African Union

“ Here, on the contrary, the African part of our population bears so large a proportion to the residue of European origin, as to create the most lively apprehension, especially in some quarters of the Union. ”

“ REAFFIRMING the principle of promoting gender equality as enshrined in the Constitutive Act of the African Union as well as the New Partnership for Africa‟s Development, relevant Declarations, Resolutions and Decisions, which underline the commitment of the African States to ensure the full participation of African women as equal partners in Africa's development ”

“ Colonization Society is straining every nerve for the accomplishment of its objects. By their last publications we see, that they have invoked all Christian assemblies and churches throughout the Union, to exert their influence, by raising subscriptions to send us (the strangers within their gates, as they call us) to the coast of Africa. ”

“ In Part I., I have shown, by copious extracts, that colonizationists artfully represent them as aliens and foreigners, wanderers from Africa—destitute of that amor patriæ, which is the bond of union—seditious—without alliances—irresponsible—unambitious—cherishing no attachment to the soil—feeling no interest in our national prosperity—ready for any adventure—eager to absent themselves from the land—malignant in their feelings towards society—incapable of local preference—content to remain in ignorance and degradation—&c. ”

“ In taking leave of this subject for the present I wish to renew the expression of my conviction that the existence of African slavery in Cuba is a principal cause of the lamentable condition of the island. I do not doubt that Congress shares with me the hope that it will soon be made to disappear, and that peace and prosperity may follow its abolition. ”

“ We recall the heroic struggles waged by our peoples and our countries during the last century of this millennium for political independence, human dignity, and economic emancipation. We take pride in the achievements made to promote and consolidate African Unity and we salute the heroism and the sacrifices of our peoples, particularly during the liberation struggles. ”

“ FURTHER CONSIDERING that Article 18 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights calls on all States Parties to eliminate every discrimination against women and to ensure the protection of the rights of women as stipulated in international declarations and conventions ”

“ It is for the legislature to devise a system adapted to the colonies, calculated to their local situations, and to remove the invidious distinction now subsisting between the African there, and in his native country; by these means the entire Negro race may participate in the blessings of civilization and revealed religion, in every quarter where our extensive dominion and influence exist. ”

“ By forming a chain of colonies along the coast, a speedy check will be given to the accursed slave trade,—a trade which cannot be destroyed in any other manner. Who does not desire to see Africa civilized and evangelized? Whose heart does not leap in view of the suppression of the slave trade? Who does not pray for deliverance from the evils of slavery? Who does not wish to behold the free people of color,—cursed with ineffectual freedom here,—recalled from their banishment, and placed where no obstacles will impede their march to affluence, preferment and honor? ”

“ It is hoped that when the time comes for American and West Indian Negroes to settle in Africa, they will realize their responsibility and their duty. It will not be to go to Africa for the purpose of exercising an over-lordship over the natives, but it shall be the purpose of the Universal Negro Improvement Association to have established in Africa that brotherly co-operation: which will make the interests of the African native and the American and West Indian Negro one and the same, that is to say, we shall enter into a common partnership to build up Africa in the interests of our race. ”

“ Transitional Provisions Pending the establishment of the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights shall be the seized with matters of interpretation arising from the application and implementation of this Protocol. ”

“ When I think of the colonies established along the coast of Africa—of Algiers, conquered and civilized—of the increasing wealth and intelligence of Hayti—of the powerful efforts now being made all over the world to sway public opinion in favor of universal freedom—of the certain emancipation of slaves in all British Colonies—and above all, the evident union of purpose existing between the French and English cabinets,—I can most plainly see the hand of God working for the deliverance of the negroes. We may resist the blessed influence, if we will; but we cannot conquer. ”

“ The past is silent of any negro people who possessed military and civil organization, who cultivated the arts at home, or conducted a regular commerce with their neighbors. No African general has marched south of the desert, from the waters of the Nile to the Niger and Senegal, to unite by conquest the scattered territories of barbarous tribes into one great and homogeneous kingdom. ”

“ It is only a question of a few more years when Africa will be completely colonized by Negroes, as Europe is by the white race. What we want is an independent African nationality, and if America is to help the Negro peoples of the world establish such a nationality, then we welcome the assistance. ”

“ The movements of the International African Association which, with a statement of its purposes, are referred to in the letter of the Secretary of State, appended to this report, are in the direction of the civilisation of the negro population of Africa, by opening up their country to free commercial relations with foreign countries. ”

“ That is enough: all the other conclusions follow from this as a premise: both the deliverance of America and the regeneration of Africa are the necessary consequences: it remains but a question of time. Potens est veritas, et prevalebit: — "Truth is mighty and will prevail." In spite of opposition and obloquy, in spite of indifference and contempt, the cause of African Colonization will at length, we believe, completely triumph. ”

“ If, then, a Colony of colored men, beginning with less than 100, and gradually increasing to 9,000, has, in 30 years, established an Independent Republic amidst a savage people; destroyed the slave trade on 600 miles of the African coast; put down the heathen temples in one of its largest counties; afforded security to all the missions within its limits; and now casts its shield over 300,000 native inhabitants; what may not be done in the next 30 years, by Colonization and Missions combined, were sufficient means supplied to call forth all their energies? ”

