By, CTFG
The United Nations (UN) has designated 31st August the International Day for People of African Descent. This day is part of the larger UN observation of the Second International Decade of People of African Descent which began on 1 January 2025 and will conclude in 2034. The objectives of this decade center around building concrete actions on the tenets of the First Decade with key priorities in the following areas:
- Recognition: Promoting visibility, cultural heritage, and the contributions of people of African descent;
- Justice: Addressing systemic racism, economic disparities, environmental and digital injustices, and ensuring reparatory measures; and
- Development: Supporting sustainable economic opportunities, education, and empowerment programmes for Afro-descendant communities (United Nations Human Rights Office).
Historically, African and diasporal means of preserving and passing down of historical accounts, culture, and belief systems were found in the forms of oral and other art-related traditions. As colonisation and imperialism gave way to mass westernization and the chattel enslavement of African and diasporal societies, many of our stories, traditions, and belief systems were lost or corrupted. Detrimental and divisive as they have been, neither colonialism, imperialism, nor chattel slavery have been able to completely sever the ties that link the diaspora to our African roots, and the significant efforts undertaken by our ancestors to preserve our stories for the future generations continue today, largely, through the Pan-African movement.
At the start of the 20th century, the first noted efforts of the Pan-African movement emerged with the first ever Pan-African Conference at Westminster Town Hall in London organized by Trinidadian barrister, Henry Sylvester, in 1900 with the expressed objective of addressing issues facing Africa and the diaspora such as racial discrimination, the exploitation inflicted by colonialism, and the rights of Africans and the wider diaspora. Over the course of the century additional Conferences, Congresses, and movements arose, led by notable global figures, focusing on the continued push for civil rights, political representation, liberation and decolonization (W.E.B. Du Bois, Kwame Nkrumah, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Jomo Kenyatta, Patrice Lumumba, Thomas Sankara, Fidel Castro); Negritude – the reclamation of black identity and voices, cultural and political liberation, challenging colonialism, and the celebration of African contributions (Léopold Sédar Senghor, Frantz Fanon, Aimé Césaire, Léon Damas, Paulette Nardal, Abdoulaye Sadji); and economic empowerment, educational and personal development, Rastafari, and repatriation (Edward Wilmot Blyden, Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr., Maurice Bishop, Walter Anthony Rodney, Malcom X, Haile Selassie I, Professor Gene Emanuel, Sir Hilary Beckles, PhD, KA, and TRH Mia Amor Mottley). As stewards of education, cultural preservation, and drivers of change, educational institutions are essential to, not only, achieving these objectives, but also preserving the words and works of those who have paved the way on the journey that is Pan-Africanism.
Uniquely positioned with one foot in each world, as the only Historically Black College and University in the Caribbean, the University of the Virgin Islands (much like the Territory’s physical geographic position) sits at the global junction where the Pan-African movement of the Caribbean and that of the United States Continental African-American movement intersect. A living testament to its mission to “empower the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Caribbean and the world,” UVI has long been home to some of the region’s most prominent voices in the Caribbean Pan-African movement, who have dedicated their lives to teaching students and the global community about the importance preserving the languages and dialects (Dr. Vincent Cooper), cultural traditions of resistance and remembrance (Dr. Hollis “Chalkdust” Liverpool), and literary, social, and spiritual traditions (Professor Gene Emanuel & Dr. Chenzira Davis-Kahina) play in advancing local, regional, and global societies of people of African descent.
It is also through this vantage point that the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) offers students, faculty, staff, and the wider Caribbean writing community the opportunity to have their voices, stories, and histories recorded and preserved. Through its annually published, international literary journal, The Caribbean Writer, now in its 40th year, UVI’s the Caribbean Writer Press has provided regional writers, poets, and storytellers with a platform to have their works published as well as opportunities to receive literary prizes to further support their crafts. The University’s efforts in preserving and sharing the literature and publications of the region expanded in 2014 with the inaugural annual celebration of Caribbean voices, regional storytelling, and global literature – the USVI Literary Festival and Book Fair (USVI LitFest), now in its 12th year. This annual event takes literature and storytelling to the community through a myriad of events, lectures, workshops, and school visits by world renown authors from the region and abroad (Edwidge Danticat, Tiphanie Yanique, Jamaica Kincaid, Elizabeth Nunez, Tobias Buckell).
