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What is Pan Africanism? • A political, cultural and intellectual phenomenon which regards Africa, Africans and African descendants as a unit. It seeks to regenerate and unify Africa and promote a feeling of oneness among the people of the African world. It glorifies the African past and inculcates pride in African values.
The concept of Pan-Africanism was conceived by people of African descent mainly in the Caribbean and in the United States.
Views of Pan Africanism • Different scholars have applied Pan-Africanism to a) all black African people and people of black African descent b) to all people on the African continent, including non-black people c) or to all states on the African continent
Origins of Pan Africanism • Between 1450 and 1870 millions of Africans were forced to leave their homelands and work on plantations in the Caribbean, North, Central and South America (the New World). • This forced migration scattered African people in various regions. Descendants of these Africans now live and work in these regions.
Africans hated slavery and the colonial system. • The Pan-African movement arose to combat the institutions of slavery and colonialism. • It was also developed to overcome the obstacles facing the African Diaspora, which is a scattered, diverse, and often disadvantaged population.
The origins of Pan-Africanism began around the end of the First World War • Pan-African thinkers believe that, although they were dispersed, African people and people of African descent were a unified people and should try to work together for the good of all. • Poets, historians, sociologists, anthropologists, playwrights, journalists, and political scientists were part of the movement
Objectives of Pan-Africanism • To rehabilitate the valuable aspects of African culture • To resuscitate pride in African descent • To regenerate and unify Africa • To promote a feeling of oneness among the African people of the world.
Leaders of the Pan-Africanism movement • W. E. B. Du Bois (1868-1963) One of the most influential early Pan-Africanists, helped found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and organized several Pan-African congresses.
Caribbean Pan-Africanists • George Padmore – Trinidad • CLR James - Trinidad • TES Scholes - Jamaica • Henry Sylvester Williams - a Trinidadian who placed the word 'Pan-African' on the political map and organised the first Pan-African Conference in 1900. • Norman Cameron, Walter Rodney – Guyana • Rosie Douglas – Dominica • George Odlum – St Lucia
Caribbean Pan-Africanists Edward Wilmot Blyden (1832-1912) Leading black intellectual and scholar of African culture. Born in the Virgin Islands. Moved to the West African nation of Liberia in 1851 and promoted the repatriation of free American blacks to Liberia. Hoped that Liberia, as an independent black-ruled nation, would become a beacon of Pan-Africanism, displaying the great achievements of Africans and people of African descent.
Caribbean Pan-Africanists Marcus Moziah Garvey (1887-1940) “You cannot be independent if you owned nothing”
Garvey’s achievements • Garvey was born the youngest of 11 children in Saint Ann's Bay, Jamaica. He was a black nationalist leader, who created a “Back to Africa” movement in the United States. • Hefounded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in 1914 to promote the improvement of living conditions for black Africans and people of black African descent in North and South America, the Caribbean, and Europe • In 1916 Garvey moved to the United States and settled in New York City
He founded an international movement. His newspaper, theNegro World, achieved wide distribution. Branches of UNIA sprung up all over the Americas, as well as in Europe, Australia, and South Africa. By 1919, his following had reached 2,000,000 • 1919he established the shipping company, the Black Star Line and the Negro Factories Corporation to encourage black economic independence • He hoped both to enter international trade and to transport blacks to Africa. He also hoped to oversee the repatriation of tens of thousands of American blacks to the West African nation of Liberia, which had been founded by freed American slaves in the early 19th century.
He also opened a chain of restaurants, grocery stores, laundries, a hotel, and a printing press. • The Garvey movement declined when Garvey was arrested and imprisoned in 1925 on charges of mail fraud relating to the operation of the Black Star Line. His repatriation scheme was never fulfilled. • Garvey moved back to London, England, where he died in 1940. His body was returned to Jamaica in 1964.
In a quote, from a speech given in 1921, Garvey explains the goal of the UNIA: “We of the Universal Negro Improvement Association are raising the cry of ‘Africa for the Africans’—those at home and those abroad. There are 400 million Africans in the world who have Negro blood coursing through their veins. And we believe that the time has come to unite these 400 million people for the one common purpose of bettering their condition”.
Impact of Pan Africanism (Garveyism) • Garvey founded the first political party in Jamaica in 1929 (People’s Political Party?). His manifesto called for a greater measure of self government; an eight hour day; a minimum wage; workmen’s compensation; rent control; land reform; rural electrification; industrialization and educational reforms.
Impact of Pan Africanism (Garveyism) • The Rastafarian movement a black- consciousness movement), was influenced by the ideas of Garveyism. It is Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Tony Rebel et al. used reggae music to amplify the message of freedom for Africans. • The trade union movement was influenced by Garveyism. • It stimulated the liberation movements in the region • The revival and stimulation of black pride
Contemporary relevance • At the start of the 21st century, Pan-Africanism retains its relevance, because the historical dynamics, which produced it, remain a factor to this day. The conditions of poverty, underdevelopment and marginalisation of Africans are but one example. The challenges to Pan-Africanism today must include generating an understanding of the political economy of the African predicament, and organising Africans on the continent and the Diaspora.
Contemporary relevance • Pan-Africanism remains an essential democratic vision, to deconstruct and uproot the inequalities of racism; to challenge the unpopular capitalist "New World Order" represented by the IMF, the World Bank, and more recently by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Pan-Africanism remains vital as a political framework bringing together the collective perspectives of people of African descent in our eternal struggle to assert and to affirm all humanity. Our struggle for the empowerment of the African world is, as W.E.B. Du Bois wrote, "the last great battle of the West."
Some Black inventors • Spree Winston, a Trinidadian – the steel pan • James S. - Propelling means for airplanes • Albert, A. P. -Cotton picking machine • Bailliff, C. O. -Shampoo headrest • Baker, David - Sanitary cuspidor, elevator scales, railway bridge signal. • Becket, G. E. - Letter box • Beckley, Charles R. - Folding chair • Benjamin, Alfred - Stainless steel scouring pads
Bishop, Alfred A. - Nuclear core flow distributor • Blackburn, A. B. - Railroad signal, Spring seat for chairs • Boykin, Otis - Artificial heart stimulator (pacemaker), Guided missile device • Brown, Marie V. B. - Home security system • Carver, George Washington –Cosmetics, Dyes • Gillard, Joseph - Car park
Jennings, Thomas L. - Dry cleaning process • Johnson, Frederick M. - Self-feeding rifle. • Johnson, John A. – Wrench • Huntley, James B. - Emergency fire escape mechanism • Jackson, Augustus - Ice cream. • Jones, Frederick McKinley - Portable X-ray machine, refrigerated trucks for long-distance travel, ticket-dispensing machine for movie theaters, air-conditioning method • Rhodes, J. B. - Water closet for homes
