Page 118 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV

pan-africanism 1419

Henry Sylvester Williams:
The Call for the Pan-

African Conference of 1900
the unique characteristics of African culture and psy-
One of the most important early political organiz-
chology, a notion that presaged the negritude movement
ers of Pan-Africanism was the Englishman Henry
of the twentieth century. Blyden had a great influence on
Sylvester Williams (1869–1911), a lawyer from
West African nationalists and Pan-African theoreticians.
Trinidad who moved to London in 1896.He found-
In the words of Lynch,“Blyden’s pan-Negro ideology was
ed a black organization called the African Associ-
undoubtedly the most important historical progenitor of
ation in 1897, and the first documented use of the
Pan-Africanism” (Lynch 1967, 250).
phrase “Pan African Conference” is found in an
Thus some of the early ideas leading to Pan-Africanism
1899 letter by Williams calling for a meeting in
included black nationalism, the idea of Africa for Africans,
1900.Williams wrote that “the time has come when
emphasis by some but not all on a return to the African
the voice of Blackmen should be heard indepen
homeland, and the concept of the greatness of African
dently in their own affairs.”
history and culture, emphasizing Egypt and Ethiopia as
In the written conference proceedings, he added: black civilizations. Other aspects emphasized by some
included the need to uplift and regenerate Africa through
In view of circumstances and the widespread igno-
missionary activity in order to fulfill God’s promise as
rance which is prevalent in England about the
expressed in Psalms 68:31.
treatment of native races under European and
American rule, the African Association, which
Political Pan-Africanism
consists of members of the race resident in En-
In his path-breaking and controversial paper, “The Con-
gland . . . has resolved during the Paris Exhibi-
servation of Races,” delivered in 1897 at the American
tion, 1900 . . . to hold a conference in London
Negro Academy,the recent Harvard Ph.D.W.E.B.Du Bois
. . . in order to take steps to influence public
(1868–1963), who later became known as the father of
opinion on existing proceedings and conditions
Pan-Africanism, called upon African-Americans to “take
affecting the welfare of the natives in the various
their just place in the van of Pan-Negroism” (quoted in
parts to the world . . .
Foner 1970, 79). Du Bois called for “race organization,”
The proceedings were sent to activists in Africa, the “race solidarity,” “race unity,” and a spirit of self-help, since
United States, Europe, West Indies and Haiti. Re- “for the development of Negro genius, of Negro literature
ports of the conference appeared in thirty-five and art, of Negro spirit, only Negroes bound and welded
newspapers in the United Kingdom, the United together, Negroes inspired by one vast ideal, can work
States and Africa. out in its fullness the great message we have for human-
Sources: Retrieved from http://www.mainlib.uwi.tt/oprepweb/notes.html and ity” (in Foner 1970, 79). Inspired to a large extent by
http://www.100greatblackbritons.com/bios/henry_sylvester_williams.html
Alexander Crummell as well as by European nationalist
theorists, Du Bois in the late 1890s began his transforma-
tion first into a race man (a person primarily concerned
free blacks to Africa with skills in teaching, medicine, with African-American issues in the late 1890s) and even-
business, transportation and other fields. tually into a Pan-Africanist advocate and organizer.
Edward Blyden was the most significant black scholar The most important early political organizer of Pan-
of the nineteenth century, with complex and sometimes Africanism,however,was not Du Bois,but Henry Sylvester
contradictory views of Africa. According to the historian Williams (1869–1911), a lawyer from Trinidad resident
Hollis Lynch, as early as the 1870s Blyden originated the in London since 1896. He founded a black organization
concept of the “African personality,” by which he meant called the African Association on 24 September 1897.