After a power struggle within the U.N.I.A., Eason, who had led
the fight, was murdered in New Orleans. Two Garveyites were
accused of the crime, and opposition to the movement grew even
stronger. Finally, with the urging of middle-class Negroes, the
government brought Garvey to trial for using the mails to
defraud. He insisted on being his own lawyer, and he took great
pleasure in harassing the witnesses and haranguing the jury. When
he realized that this was undermining his own case, he began
taking advice from a white lawyer. Nevertheless, he was fined
$1,000 and given a sentence of up to five years in prison. In
1925, he was sent to the Atlanta Penitentiary. At that point,
many of his opponents had second thoughts about his case and
asked the government to reopen it. President Coolidge commuted
the sentence, but as soon as he was released Garvey was again
arrested and was deported as an undesirable alien.
As the movement had been largely dependent on Garvey's magnetic
personality, the organization began to dissolve as soon as he
left the country. Garvey tried to establish a worldwide movement
with its base in Jamaica, but a power fight for control with the
New York leadership developed.
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