Ending British rule in Africa : writers in a common cause / Carol Polsgrove.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Polsgrove, Carol.

Series:

Studies in imperialism (Manchester, England)

Studies in imperialism

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Decolonization--Africa--History--20th century.

Decolonization.

Pan-Africanism--History--20th century.

Pan-Africanism.

Prohibited books.

History.

Politics and culture.

Publishers and publishing--Political aspects.

Publishers and publishing.

Colonies.

Race relations.

Authors, Black.

Political and social views.

West Indians.

Political participation.

Black people--Political activity.

Black people.

Autonomy and independence movements.

Africa--History--Autonomy and independence movements.

Africa.

Padmore, George, 1902-1959.

Padmore, George.

Black people--Political activity--Great Britain.

West Indians--Political activity--Great Britain.

Black people--Great Britain--Politics and government.

Great Britain.

Politics and government.

Authors, Black--Great Britain--Political and social views.

Great Britain--Race relations--History--20th century.

Great Britain--Colonies--Africa--History--20th century.

Publishers and publishing--Political aspects--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Politics and culture--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Prohibited books--Great Britain--History--20th century.

African diaspora.

Physical Description:

xviii, 186 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Manchester : Manchester University Press ; New York : Distributed in the United States exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.

Summary:

On the eve of World War II, a small, impoverished group of Africans and West Indians in London dared to imagine the unimaginable: the end of British rule in Africa. In books, pamphlets, and periodicals, they launched an anti-colonial campaign that used publishing as a pathway to liberation.

West Indians George Padmore, C. L. R. James, and Ras Makonnen; Kenya's jomo Kenyatta; and Sierra Leone's I.T.A. Wallace Johnson - these were writers in a common cause: envisioning Africa freed of foreign rule. Joined by South African Peter Abrahams during the war and the Gold Coast's Kwame Nkrumah toward the war's end, the community expanded its reach through ties with Americans W. E. B. Du Bois and Richard Wright, Nigerian Nnamdi Azikiwe, and West Indians Eric Williams and Arthur Lewis - a powerful array of committed political intellectuals.

Publishing in Britain, the United States, and across the colonial world, they built an international base of support. When British authorities banned and seized their publications in the colonies, they made their point: that colonial rule was oppressive and inconsistent with the democratic ideals Britain claimed at home.

Ending British Rule in Africa draws on previously unexplored manuscript and archival collections to trace the development of this publishing community from its origins in George Padmore's American and Comintern years through the independence of Ghana in the 1957 - a case study of publishing's role in promoting political change. This book will expand the horizons of scholars and general readers interested in social movements, diaspora studies, empire and African history, publishing history, literary history, and cultural studies.

Contents:

'Misery laid bare'

'Generals without an army'

Writing while the bombs fall

'A constant stream'

Strategist, publicist

Acts of betrayal

Their own histories.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 175-180) and index.

ISBN:

9780719077678

0719077672

OCLC:

301895334