ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the place of Pan-Africanism as an educational, political, and cultural movement that had a lasting impact on the liberation of people of African descent. It shows Pan-Africanism’s evolution, beginning with formerly enslaved Africans in the Americas, to the colonial borders of the 1884 Berlin Conference, the rise of the independence movements in Africa from 1957–1975, and the 21st century African Renaissance. Pan-Africanism refers to a philosophy (or philosophies) that sought to promote ideas of a united Africa. Over different historical periods, the philosophies evolved, but the focus on the unity or oneness of Africa stayed consistent. Partly because some of the evolution of Pan-Africanism took place in universities, the chapter also examines Pan-Africanism’s development as an intellectual movement tied to the aspirations of people of African descent in different parts of the world.
