Ali Establishes Career in Acting and Journalism
By the 1900s, Ali established himself as a actor and playwright, producing his original plays, The Jew’s Revenge (1903), A Daughter of Judah (1906), A Cleopatra Night (1907) and Lily of Bermuda (1909). However, this time was the beginning of his foray into journalism and politics. In 1912, The African Times and Orient Review was created by Ali and funded by West Africans who agreed with his political leanings. The publication, which covered issues in the United States, the Caribbean, West Africa, South Africa and Egyptm was the first Black-owned newspaper in England. It eventually attracted the attention of people like Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois and Alain Locke.
Ali and Marcus Garvey
The African Times and Orient Review also attracted a young Marcus Garvey, who was studying in London at the time. In 1913, the two worked together writing articles about English colonization and Ali served as a mentor to Garvey, shaping some of his world views. The English shut down the paper because they feared it would incite a revolution, preventing the distribution of the paper to India and Africa in 1918. However, in 1920, Ali restarted the paper after WWI and renamed it, African and Orient Review.
