The Pan-Africanism of Martin Luther King
In his final speech, Martin Luther King declared: “Something is happening in our world. The masses of people are rising up. And wherever they are assembled today, whether they are in Johannesburg, South Africa; Nairobi, Kenya; Accra, Ghana; New York City; Atlanta, Georgia; Jackson, Mississippi; or Memphis, Tennessee — the cry is always the same: ‘We want to be free.’” In that statement, King was speaking of the connection between the struggles of African Americans and Africans on the continent.
This was not the first time that King had spoke to this connection. In an interview with Playboy, King had stated: “ What happens in Johannesburg affects Birmingham, however indirectly. We are descendants of the Africans. Our heritage is Africa. We should never seek to break the ties, nor should the Africans.”
King not only recognized a connection between the struggles in Africa and the United States, but he was directly influenced by the anti-colonial struggle in Africa. This is demonstrated by King’s reaction to Ghana’s independence in 1957. King was invited to attend the ceremony by Kwame Nkrumah. Upon returning to the United States, he gave a sermon titled “The Birth of a New Nation”. In that sermon, he spoke about his experience in Ghana.
King took another trip to Africa in 1960 to celebrate Nigeria’s independence. Of this occasion, King stated: “I just returned from Africa a little more than a month ago and I had the opportunity to talk with most of the major leaders of the new independent countries of Africa, and also leaders in countries that are moving toward independence. And I think all of them agree that in the United States we must solve this problem of racial injustice if we expect to maintain our leadership in the world and if we expect to maintain a moral voice in a world that is two thirds color.”
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Dwayne is the author of Malcolm X, Bob Marley, and Other Essays and several other books on African and African Diaspora history.
