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Portal:Pan-Africanism

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Introduction

Welcome to the Pan-Africanism portal!
Bienvenue sur le portail panafricanisme!
The Pan-African flag, designed by the UNIA and formally adopted on August 13, 1920.
Marcus Garvey (17 August 1887 – 10 June 1940) : A prominent Pan-Africanist. In this 1922 picture, Garvey is shown in a military uniform as the "Provisional President of Africa" during a parade on the opening day of the annual Convention of the Negro Peoples of the World at Lenox Avenue in Harlem, New York City.
The red, black and green flag, associated with Pan-Africanism and designed by the UNIA in 1920.

Pan-Africanism is a nationalist movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all indigenous peoples and diasporas of African ancestry. Based on a common goal dating back to the Atlantic slave trade, the Trans-Saharan slave trade, the Indian Ocean slave trade, the Red Sea slave trade, slavery in the Cape Colony (now South Africa), along with slavery in Mauritius, the movement extends beyond continental Africans with a substantial support base among the African diaspora in the Americas and Europe.

Pan-Africanism is said to have its origins in the struggles of the African people against enslavement and colonization and this struggle may be traced back to the first resistance on slave ships—rebellions and suicides—through the constant plantation and colonial uprisings and the "Back to Africa" movements of the 19th century. Based on the belief that unity is vital to economic, social, and political progress, it aims to unify and uplift people of African ancestry. However, it was in the twentieth century that Pan Africanism emerged as a distinct political movement initially formed and led by people from the Diaspora (people of African heritage living outside of the Continent). In 1900, the Trinindadian barrister – Henry Sylvester Williams – called a conference that took place in Westminster Hall, London to “protest stealing of lands in the colonies, racial discrimination and deal with other issues of interest to Blacks”. (Full article...)

Selected article

The red, black, and green Pan-African flag designed by the UNIA in 1920.

The Pan-African flag—also known as the UNIA flag, Afro-American flag, Black Liberation flag and various other names—is a tri-color flag consisting of three equal horizontal bands of (from top down) red, black and green. The Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) formally adopted it on August 13, 1920 in Article 39 of the Declaration of the Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World, during its month-long convention at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Variations of the flag can and have been used in various countries and territories in the Americas to represent Garveyist ideologies.

Selected biography

Musa Ngum (or Musa Afia Ngum, born 1953 in Fatoto, the Gambia; died 11 October 2015 at the Dantec Hospital, Dakar, Senegal) was a singer and songwriter who was very popular in Senegal and Gambia. He was one of the pioneers of mbalax music, and "helped to define the mbalax style of popular music in the Senegambia" and "had a strong influence on Youssou N'Dour and other mbalax pioneers". He was "something of a cult icon back in the Senegambia region, and a pioneer of the mbalax fusion style". The mbalax, which originated from the Serer religious and ultra–conservative njuup music tradition sang during Ndut rites by circumcised boys (also referred to as “Kassak” songs) was the foundation of Ngum's music career. He mastered many of the njuup classics and built a name for himself whilst at the same time developing his voice.

Throughout his music career, Ngum advocated for Pan-Africanism, and in particular the unification of Senegal and Gambia under one president.

Selected history

Pre-colonial African states from different time periods
Obelisk at temple of Luxor, Egypt. c. 1200 BC

The history of Africa begins with the emergence of hominids, archaic humans and – at least 200,000 years ago – anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens), in East Africa, and continues unbroken into the present as a patchwork of diverse and politically developing nation states. The earliest known recorded history arose in the Kingdom of Kush, and later in Ancient Egypt, the Sahel, the Maghreb and the Horn of Africa.

Following the desertification of the Sahara, North African history became entwined with the Middle East and Southern Europe while the Bantu expansion swept from modern day Cameroon (West Africa) across much of the sub-Saharan continent in waves between around 1000 BC and 0 AD, creating a linguistic commonality across much of the central and Southern continent.

