Marcus Mosiah Garvey Trial: 1923

Next, Garvey organized the Negro Factories Corporation, to "build and operate factories in the big industrial cities of the United States, Central America, the West Indies, and Africa to manufacture every marketable commodity."

While Garvey succeeded as a super salesman and no one questioned his honesty and dedication, his shortcomings included a penchant for fancy dress uniforms, an ego that required he be surrounded by yes-men, and an abysmal lack of business skills—all of which made him vulnerable to enemies. By 1921, while the Black Star Line was supposedly negotiating to buy two more ships, the editor of an opposing paper revealed that the Department of Commerce said its Navigation Bureau had no record of either vessel.

Stockholders complained. Postal authorities arrested Garvey and the Black Star Line's treasurer, George Tobias, its secretary, Elie Garcia, and its vice president, Orlando M. Thompson, on charges of using the mails to defraud by selling passages on a nonexistent boat. Headlines screamed, "U.S. AGENTS SEARCH FOR 'MYTH' SHIP" and "GARVEY BUNK EXPOSED."

As the trial opened on May 18, 1923, prosecutor Maxwell S. Mattuck charged:

While there center around Garvey other associations or corporations having for their object the uplift and advancement of the Negro race, the entire scheme of uplift was used to persuade Negroes for the most part to buy shares of stock in the Black Star Line … when the defendants well knew … that said shares were not and in all human probability never could be worth $5 each or any other sum of money.

Within two days, Garvey's lawyer, UNIA Counsel General William C. Matthews, advised the defendant to plead guilty on a technical charge and make a deal in closed chambers. Garvey fired Matthews and defended himself, making countless errors in procedure and frequently, as Judge Julian W. Mack condescendingly corrected him, producing gales of courtroom laughter.