As originally conceived by Henry Sylvester Williams (although some historians credit the idea to Edward Wilmot Blyden), pan-Africanism referred to the unity of all continental Africa.

Henry Sylvester-Williams  born 24 March 1867 or 15 February 1869 – 26 March 1911 was a Trinidadian lawyer, activist, councillor and writer who was among the founders of the Pan-African movement.

As a young man, Williams travelled to the United States and Canada to further his education, before subsequently moving to England, where he founded the African Association in 1897 to “promote and protect the interests of all subjects claiming African descent, wholly or in part, in British colonies and other place, especially Africa, by circulating accurate information on all subjects affecting their rights and privileges as subjects of the British Empire, by direct appeals to the Imperial and local Governments.”

In 1900, Williams organised the First Pan-African Conference, held at Westminster Town Hall in London. In 1903 he went to practise as a barrister in Southern Africa, becoming the first black man to be called to the bar in the Cape Colony.

Edward Wilmot Blyden (3 August 1832 – 7 February 1912) was an Americo-Liberian educator, writer, diplomat, and politician who was primarily active in West Africa. Born in the Danish West Indies, he joined the waves of black immigrants from the Americas who migrated to Liberia. Blyden became a teacher for five years in the British West African colony of Sierra Leone in the early twentieth century.  His major writing were on pan-Africanism, which later became influential throughout West Africa, attracting attention in countries such as the United States as well. His ideas went on to influence the likes of Marcus Garvey, George Padmore and Kwame Nkrumah.

Blyden was recognised in his youth for his talents and drive; he was educated and mentored by John P. Knox, an American Protestant minister in Sankt Thomas who encouraged him to continue his education in the United States. In 1850, Blyden was refused admission to three Northern theological seminaries because of his race.^[4] Knox encouraged him to go to Liberia, a colony set up for free people of color by the American Colonization Society. Blyden emigrated in 1850 and made his career and life there. He married into a prominent family and soon started working as a journalist. Blyden’s ideas remain influential to this day.

During apartheid South Africa there was a Pan Africanist Congress led by Robert Sobukwe that dealt with the oppression of Africans in South Africa under Apartheid rule. Other pan-Africanist organisations include: Garvey‘s Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League, TransAfrica and the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement.^[70]

Additionally, pan-Africanism is seen as an endeavour to return to what is deemed by its proponents as singular, traditional African concepts about culture, society, and values. Examples of this include Léopold Sédar Senghor‘s Négritude movement, and Mobutu Sese Seko‘s view of Authenticité.

An important theme running through much pan-Africanist literature concerns the historical links between different countries on the continent and the benefits of cooperation as a way of resisting imperialism and colonialism.^[72]

Some universities went as far as creating “Departments of Pan-African Studies” in the late 1960s. This includes the California State University, where that department was founded in 1969 as a direct reaction to the civil rights movement, and is today dedicated to “teaching students about the African World Experience”, to “demonstrate to the campus and the community the richness, vibrance, diversity, and vitality of African, African American, and Caribbean cultures” and to “presenting students and the community with an Afrocentric analysis” of anti-Black racism