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Pan-African topics
General Pan-Africanism Afro-Asian Afro-Latino Colonialism Africa Maafa Black people African philosophy Black conservatism Black leftism Black nationalism Black orientalism Afrocentrism African Topics
Art FESPACO African art PAFF
People George Padmore Walter Rodney Patrice Lumumba Thomas Sankara Frantz Fanon Molefi Kete Asante Ahmed Sékou Touré Kwame Nkrumah Marcus Garvey Malcolm X Haile Selassie W. E. B. Du Bois Muammar Gaddafi C. L. R. James Cheikh Anta Diop Elijah Muhammad Yosef Ben-Jochannan Alhaji Alieu Ebrima Cham Joof
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Pan-Africanism is a movement that seeks to unify African people or people living in Africa, into a "one African community".^[1] Differing types of Pan-Africanism seek different levels of economic, racial, social, or political unity.^[2]

Origins[link]

In the United States, the term is closely associated with Afrocentrism, an ideology of African American identity politics that emerged during the civil rights movement of the 1960s to 1970s.^[3] "Pan-African" unity is especially important in African-American identity politics, because the African ancestry of Afro-American community cannot be derived from any identifiable African people. Therefore it has become necessary to minimize the differences between the various peoples of Africa in favour of a generalized "African" heritage.^[4] As a philosophy, Pan-Africanism represents the aggregation of the historical, cultural, spiritual, artistic, scientific and philosophical legacies of Africans from past times to the present. Pan-Africanism as an ethical system traces its origins from ancient times, and promotes values that are the product of the African civilization and the struggles against slavery, racism, colonialism, and neo-colonialism.^[5]

Pan-Africanism can be seen as a product of the European slave trade. Enslaved Africans of diverse origins and their descendants found themselves embedded in a system of exploitation where their African origin became a sign of their servile status. Pan-Africanism set aside cultural differences, asserting the principality of these shared experiences to foster solidarity and resistance to exploitation.^{[citation needed]}

Alongside a large number of slave insurrections, by the end of the eighteenth century a political movement developed across the Americas, Europe and Africa which sought to weld these disparate movements into a network of solidarity putting an end to this oppression. In London, the Sons of Africa was a political group addressed by Quobna Ottobah Cugoano in the 1791 edition of his book Thoughts and sentiments on the evil of slavery. The group addressed meetings and organised letter-writing campaigns, published campaigning material and visited parliament. They wrote to figures such as Granville Sharp, William Pitt and other members of the white abolition movement, as well as King George III and the Prince of Wales, the future George IV.

Modern Pan-Africanism began around the beginning of the twentieth century. The African Association, later renamed the Pan-African Association, was organized by Henry Sylvester-Williams around 1887, and their first conference was held in 1900.^{[6][dead link]}

Concept[link]

Billboard in Zambia with Nkrumah's non-alignment quote: "We face neither East nor West; We face forward" (Taken in May 2005)

As originally conceived by Henry Sylvester-Williams (note: some history books credit this idea to Edward Wilmot Blyden) pan-Africanism referred to the unity of all continental Africa.^[1] The concept soon expanded, however, to include the African diaspora.

During apartheid South Africa there was a Pan Africanist Congress that dealt with the oppression of South Africans under European apartheid rule. Other pan-Africanist organizations include Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association-African Communities League, TransAfrica and the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement.

The goals of Pan-Africanism are diverse. Some may view pan-Africanism as an endeavour to provide revisionist histories of Africa that include and focus on the perspectives of Africans, rather than only Europeans or colonialists. Others may view Pan-Africanism as an endeavour to return to "traditional" African concepts about culture, society, and values. Examples of this include Léopold Sédar Senghor's Négritude movement, and Mobutu Sese Seko's view of Authenticité.

An important theme running through much pan-Africanist literature concerns the historical links between different countries on the continent, and the benefits of cooperation as a way of resisting imperialism and colonialism.

In the 21st century, this theme has developed in response to globalisation and the problems of environmental justice. For instance, at the conference "Pan-Africanism for a New Generation"^[7] held at the University of Oxford, June 2011, Ledum Mittee, the current president of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) argues that environmental justice movements across the African continent should create horizontal linkages in order to better protect the interests of threatened peoples and the ecological systems in which they are embedded, and upon which their survival depends.

An important aspect is the argument that Egypt is an African country, and shares important historical and cultural continuities with other countries in the Nile valley. This is sometimes characterised by the term Nile Valley Civilizations or African civilizations that group Egypt with other civilisations of other parts of the continent.

