Pan-Africanism

Cards (10)

  • Pan-Africanism
    Pan-Africanism is a philosophy based on the belief that Africans and
    people who are of African ancestry have a commonality of goals and
    other links. The movement encourages harmony and unity among black
    people in order for them to achieve their shared objectives. A key aspect
    of Pan-Africanism philosophy is an understanding and promotion of Black
    Power or unity among black people, which advocates a sense of racial
    pride and self-esteem.
  • Typical Caribbean worker in the first half of the 20th century
    • Faced poor remuneration
    • Faced deplorable housing and living conditions
    • Limited self-government
    • No social services
    • Few workers' rights
    • High unemployment in some cases
  • Resistance to conditions in the Caribbean in the 1930s and beyond
    1. Led to a mass movement
    2. Fuelled by the ideology of Pan-Africanism
    3. As workers sought to have these issues addressed
  • End results of the movement
    • Public awareness of the plight of blacks, especially in the Caribbean and USA
    • Increased international cooperation among blacks
    • The emergence of some radical leaders
    • An awakening of the workers' class consciousness
    • The formation of grassroots political parties
    • The labour movement becoming a political issue, with labour strikes and protests
    • The formation of formal labour movements such as the Trade Union Congress, the Jamaica Workers and Tradesmen's Union (JWTU) and the Oilfield Workers' Trade Union (OWTU) of Trinidad and Tobago
    • The formation of nationalist movements and a move towards socio-economic and political independence
  • Key Leaders in Pan-Africanism
    1. Henry Sylvester Williams (1869-1911)-Trinidad
    2. Marcus Mosiah Garvey( 1887-1940)-Jamaica
    3. Cyril Brigs(1888-1966)-Nevis
    4. George Padmore(1902-1966)-Trinidad
    5. Walter Rodney(1942-1990)-George,Guyana
  • The impacts of Pan-Africanism
    A) no
  • Main interest groups in the Caribbean who opposed the Pan-Africanism movement

    • White planter-merchant class
    • Those of mixed, Asian and Middle-Eastern descent
  • Why they opposed Pan-Africanism
    • They saw it as a disruption or attack on their interests in terms of the social, political and economic situation
    • The white planter-merchant class viewed education and enlightenment of the former-enslaved peoples as causing the disintegration of colonialism
  • Other opposition interest groups
    • Shopkeepers
    • Business owners
    • Small-scale farmers
    • Landlords
  • These interest groups offered resistance to the Pan-Africanism movement because it would mean a restructuring of the class system