In 2020 UVI established the UVI Association of Black Journalist (UVIABJ) student chapter, the first and only student chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) in the Caribbean. The Association provides support and access to resources and training events to UVI’s aspiring journalism, communications, and media professionals, creating opportunities for them to sharpen their skills, learn the ethical practices of the trade, and expand their networks by engaging with colleagues across the nation and the globe. Supported by UVI’s College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences’ (CLASS) Department of Communications, Art, Theatre, and Music, the Association also affords its members the opportunity to hone their craft while chronicling important stories of the times through the publication of the UVI Voice 2.0, a student-led online newspaper dedicated to “impacting the Caribbean one story at a time.”
UVI’s role in the Pan-African movement is not limited to the preservation and recording of the past. As the global south continues to navigate the ways and means to address and seek redress for the ravages industrialization of the metropole global north fueled by the colonisation and pillaging of the global south have wrought against the same, the University of the Virgin Islands remains engaged in the critical work of the Pan-African movement in the areas of self-determination, sustainable economic development, and Pan-African and Pan-Caribbean unity and collaboration for cultural preservation. The University of the Virgin Islands Office of Self Determination and Constitutional Development, led by Political Science and History Professor, Malik Sekou, supports the work for societal advancement through self-determination, through its involvement in the Territory’s Constitutional Convention process. The Office not only serves as a repository for articles, publications, legislations, and constitutional drafts, but also an interactive source for education, hosting events geared towards helping the voting populace and wider USVI community understand the purpose, intent, and process of drafting a viable constitution for the Territory, all the while capturing their input to help guide the process and policies.
The University’s efforts in the work for sustainable economic development and Pan-African and Pan-Caribbean unity and collaboration can be seen through the work of the Virgin Islands Caribbean Cultural Center (VICCC). Under the leadership of Dr. Chenzira Davis-Kahina, the VICCC collaborates with local, regional, national, and international institutions and non-governmental organisations to increase cultural awareness and support sustainable economic development opportunities through heritage tourism, agriculture, arts and education. The Center has also been a driving force for cultural preservation through strategic partnerships surrounding scientific studies and other disciplines that impact culture and heritage sciences. The Center, via Dr. Davis-Kahina, has also represented the University at various Pan-African and Pan-Caribbean-themed events and conferences like the annual Islands In Between/Eastern Caribbean Cultures Conference, the Caribbean Studies Association (CSA) annual conferences, monthly Caribbean Bamboula Seminars, and the Caribbean Festival of Arts (CARIFESTA). Through the VICCC Visiting Scholars and Lecture Series, the VICCC has also been host to world-renown scholars in the Pan-African movement featuring regional and global figures like Queen Mother Moya Mzuri Nana Yaa Offibea of the All African People’s Revolutionary Party (AAPRP), historians and authors Dr. Jeffrey B. Perry and Professor Olassie Davis, and literary activist and Fullbright Scholar Dr. Kadija George-Sesay, MBE, Hon. FRSL.
As we make our way through the Second International Decade for People of African Descent, the University of the Virgin Islands stands firmly at the junction where Caribbean and African-American Pan-Africanism meet, prepared to empower the global community. Through the continued implementation of our GRAND Momentum strategy, UVI remains committed to advancing the movement by strengthening the regional workforce through world class executive education offerings for working professionals; increasing economic impact through strategic partnerships, research commercialization and innovation; transforming social mobility through expanding educational access and opportunities; and striving to be a leader in education and community impact.