Some universities have gone as far as creating "Departments of Pan-African Studies" in the late 1960s. This includes the California State University, where that department was founded in 1969 as a direct reaction to the civil rights movement, and is today dedicated to "teaching students about the African World Experience", to "demonstrate to the campus and the community the richness, vibrance, diversity, and vitality of African, African American, and Caribbean cultures" and to "presenting students and the community with an Afrocentric analysis" of anti-black racism.[1] Syracuse University also offers a masters degree in "Pan African Studies".^[8]

Key figures in Pan-Africanism[link]

The embedded lists in this article may contain items that are not encyclopedic. Please help out by removing such elements and incorporating appropriate items into the main body of the article. (April 2010)

• Kwame Nkrumah was a Pan-African activist who became the first president of Ghana. Brain behind the Organisation of African Unity.
• Edward Wilmot Blyden- Pan-Africanist writer from Liberia
• W. E. B. Du Bois African-American Pan-Africanist writer. Du Bois hosted the highly influential 5th Pan-African Conference in Manchester, UK.
• Marcus Garvey, was a Jamaican born Pan-Africanist, stern advocate for the Back-to-Africa movement, and has also been labeled as a Father of Pan-Africanism. Garvey led the largest organization with Pan-African goals in history.
• Paul Robeson, the singer, actor and political radical, co-founded the Council on African Affairs(1937–1950) which became a leading voice of anti-colonialism and Pan-Africanism in the U.S. and internationally.^[9] Robeson said as early as the 1930s that he wanted "to be African", studied African language and culture and urged Americans to fight African imperialism.^[10] Robeson was close friends with Jomo Kenyatta, Kwame Nkrumah and W. E. B. Du Bois. Despite stereotypes endemic to the times, Robeson's films such as Song of Freedom and Jericho/Dark Sands were the first to show African's in a positive light. Robeson also wrote and spoke out against Apartheid, the need for African Independence and narrated an early film about the regime, My Song Goes Forth (also known as Africa Sings, Africa Looks Up, U.K., 1937).
• Jomo Kenyatta was a Pan-African activist who became the first president of Kenya.
• Bob Marley was a Jamaican-born reggae musician whose music, including the song "Africa Unite," reflected Pan-Africanist thought, music and philosophy.
• Julius Kambarage Nyerere: Key figure for Pan Africanism and SADC.
• Ahmed Sékou Touré was a Pan-African activist, who became the first President of Guinea, West Africa, the first French sub-Saharan African colony to gain independence from France on October 2, 1958 following its rejection of the famous 1958 Referendum that was proposed by President Charles De Gaulle of France. President Toure, along with President William Tubman of neighboring Liberia and President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, was the vanguard behind the creation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), which has been transformed into the African Union (AU), at a Special Head of States Meeting held in the northern Liberian city of Sanniquelle, Nimba County, which is often referred to as the "birth place" of the OAU (now the AU).
• Fela Anikulapo Kuti: The founder of Afrobeat music, and political/human rights activist. Promoted pan-africanism through his music.
• Gamal Abd El Nasser was a Pan-African activist and the president of Egypt. Alongside Nkrumah, he endorsed the African countries who were fighting for independence and placed Egyptian culture and civilisation within an African framework.
• Haile Selassie, emperor of Ethiopia, was a key figure in Pan-Africanism due to his call for greater unity among African Nations.
• Molefi Kete Asante strongly influenced by Kaiwada philosophy wrote his treatise on Afrocentricity. This greatly influenced Pan-Africanists in the late seventies and eighties. Another contemporary Afrocentric movement leader was Prof. Chinweizu Ibekwe (known simply as Chinweizu), a scholarly Nigerian anthropologist and a beacon of Africanism.
• Muammar al-Gaddafi, known as Colonel Gaddafi, was an active organizer of African unity and the proposed formation, based on Gamal Abd El Nasser and Kwame Nkrumah's dream, of a United States of Africa.
• Robert Gabriel Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe who has ruled for more than 28 years.
• Malcolm X planned to link the Organization of Afro-American Unity through Pan-Africanism to internationalize the human struggle of African people.
• Robert Sobukwe was a South African political dissident, who founded the Pan Africanist Congress in opposition to the apartheid.
• Alhaji Alieu Ebrima Cham Joof was a Gambian historian, author, politician, Pan-Africanist and a nationalist during the colonial era. He attended the first and second Pan-African Youth Movement Conference held in Tunisia and Tanzania respectively.^[11] In the first ever Organization of African Unity Conference, he delivered a speech to the Members, in which he told them to endeavour their utmost to erradicate colonialism and neo-colonialism, and not to listen to anybody else outside the African continent. He was also imprisoned by the British Administration for his political activities in 1959.^[12]

