Ethiopian World Federation

Ethiopian World Federation, Incorporated (or, in Amharic የኢትዮጵያ፡ዓለም፡ፌዴሬሽን፡፡) [ [http://www.ethiopianworldfederation.org/ewfmission.html - website] Mission & Profile

PSALMS OF DAVID CHAPTER 68, VERSE 31መኳንንት ከግብጽ ይመጣሉ፤ ኢትዮጵያ እጆችዋን ወደ እግዚአብሔር ትዘረጋለች። "PRINCES SHALL COME OUT OF EGYPT, ETHIOPIA SHALL STRETCH HER HANDS TO GOD."

Brief History of the Organization since 1937 to present:

The Ethiopian World Federation, Incorporated [ [http://EthiopianWorldFederation.org/ - Official Organization Website] ] , was originally a not-for-profit membership organization, incorporated in the State of New York, United States of America [ [http://www.ethiopianworldfederation.org/EWF1937_NYS_DOS_Entity_Information.pdf - official organization NYS Department of State entity information] ] . Later it was also registered by the Internal Revenue Services as a 501 (C) 4 (civic- league, social welfare) thus making the organization and her legal subsidiary locals, tax exempt.

This organization originally came into being on August 25, 1937 in New York City, through the efforts of African (Black) Americans who, in 1936, sent a delegation consisting of three prominent Harlem figures, all leaders of the black organization known as the United Aid for Ethiopia. Reverend William Lloyd Imes, Pastor of the prestigious St. James Presbyterian Church, Philip M. Savory of the Victory Insurance Company and co-owner of the New York Amsterdam News, and Mr. Cyril M Philp, secretary of the United Aid, sailed to England in the summer of 1936 to speak with H.I.M. Emperor Haile Selassie I concerning financial matters [ [http://tezeta.net/27/malaku-e-bayen-ethiopian-emissary-to-black-america - By William R. Scott] ] .

In response, the Emperor empowered his personal physician Dr. Malaku E. Bayen (also spelt Melaku E. Bayen መልአኩ አማኑኤል ብያኔ) as his special emissary in order to officially establish the Ethiopian World Federation, Incorporated in 1936/37. The main purpose was succinctly set out in the following preamble:

'“We the Black People of the World, in order to effect Unity, Solidarity, Liberty, Freedom and self-determination, to secure Justice and maintain the Integrity of Ethiopia, which is our divine heritage, do hereby establish and ordain this constitution for The Ethiopian World Federation, Incorporated."'

This Constitution and By-Laws is, as one would expect, a very organized, precise and business-like corporate document, having articles that address constitutional aims and objects, membership, international officers and their duties, conventions, elections, meetings, local units, their establishment and organization, committees, impeachment of officers, units, benefits, amendments, order of business, etc [ [http://www.rastaites.com/news/hearticals/ethiopianworldfederation/voe3.htm - Voice of Ethiopia] ] .

As a direct result of the support Ethiopia received from black people in the West, namely at that time African-Americans, during the Italian invasion 1935-1941, the Emperor granted five (5) Gashas of land in Shashamanne, Ethiopia, to The E.W.F. Inc., for Ethiopian people in the Diaspora who desired to return to the motherland first in 1948. Later in 1967, Dr. Gladstone Robinson was officially and legally appointed by the corporate Executive Council as "sole true and lawful attorney", (i.e., Power-of-Attorney) for the The Ethiopian World Federation, Incorporated with the title of "Administrator" for the Shashamane Land Grant generally [ [http://www.rastaites.com/news/hearticals/ethiopianworldfederation/ewf1.htm - News from the Ethiopian World Federation] ] .

The major goal of The Ethiopian World Federation, Incorporated is inherent in the very name of the organization [ [http://www.ethiopianworldfederation.com/history.html - EWF history] ] . The Ethiopian (Black people), World (globally), Federation (semi-autonomous groups working together), Incorporated (original legal & historic parent entity) determined "...to seek peace and pursue it (ከክፉ ሽሽ መልካምንም አድርግ፤ ሰላምን እሻ ተከተላትም። Psalm 34 Verse 14), for it is the will of God for man." According to the EWF Constitution & By-Law, Article 1, Sec. 1A [ [http://www.ethiopianworldfederation.com/constitution.html - Ethiopian World Federation Constitution & By-Laws online] ] .

