At the 1922 convention of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in New York City, UNIA founder and leader, Marcus Mosiah Garvey, elevated Isaiah Emmanuel Morter to knighthood in the Distinguished Service Order of Ethiopia. When Morter died in 1924, he willed to the UNIA his entire estate, ?consisting of a banana and coconut plantation of 210 square miles and twenty-one pieces of improved real estate in Belize, the seaport capital of British Honduras.? (The quote is from page 164 of BLACK MOSES ? The Story of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association, by E. David Cronon, published in 1955 by the University of Wisconsin Press.)
Garvey had first established the UNIA in Jamaica in 1914. He arrived in Harlem (New York City) in March of 1916, and organized the New York division of the UNIA the following year. In the years following World War I (1914-1918), the UNIA experienced phenomenal growth in the United States and worldwide, so much so that the 1920 UNIA convention in New York was gigantic. It was at this convention that Lionel Francis, a ?West Indian physician,? joined the UNIA. Lionel Francis was the man who ended up, substantively speaking, with Isaiah Morter?s legacy.
If you think that the story of Marcus Garvey is irrelevant to today?s Belize, today?s Caribbean and today?s black world, then you have to be informed that the religion of Rastafarianism came out of Marcus Garvey?s UNIA. The UNIA gave great emphasis to the 31stverse of the 68th Psalm of the Old Testament ? ?Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.?
In February of 1922, Garvey had been indicted, framed actually, for mail fraud by J. Edgar Hoover?s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The trial, in which Garvey had three co-defendants, began in May of 1923 and ended in September that year with acquittal for the three other defendants and a conviction against Marcus Garvey. Garvey?s appeal was rejected in February of 1925, and he was imprisoned in Atlanta State Penitentiary. In December of 1927, Garvey?s sentence was commuted and he was immediately deported to Jamaica. The most powerful black man ever produced by Africans in the diaspora, Marcus Mosiah Garvey, had been broken by the forces of white supremacy in the United States.
But spiritual and mystic black men in Jamaica, mindful of the 31stverse/68thPsalm, and inspired by the crowning of Haile Selassie I as king of Ethiopia in 1930, began the ?groundings? which became the planted seeds of the religion of Rasta. The religion of Rasta essentially inspired the music we know as reggae music, a music that Robert Nesta Marley made into an international phenomenon during the 1970?s. Reggae and Rasta, then, began with Garvey?s UNIA, and the greatest benefactor of the UNIA was Isaiah Emmanuel Morter, a self-made ?Negro? of British Honduras.
It is impossible to say what the value of Morter?s estate would be in 2006. I would say at least forty or fifty million dollars, just as a ballpark figure. Isaiah Morter?s achievement in Belize a hundred years ago was a staggering one. Had Morter?s legacy reached Garvey, Marcus would have been able to rebuild the UNIA after his imprisonment. As it was, Garvey had already been convicted when Isaiah Morter died in 1924, and he went to jail the following year.
While Marcus Garvey was in jail between 1925 and 1927, Lionel Francis took over the New York headquarters of the UNIA. Garvey?s legal attempts to fight for Isaiah Morter?s estate from exile in Jamaica, in retrospect, were doomed to fail.
In BLACK MOSES, E, David Cronon writes, (page 165), ?? Garvey had split with the American association and had formed his so-called Parent Body of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. The prospect of sharing in a valuable legacy, however, quickly revived the moribund American group to the extent that its leaders greedily contested Garvey?s right to the estate on the ground that he was no longer connected with the organization to which Morter had willed his property.?
Marcus Garvey?s widow, Mrs. Amy Jacques Garvey, wrote the following in GARVEY & GARVEYISM, published in 1970 by The MacMillan Company (pages 260, 261). ?In September of 1939 the Supreme Court of British Honduras gave its final decision in the celebrated Isaiah Morter will case, which had its beginning in 1922 when Mr. Morter came from Belize for the convention and for medical attention.? ?When he died he left a will in which he bequeathed almost all his estate to the U.N.I.A. for African redemption. The question whether ?African redemption? involved improper activities had such a bearing on the whole case, that it went from court to court for over twelve years, even after the will was probated?? ?Finally the court awarded judgement in favor of a U.N.I.A. Inc. of New York City, which was represented by one man, without members and with no program for African redemption.?