Pan-African banner[link]

Pan-African flag

The Pan-African flag was designed by Marcus Garvey and is known as "The Red, Black, and Green". This flag symbolizes the struggle for the unification and liberation of African people. The "red" stands for the blood that unites all people of African ancestry, "black" represents the color of the skin of the people of Africa, and "green" stands for the rich land of Africa.

Traditional flag of Ethiopia

Sometimes the green, gold, and red of the Ethiopian flag are used as the colors of the Pan-African movement. According to some sources, this is because Ethiopia was not colonized during the Scramble for Africa and has maintained a sovereign state for over 2,000 years. Ethiopia is the headquarters of the African Union and several institutions concentrated on the African continent. Sebujja Katende, ambassador of Uganda to the AU said Ethiopia is considered as "the grand father of Africa."^[13]

The four Pan-African colors—red, black, green, and gold—have inspired the flags of many nations, both within and outside of Africa.

Maafa studies[link]

Maafa is an aspect of Pan-African studies. The term collectively refers to 500 years of suffering (including the present) of people of African heritage through slavery, imperialism, colonialism, and other forms of oppression.^[14][15][16] In this area of study, both the actual history and the legacy of that history are studied as a single discourse. The emphasis in the historical narrative is on African agents, as opposed to non-African agents.^[17]

Political parties and organizations[link]

Africa-based[link]

• Organisation of African Unity succeeded by the African Union
• African Unification Front
• All-African Peoples Revolutionary Party (Ghana)
• Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (South Africa)
• Ubuntu Republics of Africa

Barbados[link]

• The Commission for Pan-African Affairs, a unit within the Office of the Prime Minister of Barbados

British-based[link]

• Pan-African Federation

US-based[link]

• The Council on African Affairs Founded in 1937, by Max Yergan and Paul Robeson the (CAA), was the first major U.S. organization whose focus was on providing pertinent and up-to-date information about Pan-Africanism across the U.S., particularly to African Americans. Probably the most successful campaign of the Council was for South African famine relief in 1946. The CAA was hopeful that following World War II, there would be a move towards Third World independence under the trusteeship of the United Nations.^[18] To the CAA's dismay, the proposals introduced by the U.S. government to the conference in April/May 1945 set no clear limits on the duration of colonialism and no motions towards allowing territorial possessions to move towards self government.^[18] Liberal supporters abandoned the CAA, and the federal government cracked down on its operations. In 1953 the CAA was charged with subversion under the McCarran Act. Its principal leaders, including Robeson, Du Bois, and Hunton, were subjected to harassment, indictments, and in the case of Hunton, imprisonment. Under the weight of internal disputes, government repression, and financial hardships, the Council on African Affairs disbanded in 1955.

• The Us organization was founded in 1965 by Dr Maulana Karenga, following the Watts riots. It is based on the synthetic African philosophy of kawaida and the Nguzo Saba. In the words of its founder and chair, Dr. Karanga, the essential task of our organization Us has been and remains to provide a philosophy, a set of principles and a program which inspires a personal and social practice that not only satisfies human need but transforms people in the process, making them self-conscious agents of their own life and liberation.^[19] Us is perhaps most well known for creating Kwaanza and the Nguzo Saba, or Seven Principles.

Pan-African concepts and philosophies[link]

Afrocentric Pan-Africanism[link]

Afrocentric Pan-Africanism, as espoused by Kwabena Faheem Ashanti, in his book The Psychotechnology of Brainwashing: Crucifying Willie Lynch. Another newer movement that has evolved from the early Afrocentric school is the Afrisecal movement or Afrisecaism of Francis Ohanyido a Nigerian Philosopher- Poet.^[20] Black Nationalism is sometimes associated with this form of pan-Africanism; a representative of Afrocentric Pan-Africanism in the Spanish-speaking world is Professor Antumi Toasijé.