During the Middle Ages, Islam spread west from Arabia to Egypt, crossing the Maghreb and the Sahel. Some notable pre-colonial states and societies in Africa include the Ajuran Empire, D'mt, Adal Sultanate, Warsangali Sultanate, Kingdom of Nri, Nok culture, Mali Empire, Songhai Empire, Benin Empire, Oyo Empire, Ashanti Empire, Ghana Empire, Mossi Kingdoms, Mutapa Empire, Kingdom of Mapungubwe, Kingdom of Sine, Kingdom of Sennar, Kingdom of Saloum, Kingdom of Baol, Kingdom of Cayor, Kingdom of Zimbabwe, Kingdom of Kongo, Empire of Kaabu, Kingdom of Ile Ife, Ancient Carthage, Numidia, Mauretania, and the Aksumite Empire. At its peak, prior to European colonialism, it is estimated that Africa had up to 10,000 different states and autonomous groups with distinct languages and customs.

From the mid-7th century, the Arab slave trade saw Muslim Arabs enslave Africans. Following an armistice between the Rashidun Caliphate and the Kingdom of Makuria after the Second Battle of Dongola in 652 AD, they were transported, along with Asians and Europeans, across the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, and Sahara Desert.

Selected culture

Haitian Vodou (/ˈvd/, French: [vodu], also written as Vaudou /ˈvd/; known commonly as Voodoo /ˈvd/, sometimes as Vodun /ˈvd/, Vodoun /ˈvdn/, Vodu /ˈvd/, or Vaudoux /ˈvd/) is a syncretic religion practiced chiefly in Haiti and the Haitian diaspora. Practitioners are called "vodouists" (French: vodouisants [voduizɑ̃]) or "servants of the spirits" (Haitian Creole: sèvitè).

Vodouists believe in a distant and unknowable Supreme Creator, Bondye (derived from the French term Bon Dieu, meaning "good God"). According to Vodouists, Bondye does not intercede in human affairs, and thus they direct their worship toward spirits subservient to Bondye, called loa. Every loa is responsible for a particular aspect of life, with the dynamic and changing personalities of each loa reflecting the many possibilities inherent to the aspects of life over which they preside. To navigate daily life, vodouists cultivate personal relationships with the loa through the presentation of offerings, the creation of personal altars and devotional objects, and participation in elaborate ceremonies of music, dance, and spirit possession.

Vodou originated in what is now Benin Republic and developed in the French colonial empire in the 18th century among West African peoples who were enslaved, when African religious practice was actively suppressed, and enslaved Africans were forced to convert to Christianity. Religious practices of contemporary Vodou are descended from, and closely related to, West African Vodun as practiced by the Fon and Ewe. Vodou also incorporates elements and symbolism from other African peoples including the Yoruba and Kongo; as well as Taíno religious beliefs, Roman Catholicism, and European spirituality including mysticism and other influences.

Selected images

Organisations

Festivals

Grand Durbar in Kaduna State in the occasion of Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture, 15 January - 12 February 1977.

Photo by Helinä Rautavaara (1977)

Publications

  • Awakening the Natural Genius of Black Children (1992) by Dr. Amos N. Wilson
  • Blueprint for Black Power: A Moral, Political and Economic Imperative for the Twenty-First Century (1998) by Dr. Amos N. Wilson
  • Afrikan-Centered Consciousness Versus the New World Order: Garveyism in the Age of Globalism (1999) by Dr. Amos N. Wilson
  • The Cress Theory of Color-Confrontation and Racism (White Supremacy) (1970) by Dr. Frances Cress Welsing
  • The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colors (1991) by Dr. Frances Cress Welsing
  • The root cause of the bread and butter demonstration (1959) by Alieu Ebrima Cham Joof

Films and TV

Audios and videos

Did you know

...that in London's Africa Centre, Desmond Tutu and Thabo Mbeki used to meet at the bar?

Selected quotes

On the subject of "Black self-hatred", the African-American scholar and Pan-Africanist Dr. Amos N. Wilson said:



Pan-Africanism topics

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