There are so many facets to the study of the African Diaspora in the Americas and elsewhere. One aspect that has not been studied well is that relating to leadership and its evolution in the Diaspora. This work mainly concentrates on the United States, where the evolution of leadership has been more persistent, than in the other areas of the Americas into which Africans were taken. The evolution of leadership in the other areas was held back because of the peculiar circumstances that prevented an absence of a determined consciousness of Africa until the 1920s.

The current study is an attempt to put the evolution of this leadership in perspective in order to reflect the impact it was to have on leadership in the succeeding phases after the first two decades of the twentieth century. Nothing came easy for Africans of the Diaspora and some of the frustrations resulting from the intransigence of the larger society compelled some to seek emigrationist solutions, some to Africa and others to other theatres of the Americas. But since others of the Diasporic leadership have persistently advocated integrationist solutions, their activities are also featured.

The Diaspora leadership in this period (from slavery to the 1920s) consisted of both men and women, and those who have been featured in this work are employed as the epitome of the whole. The author recognizes the need for biographical sketches of many of the leaders of the era and some such studies have begun to appear. But this work provides a generalized overview of the leadership of the era in terms of ethos, motivations and their conception of destiny.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Vincent Bakpetu Thompson is a professor of History at Connecticut College. He is the author of several books, among which are: Africa and Unity: The Evolution of Pan-Africanism; African Background to West Indian History, and The Making of the African Diaspora in the Americas.

CATEGORY

History, Politics/AFRICA & AFRICAN AMERICAN