Pan-Africanism was the idea that all Africans should be united in a common cause. Its aim was to liberate Africans from colonialism and racism. It promoted a growing sense in black identity and achievement. The Pan-Africanist movement had two main characters, namely W.E.B Du Bois and Marcus Garvey. Movements of Pan-Africanism were the Harlem Renaissance, Negritude and Rastafarianism. Pan-Africanism sparked Nationalist movements worldwide.
W.E.B Du Bois wrote 20 books on Black culture and history. He formed the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People) and he organised the first two Pan-Africanist Conferences. The first was in 1919, it coincided with the Paris Peace talks, it had moderate ambitions and it felt that ‘Self Determination’ one of Woodrow Wilsons 14 points should apply to Africa through granting African colonies independence. This conference called for better conditions and protection for those in African colonies. The second conference was in 1921, it was more radical than the first as the delegates openly criticized colonial policies and the situation of blacks. It demanded equality of the races and democracy in the colonies. But all the demands were ignored. W.E.B Du Bois believed that education was important for the Black community because it would change the perceptions of black people.
Marcus Garvey was born in Jamaica but moved to Harlem in 1916. He formed the UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Association). The UNIA stood for Black economic self-reliance, the repatriation of all Black people to Africa to reconstruct a united Africa, the right to Self-determination and that all black people shared a common heritage. It adopted the slogan “Africa for Africans”. The UNIA had a newspaper known as “Negro World” which was widely read by African Diaspora. It ran Liberty Halls that provided social services to black Americans and also provided funding to small black owned business. The UNIA had 2 million