As mentioned previously, Garvey did not believe that
blacks could be taken into American society. Hundreds of
thousands, who apparently agreed with him, followed his banner.
Whatever was the actual number of members of the U.N.I.A., the
movement gained more grass-roots support than had any other
organization in Afro-American history. While the nation was
willing to tolerate the Afro-American folk spirit, the people,
themselves, did not believe that they would be accepted.
Although Garvey's movement was by far the largest black
nationalist organization in America, it was not the only one. In
Chicago, Grover Cleveland Redding was preaching a Back-to-
Africa philosophy of his own. He organized the Abyssinian
Movement and urged Negroes living on the south side of Chicago
to return to Ethiopia. On Sunday, June 20, 1920, Redding led a
parade through the Chicago streets. He sat astride a white horse
and wore what he claimed was the costume of an Abyssinian
prince. At the corner, of East 25th Street and Prairie Avenue he
stopped the procession, poured a flammable liquid on an American
flag, and burned it.
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