Often called “the father of Black nationalism,” abolitionist Martin Delany dedicated his life to the freedom of Black people. But he wasn’t just any abolitionist – he called for Black people to not only be free of slavery, but free of the United States!
In 1852, Delany penned a manifesto urging Black Americans to leave the United States. And by the end of the decade, he had traveled to Nigeria, Canada, and Central America in search of a place for the formerly enslaved to land.
By 1862, Delany became the first Black field officer in the U.S. Army’s history – agreeing to the idea of Black soldiers fighting for their own freedom in the Civil War. But his ideas of freedom and equality spark conversations we still need to have today.
Delany never lied when he wrote this: “We are a nation within a nation, we must go from our oppressors.”
But the struggles of white-sponsored efforts like Liberian colonization showed that we couldn’t just replicate the same efforts that brought our people to the U.S.
Delany refused to allow white supremacy to dictate where he could go, or how he could live as a Black person.
Today, we can still work towards liberation through the inspiration of his self-determination – and the truth that we’ll NEVER get free if we simply follow white models!