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From Prophecy to Policy: Marcus Garvey and the Evolution of Pan-African Citizenship

2010; Indiana University Press; Volume: 4; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2979/globalsouth.4.2.29

1932-8656

Fergus,

African history and culture studies

The historic 1900 Pan-African Conference had the goal of connecting people of African descent all over the world. Marcus Garvey extended this idea into a vision of a voluntarily united Africa under one government. After the Fifth Pan-African Conference in Manchester (1945) Kwame Nkrumah became the leader of the Pan-African movement and transformed it from a Diaspora affair in which a few continental Africans participated to an African affair in which the Diaspora continued to contribute. This essay discusses the political thought of Marcus Garvey with respect to the unification of Africa and Back to Africa as a Caribbean Diasporan response to the exploitation of people of African descent inherent in the globalization forces of slavery, racism and colonialism. The consciousness of the continuity of this struggle from the foundation of the slavery system in the Caribbean to colonialism in various Black societies implanted in Garvey the destiny of successor to the great emancipators against this globalized system of exploitation and degradation. The article also examines the evolution of Pan-Africanism from Garveyism to Nkrumaism, and the implications for African Diaspora citizenship within the framework of the African Union's Sixth Region.