United Black Association For Development - Formation and Early Activities

Formation and Early Activities

UBAD was officially established on February 9, 1969 in Belize City. Its first president was Lionel Clarke; Hyde was officially secretary. The group met every Wednesday night to discuss tactics for the development of the young nation and soon attracted a following. After Clarke resigned following charges of inappropriate conduct at his place of employment, Hyde was elevated to president, where he remained for the rest of UBAD's existence. Another early UBAD contributor was Edgar X. Richardson.

UBAD organised a breakfast program for needy children, in which its female supporters would get up early and cook for children transported to the UBAD headquarters on, appropriately enough, Hyde's Lane. In conjunction with this program, a bakery called UBAFU (Garifuna word meaning power) was also established, selling locally made bread and pastries until it closed down for lack of financing. The breakfast program suffered a similar fate when its chief transport personnel was deported by order of the government and UBAD lost its vehicle for transportation. UBAD also found itself under fire from many of the established groups uncomfortable with its message of Black Power; the local unit of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) stopped renting them its Liberty Hall in August 1969 under pressure from the government.

The newly formed PAC under Shoman and Musa sought camaraderie with UBAD and officers of both parties spoke at each other's meetings. Unfortunately, taunts of "communism" and "racism" were soon hurled at UBAD and President Hyde was forced to suspend an executive member for appearing at a PAC meeting with a flag of Cuban/Argentinian activist Che Guevara. In addition, upwardly mobile blacks were not drawn to UBAD's youthful defiance and insistence on African origin as the basis for self-empowerment. Women were similarly sidelined, although a few eventually became executive members. (Shoman, 13 Chapters)

One of the lasting institutions set up in this period was the Amandala newspaper in August 1969. For more information on this newspaper's relationship to UBAD, see Amandala.