“ Most of them are the descendants of persons kidnapped on the coast of Africa, and brought here while we were British Colonies; and as the slave-trade was openly sanctioned more than twenty years after our acknowledged independence, in 1783, and as the traffic is still carried on by smugglers, there are, no doubt, thousands of slaves, now living in the United States, who are actually stolen from Africa. [J]
[J] In the new slave States, there are a great many negroes, who can speak no other language than some of the numerous African dialects. ”

“ But speculative philanthropy imagined that if a colony were established in the land of his forefathers, the African would there exhibit his capacity for self-government. With this view, in 1816, a Colonization Society was formed. Its purpose was the transfer of the free blacks from the United States to the coast of Africa, and the benign promise was the diffusion among their barbarian brethren of the civilization and Christianity which these colorists had acquired through servitude in America. ”

“ The future of Africa is shadowed by unsolved racial conflicts. Our policy will continue to reflect our basic commitments as a people to support those who are prepared to work towards cooperation and harmony between races, and to help those who demand change but reject the fool's gold of violence. ”

“ It will be borne in mind that the aim of the society is, to establish in Africa a colony of the free African population of the United States, to an extent which shall be beneficial both to Africa and America. ”

“ The preservation of the land of Africa for its peoples is thus, broadly speaking, the "acid" test of trusteeship. We have seen that the land question assumes varying aspects in connection with the government of Africans by white men, as the temperate or tropical regions of the Continent are involved. But the main principle holds good in either case. The welfare of the African peoples may be gravely impaired by European policy in a multiplicity of ways. ”

“ The Secretary of the Congo Reform Association is an enthusiast who has devoted himself with a noble zeal and unflinching courage to the task of wiping out the black curse of African exploitation and rubber slavery in Central Africa. ”

“ Shall more territory be yielded to the already wide-spread African, race? It is not the question, whether the unoccupied spaces of the South and West shall be settled by Northern white emigrants with their natural property, or by Southern white emigrants with their legal property,—and there an end; but it is the question, whether New England or New Africa shall extend her limits,—whether the country shall be occupied a century hence by a civilized or by a barbarous race. ”

“ At the same time African minorities in various parts of the continent launched independence movements under the slogan of self-determination, drove out the European occupiers, organized political states and declared that Africa must be governed by and for Africans. ”

“ The wisest laws operate but slowly upon a rude and fierce people, therefore the measures of reformation are not to be successfully performed by a coup-de-main, nor are the hereditary customs of Africa to be erased by the inflammatory declamations of enthusiasm, but by a liberal policy and the ascendency of the polished arts of society. Commerce, the chief means of assembling, and agriculture of assimilating, mankind, must first assume their fascinating and alluring attitudes to the African upon his native plains. ”

“ These circumstances, together with the treaty formed by England with the King of Dahomey, in 1852, for the suppression of the slave-trade, indicate that a new destiny is opening for the African races. It may be but rarely that a man of so much intelligence gains power ”

“ People talk somewhat loosely of the extension of the system. Do they understand its implications? Are they prepared to abide by them? Are the European States which hold African territories to-day, either through the conquest of their indigenous inhabitants or through treaties of amity and commerce with the native rulers, prepared to recognise that in future they shall derive the powers they have hitherto exercised as sovereign States in Africa, from the League and as mandatories of that body? ”

“ And who, but the advocates of the Colonization Society, receive him as a welcome guest? Who but they have built him a temple, and cried, "Long live Prejudice against free born Americans of sable hue!" Who but they are continually crying, "The free blacks are dangerous! the free blacks are dangerous! Away with them—away with them to Africa!" Who but they are the apologists for murder, theft, and all the horrid concomitants of slavery? ”

“ The American Colonization Society is beautiful and beneficial as far as it supports the cause commenced at Sierra Leone, by introducing into Africa, civilization, commerce, and genuine Christianity—by checking the African slave trade—and by serving in love the emigrants who choose to pass to Liberia. ”

“ Resolved, That it is the decided opinion of this meeting, that African colonization is a scheme to drain the better informed part of the colored people out of these United States, so that the chain of slavery may be rivetted more tightly; but we are determined not to be cheated out of our rights by the colonization men, or any other set of intriguers. ”

“ The object of the African Institution, was, "To improve the temporal condition and the moral faculties of the natives of Africa; to diffuse knowledge and excite industry, by methods adapted to the peculiar situation and manners of the inhabitants; to watch over their execution of the laws which have been passed by this and other countries, for abolishing the African slave trade; and finally, to introduce the blessings of civilized society, among a people sunk in ignorance and barbarism, and occupying no less than a fourth part of the habitable globe." ”

“ Society, in the South, seems to be on the point of dissolution; and the best way of preventing the African from becoming instrumental in a general state of anarchy, is to enlist him in the cause of the Republic. ”

“ THE vast territory stretching from the Volta River on the west to the Niger in the Gulf of Benin on the east, the Atlantic Ocean on the south, and the Kong Mountains on the north, embraces the three powerful Negro kingdoms of Benin, Dahomey, and Yoruba. From this country, more than from any other part of Africa, were the people sold into American slavery. Two or three hundred years ago there were several very powerful Negro empires in Western Africa. They had social and political government, and were certainly a very orderly people. ”

“ They see in the growing republics on the West coast of Africa, a living refutation of the calumnies of the Abolitionists against the colonizationists, a land where, from simple citizenship up to the highest post in the government, all is free and open to them, and where character, enterprise, education and honorable ambition, have all their appropriate rewards in the order of the State. What is better, no white man can hope to cast his lot there with the prospect of permanent settlement, or transmitting a healthy posterity. ”