REFERENCES

1 John Hope Franklin, From Slavery to Freedom (New York, 1969), p. 574.

2 Detailed information regarding the interest of Afro-Americans in the Italo-Ethiopian War can be found in Helen Hiett, " Public Opinion and the Italo-Ethiopian Dispute," Geneva (Special) Studies, Vol. VII-No. 1 (February, 1936), pp. 3-28; Richard B. Moore, "Africa Conscious Harlem," Freedomways, Vol. 3 (1963), pp. 315-324; and the author's "A Study of Afro-American and Ethiopian Relations; 1896-1941," un- published doctoral dissertation (Princeton University, 1971), pp. 152-192.

3 Thus far, no estimates of the entire amount of money raised or sent by Afro-Americans to Ethiopia have been uncovered, making it extremely hazardous to venture a guess about the total.

4 The New York Amsterdam News, February 13, 1937, p. 7.

5 The Voice of Ethiopia, July 19, 1941, p. 2.

6 The New York Amsterdam News, February 13, 1937, p. 7.

7 The Norfolk Journal and Guide, August 19, 1936, p. 4.

8 The New York Amsterdam News, February 13, 1937, p. 7.

9 The New York Times, May 9, 1940, p. 23; the Voice of Ethiopia, May 18, 1941, p. 1. A biographical sketch of Dr. Bayen supplied to the author by Mr. William M. Steen, of Washington, D.C., proved to be of great value in the writing of this article.

10 Steen, " Biographical Sketch "; James L. Park, U.S. Chargé d'affaires in Ethiopia to Henry Stimson, U.S. Secretary of State, June 11,1930, Records of the Department of State Relating to the Internal Affairs of Ethiopia, 1930-1939 (hereafter referred to as Records of the State Department), document 884.01 A/4. This file is available at the U.S. National Archives in Washington, D.C.

11 Steen, " Biographical Sketch."

12 Malaku E. Bayen, ed., The March of Black Men (New York, 1939), p. 3.

13 Ibid, p. 4. 14. Ibid.

15 Ibid.

16 The New York Amsterdam News, May 11,1935, p. 2; Steen," Biographical Sketch "; correspondence with Dr. L. A. Porter, archivist at Muskingum College, April 7, 1971; Bayen, The March of Black Men, p. 3.

17 The Baltimore Afro-American, September 14, 1935, p. 10; correspondence with L. A. Porter, April 7, 1971.

18 The New York Amsterdam News, May 11, 1940, p. 12.

19 Bayen, The March of Black Men, p. 6.

20 Ibid., p. 4.

21 St. Clair Drake makes this point about African students in his excellent survey, " Negro Americans and the African Interest," in John P. Davis, ed., American Negro Reference Book (Englewood Cliffs, 1965), p. 688.

22 Bayen, The March of Black Men, p. 6; Addison Southard to Henry Stimson, July 30, 1930, Records of the State Department, document 884. 01A/8.

23 The New York Amsterdam News, November 9, 1935, p. 11.

24 See Louis Harlan, " Booker T. Washington and the White Man's Burden," American Historical Review, LXXI, 2, (January, 1966), pp. 441-467,

25 The New York Amsterdam News, November 9 1935, p. 11.

26 The Philadelphia Tribune, June 13, 1935, p. 1.

27 The Baltimore Afro-American, February 23, 1935, p. 1.

28 /hid., March 2, 1935, p. 2.

29 Ibid.

30 The New York Amsterdam News, July 13, 1935, p. 3.

31 Ibid.

32 The Pittsburgh Courier, February 8, 1936, p. 6.

33 Correspondence with Mrs. Dorothy H. Bayen, March 10, 1971.

34 The New York Amsterdam News, May 11, 1940, p. 12.

35 Angelo del Boca, The Ethiopian War 1935-1941 (Chicago, 1965), pp. 201- 202.

36 Correspondence with Mrs. Bayen, March 10, 1971.

37 Bayen, The March of Black Men, p. 7; Steen, "Biographical Sketch."

38 Ibid.

39 Bayen, The March of Black Men, p. 7.

40 Ibid. Dr. Bayen was also, it seems, to co-operate with integrated and any all white organisations. But it is clear that he concentrated upon the black community in his efforts to stimulate support for Ethiopia. Furthermore, information received from Muskingurn College reveals that Bayen experi- enced a deep sense of disappointment with whites when many of his white associates, such as Dr. Lambie, a prominent missionary who had served in Ethiopia and had accompanied Bayen to America in 1922, deserted the Ethiopian cause. See Bayen's correspondence with Dr. Robert Mongomery, President of Muskingum, between January 9, 1937 and May 14, 1937. The author is grateful to Dr. Porter of Muskingum College for her kind assistance in providing him with this information.

41 Bayen, March of Black Men, p. 7.

42 The Norfolk Journal and Guide, October 3, 1936, p. 4.

43 The New York Amsterdam News, September 26, 1936, p. 1.<

References