Garvey’s weekly paper, Negro World, was published from 1918 to 1933 and became one of the leading African American periodicals.
It sponsored beauty contests for black women, encouraged followers to support black businesses, and refused to carry advertisements for skin bleaches and hair straighteners.
In 1920, Garvey established the Negro Factories Corporation to build factories and produce goods for domestic and foreign sale to blacks. This corporation managed several UNIA businesses, including laundries, restaurants, a doll factory that manufactured black dolls for black children, tailoring and millinery establishments, and a printing press.
Garvey also established a black-owned steamship line, called the Black Star Line, which ran between the United States, the Caribbean, and Africa. But Garvey’s three ships soon broke down and could not be used more than a few times. As a result, he lost $800,000 of the money invested by his black followers.
By 1923, the Black Star Line was out of funds, and there were allegations that some of the company’s funds had been deposited in the personal bank accounts of some of its officials.
In January 1922 Garvey and three of the main officials of the Black Star Line were arrested and indicted for using the mails to defraud investors.