Kawaida[link]

Hip Hop[link]

During the past three decades hip hop has emerged as a powerful force shaping black and African identities worldwide. In his article “Hip-hop Turns 30: Whatcha Celebratin’ For?,” Greg Tate describes hip hop culture as the product of a Pan-African state of mind.^[21] It is an “ethnic enclave/ empowerment zone that has served as a foothold for the poorest among us to get a grip on the land of the prosperous,”.^[21] Hip-hop unifies those of African descent globally in its movement towards greater economic, social and political power. Andreana Clay in her article “Keepin’ it Real: Black Youth, Hip-Hop Culture, and Black Identity” states that hip hop provides the world with “vivid illustrations of Black lived experience” creating bonds of black identity across the globe.^[22] Hip hop authenticates a black identity, and in doing so, creates a unifying uplifting force among Africans as Pan-Africanism sets out to achieve.

Pan-African art[link]

• See FESPACO, DPAFF and PAFF for Pan-African film festivals
• See African art

See also[link]

Africa portal

• Pan-African Congress
• List of topics related to Black and African people
• African Diaspora
• African American
• Afro-Latino
• Africana womanism
• Négritude
• Pan-Arabism

Literature[link]

• Imanuel Geiss: Panafrikanismus. Zur Geschichte der Dekolonisation. Habilitation, EVA, Frankfurt am Main 1968, English as: The Pan-African movement. Methuen, London 1974, ISBN 0-416-16710-1 and as: The Pan-African movement. A history of Pan-Africanism in America, Europe and Africa. Africana Publ., New York 1974, ISBN 0-8419-0161-9.

References[link]

This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (May 2009)

External links[link]

• African Union
• African Code Unity Through Diversity
• A-APRP Website
• Stokely Carmichael - Pan-africanist and Inventor of the Black Power slogan
• The Major Pan-African news and articles site

v t e Pan-Africanism Proponents Politicians Nnamdi Azikiwe Amílcar Cabral Muammar Gaddafi Marcus Garvey David Comissiong Kenneth Kaunda Jomo Kenyatta Patrice Lumumba Thabo Mbeki Abdias do Nascimento Gamal Abdel Nasser Kwame Nkrumah Julius Nyerere John Nyathi Pokela Thomas Sankara Haile Selassie Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Ahmed Sékou Touré I. T. A. Wallace-Johnson Others Marimba Ani Molefi Kete Asante Steve Biko Edward Wilmot Blyden John Henrik Clarke Cheikh Anta Diop W. E. B. Du Bois Frantz Fanon John G. Jackson Leonard Jeffries Yosef Ben-Jochannan Maulana Karenga Fela Kuti Bob Marley Malcolm X Zephania Mothopeng George Padmore Motsoko Pheko Runoko Rashidi Paul Robeson Walter Rodney Burning Spear Henry Sylvester-Williams Stokely Carmichael Omali Yeshitela Concepts United States of Africa Afrocentrism Kwanzaa Pan-African colours Pan-African flag Négritude African nationalism African socialism African Century Africanization Kawaida Ujamaa Harambee Ubuntu Zikism Black nationalism Organizations African Union Organization of African Unity Uhuru Movement UNIA-ACL African Unification Front International African Service Bureau

Stokely Carmichael (aka Kwame Ture; June 29, 1941 – November 15, 1998) was a Trinidadian-American black activist active in the 1960s American Civil Rights Movement. He rose to prominence first as a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, pronounced "snick") and later as the "Honorary Prime Minister" of the Black Panther Party. Initially an integrationist, Carmichael later became affiliated with black nationalist and Pan-Africanist movements.^[1] He popularized the term "Black Power".^[2]

Early life and education[link]

Born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, Stokely Carmichael moved to Harlem, New York City in 1952 at age eleven to rejoin his parents,^[2] who had left him with his grandmother and two aunts to immigrate when he was two. He attended the elite^[3] Tranquility School in Trinidad until his parents were able to send for him.^[4]

His mother, Mabel R. Carmichael,^[3] was a stewardess for a steamship line, and his father, Adolphus, was a carpenter who also worked as a taxi driver.^[2] The reunited Carmichael family eventually left Harlem to live in Morris Park in the East Bronx, at that time an aging Jewish and Italian neighborhood. According to a 1967 interview he gave to LIFE Magazine, he was the only black member of the Morris Park Dukes, a youth gang involved in alcohol and petty theft.^[2]

Carmichael as a senior in high school, 1960.

