pan-Africanism

pan-Africanism The idea of independence and unity for the African peoples, with an emphasis on the richness of African culture, and its equivalent worth to that of the European powers which were busy colonizing Africa. It was expressed through a series of Pan-African Conferences, the first of which was held in London in 1900. Principally under African-American/Caribbean leadership until 1945, under Garvey and Du Bois the movement also emphasized the roots of Blacks in the Americas, seeking to highlight their distinctive African cultural and ethnic heritage.

The sixth Pan-African Conference in Manchester in 1945 saw a fundamental shift, as leadership passed to a new generation of African nationalist leaders, most notably Nkrumah and Kenyatta. Ultimately, the movement failed in its ideal of African unity, as the borders established by the colonial powers proved surprisingly enduring. Furthermore, the differences and rivalries between the different tribes and peoples, encouraged by the colonial powers, were much larger than anticipated. Nevertheless, pan-Africanism had a large, if unquantifiable, impact, as the writings and teachings of Nkrumah and Kenyatta became central to virtually every independence movement on the continent. In particular, the early independence granted to Nkrumah's Ghana gave an important stimulus to independence movements elsewhere in Africa. The idea of pan-Africanism became the basis for the foundation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU).