African Life and Customs

Two parts in one volume. Full facsimile of the original edition not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. This work is a collection of Blydens articles that examines the socioeconomic structure of African society. A native of St. Thomas West Indies Blyden (1832-1912) lived most of his life on the African continent. He was an accomplished educator linguist writer and world traveler who strongly defended the unique character of Africa and its people. In this work Blyden examined the culture of pure Africans-- those untouched by European and Asiatic influences. He identified the family as the basic unit in African society and polygamy as the foundation of African families. He described African social systems as cooperative; everyone worked for each other. No one went without work food or clothing. Blyden challenged white racial theorists who held Africans were inferior and whose arguments supported their preconceived ideas. He assumed Africans to be distinct rather than inferior and he analyzed African culture within the context of African social experiences. As a writer Blyden is regarded widely as the father of Pan-Africanism. His major work Christianity Islam and the Negro Race (1887) promoted the idea that practicing Islam was more unifying and fulfilling for Africans than Christianity. He argues that the latter was introduced chiefly by European colonizers. He believed it had a demoralizing effect although he continued to be a Christian. He thought Islam was more authentically African as it had been brought to sub-Saharan areas by people from North Africa.