TaKeia N. Anthony, ‘The Universal Ethiopian Students’ Association, 1927-1948: Mobilizing Diaspora’

TaKeia N. Anthony offers the first study of the ideology, influences and contributions of the Universal Ethiopian Students’ Association (UESA) and The African: The Journal of African Affairs. From 1927–1948, the UESA mobilized the African diaspora to fight against imperialism and fascist Italy. Formed by a group of educated Africans, African-Americans and West Indians based in Harlem and shaped by the ideals of Ethiopianism, communism, Pan-Africanism, Black Nationalism, Garveyism and the New Negro Movement, the UESA sought to educate the diaspora about its glorious African past and advocate for anti-imperialism and independence. This lecture focuses on the UESA’s literary organ, The African, mapping a constellation of understudied activists and their contributions to the fight for Black liberation in the twentieth century.

Anthony is an assistant professor of history at North Carolina Central University.