Erna Brodber’s “Louisiana” is rich with real history. Brodber manages to connect and involve her characters in these movements and events seamlessly. From Marcus Garvey’s UNIA movement, to the longshoremen strike, to Ella Townsend’s ancestral history, Brodber provides us a story rooted in African-American History. Mammy/Sue Ann Grant, Silas King, and Lowly Girl/Louise Grant were Garveyites. Garveyites are those who are followers of an aspect of Black Nationalism called Garveyism. Garveyism follows the political, social, and economic policies of UNIA-ACL’s founder Marcus Garvey. The UNIA-ACL is an acronym for “Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League”. The organization reached its peak in the 1920s, before Marcus…show more content… However, this is only briefly mentioned in the novel. The longshoreman’s strike of 1907 stemmed form when both black and white longshore workers began an indefinite general strike against their shipping employers. It is believed that the initial cause of conflict is rooted in the resentment harbored against the screwmen. They had gained utter control over the shippers and steamship agents and won the 160 bail per-day limit. On the fourth of October 1907, all shipping lines were locked out of the screwmen. Immediately, the employers brought in thousands of black and white strikebreakers. However, some of the replacements quit after finding out that they were strikebreakers while others quit as a response to the New Orleans waterfront workers. During the second week of the strike, there had been strong attempts to create racial tensions between black and white strikers. The White League was also revived, a group of people whose goal was to intimidate black strikers. In spite of this, the strikers remained strong and unified and didn’t waiver. The city mayor proposed a compromise which he urged the strikers to consider. The continual financial losses were rising steadily due to the work disruption. Both screwmen and shipping agents agreed to return to work at the rate of 180
