George Wells Parker

George Wells Parker (September 18, 1882 - 1931) was an African American political activist and writer who co-founded the Hamitic League of the World.

:"Teach a child or nation that it springs from an inferior race and that it can never hope to overcome that inferiority, and you have made an obedient servant and a community of slaves."

His parents were born in Virginia and South Carolina, and his family moved to Omaha when Parker was young. He attended Creighton University and became an ardent follower of Marcus Garvey, a rising figure on the national scene. Garvey first became known in Jamaica and then came to the US to work on his plans for a pan-African movement.

In 1916 Parker started helping African Americans resettle in Omaha and, by 1917, he helped found the Hamitic League of the World to promote African pride and black economic progress. He studied history and wrote about African contributions. In 1918 the League published his pamphlet "Children of the Sun", which highlighted the African presence in classical Egyptian, Asian and European civilizations.

Parker became well-known for his historic writing. Cyril Briggs, born in the Caribbean, became a journalist after he immigrated to New York. He invited Parker to publish some of his work in his journal "The Crusader", hoping to win wider circulation in the black community. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=Ymp8BOBzACYC&printsec=frontcover Nina Mjagki, "Organizing Black America: An Encyclopedia of African American Associations", Taylor & Francis, 2001, p. 13, accessed 18 Jul 2008] They disagreed over politics, however, as Briggs was anti-Garvey and Socialist, and became a Communist.

Notes

ee also

*Civil Rights Movement in Omaha, Nebraska
*Racial tension in Omaha, Nebraska