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738 IDEOLOGIES OF LIBERATION IN BLACK AFRICA

ADDRESS TO THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD BY THE
PAN-AFRICAN CONFERENCE IN LONDON, 1900

In the metropolis of the modern world, in this the closing year of the
nineteenth century, there has been assembled a congress of men and
women of African blood, to deliberate solemnly upon the present
situation and outlook of the darker races of mankind. The problem of
the twentieth century is the problem of the colour-line, the question as to
how far differences of race—which show themselves chiefly in the colour
of the skin and the texture of the hair—will hereafter be made the basis
of denying to over half the world the right of sharing to their utmost
ability the opportunities and privileges of modern civilization.

To be sure, the darker races are today the least advanced in culture
according to European standards. This has not, however, always been
the case in the past, and certainly the world’s history, both ancient and
modern, has given many instances of no despicable ability and capacity
among the blackest races of men.

In any case, the modern world must remember that in this age when
the ends of the world are being brought so near together the millions of
black men in Africa, America, and the Islands of the Sea, not to speak of
the brown and yellow myriads elsewhere, are bound to have a great
influence upon the world in the future, by reason of sheer numbers and
physical contact. If now the world of culture bends itself towards giving
Negroes and other dark men the largest and broadest opportunity for
education and self-development, then this contact and influence is bound
to have a beneficial effect upon the world and hasten human progress,
But if, by reason of carelessness, prejudice, greed and injustic¢, the black
world is to be exploited and ravished and degraded, the results must be
deplorable, if not fatal—not simply to them, but to the high ideals of
justice, freedom and culture which a thousand years of Christian
civilization have held before Europe.

And now, therefore, to these ideals of civilization, to the broader
humanity of the followers of the Prince of Peace, we, the men and
‘women of Africa in world congress assembled, do now solemnly appeal:

Let the world take no backward step in that slow but sure progress
which has successively refused to let the spirit of class, of caste, of
privilege, or of birth, debar from life, liberty and the pursuit of happi-
ness a striving human soul.

Let not color or race be a feature of distinction between white and,
black men, regardless of worth or ability.

Let not the natives of Africa be sacrificed to the greed of gold, their
liberties taken away, their family life debauched, their just aspirations
repressed, and avenues of advancement and culture taken from them.

Let not the cloak of Christian missionary enterprise be allowed in the

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future, as so often in the past, to hide the ruthless economic exploitation
and political downfall of less developed nations, whose chief fault has
been reliance on the plighted faith of the Christian Church.

Let the British nation, the first modern champion of Negro Freedom,
hasten to crown the work of Wilberforce, and Clarkson, and Buxton,
and Sharpe, Bishop Colenso, and Livingstone, and give, as soon as
practicable, the rights of responsible government to the black colonies of
Africa and the West Indies,

Let not the spirit of Garrison, Phillips, and Douglass wholly die out in
America; may the conscience of a great nation rise and rebuke all
dishonesty and unrighteous oppression toward the American Negro, and
grant to him the right of franchise, security of person and property, and
generous recognition of the great work he has accomplished in a
generation toward raising nine millions of human beings from slavery to
manhood.

Let the German Empire, and the French Republic, true to their great
Past, remember that the true worth of colonies lies in their Prosperity and
Progress, and that justice, impartial alike to black and white, is the first
element of prosperity.

Let the Congo Free State become a great central Negro State of the
world, and let its prosperity be counted not simply in cash and
commerce, but in the happiness and true advancement of its black people.

Let the nations of the World respect the integrity and independence of
the first Negro States of Abyssinia, Liberia, Haiti, and the rest, and let
the inhabitants of these States, the independent tribes of Africa, the
Negroes of the West Indies and America, and the black subjects of all nations take courage, strive ceaselessly, and fight bravely, that they may
prove to the world their incontestible right to be counted among the great
brotherhood of mankind,

Thus we appeal with boldness and confidence to the Great Powers of
the civilized world, trusting in the wide spirit of humanity, and the deep sense of justice of our age, for a generous recognition of the righteousness of our cause.
ALEXANDER WALTERS (Bishop)
President Pan-African Association
HENRY B. BROWN
Vice-President
H, SYLVESTER-WILLIAMS
General Secretary
W. E. BURGHARDT DUBOIS
Chairman Committee on Address