UNIA Reaches 4-6 Million Members Then Collapses After Garvey's FBI-Orchestrated Prosecution

The Universal Negro Improvement Association under Marcus Garvey reached peak membership of 4–6 million by 1921, with chapters in 40 countries. After Garvey's 1925 imprisonment for mail fraud — a prosecution orchestrated largely by J. Edgar Hoover's FBI using Black informants — the UNIA rapidly declined. Garvey was deported to Jamaica in 1927. While the UNIA's business ventures failed, Garvey's philosophy of Pan-African consciousness, Black pride, and self-determination profoundly influenced subsequent generations of Black nationalists including Malcolm X's father Earl Little, a UNIA organizer.