Audley “Queen Mother” Moore had fond memories of Marcus Garvey, the charismatic Black nationalist leader of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), the largest and most influential global Black nationalist movement of the twentieth century. Recounting a story in a 1973 interview with the Black Scholar, Moore vividly describes the first time she heard Garvey speak in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1920: “We heard that Garvey was coming to New Orleans, but the police would not allow him to speak. Garvey came and they arrested him. The people raised so much sand until they had to let him out the next night.” In the aftermath of Marcus Garvey’s deportation, Moore turned to the Communist Party (CP), viewing it as a viable political alternative, and as a space in which to continue the political work she began in the Garvey movement. In 1950, she left the CP, claiming that members of the party failed to address racism and sexism. She also criticized the party for withdrawing their support of self-determination. While the actual circumstances concerning Moore’s decision to leave the CP are unclear, it is likely that her decision was motivated by the increasing government repression during this period. From 1951 to 1952, Moore was a member of the Sojourners for Truth and Justice, a leftist organization led by Black Communist women Louise Thompson Patterson and Beulah Richardson. In 1954, shortly after the passing of her brother, Moore returned to Louisiana, where she rejoined the tightknit community of Garveyite activists in the Sons and Daughters of Ethiopia—an auxiliary of the UNIA’s New Orleans Division that addressed the economic needs of Black communities. In a 1987 interview, Audley “Queen Mother” Moore insisted, “I have done everything I could to promote the cause of African freedom and to keep alive the teaching of Garvey and the work of the UNIA.” As one of the most revered Black Power leaders, Moore never lost sight of Marcus Garvey’s teachings. Long after the UNIA’s decline in membership, and in the years following Garvey’s 1927 deportation and untimely death in 1940, Moore held fast to the lessons, teachings, and strategies she had acquired in the Garvey movement. Thank you for your contributions.
