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Address to the Nations of the Worldby the Pan-African ConJerence in London Q900)

The pan-African Cont'erencethat metin London in 1900 broughttogether a group of people of African heritagefrom

*ony pori, of the wirld. They were determined to add their voices to those discussing and debating the consequences ot'

Euripisqn imperialism in theiast decades of the nineteenth century. The declaration they produced gives a clear picture

ot' thieir vision of history, their sense of the injustices associated with colonial conquest, and th-eir hopes t'or the future' ihe chair of thl committee who wroie the address was w. E. B. Du Bois (1868-196j), an At'rican American professor ot'

history, ,oiiology, and economics, who stud.ied at Harvard and the l.)niversity of Berlin. ln 't909, he became a t'ounding

*r*bu, of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

must be deplorable, if not

il n the metropolis of themodern world, in thisthe closing year of thenineteenth centurY, there has been assem-

bled a congress of men and women of African blood, to deliberate solemnly upon the present situation and outlook

of the darker races of mankind The problem of the twentieth century is the

problem of the colour-line, the question

as to how far differences of race-which

show themselves chiefly in the colour of

the skin and the texture of the hair-will

hereafter be made the basis of denying

to over half the worldthe right of sharing

to their utmost ability the opportunities

and privileges of modern civilization.

To be sure, the darker races are today

the least advanced in culture according to

European standards. This has not, how-

ever, always been the case in the past, and

certainly the world's history, both ancient

and modern, has given many instances of

no despicable ability and capacity among

the blackest races of men.

ln any case, the modern world must

remember that in this age when the ends

of the world are being brought so near

together the millions of black men in Africa, America, and the lslands of the

Sea, not to speak of the brown and yel-

low myriads elsewhere, are bound to have a great influence upon the world in

the future, by reason of sheer numbers

and physical contact. lf now the world of

culture bends itself towards giving Negroes and other dark men the largest

and broadest opportunity for education

and self-development, then this contact

and influence is bound to have a benefi-

cial effect upon the world and hasten

human progress. But if, bY reason of carelessness, prejudice, greed and injus-

tice, the black world is to be exploited and ravished and degraded, the results

simply to them, but to the high ideals

justice, freedom and culture which

thousand years of Christian have held before Europe.

And now therefore, to these of crvilization, to the broader human

of the followers of the Prince of

we, the men and women of Africa world congress assembled, do now

emnly appeal:

Let the world take no backward

in that slow but sure progress which

successively refused to let the spirit class, of caste, of privilege, or of debar from life, liberty and the pursuit

happiness a striving human soul

Let not color or race be a

distinction between white and men, regardless of worth or ability.

Let not the natives of Africa be

ficed to the greed of gold, their

taken away, their familY life

powers Iooked for ways to preserve their culture and inde-

pendence from foreign attempts to impose new institutions I and new ways o[ life on their populations.

The career o[ Muhammad Ali (1769-1849), an Otto- man general of Albanian origin, illustrates the ways in

which Muslims sought to respond to the challenges o[

European imperialism. Ali had been involved in the Otto-

man force that expelled Napoleon's armies from Egypt in

766 | CHAPTER 22 lmperialism and Colonialism' 1870-1914

l80l. He later defeated the Mamluk rulers of Egypt seized power himself, with the intention of creating a

ern Muslim state in the Middle East that could defend

and challenge the weakened Ottoman Empire for

in the region. He created a more centralized modernized Egypt's system of agricultural and developed an economic policy designed to

a profit by exporting cotton and grain. He also

,

their just aspirations repressed, and avenues of advancement and culture taken from them.

Let not the cloak of Christian mis- sionary enterprise be allowed in the future, as so often in the past, to hide the ruthless economic exploitation and political downfall of less developed nations, whose chief fault has been reli-

ance on the plighted faith of the Chris-

tian Church.

Let the British nation, the first mod- ern champion of Negro Freedom, has- ten to crown the work of Wilberforce, and Clarkson, and Buxton, and Sharpe,

Bishop Colenso, and Livingstone, and give, as soon as practicable, the rights

responsible government to the black

ies of Africa and the West lndies.

Let not the spirit of Garrison, Phil- and Douglass wholly die out in

erica; may the conscience of a great rise and rebuke all dishonesty

d unrighteous oppression toward the

Negro, and grant to him the of franchise, security of person

property, and generous recogni-

of the great work he has accom- in a generation toward raising

millions of human beings from to manhood.

Let the German Empire, and the French Republic, true to their great past, remember that the true worth of colonies lies in their prosperity and progress, and that justice, impartial alike to black and white, is the first ele- ment of prosperity.

Let the Congo Free State become a

great central Negro State of the world,

and let its prosperity be counted not simply in cash and commerce, but in the happiness and true advancement of its black people.

Let the nations of the World respect the integrity and independence of the first Negro States of Abyssinia, Liberia, Haiti, and the rest, and let the inhabit- ants of these States, the independent tribes of Africa, the Negroes of the West lndies and America, and the black subjects of all nations take courage, strive ceaselessly, and fight bravely, that

they may prove to the world their incontestible rightto be counted among the great brotherhood of mankind.

Thus we appeal with boldness and confidence to the Great Powers of the civilized world, trusting in the wide spirit of humanity, and the deep sense ofjus- tice of our age, for a generous recogni- tion of the righteousness of our cause.

ALEXANDER WALTERS (Bishop) President Pan- African Association

HENRY B. BROWN

Vice-President

H. SYLVESTER-WILLIANAS

General Secretory

W. E, BURGHARDT DU BOIS Choirman Committee on Address

Source: Ayodele Langley, ldeologies of Liberation in Blach Africo (London: 1979), pp 738-39.

Questions for Analysis

1. What value do the authors ascribe to "race" as a description of human difference?

2. According to the authors, what choices do European powers have to make as they exercise their power in Africa? What are their hopes for Africans in a world shaped by Euro- pean expansion?

3. What specific "ideals of civilization" do the authors of this declaration invoke? Do they share these ideals with peoples elsewhere?

4. Are ther6 echoes of European lib- eralism or nationalism in its pan- AfricanismT

education system in Egypt-with the help of French embarked on an ambitious plan to modern-

the military through industrial development. But he in 1849, and his successors were unable to continue

pace o[ reform. Mounting government debt related to construction of the Suez Canal and other infrastruc-

projects forced the rulers of Egypt to cede frnancial

French and the British. By 1882, as we saw earlier, Egypt was occupied by British forces, much to the dismay of its people; and in i914, the British "protecrorare" in Egypt became offlcial. A compliant Egyptian government contin- ued to serve as head ofstate, but all parties understood that Egypt's independence was in name only. The memory of Muhammad Ali lived on, however, as the founder of the modern Egyptian state.

lmperial Culture | rcl

to an international commission dominated by the

-.