By The Pan-Africanist Congress
Pan Africanism as a philosophy was created as early as the late 1700s, seen through the movements of abolition in both the United States and Britain.
The fifth Pan-African congress happened to be the most successful of all due to the number of Africans in attendance and the collective resolution reached.
The Fifth Pan-African Congress, held in Manchester in 1945, included notable attendees such as Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta, and W.E.B. Du Bois. The congress aimed to address the need for self-determination and decolonization in Africa and was a crucial event in the Pan-African movement.
Key Attendees:
- Kwame Nkrumah: Future leader of Ghana, played a key role in organizing the congress and advocating for African independence, according to the People’s History Museum.
- Jomo Kenyatta: Future leader of Kenya, also involved in organizing and advocating for independence.
- W.E.B. Du Bois: An influential American scholar and activist, considered a founder of Pan-Africanism, and instrumental in organizing the first Pan-African Congress in 1919.
- George Padmore: A Trinidadian Pan-Africanist writer and activist who co-organized the congress.
- Hastings Banda: Future leader of Malawi, also present at the congress.
- Obafemi Awolowo: A prominent Nigerian politician, participated in the congress.
- Jaja Wachuku: A Nigerian lawyer, politician, and diplomat, also present.
- Amy Ashwood Garvey: The first wife of Marcus Garvey, also attended.
- Ras Makonnen: A Guyanese political activist who was involved in the Pan-African movement.
- Tom Mboya: A Kenyan trade unionist and politician, served as chairman.
- Patrice Lumumba: Future leader of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- Frantz Fanon: A Martinican psychiatrist and political philosopher, represented the Algerian FLN.
- Peter Abrahams: Represented the ANC.
- Dudley Thompson: A Jamaican barrister.
Pan-African cause.
In the beginning, one of the group’s major demands was to end colonial rule and racial discrimination. It stood against imperialism and it demanded human rights and equality of economic opportunity. The manifesto given by the Pan-African Congress included the political and economic demands of the Congress for a new world context of international cooperation and the need to address the issues facing Africa as a result of European colonization of most of the continent.
Congresses have taken place in 1919 in Paris (France); 1921 in Brussels (Belgium), London and Paris; 1923 in Lisbon (Portugal) and London; 1927 in New York City (United States); 1945 in Manchester (England); 1974 in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania); 1994 in Kampala (Uganda); and 2014 in Johannesburg (South Africa).
