"Friends of Negro Freedom."

Was created by Asa Philip Randolph and Chandler Owen, the owners of the Messenger magazine.They formed the organization with goals of garnering support for black-owned businesses and helping provide African American workers with training in labor union techniques.The FNF distinguished itself  from leading civil rights organization of that era, the NAACP in that was black led and financed,and it pushed for economic reform.FNF also recruited mainly within a predominantly black working class constituency,arguing that the  NAACP,membership,mostly and middle class blacks,was out of touch with the most important issues facing the majority of blacks at the time.Asa and Chandler also hoped their organization would encourage socialism among U.S. black workers.FNF excluded whites from membership,citing white involvement in the NAACP and the National Urban League (NUL) as examples of the making  of what they viewed as legitimate black grievance against racial oppression and discrimination.The group's initial included plans to negotiate with white employers to increase working opportunities for African Americans and to assist migrants from the South immigrants  from the Caribbean who had relocated in the North.It also proposed  an FNF union label which would identify products manufactured by companies that complied  with the group's goals promoting socialism and eliminating racism.Asa and Chandler also envisioned the FNF as fighting for those victimized by price gouging and inflated rents.Finally it campaigned to make John Brown's birthday a national holiday among African Americans.Despite its ambitious plans and  its desire to differentiate itself from middle class organizations,its greatest rival was Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) which drew from the same working class constituency that FNF hoped to organize.From its founding convention in Washington, D.C. IN 1920, FNF leaders criticized  the UNIA.By 1921 they had organized a "Marcus Must Go"campaigned which drew from the support many members of the NAACP and National Urban League.FNF leaders charged that Marcus organization was corrupt and posed a threat to the economic advancement of African Americans.They believed UNIA schemes such as the Black Star Steamship Line diverted scarce resources from more important goals.In January 1923 the FNF sent a public letter to the United States Attorney General Harry Daugherty urging his office to prosecute and deport Marcus.The FNF letter intensified the federal government's effort to destroy the UNIA.Marcus was arrested and prosecuted for mail fraud later that year sent to federal prison.In 1927 he was deported from the United States.the 1923 prosecution and conviction of Marcus also ironically sealed the fate of the FNF.After his conviction most members drifted away. By November 1923,the group essentially ceased to function.