Robert T. Lincoln Poston (February 25, 1891 – March 16, 1924) was an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

newspaper editor and journalist, who was an activist in Marcus Garvey's

Universal Negro Improvement Association The Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) is a black nationalist fraternal organization founded by Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican immigrant to the United States, and Amy Ashwood Garvey. The Pan-African o ...

(UNIA). He died at sea as he returned from a UNIA mission to

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

Biography

Poston was born in

Hopkinsville Hopkinsville is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Christian County, Kentucky, United States. The population at the 2010 census was 31,577. History Early years The area of present-day Hopkinsville was initially claimed in 1796 b ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

. He came from a family of journalists and writers. His father, Ephraim Poston, was a teacher, poet and graduate of Roger Williams University in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, who authored ''Manual on Parliamentary Proceedings'', 1905, and ''Pastoral Poems'', 1906. Poston's mother was the former Mollie Cox of Oak Grove,

. Poston had six siblings: Fred Douglass, Ulysses Grant, Ephraim, Jr., Roberta, Lillian, and Theodore Roosevelt Poston. Poston attended Nashville's

Walden University Walden University is a private online for-profit university headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It offers Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, Master of Business Administration, Master of Public Administration, Master of Public Health, E ...

, as well as Howard University. He became a newspaper publisher and editor while in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

. Later, he contributed poems, literary criticism, and sometimes editorials to the

UNIA-ACL The Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) is a black nationalist fraternal organization founded by Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican immigrant to the United States, and Amy Ashwood Garvey. The Pan-African o ...

's ''

Negro World ''Negro World'' was the newspaper of the Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA). Founded by Garvey and Amy Ashwood Garvey, the newspaper was published weekly in Harlem, New York, and distr ...

'' newspaper. He attained the position of Assistant Secretary-General of the UNIA in 1921 and then was promoted to Secretary General in 1922. His brother Ulysses served as associate editor of the ''Negro World''. Robert and Ulysses were among the co-directors of a play the UNIA dramatic club put on in 1922, entitled "Tallaboo". Poston married the sculptor

Augusta Savage Augusta Savage (born Augusta Christine Fells; February 29, 1892 – March 27, 1962) was an American sculptor associated with the Harlem Renaissance. She was also a teacher whose studio was important to the careers of a generation of artists who w ...

"The Legendary Augusta Savage"
From "Wake the Echoes", ''Kingston Times'', April 6, 2006. in 1923. In December of that year, he was the leader of a delegation sent to

by the UNIA. The purpose of the trip was to finalize arrangements for a mass emigration of African Americans to Liberia. He was accompanied on this trip by

Henrietta Vinton Davis Henrietta Vinton Davis (August 25, 1860 – November 23, 1941) was an African-American elocutionist, dramatist, and impersonator. In addition to being "the premier actor of all nineteenth-century black performers on the dramatic stage", Davis ...

and Milton Van Lowe, among others. Poston and the others met with

President King The comic strip ''Doonesbury'', by Garry Trudeau, features an extensive cast of characters with complex interpersonal relationships; as of 2018, the strip's official website lists twenty-four primary characters, with dozens more having been feat ...

of Liberia, but they were not ultimately able to obtain the permissions and aid that they required. Poston could not hide his disappointment on the voyage home. While on board the SS ''President Grant'', he contracted a fever and died of lobar pneumonia. On March 19, 1924, Poston was posthumously given the rank of Prince of Africa by the UNIA during an elaborate state funeral at Liberty Hall.

References

External links

Robert Lincoln Poston
at

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Poston, Robert Lincoln 1891 births 1924 deaths African-American publishers (people) American publishers (people) African-American writers Journalists from Tennessee Walden University (Tennessee) alumni Howard University alumni Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League members 20th-century American journalists American male journalists Deaths from pneumonia People who died at sea