Essay
Christianity, Islam and the Negro Race
Edward Wilmot Blyden · 1887
Synopsis
Articles and lectures, appearing for the most part in English and American journals from 1875, gathered in one volume on the great questions concerning Africa and the black race: Islam and Christianity in West Africa, the missions, the education suited to Africans, the colonisation of Liberia and Sierra Leone. Blyden examines there what Islam has done for the peoples of the interior, which many then judge more useful than the missions, and argues that Africans should develop according to their own character instead of disowning it.
Context
The book appeared in London in 1887, with an introduction by Samuel Lewis, a lawyer and member of the legislative council of Sierra Leone; the Colonial and Indian Exhibition of 1886 was the occasion for it. A second edition appeared in 1888, then a third in Edinburgh in 1967, and Black Classic Press reprinted it in 1994. Blyden laments that so little has been written by the African himself about his country, and he is regarded as one of the first to formulate the idea of an African personality.
Who it is for
Essays in English from the nineteenth century, dense and rich in reading; each chapter can be read on its own.
Prizes and reception
This book is counted among the founding texts of Pan-Africanism, of which Blyden is considered the father.