ADW 112: African Diaspora and the World builds upon the study of the African diaspora by examining the global movements, intellectual traditions, political struggles, and cultural expressions that have shaped the experiences of people of African descent from the nineteenth century to the present. Through historical documents, political speeches, essays, poetry, and activist writings, the reader explores topics such as colonialism, the partition of Africa, Pan-Africanism, Negritude, Black nationalism, civil rights, anti-colonial movements, feminism, environmental justice, and global liberation struggles. Works by influential figures including W. E. B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, Walter Rodney, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, Claudia Jones, Fannie Lou Hamer, and the Combahee River Collective provide diverse perspectives on race, identity, resistance, and social transformation.
The anthology emphasizes the interconnected nature of African-descended communities across Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, and the United States, highlighting how shared histories of colonialism, migration, and activism have shaped global Black experiences. By combining historical scholarship, political thought, literature, and primary source documents, ADW 112: African Diaspora and the World encourages critical analysis of the continuing impact of race, power, and social justice movements while illustrating the enduring significance of the African diaspora in shaping the modern world.
Map: African Diaspora
Joseph Harris
Excerpt from Bismarck, Europe, and Africa: The Berlin Africa Conference 1884–1885 and The Onset of Partition
Wolfgang J. Mommsen, Stig Forster, Ronald Robinson and German Historical Institute in London
“Yinka Shonibare” of Hedonism, Masquerade, Carnivalesque and Power
A Conversation with Okwui Enwezor
“Worlds of Color”
W. E. B. Du Bois
“Some Questions of Development”
Walter Rodney
“Introduction” to Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey
Hollis R. Lynch
Excerpt from Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey
Marcus Garvey
“Pan-Africanism, Negritude, and the Currency of Blackness” Cuba, the Francophone Caribbean, and Brazil in Comparative Perspective, 1930–1950s
Darién J. Davis and Judith Michelle Williams
Excerpts from Négritude: Black Poetry from Africa and the Caribbean
Norman Shapiro, editor/translator
“La balada de los dos abuelos”
Nicolás Guillén
“Tengo”
Nicolás Guillén
Excerpt from The Narrative of Hosea Hudson
Nell Irvin Painter
“An End to the Neglect of the Problems of the Negro Woman!”
Claudia Jones
“Black Power: Its Need and Substance”
Stokely Carmichael and Charles V. Hamilton
“Letter from Birmingham Jail”
Martin Luther King Jr. “
What Life Has Taught Me”
Haile Selassie
“Not Just an American Problem, but a World Problem”
Malcolm X
from “Address to Conference of the Pan-African Freedom Movement of East Central Africa”
Nelson Mandela
“You’ve Struck a Rock”
M. Bahati Kuumba
“We’re On Our Way”
Fannie Lou Hamer
“Black Women Activists and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee: The Case of Ruby Doris Smith Robinson”
Cynthia Griggs Fleming
“What We Want, What We Believe”
Black Panther Party Platform
“A Black Feminist Statement”
The Combahee River Collective
“Principles of Environmental Justice (EJ)”
“Environmental Justice for All”
Robert D. Bullard
Map: African National Independence
