PAN AFRICANISM

As

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.
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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.
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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
1.
2.
3.
4.

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.
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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
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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 PanAfricanism, displaying the great
achievements of Africans and people of
African descent.
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Leonard Timoshenko Hector- Antigua (

1942 2002)

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Caribbean Pan-Africanists
Marcus Moziah Garvey
(1887-1940)

You cannot be
independent if you
owned nothing
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Garveys 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.

He founded 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

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He founded an international movement. His newspaper, the

Negro 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 .
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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.
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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.
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Impact of Pan Africanism (Garveyism)

Garvey founded the first political party in

Jamaica in 1929 (Peoples Political Party?). His
manifesto called for a greater measure of self
government; an eight hour day; a minimum
wage; workmens compensation; rent control;
land reform; rural electrification; industrialization
and educational reforms.
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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
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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.
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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."

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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
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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

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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, airconditioning method
Rhodes, J. B. - Water closet for homes
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