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This is the second of a two part
series discussing the origin and development of African Liberation
Day. The month of May is very important in the worldwide African
Liberation Movement. During this month, throughout the African world
Community, African Liberation Day (ALD) is celebrated.
It is important that African
Liberation Day be a vehicle to continue to highlight the problems,
challenges and the future of African people everywhere. The
challenges facing Africa and African people worldwide require that we
remain dedicated to the cause of Africa’s redemption and
liberation. One way we can continue to showcase that dedication is to
actively participate in all of the African Liberation Day activities
throughout the world.
The colonial period in Africa, as
well as the enslavement of African people who were captured and
brought to North America, had a devastating impact on Africa and
African people.
African people did not sit idly by.
Just as we resisted our slave circumstances in America, African
people resisted their colonial condition. Pan African meetings were
called to plot strategy to end colonial rule. The Garvey Movement and
the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) galvanized African
people worldwide to embrace the idea of African independence under
“One God, One Aim, and One Destiny.” The Garvey period in
our history, more than any other era, laid the foundation for what we
now call African Liberation Day.
African people began waging a battle
to reclaim their lands. This has been a long and bitter struggle.
Resistance to white supremacy and colonial domination took many
shapes and forms.
The Pan African meetings (1900-1945)
provided a mechanism for a small group of African leaders to plan and
plot strategy for African freedom. The Garvey Movement of the 1920s
brought the idea of African freedom and independence to the masses of
our people around the world. “Africa for the Africans –
At Home and Abroad,” was a slogan that captured the spirit of
African people. This slogan gave a clear understanding of who we are
as a people and what we should be struggling for.
It was not until the early 1950s
that the first African country gained political independence in the
movement to reclaim Africa. That country was Ghana, under the
leadership of Kwame Nkrumah, who led the Ghanaian people to their
fight against British colonialism. Shortly after this successful
defeat of the British, Sekou Toure led the people of Guinea towards
their independence from French colonialism. Right on the heels of
this victory was the victory of Patrice Lumumba and the people of the
Congo, who won the battle, for a brief moment, against Belgium.
This independence movement sparked
an onslaught of African people reclaiming their territories and led
to the formation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in May
1963. (This is why we celebrate ALD in May.) It was during this
period that Malcolm X linked the struggle of African people in this
country with the struggle of African people worldwide.
It is interesting to note that the
Civil Rights Movement in this country was sparked in Montgomery
(1955) at approximately the same time the independence movement in
Africa began (1956-57). The call for Black Power (1966) sparked a
discussion in the Black Liberation Movement in America that placed
the re-identification with Africa and African people on the
Movement’s agenda, once again. This renewed a new phase of the
Pan African Movement.
The call for support of our brothers
and sisters fighting against the Portuguese in Angola, Mozambique,
and Guinea Bissau led to the formation of the African Liberation Day
held in the country on May 27, 1972 that attracted over 60,000
African people. African Liberation Day has become an institution in
America since that time.
African Liberation Day is a day when
all Black people should come together. As I have emphasized many
times before, whether you were born in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya,
Ethiopia, South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Jamaica, Belize, Bahia,
Germany, England, France, Alabama, Georgia, or on 47th
Street in Chicago, if you are Black,
you are an African with a common heritage and a
common set of conditions. We must continue to fight against racism
and white supremacy as we demand reparations for African people in
America and worldwide.
Read all parts of this series
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