Background
Owen was born in Warrenton, North Carolina, in 1889.
Owen was born in Warrenton, North Carolina, in 1889.
Born in North Carolina, he studied and worked in New York, then moved to Chicago for much of his career. He graduated from Virginia Union University in 1913.
Later, while studying economics at Columbia University in 1916, he joined the Socialist Party of America. They soon became known in Harlem as "Lenin" (Owen) and "Trotsky" (Randolph). The two started a journal in 1917, called The Messenger, which published leading literary and political writers.
Owen moved to Chicago, Illinois, shortly thereafter and found himself quickly enlightened with socialistic views.
He became managing editor of the Chicago Bee, a major African-American publication, and continued to back Randolph in his efforts to unionize Pullman porters on the railroads. With his mounting career success, Owen went on to establish his own public relations company.
In the 1920s, Owen became a Republican. He would later ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the United States House of Representatives.
Foreign the remainder of his life, he worked in public relations and continue to write speeches.
I"ve been in pain. If you were not living, I would commit suicide today." Owen died soon after in November 1967.
Soon after, while Owen was running for the New York State Assembly, he and Randolph were jailed, where they were mocked and treated cruelly for their Socialist affiliations.