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Black Nationalism

Black Nationalism is a social and political term that refers to the internationalizing of the African struggle, creating a confraternity among all African peoples and placing their struggle against oppression in a global context. Although quite old, the term has seen several periods of resurgence. For African Americans, the term is most associated with the 1960s and 1970s and with the African American struggle for civil rights. It also was an important element in cementing support and forming coalitions among the various groups fighting for civil rights. As the Civil Rights Movement expanded and developed, some of the more integrationist themes of the earlier movement were rejected in favor of a more Nationalist vision emphasizing Black self-help and group solidarity. This movement helped groups like the Black Panther Party form important intellectual alliances with Afro-Cubans and other Blacks who were part of the African diaspora. This entry looks at the long history of the movement and its key proponents.

Before the Civil War

Although most people associate the term Black Nationalism with Marcus Garvey and his Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), the term actually predates Garvey. Garvey was just one in a long line of people who called for a return to Africa by forming a “Back to Africa” movement. His organization continued a tradition of pan-African organizations, which attempted to make a connection between the struggles of Africans everywhere. Even during the period of U.S. slavery, there were poorly organized but effective Black Nationalist movements designed to attack slavery, develop group solidarity, and impact people's opinion of Africans.

Almost immediately after the Revolutionary War, many African Americans realized that the new nation's leaders intended to keep them in slavery. Therefore, free Blacks made an attempt to connect their struggle with Africa by naming their institutions and organizations after Africa. This attempt to connect themselves to their former homeland was a nascent attempt at establishing Black Nationalism and collectively fighting injustice. This move to connect with Africa was a demonstration of intellectual independence and self-determination, along with a reaction to exclusion from the larger society. As Whites became increasingly hostile to African American attempts at inclusion, Blacks came to believe that they had to take care of themselves.

Free Blacks played a leading role, advocating for their brothers and sisters still locked in slavery. They petitioned Congress, wrote letters, organized protests, and formed associations. James Forten, Absalom Jones, and Richard Allen were among the early Black Nationalists, who saw their struggle for dignity and equal rights from a global perspective. The founding of organizations such as the Free African Society (1787), Prince Hall Masons (1791), First African Church of Savannah (1793), Daughters of Africa (1796), and the African Methodist Episcopal Church (1816) were just a few of the outward manifestations of this movement.

Voyages to Africa

Several movements of the early 19th century can clearly be defined as Black Nationalist movements, among them Paul Cuffe and his voyages to Africa to return former slaves and Martin Delany and his separatist and colonization movements. Cuffe, along with his brother John, had sued the Massachusetts legislature for the right to vote. In a landmark decision, the courts sided with the brothers and opened the franchise to them. Cuffe, the son of an African chieftain and a Native American mother, made a small fortune as a shipper in Boston. He became convinced that the solution to the slave trade was African American migration to Africa. He tried to establish a colony in Sierra Leone as a first step to Black colonization.

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