“The Age of Unrest, the Age of Dissatisfaction”

Abstract

Writing in the aftermath of World War I, Marcus Garvey argued, “Never before in the history of the world has the spirit of unrest swept over as it has during the past two years”. He declared the era “the age of unrest, the age of dissatisfaction”. In Australia there emerged a vibrant pan-Aboriginal political movement, typified by Fred Maynard’s Australian Aboriginal Progressive Association, intent on demanding Aboriginal rights to land, opposing the government’s removal policy, defending an Indigenous cultural identity, demanding citizenship rights, and calling for self-determination and autonomy over Aboriginal affairs. This chapter examines Aboriginal political protest during this time of global upheaval, and examines the long-forgotten influence of Garveyism and the United Negro Improvement Association in the genesis of Aboriginal political mobilization during the 1920s.