BOOKER T. WASHINGTON AND AFRICA
THE MAKING OF A PAN AFRICANIST
The Congo Free State
Booker T. Washington actively propagandized against the atrocities taking place in the Congo Free State under King Leopold. He became vice president of the Friends of the Congo in addition to lobbying the white house on issues related to the Congo.
The Liberian Crisis
In the wake of the Liberian Crisis Booker T. Washington would host and facilitate negotiations on behalf of Liberia. Serving as key negotiator Washington managed to ensure the security of Liberia from encroachment by French, British and German colonial forces in Africa.
The African Exclusion Measure
The Completion of the Panama Canal provoked legistation that would exclude all African or Black persons from the US from 1915 on. The measure targeted the African (Black) populations residing in the Caribbean, Central and South America who worked as laborers on the Panama Canal. It was Booker T. Washington and his use of the Tuskegee Machine that would effectively have the racist measure debunked in one week. Washington had the correct balance of Pan African consiousness coupled with power to act in
defense of African people internationally.