Amy Jacques and the Negro Factories Corporation
One hundred years ago today … The Negro Factories Corporation was incorporated. It was largely Marcus Garvey’s project, a corporate version of U.N.I.A. that would either take over, link, subsidize, or create businesses run by African Americans.
Investment form for the Negro Factories Corporation, 1920-21. Courtesy UNIA-ACL website.
Amy Jacques was named secretary of the Negro Factories Corporation, a testimony to the effectiveness she had demonstrated working for U.N.I.A. since 1917.
An early photograph of Amy Jacques. Courtesy Blackpast.org.
Amy Euphemia Jacques, born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1996, had immigrated to the US in 1917. According to Grant, upon arriving in New York, Jacques rejected by her local relatives because while they could pass for white, she could not; in order to stay legally, she invented new names of purported sponsors (211). Soon after her arrival, she met Garvey at the U.N.I.A offices at 56 West 135th Street, and joined the organizational team, working at first several nights per week and eventually full time.
Thus Garvey entrusted her with behind-the-scenes leadership of the Negro Factories Corporation. Under Jaques’ administration, the organization had a successful launch:
In May 1920, just months after its founding, Garvey reported that the corporation had taken over the management of a Harlem steam laundry and would soon open a millinery and hat factory. By June 1920, the Negro Factories Corporation had opened the Universal Steam Laundry, with a Universal Tailoring and Dress Making department, at 62 West 142nd Street in Harlem. At this location, U.N.I.A. uniforms and insignia were manufactured, and fashionable clothing was designed for U.N.I.A. fashion shows at Liberty Hall, the U.N.I.A.'s international headquarters. The Negro Factories Corporation also supported three grocery stores in Harlem, one on 135th Street and two on Lenox Avenue; two restaurants, one on 135th Street and the other at Liberty Hall; and a printing press. (The American Experience: Marcus Garvey.)
Stock certificate for Negro Factories Corporation, bought by one Christopher Bowen, signed by Marcus Garvey on May 31, 1920. Courtesy Swann Auction Galleries.
The Corporation was dissolved in 1921. In 1922 Amy Jaques and Marcus Garvey got married, and she would take his name, becoming known as Amy Jaques Garvey.
Amy Jacques Garvey and Marcus Garvey in 1922. Wikicommons.
U.N.I.A. still exists. Read about their current activities on their official website.