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The Black Star Line was a shipping line incorporated by Marcus Garvey, who organized the UNIA (United Negro Improvement Association); the Black Star Line existed from 1919 to 1922. Even though the Black Star Line was a large business failure, it stands today as a major symbol for Garvey followers and African Americans in search of a way to get back to their homeland. The shipping line was supposed to involve the transportation of goods and eventually African Americans throughout the black global economy.
The Black Star Line started in Delaware on June 23, 1919. Having a maximum capitalization of $500,000, BSL stocks were sold at UNIA conventions at five dollars each. Many of the stockholders of the BSL invested much of their life savings into a poorly run corporation. The company’s losses were estimated at about $1.25 million.
Three months after being incorporated Garvey purchased his first ship, the "S.S. Yarmouth." The Yarmouth was a coal boat during the First World War, and was in poor condition when purchased by Garvey. The Yarmouth proceeded to sail as the first Black Star Line ship with an all-black crew and a black captain. Later Joshua Cockburn, the captain of the Yarmouth, was accused of receiving a "kick back from the purchase price".
The Yarmouth wasn’t the only ship to be purchased in poor conditions and to be completely oversold. Garvey spent another $200,000 dollars for more ships. One, the S.S. Shadyside, sailed the "cruise to nowhere" on the Hudson River one summer and sank the next fall because of a leak. On the maiden voyage of "Kanawha" (previously the S.S. Antonio Maceo), it blew a boiler and killed a man.
Besides oversold, poorly conditioned ships, Black Star Line was beset by corruption of management. The first commission for the Yarmouth was to haul whiskey from the U.S. to Cuba before Prohibition. Although the ship made it in record time, it did not have docking arrangements, so it lost money sitting in the docks of Cuba while longshoremen had a strike. A cargo-load of coconuts rotted in the hull of a ship on another voyage because Garvey insisted on having the ships make ceremonial stops at politically important ports.
The Black Star Line ceased sailing in February of 1922. Although it was a catastrophic outcome, it still serves as a considerable accomplishment for African Americans of the time, up to today.
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