The origins of African nationalism: E.W. Blyden

Abstract En

: The origins of African nationalism : E. W. Blyden. Due to Africa’s specific historical development, the term of nationalism has another meaning than the European one, at least because there we do not meet classical defined nations ; in our opinion, African nationalism must be understood more as an ideological and political movement of raising the awareness on the specific African development, on the opposition of " blacks" against " whites". Edward Wilmot Blyden (1832-1912) was the most representative defender of the black race. On the climax of the colonial expansion, he elaborated a genuine philosophy on the African personality. Our study sustains that at the source of the contemporary African nationalism are Blyden’s ideas over which the black-American influence has superposed (W. E. B. DuBois, Duse Mahommed, and Marcus Garvey etc.). His laborious activity – he was in the same time clergyman, university professor, politician, journalist, diplomat, lecturer, publisher, traveller, linguist – had in view to restore the Africans’ “ lost trust”, proving the special role had in the civilization’s birth, but also their ability to form compatible institutions with the European ones. In this way, Blyden was the attorney of “ the black conscience and racial pride of the African continent, but also of the Diaspora”, having a crucial contribution on the birth of the Pan African movement.