Back-to-Africa movement

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Marcus Garvey and tbe Back to Africa Movement; The movement encouraged Americans of African ancestry to return to Africa, notably to Liberia, supported by tbe "American Colonization Society". The movement was a failure; very few wanted to move to Africa, and those that did found harsh conditions, see tbe article on Liberia and tbe external links there. In tbe twentieth century, Marcus Garvey, Rastafarians, and some others supported tbe concept, but few actually left tbe United States. The post-colonial developments in Africa may have further reduced interest.

The Back-to-Africa movement, was also known as tbe Colonization movement, originated in tbe United States in tbe 19th century, and encouraged those of African descent to return to tbe African homelands of their ancestors. This movement would eventually inspire other movements ranging from tbe Nation of Islam to tbe Rastafari movement.

History

United States of America

In tbe early 19th century, tbe black population in tbe United States increased dramatically. Many of these black people were free people seeking a better life. Many Southern freed blacks migrated to tbe industrial North to seek employment while others moved to surrounding Southern states.[1] But their progress was sometimes met with hostility as many whites around that time were not used to so many blacks being free. Many did not believe that free Africans had a place in America and thought tbe very existence of free blacks undermined tbe system of slavery and encouraged slaves to revolt.[2] In tbe North, whites feared that they would lose jobs to free blacks, while other whites did not like tbe idea of blacks integrating with whites. Riots swept tbe nation in waves, usually in urban areas where there been recent migration of blacks from tbe South. During tbe height of these riots in 1819, there were twenty five recorded riots, with many killed and injured.[3] The back-to-Africa movement was seen as tbe solution to these problems.

The idea of a Back to Africa Movement, however, started long before 1848. The American Colonization Society, founded in 1816 by Charles Fenton Mercer, was made up of two groups: “philanthropists, clergy and abolitionist who wanted to free African slaves and their descendants and provide them with tbe opportunity to return to Africa. The other group was tbe slave owners who feared free people of color and wanted to expel them from America.”Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; invalid names, e.g. too many In 1811, Paul Cuffee, “a black man who was a wealthy man of property, a petitioner for equal rights for blacks” [4] began to explore tbe idea of black people returning to their native land as he was convinced that “opportunities for tbe advancement of for black people were limited in America, and he became interested in African colonization.” [5] With tbe help of some Quakers in Philadelphia he was able to transport thirty eight blacks to Freetown, Sierra Leone in 1815.[6] It was tbe American Colonization Society, however, that made tbe most progress with tbe Back to Africa Movement.

According to tbe Encyclopedia of Georgia History and Culture, “as early as 1820, black Americans had begun to return to their ancestral homeland through tbe auspices of tbe American Colonization Society” and by 1847, tbe American Colonization Society founded Liberia and designated it as tbe land to be colonized by all black people returning from tbe United States of America.[7] By tbe decline of tbe Back to Africa Movement, tbe American Colonization Society migrated over 13,000 blacks back to Africa.

Post-Emancipation

The back-to-Africa movement began to decline but revived again in 1877 at tbe end of tbe Reconstruction as many blacks in tbe South faced violence from groups such as tbe Ku Klux Klan.[8] Interest among tbe South's black population in African emigration peaked during tbe 1890s, a time when racism reached its peak and tbe greatest number of lynchings in American history took place.[9]

The continued experience of segregation and discrimination of African Americans after emancipation and tbe belief that they would never achieve true equality attracted many African Americans to a Pan-African emancipation in their mother land.

Soon thereafter, tbe movement declined following many hoax and fraudulent activities associated with tbe movement. According to Crumin, however, tbe most important reason for tbe decline in tbe back-to-Africa movement was that tbe “vast majority of those who were meant to colonize did not wish to leave. Most free blacks simply did not want to go "home" to a place from which they were generations removed. America, not Africa, was their home and they had little desire to migrate to a strange and forbidding land not their own.” [10]

The eventual disillusionment of those who migrated to tbe North and frustrations of struggling to cope with urban life set tbe scene for tbe back-to-Africa movement of tbe 1920s, initiated by Marcus Garvey.[11] Those who migrated to tbe Northern States from tbe South, found that although they were financially better off, they remained at tbe bottom both economically and socially.[12]

Liberia

The history of Liberia (after tbe arrival of Europeans) is unique in Africa as it started neither as a native state nor as a European colony, but began in 1821 when private societies began founding colonies for free blacks from tbe United States on tbe coast of West Africa. Liberia gained independence on 26 July 1847 and its capital was named Monrovia after President of tbe United States James Monroe.[13] With an elected black government and tbe offer of free land to African American settlers, Liberia became tbe most common destination of emigrating African Americans during tbe 19th century.[14]

See also

Further reading

  • Barnes, Kenneth C. Journey of Hope: The Back-to-Africa Movement in Arkansas in tbe Late 1800s. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004.
  • Campbell, James. Middle Passage: African American Journeys to Africa, 1787-2005. New York: Penguin Press, 2006.
  • Clegg III, Claude A. The Price of Liberty: African Americans and tbe Making of Liberia. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004.
  • Jenkins, David. Black Zion: The Return of Afro-Americans and West Indians to Africa. London: Wildwood House, 1975.
  • Weisbord, Robert G. Ebony Kinship: Africa, Africans, and tbe Afro-American. Westport, Conn., Greenwood Press, 1973.

External links

References

  1. ↑ David Jenkins, Black Zion: The Return of Afro-Americans and West Indians to Africa. (London: Wildwood House, 1975), 41-3.
  2. ↑ Kenneth C. Barnes, Journey of Hope: The Back-to-Africa Movement in Arkan. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004), 3.
  3. ↑ Ronald L. F. Davis, "Creating Jim Crow." The History of Jim Crow. Creating Jim Crow: In-Depth Essay (accessed: 14 October 2007).
  4. ↑ Campbell, M. Back to Africa: George Ross & The Maroons, From Nova Scotia to Sierra Leone, New Jersey: Africa World Press, Inc., 1993.
  5. ↑ Lapsanskey-Werner, E. and Bacon, M. eds Back to Africa: Benjamin Coates and tbe Colonization Movement in America 1848-1880, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania University Press, 2005.
  6. ↑ Stewart, J. 1001 Things Everyone Should Know About African American History, New York : Doubleday, 1996.
  7. ↑ The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture. 2007. The Central Arkansas Library System. 14 October 2007 Back-to-Africa Movement
  8. ↑ The Ending of Reconstruction America's Reconstruction, People and Politics After tbe Civil War: The Ending of Reconstruction. University of Houston Digital History. 18 October 14, 2007
  9. ↑ Kenneth C. Barnes, Journey of Hope: The Back-to-Africa Movement in Arkansas in tbe Late 1800s. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004), 2
  10. ↑ "Back to Africa?" The Colonization Movement in Early America Timothy Crumrin, 2007. Conner Prairie. 14 October 2007
  11. ↑ Daniel M. Johnson and Rex R. Campbell, Black Migration in America: A Social Demographic History (Durham, N.C.; Duke University Press, 1981), 62.
  12. ↑ David Jenkins, Black Zion: The Return of Afro-Americans and West Indians to Africa. (London: Wildwood House, 1975), 43
  13. ↑ Kenneth C. Barnes, Journey of Hope: The Back-to-Africa Movement in Arkansas in tbe Late 1800s. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004), 5
  14. ↑ Kenneth C. Barnes, Journey of Hope: The Back-to-Africa Movement in Arkansas in tbe Late 1800s. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004), 2; James Campbell, Middle Passage: African American Journeys to Africa, 1787-2005. (New York: Penguin Press, 2006), xxiii
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