Author Description

"Among the proponents of black nationalism, our choice of W.E.B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, Booker T. Washington and Kwame Nkrumah as the quadruple theme of the 1999 International, Interdisciplinary Pan-African Conference of Writers of African Descent Speak!(WADS): Black Creativity and the State of the Race held at Morgan State University (April 7-9, 1999) was both novel and crucial. These four black leaders so well illustrate the stated direction of the pan-African conferences which, in the tradition of both W.E.B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey, seek to encourage a rapprochement between the various peoples of African descent in Africa and the Black diaspora. As long as the fate of millions of Blacks the world over hangs in the balance, the intellectual must continue to proffer ideas for black self and group liberation. Finally, despite the shortcomings in the leadership styles of Du Bois, Garvey, Booker T. and Nkrumah, they did the best they could working with very limited resources in an era of severe political, social and economic disabilities. They worked in pain and encountered martyrdom. Their reward was the firm hope and belief in the liberation and eventual greatness of the black world. Their achievements should act as a source of inspiration for this generation, children of a more privileged and a less oppressive age."--Publisher's website.