Pan-African Congress
The Pan-African Congress is a regular series of meetings that originally took place on the back of the Pan-African Conference held in London, England, in 1900.
The Pan-African Congress first gained a reputation as a peacemaker for decolonization in Africa and in the West Indies, and made a significant advance for the Pan-African cause. Among the group's primary demands from the outset was the cessation of colonial rule and racial discrimination. The Congress opposed imperialism and called for human rights and economic equality. The manifesto issued by the PAC outlined its political and economic demands for a new global context of international cooperation, emphasizing the necessity to tackle the challenges Africa faced due to widespread European colonization.
Congresses have taken place in 1919 in Paris ; 1921 in Brussels, London and Paris; 1923 in Lisbon and London; 1927 in New York City ; 1945 in Manchester ; 1974 in Dar es Salaam ; 1994 in Kampala ; and 2014 in Johannesburg.
Background
as a philosophy was created as early as the late 1700s, seen through the movements of abolition in both the United States and Britain. British writers and former slaves, Ottobah Cugoano and Olaudah Equiano created the foundations for Pan Africanism in English literature. French speakers, like Léopold Sédar Senghor, created the idea of Négritude. These ideas refuted the inferiority of Black people. Pan Africanists believed that both slavery and colonialism were built on negative attitudes towards people of African descent, which in turn, contributed to racism. African Americans were especially frustrated with their slow progress towards racial equality in the United States.Trinidadian lawyer, Henry Sylvester Williams created the African Association in 1897 to encourage a sense of Pan African unity in the British Colonies. The African Association published the discrimination and injustices faced by people in the African diaspora. The African Association's work led to the First Pan-African Conference held in London in 1900. The conference, which brought together people who were against racism and colonialism, attracted international attention, though it did not lead to political action on these issues. Attendees of the Pan-African Conference discussed the need to preserve Black cultural identity and for the rights of indigenous people to be recognized by colonizers. W. E. B. Du Bois was one of thirty attendees at this conference where he described "the color line" as one of the most important issues of the 20th century. Du Bois' inclusion at the 1900 conference marked him as a developing leader in the Pan-African movement.
During World War I, African American soldiers fought bravely overseas and people like Du Bois felt that they should not face racial violence when they return to the United States. Black soldiers also faced discrimination in Europe at the hands of the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe during the fighting. Du Bois described the fighting done by Black Americans as a "debt of blood" and that they deserved reparations for slavery and racial violence. He also believed that ensuring a positive future for Africa would be key to helping all Black people around the world. Wilson's Fourteen Points plan gave Du Bois hope that there would be greater opportunities for Black people politically in a future marked by democratic and anti-colonial values. In addition, Du Bois wanted to oppose the influence of the United Negro Improvement Association and Marcus Garvey on any potential proceedings. The U.S. saw Garvey and the UNIA as linked to "Moscow" and Black separatism and Du Bois wanted to avoid that connection. Of all groups that were trying to have a voice during the end of WWI, Du Bois believed he could have "positive political influence".
In December 1918, Du Bois went to France as a representative of the NAACP at the same time the Paris Peace Conference was taking place at the end of WWI. Many majority groups, including Black people in Europe and Africa, felt that the creation of a League of Nations would lead to positive outcomes for them politically and socially. Du Bois wrote to President Wilson and asked to be a delegate for the Peace Conference to speak on behalf of Black people. Du Bois knew that the fate of some African colonies were going to be discussed at the Peace Conference. He hoped that having a conference of Black representatives from around the world would be heard by the European powers and the European public. He wanted to lobby the governments attending the Peace Conference to ensure better treatment for people of color around the world. Du Bois believed that he could "exert some positive political influence on the power-brokers and decision-makers during the Paris Peace Conference." However, Du Bois was one of many individuals representing various other advocacy groups who also wanted to have a voice at the Peace Conference. Since he was not given permission to speak at the Peace Conference, he decided to create a separate meeting to take place at the same time.
A mass meeting in New York City was held on January 19, 1919, by the NAACP on the future of Africa. At the event, there was wide support for Du Bois to discuss Pan African issues in Paris during the Peace Conference. Speakers at the New York meeting included William Henry Sheppard, Horace Kallen, and James Weldon Johnson.
