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"Two and a half years ago we used to hold our meetings in four by six rooms; tonight you have  the satisfaction of knowing that you have not only one Liberty Hall in New York, but Liberty Halls all over the world, not only in the Western states are they buying and building Liberty Halls, but the news coming to us from Cuba reveals the fact that nearly every week a new Liberty Hall is bought by some of the divisions there. In Panama and Africa they are dedicating their Liberty Halls..."

­­­                      ---Marcus Garvey at Liberty Hall, Harlem, 1921

    
     UNIA Members at Liberty Hall Harlem, 1921
The Marcus Garvey and UNIA Papers Project, UCLA
 

The Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) was launched in Jamaica in 1914. By the 1930s there were over a thousand divisions of the UNIA throughout the world in countries where the organization had significant mass followings. By referring to the UNIA Records compiled in The Marcus Garvey and UNIA Papers Volume VII we have deduced that about 1,056 UNIA divisions were formed between 1921 and the early 1930s. The distribution by country was as follows:
 

Source: Robert Hill (Ed.) The Marcus Garvey and UNIA Papers Vol. VII, Appendix I, (University of California Press, U.S.A.: 1990) Deduced from UNIA records of registered Divisions listed as active between 1921-1930s, and/or reported activities to the Negro World.

Please note that throughout the years there were variations in the amount of divisions per country. For example, Tony Martin in Race First, 1976 stated that according to UNIA Records, Cuba which is listed above as having 26 divisions in the late 20s to early 30s had approximately 52 in 1926. Also, the global total in or around 1926 was 996. (Martin: 1976, 15-16)

These divisions were required to have 'Liberty Halls'. These Halls were venues for social, cultural, intellectual, and economic activities. Around 1924, property values for Liberty Halls, office buildings, business premises, and houses of the UNIA in America totaled more than half a million dollars.

Liberty Hall, Panama,  c.a. 1920s.
Courtesy of National Library of Jamaica

Liberty Hall, Kingston was established as the headquarters of the Kingston Division of the UNIA in July 1923. In Jamaica, the UNIA had several other divisions in various parishes, including Bog Walk, Morant Bay and Golden Grove in St. Thomas, Montego Bay in St. James, Spanish Town in St. Catherine, Swift River and Port Antonio in Portland, Resource in Manchester and Crossroads, St. Andrew.

Liberty Hall, Kingston like all other Liberty Halls, was a multipurpose facility. It housed the administrative offices of the Kingston Division, a laundromat, a canteen, a job placement service and co-operative bank. It was the meeting place for various units of the UNIA such as the Black Cross Nurses, the Juveniles and the African Legion. The events that took place ranged from meetings, lectures and debates to cultural programmes. In the racially constraining colonial environment, Liberty Hall was the Mecca to which black Jamaicans could flock and participate in the programme of the UNIA. At Liberty Hall, black people had a voice.  Liberty Hall was their very own social club and intellectual centre.

Upon his arrival in Jamaica in 1927, following deportation from the United States, Marcus Garvey spoke to an enormous crowd gathered at Liberty Hall, announcing his intention to carry on the work of the UNIA in Jamaica.

     
Liberty Hall, Kingston, Jamaica, 1927
Courtesy of National Library of Jamaica
 

Liberty Hall, Kingston was thus Marcus Garvey's centre of operations for a while. On March 22, 1933, Garvey along with some of Kingston's civic leaders and prominent citizens laid the foundation stones for the present concrete structure, which replaced the original wooden one.

Marcus Garvey left Jamaica in 1935 and settled in England where he died in 1940. Liberty Hall however, remained operational. It was a main entertainment centre for decades and provided an outlet for budding musicians. It was also a popular sporting arena particularly for boxing and was host to many Caribbean professional boxers. Liberty Hall was eventually sold by the Kingston Division of the UNIA. Over the decades the building fell into disrepair.

In 1987 the property was purchased by the Jamaica National Heritage Trust and plans were made for its reconstruction as a historical site. The Friends of Liberty Hall, The Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture, the Jamaica National Heritage Trust and the Institute of Jamaica collaborated in order to restore Liberty Hall to its former glory. The newly refurbished building was finally re-opened on October 20, 2003. Liberty Hall is once again a significant educational, social, cultural and intellectual centre and a living monument to the Right Excellent Marcus Mosiah Garvey.

See also Background to the Reconstruction of Liberty Hall on this site.