-status=live|access-date=2018-08-22}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
*Spanish singer-songwriter [[Javier Ruibal]] sings about the North American slaves' dream of going back to their plundered and subdued Africa, in his song "Black Star Line". Ruibal sings along with [[Chico Cesar]] and the song was released on his 2018 album "Paraisos Mejores".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.cancioneros.com/co/9797/2/javier-ruibal-lanza-paraisos-mejores|title=Javier Ruibal lanza "Paraísos mejores"|work=Cancioneros.com|access-date=2018-11-21}}</ref>
*[[Black Star (rap duo)|Black Star]] is the group name adopted by [[Mos Def]] and [[Talib Kweli]] for their work as a duo. Their 1998 album ''[[Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star]]'', was a reference to Garvey and the Black Star Line.<ref>{{cite web|first=Jason |last=Kaufman |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/black-star-mw0000043603 |title=Black Star - Black Star,Talib Kweli,Mos Def &#124; Songs, Reviews, Credits |website=[[AllMusic]] |date=1998-08-26 |access-date=2015-12-24}}</ref>
*In the Xenowealth series of future science fiction novels by Caribbean-American author [[Tobias Buckell]], the Black Starliner Corporation is an [[Interstellar Travel|interstellar]] shipping company responsible for resettling marginalized, primarily Black, emigrants from Earth on a number of [[Terraforming|terraformed]] planets.<ref>{{cite book
 |last=Buckell
 |first=Tobias
 |author-link=
 |date=2006-02-07
 |title=Crystal Rain
 |url=
 |location=
 |publisher=Tor Books
 |page=
 |isbn=0765350904
}}</ref>
*The [[BlackStar Film Festival]], a Philadelphia [[film festival]] focused on films about and by black, brown and indigenous people from around the world, was named after the shipping company.
*Black Star Line Festival,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20221118225820/https://blackstarlinefest.com/] </ref> founded in 2022 by the artist [[Chance the Rapper]] was inspired by the shipping company.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/chance-the-rapper-brings-free-music-festival-featuring-erykah-badu-and-vic-mensa-to-ghana-180981355/|title=The History Behind Chance the Rapper's Black Star Line Festival|first=Ella|last=Feldman|website=Smithsonian Magazine}}</ref>

==Legacy==
The [[flag of Ghana]] adopted a black star as an homage to their own shipping line, The Black Star Line, which was the national shipping corporation of Ghana.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/republic/flag.php |title=Ghana Flag |website=Ghanaweb.com |access-date=2015-12-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/gh.html#intro |title=Ghana |website=Crwflags.com |access-date=2015-12-24}}</ref>

==Bibliography== 
'''Notes'''
{{Reflist}}
'''References''' 
*{{cite news |title= Col. Marcus Garvey , President of the Black Star Line Steam ship Company, Admitted on the Witness Stand in New York City That More Than $600,000 Has Been Blown to the Wind|last=The Broad Ax|author-link=The Broad Ax|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84024055/1922-05-13/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=1789&index=2&rows=20&words=Black+Line+Star&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1963&proxtext=%22Black+Star+Line%22&y=15&x=13&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1|newspaper=[[The Broad Ax]]|publisher=Julius F. Taylor|issn=2163-7202|oclc=10392922|date=May 13, 1922|access-date= June 27, 2019 }}
*{{cite book |last=Garvey|first=Marcus |editor-last=Hill|editor-first=Robert Abraham| author-link = Marcus Garvey| title = The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers, Vol. IX: Africa for the Africans June 1921-December 1922|year=1995| publisher = [[University of California Press]]| isbn= 9780520916821 }} <small>- Total pages: 840 </small>
*{{cite book |last=Grant|first=Colin | author-link = Colin Grant (author)| title = Negro with a Hat: The Rise and Fall of Marcus Garvey|year=2009| publisher = [[Vintage Books|Vintage]]| isbn= 9780099501459}} <small>- Total pages: 560 </small>
*{{cite news |title= Hudson River Steamboats. No.86-Shady Side|first= George W.|last=Murdock|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/35470447|newspaper=The Kingston Daily Freeman|date=April 4, 1939|access-date= June 27, 2019 }}
*{{cite journal |last=Murillo-Chaverri|first= Carmmen |date=1999|title=Vaivén de arraigos y desarraigos: Identidad afrocaribeña en Costa Rica 1870-1940|url-status=dead |journal= Revista de Historia|volume= 39|issue=enero–junio, 1999|url=http://revistahistoria.historia.ucr.ac.cr/Numeros%20Anteriores/Vol.%2039/Art.%205%20Vol.%2039.pdf |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160216003536/http://revistahistoria.historia.ucr.ac.cr/Numeros%20Anteriores/Vol.%2039/Art.%205%20Vol.%2039.pdf|archive-date= February 16, 2016|access-date=June 27, 2019|issn=1012-9790}}
* {{cite book |last=Springer|first=Robert & Randall Cherry, John Cowley, David Evans| title = Nobody Knows where the Blues Come from: Lyrics and History|year=2006| publisher = [[University Press of Mississippi]]| isbn= 9781578067978 }} <small>- Total pages: 303 </small>

==External links==
*[http://www.shoppbs.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/garvey/peopleevents/e_blackstar.html People & Events: The Black Star Line] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200218200327/http://www.shoppbs.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/garvey/peopleevents/e_blackstar.html |date=2020-02-18 }}
* [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/garvey/peopleevents/p_hoover.html People & Events: J. Edgar Hoover] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170226235152/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/garvey/peopleevents/p_hoover.html |date=2017-02-26 }}
* [http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5121/ “The Collapse of the Only Thing in the Garvey Movement Which Was Original or Promising”: Du Bois on Garvey]
* [http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5123/ “The Black Star Line”: Singing a Song of Garveyism]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Black Star Line, The}}
[[Category:Black Star Line| ]]
[[Category:1919 establishments in Delaware]]
[[Category:1922 disestablishments in Delaware]]
[[Category:African-American history between emancipation and the civil rights movement]]
[[Category:American companies established in 1919]]
[[Category:Black-owned companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Defunct companies based in Delaware]]
[[Category:Defunct shipping companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Transportation companies based in Delaware]]
[[Category:Transport companies established in 1919]]
[[Category:Transport companies disestablished in 1922]]
[[Category:Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League]]