1919 Paris Congress (First)
Planning
On 19 February 1919, the first Pan-African Congress was organized quickly in Paris by W. E. B. Du Bois, Ida Gibbs Hunt, Edmund Fredericks and Blaise Diagne. Diagne served as the president of the Congress with Du Bois the secretary and Gibbs the assistant secretary. Du Bois created a list of groups he wanted to attend to the congress which included countries who had Black citizens, but he also wanted representatives from other countries as well. Du Bois wanted to petition the Versailles Peace Conference held in Paris at that time to make a case for African colonies to become self-ruling. The Pan-African Congress proposed that Germany should be required to turn over its colonies to an international organization rather than other colonial powers. Unlike the International Council of Women, the Pan-African Congress was unable to send delegates to the Peace Conference, nor were members permitted to serve on commissions. Delegates to the Pan African Congress had no "official status" among world governments or organizations.Diagne was able to get official permission for the Congress to take place in Paris by persuading Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau of its importance. Dates were set for February 12 and 13 to coincide with the birthday of Abraham Lincoln. Funding for the event came from the NAACP and American fraternal organizations. Mary White Ovington and James Weldon Johnson raised money through solicitations of prominent NAACP supporters. Despite the funding received, the conference took place on a very small budget.
Once the event had permission, American officials in Paris, such as Tasker H. Bliss and George Louis Beer became alarmed. Beer, who was the chief colonial expert working for the U.S., believed that Black people could not govern themselves. A series of telegrams described as "urgent" and "confidential" began to pass between the United States Department of State and American officials in Paris. The French government even later stated that Clemenceau had never approved of the Congress.
There were 57 delegates representing 15 countries, a smaller number than originally intended because British and American governments refused to issue passports to their citizens who had planned on attending. Representatives of the National Equal Rights League including Madam C. J. Walker and William Monroe Trotter were denied passports. It was reported by the U.S. State Department that the French government did not believe the timing was right for a Pan-African Congress. A New York Call writer believed that the U.S. was worried it would be embarrassed by discussions of race relations at the Congress in Paris. Many of the delegates who attended did so on short notice, or by getting through on other types of credentials, such as being journalists. Others, like Gibbs, were already in Europe. Du Bois did not invite Black socialists or working-class leaders to the Congress.
Event
Eventually, the Congress took place between February 19 and 21 at the Grand Hotel. There was greater representation from African countries at the First Pan-African Congress than there had been at the 1900 Pan-African Conference. Africa had twelve delegates with three from Liberia. There were 21 delegates representing Caribbean countries and 16 delegates from the U.S. Delegates to the Congress were middle-class and moderate. Nevertheless, Du Bois was able to create the idea of a Pan African Marxism during the event.The first speech of the Congress was by Diagne, who said that assimilated Black people from America, Britain and France "were far more advanced than indigenous and "inherently backwards" Africans. In this capacity, he felt that African countries held by Germany should be transferred to a system similar to the colonial system of France. This speech touched on concerns Black intellectuals from Europe and America felt in being compared to the stereotypes of African people as primitive. It also placed significant value on Black people who had been "civilized" by colonizing powers. For Diagne, Germany should give up their colonies not because colonialism was bad, but because German governance was not good. After Diagne's speech, Portuguese representative Alfredo Andrade, praised French democracy and its inclusion of Black people in government. Other representatives to the Pan-African Congress also praised France for having Black representation in politics and good relations with Black people anecdotally. Andrade, Diagne, Gratien Candace, Achille René-Boisneuf, and Joseph Lagrosillière all felt that there was "no room for a diasporan political consciousness because they saw the French Third Republic's empire as the best current opportunity for the realization of black rights within their constituencies." Adherence to a "benevolent" nation was seen as a practical approach to helping improve the lives of Black people they represented.
Liberian delegate, Charles D. B. King, spoke about the importance of developing his country as a free state, emphasizing the importance of a shared African heritage. Because of American support, however, Liberia did not want to agitate against the United States. Helen Noble Curtis gave a speech called "The Use of African Troops in Europe" which described many racist experiences Black soldiers fighting in WWI encountered in hospitals and other institutions. Curtis pleaded for the world to recognize that justice is not separate: it should be the same for all people regardless of skin color. Addie Waites Hunton reminded delegates that it was important to include women in the Pan-African proceedings.