Who Is W. E. B Dubois

The national identities of Williams, Dubois, and Nkrumah garnered a special place within their styles of thinking. Each man has an emotional connection to their nationality and applies it to their Pan-Africanist philosophies. Williams was born in Trinidad and spent practically his whole life under British colonialism. Milfred Fierce points to the influence of Africa in his early life, as local newspapers and periodicals carried information regarding activities and events on the African continent, highlighted by mounting European colonial intrusion. Meanwhile, author Alexandre Mboukou comments on how Williams thought of himself as the undisputed lawyer for the defense of the rights of the Black African in Great Britain. Mboukou says when
In W.E.B. DuBois on Africa, Eugene F. Provenzo, and Edmund Abaka, mentions Dubois’ remarkable insight into issues that hinder the growth of Africa and Africans across the diaspora. They affirm that he wrote on a variety of topics, but he wrote extensively on the plight of Africans Americans in the United States. When Williams died in 1911, claims William Middleton, Dubois took initiative to keep the movement alive and thus establishing him as the “ Father of Pan-Africanism.” Similarly, Porter notes, “ He positioned himself and the Pan-African Congress movement as witnesses to the calamity brought to Africa by Europe.” Porter details that for Dubois, Pan-Africanism, as an outgrowth of African American and Afro-Caribbean cultural and intellectual history, is critical for asserting an insurgent continental imaginary that potentially bears fruit in the present as it re-inscribes Africans as human beings into the world community. Unmistakably, his understanding of the possibilities for the Pan-Africanist movement also influenced Dubois’s nationality because he wanted to put Afro-Americans at the forefront of this movement so it can aid his
According to Mbonjo, after the third and fourth Pan African Congress, it began to explicitly express African nationalism. Before World War II, it was solely under Afro-Caribbean and American guidance, and at the end of the war, it became a conference for Africans by Africans. Nkrumah had a hand in the organization of this conference, where he helped guided the movement towards a focus of decolonizing and uniting Africa. This shows Nkrumah having a distinct plan to ensure Africans are represented and are part of the narrative, as past PAC left out Africans to preserve Black American or West Indian control. In his book The Struggle Continues, Nkrumah infuses his African/Ghanaian identity into his expression of contempt for neo-colonial powers in Africa. He states neo-colonies undermine Africa’s entire struggle for independence and they extend the grip of foreign monopoly finance capital over the economic life of their continent. Furthermore, Nkrumah’s nationality is tied to his plea to eradicate colonialism; so African natural wealth remains in the continent. To compare, Williams and Nkrumah want the process of decolonization in Africa and the West Indies to be undertaken, where Africa could develop its own political and economic independence. While Williams feels more of a connection to Black Africans on the