On the matter of Parcels 25, 29, 30 and 34, I am wondering whether it is possible for the surviving members of the Morter family to form a consortium and hire lawyers to prepare a Morter family claim to these lands at New Winsor and Northern Lagoon. For the Morter family to re-acquire the lands originally possessed by Sir Isaiah, would be a proud moment for those of us in the Belizean community who cherish and honor our ancestors of African heritage.
No. 191
BELIZE:
Ministry of Natural Resources
Belmopan, April 10, 2006
NOTICE OF INTENTION TO DECLARE LAND VACANT
PARCELS 34, 29, 25 AND 30 ON THE MAP OF NEW WINSOR AND
NORTHERN LAGOON
FORMERLY THE ESTATE OF THE LATE ISAIAH MORTER
DESCRIPTION OF THE PARCELS
NOTICE is hereby given to any interested person that the Government, acting through the Ministry of Natural Resources intends to declare Parcels 25, 29, 30 and 34 on the map of New Winsor and Northern Lagoon, formerly the estate of the late Isahiah Morter, vacant. The parcels can be viewed by any interested person at the Land Titles Registry, Belmopan City, during normal working hours, and representations should be made in writing to the Commissioner of Lands, Ministry of Natural Resources, Belmopan. A brief description of the parcels and their devolution is given hereunder.
1. Parcel 34 has 448 ? acres, comprising 297 ? acres and 151 acres. Parcel 29 has 5 acres. Parcel 25 has 25 acres. Parcel 130 has 20 acres. All parcels were owned by the late Isahiah Morter.
2. Isahiah Morter came to own the 297 ? acres in Parcel 34 by means of Governor?s Fiat 5 of 1912. At that time, Morter already owned the 151 acres in Parcel 34, known as New Winsor.
3. It is not clear how Isahiah Morter came to own Parcel 29, as no instrument evidencing how he came into ownership can be found at the Land Titles Registry or at the Archives Department. It is clear, however, that Isaiah Morter owned Parcel 29 at the time of his death, as it is one of the Parcels of land described in the Schedule to Morter?s Will which is available in Wills Book 3, No. 460.
4. Isahiah Morter came to own Parcel 25 by means of a conveyance dated March 20, 1911 from Emily Margaret Hulse to Isahiah Morter.
5. It is again not clear how Morter came to own Parcel 30, because no instrument vesting such ownership can be located at the Land Titles Registry or the Archives Department. It is clear, however, that Morter owned this Parcel at the time of his death, as reflected in the list of properties described in the Schedule to his Will.
Devolution of the Properties after Morter?s Death:
6. The Will of Isahiah Morter was located in Wills Book 3, No. 460. It is dated February 15, 1924. The following extracts from the Will are pertinent.
(1) ?I devise ?. Banks on the left hand ascending the Belize River to Emma Arthurs for the term of her natural life and after her death I direct my said Executors and Trustees to sell the same and pay the net proceeds over to the Parent Body of the Universal Negro Improvement Association for the African Redemption Fund?.
(2) ?After all my directions are carried out, I give, devise and bequeath the residue of my real and personal estate wheresoever and whatsoever to the Parent Body of the Universal Negro Improvement Association for the African Redemption Fund?.
7. There was a lot of litigation over the estate of Isahiah Morter, but the Privy Council, in Appeal No. 26 of 1927, held that the estate was, by the Will dated February 15, 1924, passed to the Universal Negro Improvement Association for the African Redemption Fund but the Universal Negro Improvement Association never occupied or came into possession of the said properties, and never paid land tax for the said parcels.
8. Unless representations are sooner made by any interested persons as aforesaid, the Government intends to declare such parcels bona vacantia by like notice within thirty (30) days of this notice.
DATED this 5thday of April, 2006.
MINISTRY OF NATURAL RESOURCES
Belmopan, Belize