He attended the Bronx High School of Science. In 1960, Carmichael went on to attend Howard University, a historically-black university in Washington, D.C.. His professors included Sterling Brown,^[5][6] Nathan Hare^[7] and Toni Morrison.^[8] Carmichael and a white student and civil-rights activist, Tom Kahn, helped to fund a five-day run of the Three Penny Opera, by Berthold Brecht and Kurt Weill: "Tom Kahn—very shrewdly—had captured the position of Treasurer of the Liberal Arts Student Council and the infinitely charismatic and popular Carmichael as floor whip was good at lining up the votes. Before they knew what hit them the Student Council had become a patron of the arts, having voted to buy out the remaining performances. It was a classic win/win. Members of the Council got patronage packets of tickets for distribution to friends and constituents".^[5] His apartment on Euclid Street was a gathering place for his activist classmates.^[3] He graduated with a degree in philosophy in 1964.^[2] He was offered a full graduate scholarship to Harvard University, but turned it down.^[9]

He joined the Nonviolent Action Group (NAG), the Howard campus affiliate of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).^[1] Tom Kahn introduced Carmichael and the other SNCC activists to Bayard Rustin, who became an influential adviser to SNCC.^[10] Carmichael became inspired by the sit-ins to become more active in the Civil Rights Movement. In his first year at the university, he participated in the Freedom Rides of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and was frequently arrested, spending time in jail. In 1961, he served 49 days at the infamous Parchman Farm in Sunflower County, Mississippi.^[2][11] He was arrested many times for his activism. He lost count of his many arrests, sometimes giving the estimate of at least 29 or 32, and telling the Washington Post in 1998 he believed that the total number was fewer than 36.^[3]

Freedom Rides[link]

In his first year at the Howard University, the nineteen-year-old Carmichael participated in the Freedom Rides of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). Along with eight other riders, on June 4, 1961 Carmichael made the trip by train from New Orleans, LA to Jackson, MS.^[12] Before getting on the train in New Orleans, they encountered white protestors blocking the way. Carmichael says that “They were shouting. Throwing cans and lit cigarettes at us. Spitting on us.”.^[13] Eventually, they were able to board the train.

When the group arrived in Jackson, Carmichael and the eight other riders entered a “white” cafeteria. They were charged with disturbing the peace, arrested and taken to jail. Eventually, Carmichael was transferred to Parchman State Prison Farm where he gained notoriety for being a witty and hard nosed leader among the prisoners.^[14]

At nineteen years old, Carmichael became the youngest detainee in the summer of 1961.^[15] He spent 53 days at Parchman Farm in “a six-by-nine cell. Twice a week to shower. No books, nothing to do. They would isolate us. Maximum security.”.^[15] Carmichael said about the Parchman Farm sheriff that “The sheriff acted like he was scared of black folks and he came up with some beautiful things. One night he opened up all the windows, put on ten big fans and an air conditioner and dropped the temperature to 38 degrees. All we had on was T-shirts and shorts.”.^[15] While being hurt one time, Carmichael began singing to the guards, “I’m gonna tell God how you treat me” to which the rest of the prisoners joined in.^[16]

Carmichael kept the group's morale up while in prison, often telling jokes with Steve Green and the other Freedom Riders, and making light of their situation. While he joked around quite a bit, Carmichael knew this was serious. “What with the range of ideology, religious belief, political commitment and background, age, and experience, something interesting was always going on. Because no matter our differences, this group had one thing in common, moral stubbornness. Whatever we believed, we really believed and were not at all shy about advancing. We were where we were only because of our willingness to affirm our beliefs even at the risk of physical injury. So it was never dull on death row.”.^[13]

SNCC[link]

In 1965, working as a SNCC activist in Lowndes County, Alabama, Carmichael helped to increase the number of registered black voters from 70 to 2,600 — 300 more than the number of registered white voters.^[2] Black residents and voters organized and widely supported the Lowndes County Freedom Organization, a party that had the black panther as its mascot, over the white dominated local Democratic Party, whose mascot was a white rooster. Although black residents and voters outnumber whites in Lowndes, they lost the county wide election of 1965.^{[citation needed]}

Carmichael became chairman of SNCC later in 1966, taking over from John Lewis. A few weeks after Carmichael took office, James Meredith was attacked with a shotgun during his solitary "March Against Fear". Carmichael joined Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Floyd McKissick, Cleveland Sellers and others to continue Meredith's march. He was arrested once again during the march and, upon his release, he gave his first "Black Power" speech, using the phrase to urge black pride and socio-economic independence:

