The Ethiopian World Federation Incorporated, (EWF) was a charitable organization established in the United States in 1937. Its aims were to mobilize support for the Ethiopians during the Italian invasion of 1935-41, and to embody the unity of Ethiopians (Black people) home and abroad. Sections were established in other parts of the Americas. Later, the EWF was given charge of an area of land in Ethiopia for housing returning emigrants. EWF sections in different countries became increasingly identified with the African Diaspora movement even though it was originally aimed at African Americans ready to defend the Ethiopians subjects and their empire from the fascist aggressors. History The EWF built on the efforts of African Americans who, in 1936, sent a delegation consisting of three prominent Harlem figures, all leaders of the black organization known as United Aid for Ethiopia. Reverend William Lloyd Imes, Pastor of the prestigious St. James Presbyterian Church, Philip M. Savory of the Victory Insurance Company and co-owner of the New York Amsterdam News, and Cyril M. Philp, secretary of United Aid, sailed to England in the summer of 1936 to speak with Emperor Haile Selassie concerning financial matters. In response, the Emperor empowered his personal physician His Imperial Highness Prince Malaku E. Bayen, Phd., as his personal emissary. Bayen at first worked with United Aid for Ethiopia, but the next year he dissolved that body and founded the EWF to take its place. EWF was formally established on August 25, 1937, in New York City as The Ethiopian World Federation, Incorporated. It was originally a not-for-profit membership organization, incorporated in the State of New York. By the standards of The Constitution and ByLaws in which it was built on, the relationship of the organization grew stronger with The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Later it was also registered by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(4) organization, thus conferring tax-exempt status on the organization and its legal subsidiary bodies. The main purpose was set out in the following preamble: The EWF was at first made up primarily of Ethiopian students who came to America to study abroad, after the official coronation of Emperor Haile Selassie. It gained support from the Black community of Harlem, and deprecated the term "Negro" in favour of an African and Ethiopian identity. The isolationist policy of the United States prevented the participation of Americans getting involved in what they perceived as being