Calvin Reid, FESTAC ’77, Lagos, Nigeria, 1977.
Calvin Reid, FESTAC ’77, Lagos, Nigeria, 1977.
For the past century, the dream of Pan-Africanism has captivated the global consciousness, inspiring black leaders from Marcus Garvey to Malcolm X to advocate for a collective self-reliance that would restore to Africa and its peoples all that has been usurped through systems of colonialism, slavery, and racism over the past 500 years.
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The Pan-African philosophy is an inclusive approach that brings together the knowledge, wisdom, and understanding of black cultures on the continent and across the diaspora, aiming to forge new canons of history, spirituality, politics, the arts, and science. It even has its own flag, designed nearly 100 years ago: the red, black, and green symbolizing the bloodshed, the people, and the land for which they fight — a restoration of Africa, the home of original man and woman.
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A utopian vision with mass appeal, Pan-Africanism was recently popularized once again with the glittering image of Wakanda in the blockbuster film Black Panther. But one does not need to go to Disney World to discover Pan-Africanism realized on Earth. In January 1977, some 16,000 people from 56 nations across Africa and the diaspora descended upon Lagos, Nigeria, to attend FESTAC ’77: the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture.
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Calvin Reid, The Mighty Sparrows, FESTAC ’77, Lagos, Nigeria, 1977.
Calvin Reid, Sun Ra, FESTAC ’77, Lagos, Nigeria, 1977.