While Black Power was not a new concept, Carmichael's speech brought it into the spotlight and it became a rallying cry for young African Americans across the country. Everywhere that Black Power spread, if accepted, credit was given to Carmichael. If the concept was condemned, he was again responsible and given the blame.^[17] According to Carmichael: "Black Power meant black people coming together to form a political force and either electing representatives or forcing their representatives to speak their needs [rather than relying on established parties]".^[18] Heavily influenced by the work of Frantz Fanon and his landmark book Wretched of the Earth, along with others such as Malcolm X, under Carmichael's leadership SNCC gradually became more radical and focused on Black Power as its core goal and ideology. This became most evident during the controversial Atlanta Project in 1966. SNCC, under the local leadership of Bill Ware, engaged in a voter drive to promote the candidacy of Julian Bond for the Georgia State Legislature in an Atlanta district. However, unlike previous SNCC activities — like the 1961 Freedom Rides or the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer — Ware excluded Northern white SNCC members from the drive. Initially, Carmichael opposed this move and voted it down, but he eventually changed his mind.^[19] When, at the urging of the Atlanta Project, the issue of whites in SNCC came up for a vote, Carmichael ultimately sided with those calling for the expulsion of whites, reportedly to encourage whites to begin organizing poor white southern communities while SNCC would continue to focus on promoting African American self reliance through Black Power.^[20]

Carmichael saw nonviolence as a tactic as opposed to a principle, which separated him from moderate civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr.. Carmichael became critical of civil rights leaders who simply called for the integration of African Americans into existing institutions of the middle class mainstream.

IAccording to Bearing the Cross (1986), David J. Garrow's Pulitzer Prize winning book about the Civil Rights movement, a few days after Carmichael used the "Black Power" slogan at the "Meredith March Against Fear," he reportedly told King, "Martin, I deliberately decided to raise this issue on the march in order to give it a national forum and force you to take a stand for Black Power." King responded, "I have been used before. One more time won't hurt."

Pan-African topics
General Pan-Africanism Afro-Asian Afro-Latino Colonialism Africa Maafa Black people African philosophy Black conservatism Black leftism Black nationalism Black orientalism Afrocentrism African Topics
Art FESPACO African art PAFF
People George Padmore Walter Rodney Patrice Lumumba Thomas Sankara Frantz Fanon Molefi Kete Asante Ahmed Sékou Touré Kwame Nkrumah Marcus Garvey Malcolm X Haile Selassie W. E. B. Du Bois Muammar Gaddafi C. L. R. James Cheikh Anta Diop Elijah Muhammad Yosef Ben-Jochannan Alhaji Alieu Ebrima Cham Joof
v t e

In 1967, Carmichael stepped down as chairman of SNCC and was replaced by H. Rap Brown. The SNCC, which was a collective and, in keeping with the spirit of the times, worked by group consensus rather than hierarchically, was displeased with Carmichael's celebrity status. SNCC leaders had begun to refer to him as "Stokely Starmichael" and criticize his habit of making policy announcements independently, before achieving internal agreement, and gave him a formal letter of expulsion in 1967.^[3] There is some speculation around Carmichael’s reasoning for stepping down from the chairman position of SNCC. According to his personal narratives, Carmichael witnessed African American demonstrators being beaten and shocked with cattle prods by the police. Witnessing the helplessness of people so fully committed to the non-violent approach gave Carmichael a new perspective, one which condoned the use of violent techniques against the brutality of the racist police force. Carmichael’s new tactics sought to reciprocate the fear instilled in African Americans by the police force,^[22] which led to the creation of the militant social group known as “The Black Panthers.”

After his time with the SNCC, Carmichael attempted to clarify his politics by writing the book Black Power (1967) with Charles V. Hamilton and became a strong critic of the Vietnam War. During this period he traveled and lectured extensively throughout the world; visiting Guinea, North Vietnam, China, and Cuba. After his expulsion from the SNCC, Carmichael became more clearly identified with the Black Panther Party as its "Honorary Prime Minister."^[3] During this period he became more of a speaker than an organizer, traveling throughout the country and internationally advocating for his vision of Black Power.^[23]

Carmichael also lamented the 1967 execution of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara, professing:

Vietnam[link]

Carmichael joined Martin Luther King Jr. in New York on April 15, 1967 to share his views with protesters on race in terms of the war in Vietnam.

