Christianity, Islam and the Negro Race
Edward Wilmot Blyden
An 1887 case that Islam served Africa better than the missionaries did.
One of the earliest systematic works of Pan-African thought, this collection of essays and lectures by the Liberian scholar and statesman argued that Islam had adapted to African societies and encouraged self-respect more than European missionary Christianity, which he tied to racial subordination. Blyden championed the idea of an "African personality" and a distinct African contribution to civilization. His arguments anticipated later Pan-Africanism.
Its legacy. A precursor to modern Pan-Africanist and Afrocentric thought.
- Author
- Edward Wilmot Blyden
- First published
- 1887
- Genre
- Essays
- Theme
- Pan-Africanism, Race and the Diaspora
More from Pan-Africanism, Race and the Diaspora
- The Souls of Black Folk — W.E.B. Du Bois
"The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line."
- The Black Jacobins — C.L.R. James
The Haitian Revolution told as the only slave revolt to build a nation.
- The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality — Cheikh Anta Diop
A claim that the pharaohs were Black, and that Greece borrowed from Africa.
- The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness — Paul Gilroy
Black identity as a ship in motion, not a flag over one homeland.