The Peace Movement of Ethiopia was an African-American organization based in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

. It was active in the 1930s and 1940s, and promoted the repatriation of African Americans to the

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

n continent, especially Liberia. They were affiliated with the

Black Dragon Society The , or the Amur River Society, was a prominent paramilitary, ultranationalist group in Japan. History The ''Kokuryūkai'' was founded in 1901 by martial artist Uchida Ryohei as a successor to his mentor Mitsuru Tōyama's '' Gen'yōsha''. I ...

History

The organization was founded in December 1932 in Chicago, Illinois.Michael A. Gomez
''Black Crescent: The Experience and Legacy of African Muslims in the Americas''
Cambridge, England:

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pre ...

, 2005, p. 213.Blain, Keisha
"Confraternity Among All Dark Races: Mittie Maude Lena Gordon and the Practice of Black (Inter)nationalism in Chicago"
''Palimpsest: A Journal on Women, Gender, and the Black International'', Vol. 3, no. 3, forthcoming. They met at 4653 South State Street. In the 1930s and 1940s, it had more than 300,000 members. Its founder and president was Mittie Maud Gordon.Brenda Gayle Plummer
''Rising Wind: Black Americans and U.S. Foreign Affairs, 1935-1960''
Chapel Hill, North Carolina:

University of North Carolina Press The University of North Carolina Press (or UNC Press), founded in 1922, is a university press that is part of the University of North Carolina. It was the first university press founded in the Southern United States. It is a member of the As ...

, 1996, p. 108.Adam Ewing
''The Age of Garvey: How a Jamaican Activist Created a Mass Movement and Changed Global Black Politics''
Princeton, New Jersey:

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financia ...

, 2014, p. 240. She was a former member of the

Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League 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 ...

, and a supporter of

Marcus Garvey Marcus Mosiah Garvey Sr. (17 August 188710 June 1940) was a Jamaican political activist, publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator. He was the founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African ...

. Tony Martin
''Race First: The Ideological and Organizational Struggles of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association''
The Majority Press, 1976 , p. 349. The organization advocated the repatriation of African-Americans to

.Douglas Smith
Earnest Sevier Cox (1880–1966)
''Encyclopedia Virginia''. As early as 1933, they petitioned President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

to repatriate them, arguing that the cost would be lesser than the "charity" they received in the United States to survive. A year later, in 1934, they started working with Methodist preacher

Earnest Sevier Cox Earnest Sevier Cox (January 24, 1880 – April 26, 1966) was an American Methodist preacher, political activist and white supremacist. He is best known for his political campaigning for stricter segregation between blacks and whites in the Uni ...

, the author of ''White America'', who was also a proponent of repatriation, and Senator

Theodore Bilbo Theodore Gilmore Bilbo (October 13, 1877 – August 21, 1947) was an American politician who twice served as governor of Mississippi (1916–1920, 1928–1932) and later was elected a U.S. Senator (1935–1947). A lifelong Democrat, he was a fil ...

.Ibrahim Sundiata
''Brothers and Strangers: Black Zion, Black Slavery, 1914–1940''
Duke University Press, 2004. In 1938, two members of the organization, David Logan and Joseph Rockmore, went to Liberia for a month. There, they met Thomas J. Faulkner of the People's Party, who had run for President (and lost) in 1927. They also contacted Edwin Barclay, who served as the 18th President of Liberia from 1930 until 1944. However, he responded that he did not think the United States government would pay for their journey. In order to make it harder for them to emigrate, he added that they must be worth at least US$1,000 upon arriving in Liberia. The organization supported Senator Bilbo's Greater Liberia Bill of 1939. The organization's President Gordon called him their "Great White Father" for his sponsor of the bill."Sen. Bilbo Idol of Suspect in Sedition Case"
''

Baltimore Afro-American The ''Baltimore Afro-American'', commonly known as ''The Afro'' or ''Afro News'', is a weekly African-American newspaper published in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the flagship newspaper of the ''AFRO-American'' chain and the longest-running Africa ...

'', February 6, 1943. After Senator's death in 1947, with the Universal African National Movement, another pro-repatriation African-American organization based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, they asked Senators Strom Thurmond, John C. Stennis of

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

and Richard Russell, Jr. of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

to propose pro-colonization bills. They declined, retorting that some of their constituents, who were still plantation owners, needed the workforce, and the bill would contradict their belief in states's rights, as it would require federal funding for the journey.

Black Dragon Society

The Peace Movement of Ethiopia was considered by the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

to be an "unwitting front" for the Black Dragon Society. Most of the PME's funds came from the Japanese consuls general in New York and San Francisco. By 1938, The PME was supposedly being run by Satokata Takahashi.

Seditious activity

In 1942, Gordon, president general of the Peace Movement of Ethiopia was jailed along with other religious leaders. The raid, which occurred in October 1942, also included members of two other pro-Japanese African-American organizations: the Brotherhood of Liberty for the Black Man of America and the Temple of Islam."Indict 24 More Negro Cultists In Draft Cases"
''

The Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'', October 20, 1942."U.S. At War: Takcihashi's Blacks"
''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...

'', October 5, 1942. It also included members from the World Wide Friends of Africa. Gordon said she had four million followers, and they were all taught that they are citizens of Liberia, and therefore are not subject to

Selective Service The Selective Service System (SSS) is an independent agency of the United States government that maintains information on U.S. citizens and other U.S. residents potentially subject to military conscription (i.e., the draft) and carries out contin ...

. When the organization dissolved, many members joined the Nation of Islam, another African-American organization.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peace Movement of Ethiopia Organizations established in 1932 Organizations based in Chicago African-American repatriation organizations African-American history in Chicago Liberia–United States relations 1940s disestablishments in the United States