Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Edward Wilmot Blyden


Edward Wilmot Blyden, West Indian-born, educated in US, and significant pan-Africanist intellectual in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Blyden criticized Krio elites for emulating Western culture, praised Islamic West Africa's intellectual tradition (as well as romanticized them), believed Islam was better suited for blacks, supported a Dress Reform Society to push Krio men to wear African-styled clothes, supported "Africanization" of Krio names (something already in practice before Blyden's time), and argued for a 'Negro personality' that would lead to development on its own. Blyden was something of a hypocrite, since he never 'Africanized' his name, but his influence is sometimes overstated. Regardless, he was a towering figure in 19th century Black Atlantic intellectual thought. 

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