African-Caribbean thought
“Who taught you to hate the texture of your hair? Who taught you to hate the colour of your skin, to the extent that you bleach to get like the white man? Who taught you to hate the shape of your nose and the shape of your lips? Who taught you to hate your race …who taught you to hate what God made you?” – Malcolm X
OBJECTIVES
At the end of this lesson, students should be able to:
i. Differentiate between the various Afro-Caribbean movements that were established in the 1900s.
ii. State the significance of PanAfricanism, Negritude and Rastafari to the Caribbean culture and politics.
As it relates to Afro-Caribbean thought, there are three main tenets we will be looking at and they involve the ideology of Negritude, Pan-Africanism and Rastafari. The genesis of the concept of Négritude emerged as the expression of a revolt against the historical situation of French colonialism and racism. The particular form taken by that revolt was the product of the encounter, in Paris in the late 1920s, of three black students coming from different French colonies: Aimé Césaire (1913–2008) from Martinique, Léon Gontran Damas (1912–1978) from Guiana, and Léopold Sédar Senghor (1906–2001) from Senegal. Being colonial subjects meant that they all belonged to people considered uncivilized and naturally in need of education and guidance from Europe, namely France. In addition, the memory of slavery was very vivid in Guiana and Martinique. Aimé Césaire and Léon Damas were already friends before they arrived in Paris in 1931. They were classmates in Fort-de-France, Martinique, where they both graduated from Victor Schoelcher High School. Damas went to Paris to study law, while Césaire had been accepted at Lycée Louis le Grand to study for the highly selective test for admission to the prestigious École Normale Supérieure on rue d’Ulm. Upon his arrival at the Lycée on the first day of classes, he met Senghor, who had already been a student at Louis le Grand for three years.
It may be alluded that Négritude was both a literary and ideological movement marked by its rejection of European colonisation and its role in the African diaspora, pride in ‘blackness’ and traditional African values and culture, mixed with an undercurrent of Marxist ideals. Négritude was born from a shared experience of discrimination and oppression, and an attempt to dispel stereotypes and create a new black consciousness. An infamous South African anti-apartheid activist, Bantu Stephen Biko (more popularly known as Steve Biko by most historians), deduced that black consciousness is, in essence, the realisation by the black man of the need to rally together with his brothers around the cause of their oppression – the blackness of their skin – and to operate as a group in order to rid themselves of the shackles that bind them to perpetual servitude. It seeks to demonstrate the lie that black is an aberration from the normal, which is white. It is a manifestation of a new realisation that by seeking to run away from themselves and to emulate the white man, Blacks are insulting the intelligence of whoever created them black. The Négritude movement drew its inspiration from the Harlem Renaissance, which was beginning its decline. The Harlem Renaissance, which was alternatively called the ‘New Negro Renaissance’, fostered black artists and leaders who promoted a sense of pride and advocacy in the black community, and a refusal to submit to injustices. As the glory days of the Harlem Renaissance came to an end, however, many African American intellectuals of the period moved to France, seeking a haven against racism and segregation. Infused in this lesson is an image of Aimé Césaire, who was one of the main pioneers of the Négritude movement.
PAN-AFRICANISM
According to the American Historical Association, Pan-Africanism was the attempt to create a sense of brotherhood and collaboration among all people of African descent, whether they lived inside or outside of Africa. Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem further articulated that Pan-Africanism can be said to have its origins in the struggles of the African people against enslavement and colonisation. 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. Research conducted by the Pan-African Development Education and Advocacy Programme (PADEAP) highlighted that it was in the 20th 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 Trinidadian 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”.
HENRY SYLVESTER WILLIAMS – THE FATHER OF PAN-AFRICANISM
As Caribbean scholars, it is imperative to note that it was actually the African American scholar and writer Dr W.E.B. Du Bois who convened the first PanAfrican Congress in 1919 in Paris, France. Again, it demanded independence for African nations.
RASTAFARI
Reverberating out of the plains and valleys of Jamaica, Rastafari first commenced in the 1930s as a religious and political movement. This movement emanated out of a prophecy made by Marcus Garvey. Garvey preached, “Look to Africa where a black king shall be crowned, he shall be your Redeemer.” This statement became the foundation of the Rastafari movement.
The prophecy was rapidly followed by the crowning of Emperor Haile Selassie I in Ethiopia. Rastafarians saw this as the fulfilment of Garvey’s prophecy. History shows that the first person to start the Rastafari movement in Jamaica was Leonard P. Howell, who was an anti-Church and an anti-government activist.
That is it for this week’s lesson. Please read up some more on the Rastafari culture in Jamaica and how it has impacted the diaspora as it relates to language, diet, dress and music. Happy reading to all.
Sources used:
www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/ brief-guide-negritude
www.sahistory.org.za/article/defining-black-consciousness
www.historians.org