Black States

Haiti, Liberia, and Ethiopia were the only independent black states at the League of Nations. Their inclusion was a point of international pride among black groups, but their existence was precarious. Each state faced a crisis in the interwar years that undermined their sovereignty and discredited the League.

Haiti was under occupation by the United States (1914-34) when it joined the League. The US presented itself as an ‘elder brother’, aiding the supposedly less civilised Haiti in fulfilling its international obligations. Being part of the League, which ostensibly required members to be ‘fully self-governing’, bolstered this narrative and prevented Haiti protesting the occupation in fear of jeopardising its membership.

In Liberia, a League investigation revealed the widespread sale of slave labour to the US-based Firestone Rubber Company. Firestone’s plantation, the largest in the world, was built in 1926 after the company obtained leasing rights to 10 percent of the country’s arable land. The scandal prompted international condemnation and Liberia chose US financial receivership over becoming a League mandate.

In 1935, Italy invaded Ethiopia (Abyssinia). The Ethiopian emperor's unprecedented personal plea to the League's assembly in Geneva led to sanctions against Mussolini, but they were never fully applied. Instead, Britain and France created a secret plan to appease Italy in fear of losing a vital ally against Nazi Germany. The invasion of one member state by another dramatically revealed the League’s impotence in the face of fascism.