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.In response to pressure from the black community,Coolidge commuted Garvey s sentence and ordered his releaseon November 18, 1927.The 40-year-old UNIA leader hadserved more than half of his five-year sentence.Garvey s troubles were not over.A decision on the appli-cation for U.S.citizenship that he had filed in 1921 had beendelayed because of his legal troubles.Soon after enteringprison in Atlanta, he learned that his petition for citizenshiphad been denied.Released from jail, he was still not a freeman.The U.S.government declared that as a convictedcriminal, the Jamaican troublemaker should be deportedfrom the country. 73 Look for Me in the Whirlwind The black community protested Garvey s incarceration, andPresident Calvin Coolidge responded by commuting Garvey ssentence and ordering his release in 1927, after he spentalmost three years in jail.However, as a convicted criminalwithout U.S.citizenship, Garvey was deported to Jamaica.Here, in 1936, Garvey prepares to sail to London, wherehe moved his UNIA headquarters after his deportation.Garvey was not even allowed to return to his New York head-quarters to say good-bye to his loyal membership.He was takendirectly from Atlanta to New Orleans and put on board theSaramacca, a ship that was sailing to Panama.Guarded closelyby federal officers, the UNIA president watched from the deck 74MARCUS GARVEYof the ship as hundreds of loyal Garveyites gathered at the docksto see him off.Garvey called out to his followers, The UNIAis not something I have joined, it is something I have founded.I have set everything aside to do this work.It is part of me.Idream about it, I sacrifice and suffer for it, I live for it, andI would gladly die for it.Go forward come what may. ADRIFT IN THE WORLDThe UNIA was never the same again.The American member-ship had always been the mainstay of the organization, andwithout Garvey s leadership, the movement began to die.Tothe end of his life, Garvey tried desperately to recapture themagic of 1920, but he was hopelessly handicapped by hisbanishment abroad.Garvey was philosophical about his misfortunes in theUnited States and was always hopeful about the future: Inever look back, there is no time for that, besides, it wouldmake me cautious. When the news that Garvey was returning reached Jamaica,his countrymen flocked to the Kingston pier to greet the SantaMarta, which he had boarded in Panama.Garvey had becomea hero to Jamaican blacks, and crowds lined the streets towatch him make his triumphant way to the local UNIA head-quarters.He had come a long way since his quiet departurefrom the island 11 years earlier.Garvey immediately began to rebuild the long-neglectedJamaican branch of the UNIA.He also made a valiant effortto maintain contact with his American followers, cabling hiseditorials to Negro World in New York every week.Determinedto sustain the growth of the association, he traveled to Englandin the spring of 1928 to set up a European chapter of theUNIA.He was disappointed to find that blacks there showedlittle interest in the movement.Shortly after Garvey arrived in London, he planned ameeting to explain his program.Certain that he could attract 75 Look for Me in the Whirlwind a huge audience, he rented the Royal Albert Hall, which had aseating capacity of 10,000.For weeks before the meeting, hesent out handbills and invitations.Only a few hundred peopleshowed up for Garvey s lecture on the night of June 6, 1928,and he was deeply embarrassed.He gave a long, ramblingspeech in which he attacked his many enemies for sabotaginghis great plans.Quickly recovering from this setback, Garvey established aEuropean headquarters for the UNIA in London and set upanother branch in Paris.He then traveled to Canada, where heran into more trouble with U.S.authorities.In Montreal,he made speeches urging American blacks to vote for theDemocratic candidate, Alfred E.Smith, in the upcomingpresidential election.When the American consul heard aboutGarvey s comments, he complained to Canadian officials.Garvey was asked to leave the country.Early in 1929, Garvey returned to Jamaica.Always planningahead, he began thinking about the upcoming summer andthe traditional August convention.Only one convention hadbeen held after 1923, and that had been an emergency meetingcalled by UNIA officers while Garvey was in prison.Now thathe was free, he wanted to call the world s black communitytogether once again.Since he could not go to the traditionalconvention site in Harlem, he decided that the delegates mustcome to him.The Sixth International Convention of the NegroPeoples of the World was scheduled to be held in Kingstonthat August.The 1929 convention was truly a reminder of the gloriousdays of the UNIA s peak.On the opening day, thousands ofcheering spectators lined the streets of Kingston to view aparade that stretched for five miles.Men, women, and childrenperched on rooftops, fences, and trees to watch the amazingspectacle.Garvey, wearing scarlet robes and a red and whitehat, rode in an open car that was decorated with the UNIAcolors of red, black, and green
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