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 CARIBBEAN STUDIES

Intellectual Traditions
WHAT WE LEARN
BECOMES PART OF
WHO WE ARE
 Cyril Briggs (1888–1966)
Born in Nevis, he was a black nationalist, civil rights activist, journalist and member of
the American Communist Party.

• In 1918, he began publishing his own journal, The Crusader, and, in that same year. He
founded the African Blood Brotherhood (ABB), which would later serve as the link
between black communities and the Communist movement in the US.

• The ABB was founded upon the ideas of Garveyism, which sought to promote black
nationalism, and supported equal rights for blacks.

• The ABB had a large contingent of supporters, including many Caribbean-born political
activists.

• He offered an alternative to Garvey’s movement and became involved in an open,

ongoing dispute with Garvey; he criticised the capitalist nature of ‘Garveyism’, and later
cooperated in the mail fraud investigation against him.
 George Padmore (1902–1959)

Born in Trinidad, his name at birth was Malcolm Ivan Meredith Nurse.

• Worked in Germany as the head of the International Trade Union Committee of Negro Workers (ITUC-
NW) during the 1930s.

• Wrote Life and Struggle of Negro Toilers, which dealt in some depth with working conditions of blacks
around the world.

• Initially critical of people such as W.E.B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey because of his communist
ideology, he later wrote for Du Bois’ Crisis.

• Moved to London in 1934 and dedicated his time to writing about Pan-Africanism and African
independence.

• Was influential in planning the Fifth Pan-African Congress in Manchester, UK, in 1945.

• Wrote Pan-Africanism or Communism?, which was published in 1956 and considered his most
significant work.
 Walter Rodney (1942–1990)

Born in Georgetown, Guyana; received his PhD in African History at the age of 24

• Presented a paper, ‘African History in the Service of Black Liberation’, at the

Congress of Black Writers Conference in Canada in 1968.

• Was banned from returning to Jamaica where he held an academic post at UWI
the same year and this led to rioting in Kingston, known as the ‘Rodney Riots’.

• Published the book, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, in 1972; a direct result of
his involvement in the African Liberation Struggles.

• Influence is seen in the Caribbean through the idea of ‘Black Power’, the
movement he promoted; in May 1970, Maurice Bishop led a Black Power
demonstration in Grenada
 The impact of Pan-Africanism
• Garvey's call for an eight-hour workday, educational reform, minimum wages and land
reform led to these issues being addressed

• The promotion of cultural and political unity between black as a result of the ‘Back to
Africa’ and ‘United States of Africa’ Slogans

• The birth of Rastafarianism, which was influenced by Garvey and promoted in music
by Bob Marley and Peter Tosh

• Promotion of black pride within the Caribbean

• The birth and growth of the trade union movement, which became an integral part of
the political climate in the Caribbean
 Opposition to the Caribbean Pan-African Movement
The main interest groups in the Caribbean who opposed the Pan Africanism movement in the Caribbean were
the white planter-merchant class and those of mixed, Asian and Middle-Eastern descent who recognized the
potential far-reaching impact of the movement:
• They saw Pan-Africanism as a disruption or attack on their interests in terms of the social, political and economic
situation.
• In particular, the white planter-merchant class viewed education and enlightenment of the former-enslaved
people, as causing the disintegration of colonialism. These interest groups were mostly involved in manufacturing
and trade. Yet more opposition interest groups included shopkeepers, business owners, small-scale farmers and
landlords. All these groups resisted the movement because it would mean a restructuring of the class system.
Négritude
The Négritude movement began as a literary movement in France among French-speaking Africans and
Caribbean intellectuals and writers who were living there. It was in response to their objections to French
colonial rule and the concerted effort to integrate them into French society. The various Négritude movements
around the world developed because of shared concerns and interests among blacks
 Some founders of the Négritude
Léopold Sédar Senghor (1906–2001)
• Born in Senegal
• Poet, playwright, teacher, politician
• Was put off by the ‘cultural arrogance’ of the French he met while studying in France
• Helped to launch L‘Etudiant Noir (Black Student) in 1934, which was used to promote
the idea of black intuitive thought
• First president of independent Senegal

Léon Damas (1912–1978)

• Born in French Guiana
• Editor, poet, diplomat
• The first black writer to do in-depth work on the effect of colonisation on the
consciousness of the oppressed
• Poems addressed the negros’ problems of self-identity, which stemmed from French
colonisation racism
Aimé Césaire (1913–2008)
• Born in Martinique
• Poet, teacher and statesman
• The Négritude movement’s most prominent spokesman • His poems Cahier d’un
retour au pays natal (Notebook of a Return to the Native Land) Soleil cou-coupé
(Cutthroat Sun), in 1948, were used to criticize the French colonial oppressors