^[25]

Self-imposed exile[link]

However, Carmichael soon began to distance himself from the Panthers. The Panthers and Carmichael disagreed on whether white activists should be allowed to help the Panthers. The Panthers believed that white activists could help the movement, while Carmichael thought as Malcolm X, saying that the white activists needed to organize their own communities first. In 1969, he and his then-wife, the South African singer Miriam Makeba, moved to Guinea-Conakry where he became an aide to Guinean prime minister Ahmed Sékou Touré and the student of exiled Ghanaian President Kwame Nkrumah.^[26] Makeba was appointed Guinea's official delegate to the United Nations.^[27] Three months after his arrival in Guinea, in July 1969, he published a formal rejection of the Black Panthers, condemning the Panthers for not being separatist enough and their "dogmatic party line favoring alliances with white radicals".^[2]

It was at this stage in his life that Carmichael changed his name to Kwame Ture to honor the African leaders Nkrumah and Touré who had become his patrons. At the end of his life, friends still referred to him interchangeably by both names, "and he doesn't seem to mind."^[3]

Carmichael remained in Guinea after separation from the Black Panther Party. He continued to travel, write, and speak out in support of international leftist movements and in 1971 collected his work in a second book Stokely Speaks: Black Power Back to Pan-Africanism. This book expounds an explicitly socialist, Pan-African vision, which he seemingly retained for the rest of his life. From the late 1970s until the day he died, he answered his phone by announcing "Ready for the revolution!"^[2]

While in Guinea, he was arrested one more time. Two years after Touré's death in 1984, the military regime which took his place arrested Carmichael and jailed him for three days on suspicion of attempting to overthrow the government. Despite common knowledge that President Touré engaged in torture of his political opponents, Carmichael had never criticized his namesake.^[2]

Carmichael and Makeba separated in 1973. After they divorced, he entered a second marriage with Marlyatou Barry, a Guinean doctor whom he also divorced. By 1998, his second wife and their son, Bokar, born in 1982, were living in Arlington County, Virginia. Relying on a statement from the All-African Peoples Revolutionary Party, his 1998 obituary in The New York Times referenced two sons, three sisters, and his mother as survivors, but without further details.^[2]

Death and legacy[link]

After two years of treatment at the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York, he died of prostate cancer at the age of 57 in Conakry, Guinea. He claimed that his cancer "was given to me by forces of American imperialism and others who conspired with them."^[2] He claimed that the FBI had introduced the cancer to his body as an attempt at assassination.^[28] After his diagnosis in 1996, he was treated in Cuba for his illness while receiving money from the Nation of Islam.^[29] Benefit concerts were held in Denver; New York; Atlanta;^[4] and Washington, D.C.,^[3] to help defray his medical expenses; and the government of Trinidad and Tobago, where he was born, awarded him a grant of $1,000 a month for the same purpose.^[4]

In 2007, the publication of previously secret Central Intelligence Agency documents revealed that Carmichael had been tracked by the CIA as part of their surveillance of black activists abroad, which began in 1968 and continued for years.^[30]

In a final interview given to the Washington Post, he spoke with contempt for the economic and electoral progress made during the past thirty years. He acknowledged that blacks had won election to major mayorships, but stated that the power of mayoralty had been diminished and that such progress was essentially meaningless.^[31]

Stokely Carmichael, along with Charles Hamilton,^[32] are credited with coining the phrase "institutional racism", which is defined as a form of racism that occurs through institutions such as public bodies and corporations, including universities. In the late 1960s Carmichael defined "institutional racism" as "the collective failure of an organization to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their color, culture or ethnic origin".^[33]

Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson gave a speech celebrating Carmichael's life, stating: "He was one of our generation who was determined to give his life to transforming America and Africa. He was committed to ending racial apartheid in our country. He helped to bring those walls down".^[34]

In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Stokely Carmichael on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.^[35]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Carmichael, Stokely, et al. Ready for Revolution: The Life and Struggles of Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture). Scribner 2005, 848 pages. ISBN 0-684-85004-4.
• Carmichael, Stokely, et al. Black Power: The Politics of Liberation. Vintage; Reissue edition 1992, 256 pages. ISBN 0-679-74313-8.
• Carmichael, Stokely, et al. Stokely Speaks: Black Power Back to Pan-Africanism. Random House 1971, 292 pages. ISBN 0-394-46879-1.
• Joseph, Peniel E., Waiting 'Til The Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America. 399 pages. ISBN 0-8050-8335-9

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Stokely Carmichael

• Stokely Carmichael - Life, Politics and Rhetoric
• Stokely Carmichael
• Stokely Carmichael Page. Stokely Carmichael spoke to an enthusiastic crowd at Garfield High School in Seattle, Washington on April 19, 1967. Audio and slideshow. Retrieved May 3, 2005.
• Stokely Carmichael FBI Records - Stokely Carmichael records at FBI's The Vault Project.
• A final interview with Kwame Ture in the Washington Post published April 8, 1998

