Black Nationalism

Black Nationalism: Alternative Uplift Ideology

Race and Empire

A map showing the the territories ceded to the United States by Spain after the Spanish-American War in 1898

Around the turn of the century the United States gained political and economic control of many territories around the world, often through military domination, and was becoming a young empire. The Spanish-American War was an important moment in this process; the US “liberated” Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Phillipines from Spanish control, and quickly established its own dominance in these territories. The reasons behind American imperial expansion were complex, but race was often used to justify it; the US was framed as a paternalist benefactor bringing “civilization” to the “backward” and “savage” races of the world (this was informed by Social Darwinism). Thus, domestic racial discourse informed imperial politics and vice versa.

Because racism was used to justify imperialism, many African American intellectuals denounced expansion abroad, and argued that black people should boycott the military. However, some felt that imperialism opened a space up for African Americans to prove their citizenship by serving in the military. Some--most notably Booker T. Washington--also argued that American blacks had been “brought up” from savagery under white “tutelage” during slavery, and imperialism provided them an opportunity to bring this knowledge to other “uncivilized” people of color around the world (42).

Black Nationalism

An alternative ideology arose to create a space for dignity and uplift among people of color all over the world, including African Americans, called black nationalism. Black nationalism (sometimes also referred to as Pan-Africanism) called for unity among all people of African descent, and argued that blacks should strive together for dignity and self-improvement in the face of racism and imperialism. Although this is generally what black nationalism was about, there was still great diversity among black nationalist intellectuals (43).

William H. Ferris

William Ferris was an enigmatic black nationalist who was shunned by other prominent racial intellectuals around the turn of the century, including Washington and DuBois. He studied at Yale and Harvard with prominent white Social Darwinist and imperialist scholars, which greatly influenced his thinking; he believed that the worthiness of black people should be measured against European cultural achievements. Following this line of thinking, he proposed the term “Negrosaxon” to describe African Americans, since they had begun to receive the benefits of white civilization through white tutelage. He also believed in a gendered black nationalism—that black men needed to prove their “manliness” in the face of racial stereotypes that emasculated them (44).

Marcus Garvey

Garvey in full uniform for a UNIA parade

Marcus Garvey

The most important black nationalist was Marcus Garvey, who became very influential in the 1910s and ‘20s. Garvey, originally from Jamaica, was inspired by Booker T. Washington’s self-help ideology, but took it much further. He argued that black people from all over the world needed to unite in a massive project of mutual economic benefit; Garvey wanted to construct an exlusively black capitalist system. He founded the international shipping company Black Star Lines as a way to connect the African diaspora through commerce, which he hoped would eventually reunite all black peoples in Africa. Garvey’s black nationalism (or Garveyism as it is sometimes referred to) also relied on an aspect of performance. Garveyites would participate in parades and rallies that imitated the imperial displays of powers like Great Britain, France, and Germany. Participants wore military uniforms, marched in huge formations, and cheered for speeches. Garvey was known for his incredible charisma as a speaker (45).

Hubert Harrison

Hubert Harrison was another important, although lesser-known black nationalist. What set him apart from many other black intellectuals was that he was a socialist. He believed the solution to racial injustice was through the abolishment of the capitalist economic system, in which the means of production are privately owned by individuals, and to replace it with the socialist economic system, in which the means of production are collectively owned by everyone in society through government. When the means of production are privately owned, Harrison argued, they became consolodated among a small class of wealthy elites who exploited the labor of black people. He was, however, disillusioned by the fact that most prominent socialist thinkers did not factor race into their analyses of political and economic issues (46).