George Wilson Becton

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George Wilson Becton was the "first of the colorful cult leaders in Harlem." [1] He began charismatic preaching in about 1930, after the decline of Marcus Garvey, and continued until he was mysteriously murdered in 1933.

Harlem Neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City

Harlem is a neighborhood in the northern section of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is bounded roughly by Frederick Douglass Boulevard, St. Nicholas Avenue, and Morningside Park on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. It is part of greater Harlem, an area that encompasses several other neighborhoods and extends west to the Hudson River, north to 155th Street, east to the East River, and south to 96th Street.

Marcus Garvey Jamaica-born British political activist, Pan-Africanist, orator, and entrepreneur

Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr. ONH was a Jamaican-born political leader, publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator. He was first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL). He also was President and one of the directors of the Black Star Line, a shipping and passenger line incorporated in Delaware. The Black Star Line went bankrupt and Garvey was imprisoned after a trial that was "probably politically motivated" for mail fraud in the selling of its stock. Even though Garvey's conviction was upheld on appeal, his sentence was commuted in 1927. Advocates of African Redemption have openly sought to have him exonerated since 1987, continuing to the present day.

Becton's sermons were formal and presented in a dignified setting, with orchestral music and liveried pages. He was kidnapped and shot to death on May 25, 1933. He died without describing his attackers or explaining why anybody might have wanted him killed. [2]

Claude McKay wrote about Becton in his book Harlem, Negro Metropolis.

Claude McKay Jamaican American writer, poet

Festus Claudius "Claude" McKay was a Jamaican writer and poet, who was a seminal figure in the Harlem Renaissance. He wrote four novels: Home to Harlem (1928), a best-seller that won the Harmon Gold Award for Literature, Banjo (1929), Banana Bottom (1933), and in 1941 a manuscript called Amiable With Big Teeth: A Novel of the Love Affair Between the Communists and the Poor Black Sheep of Harlem which remained unpublished until 2017. McKay also authored collections of poetry, a collection of short stories, Gingertown (1932), two autobiographical books, A Long Way from Home (1937) and My Green Hills of Jamaica, and a non-fiction, socio-historical treatise entitled Harlem: Negro Metropolis (1940). His 1922 poetry collection, Harlem Shadows, was among the first books published during the Harlem Renaissance. His Selected Poems was published posthumously, in 1953.

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References

  1. "Four Men of Harlem -- The Movers and the Shakers," in Harlem, U.S.A., John Henrik Clarke, 1971 edition, p.251
  2. "Four Men of Harlem -- The Movers and the Shakers," in Harlem, U.S.A., John Henrik Clarke, 1971 edition, p.253