Research resources[link]

• Stokely Carmichael-Lorna D. Smith Collection, 1964-1972 (5 linear ft.) is housed in the Department of Special Collections and University Archives at Stanford University Libraries

Videos[link]

• Kwame Ture on Zionism
• Feb 17 1968 on PBS.org
• consciousness and unconsciousness
• With H. Rap Brown, Oakland, 1968 (longer version of PBS clip)
• C-SPAN interview, "Life and Career of Kwame Ture", April 15, 1998
• Memorial service for Kwame Ture, January 9, 1999

v t e Pan-Africanism Proponents Politicians Nnamdi Azikiwe Amílcar Cabral Muammar Gaddafi Marcus Garvey David Comissiong Kenneth Kaunda Jomo Kenyatta Patrice Lumumba Thabo Mbeki Abdias do Nascimento Gamal Abdel Nasser Kwame Nkrumah Julius Nyerere John Nyathi Pokela Thomas Sankara Haile Selassie Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Ahmed Sékou Touré I. T. A. Wallace-Johnson Others Marimba Ani Molefi Kete Asante Steve Biko Edward Wilmot Blyden John Henrik Clarke Cheikh Anta Diop W. E. B. Du Bois Frantz Fanon John G. Jackson Leonard Jeffries Yosef Ben-Jochannan Maulana Karenga Fela Kuti Bob Marley Malcolm X Zephania Mothopeng George Padmore Motsoko Pheko Runoko Rashidi Paul Robeson Walter Rodney Burning Spear Henry Sylvester-Williams Stokely Carmichael Omali Yeshitela Concepts United States of Africa Afrocentrism Kwanzaa Pan-African colours Pan-African flag Négritude African nationalism African socialism African Century Africanization Kawaida Ujamaa Harambee Ubuntu Zikism Black nationalism Organizations African Union Organization of African Unity Uhuru Movement UNIA-ACL African Unification Front International African Service Bureau

Malik Zulu Shabazz (born Paris Lewis in 1968^[1]) is an American attorney and the National Chairman of the New Black Panther Party. He is a frequent guest on television talk shows.^[2]

Early life and legal career[link]

Shabazz was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. His father, James Lewis, was a Muslim who was killed under mysterious circumstances when Shabazz was a child. He credits his mother, who became a successful businesswoman, and his grandfather, who introduced him to the Nation of Islam, as strong influences.^[3][4]

Shabazz graduated from Howard University and the Howard University School of Law.^[3] In 1995, while he was a law student, Shabazz ran an unsuccessful campaign for a seat on the Washington, D.C., City Council.^[4][5] In 1996, Shabazz founded Black Lawyers for Justice.^[1]

In 1998, he was recognized by the National Bar Association with its "Young Lawyer of the Year" award.^[6] Later that year, he again ran without success for a seat on the D.C. Council.^[6]

Controversy[link]

Shabazz first came to widespread public attention in 1994, when Unity Nation, a student group he founded at Howard University, invited Khalid Abdul Muhammad, chairman of the New Black Panther Party, to speak.^[7] Introducing the speaker, Shabazz engaged in a call and response with the audience:

"Who is it that caught and killed Nat Turner?"

"The Jews!"

"Who is it that controls the Federal Reserve?"

"The Jews!"

"Who is it that has our entertainers... and our athletes in a vise grip?"

"The Jews!"^[5]

A year later, Shabazz told an interviewer that everything he said was true, with the possible exception of the assertion concerning Nat Turner.^[4]

The Anti-Defamation League describes Shabazz as "anti-Semitic and racist".^[1]

New Black Panther Party[link]

Shabazz followed Muhammad's lead and joined the New Black Panther Party about 1997. When Muhammad—who greatly expanded the organization and rose to its chairmanship—died in 2001, Shabazz took over as National Chairman.^[6] The group is described by the Anti-Defamation League as "the largest organized anti-Semitic and racist black militant group in America".^[8]

The principles promoted by Shabazz include:

• Black nationalism^[4]
• Black Power^[2]
• Support for reparations for slavery^[9]
• Conspiracy theories about Jewish involvement in the September 11 attacks^[1]
• The view that Jews dominated the Atlantic slave trade^[10]
• Anti-Zionism^[10]

References[link]