The Pan-African Movement
By the 1860s, Black people around the world found they had a wealth of experience in organising, protesting and fighting enslavement. Now that that had ended the Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans. However, seeing discrimination, racism and colonisation had not ended! Many used those skills to continue to fight against discrimination.
​
But they went one step further - They worked to form a new identity for Black people all over the world.
Self-identity
In the later half of the 18th Century, Black people began a new fight. One for an independent identity, one where it recognised the history, culture and great worth of Black people all over the world.
Don't forget to take your map with you!
Let's introduce you to some more important people in the Pan-African Movement.
James Africanus Beale Horton
Born in Sierra Leone, he became a doctor in Edinburgh in 1859. He took on the name Africanus to show pride in his heritage.
​
He wrote West African Countries and Peoples, British and Native: And a Vindication of the African Race, Horton systematically took apart ridiculous racial theories from the time. He called the theories for what they were: racist.
Alice Kinloch
Alice Kinloch, from South Africa was very important in setting up the African-Association (which later became the Pan-African Association). Her work has largely gone unrecognised.
​
However, you can learn much more about her here .
​
She came to England in 1897 and spoke in Newcastle's Central Hall about the appalling treatment of South African diamond mine workers. She was later a founding member of the Pan-African Association and its treasurer (even though it officially denied women entry in the association initially).
​
​
The Pan African Conference 1900
The term ‘Pan-African’ first appeared in a conference held in Westminster Town Hall in July 1900.The conference was ran by Henry Sylvester Williams. It's main aim was to highlight injustice in Britain’s African colonies and to force pressure on MPs to act. It also wanted to foster a sense of unity for Africans.
It was attended by Alice Kinloch, Celestine Edwards and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.
​
​
The United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA)
The United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) was formed by Marcus Garvey in 1914.
​
It aimed to unite Black people around the world, who had been moved around the world by TTEA and by colonialism.
It also promoted the thinking that Black people around the world take charge of their own affairs; run their own countries, run their own businesses.
UNIA had branches all over the world and even had its own fleet of ships called the Black Star Line. Shipping was a sign of a country's status and power and its ability to trade.
How significant was the Pan-African Movement?
Part 1
Read the Know More Section
How much change did the Pan-African Movement achieve?
​
Think about what was new about the Pan-African Movement.
Over to you!
'Marcus Garvey was the first man of colour in the history of the United States to lead and develop a mass movement. He was the first man on a mass scale and level to give millions to Negroes and make the Negro feel he was somebody,'
​
Martin Luther King speaking about Marcus Garvey while on a trip to Jamaica in 1965.
How significant was the Pan-African Movement?
Part 2
In the 20th Century there would be a huge rise in Civil Rights movements in many places in the world. Many looked to increase the rights of Black people.
How much do those movements owe to the Pan-African Movement?