Rebirth of African Civilization

by Chancellor Williams

Amidst the current debates concerning multiculturalism and political correctness, this publication moves the discussion beyond the vagueness of ethnicity to the reality of African empowerment.

Genres: Africa, History, Nonfiction

328 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Dr. Chancellor Williams was born in Bennettsville, South Carolina. He received his undergraduate degree in Education and Master of Arts degree in history from Howard University. He studied abroad serving as a visiting research scholar at the Unversity of Oxford in England and at the University of London.

Chancellor Williams began field research in African History in Ghana (University College) in 1956. His primary focus was on African achievments and autonomous civilizations before Asian and European influences. His last study in 1964 covered an astounding 26 countries and more than 100 language groups. His best known work is "The Destruction of Black Civilization: Great Issues of a Race from 4500 B.C. to 2000 A.D." For this effort, Dr. Williams was accorded honors by the Black Academy of Arts and Letters.

A little known fact about Dr. Williams is that in addition to being an historian and professor, Dr. Williams was president of a baking company, editor of a newsletter, The New Challenge, an economist, high school teacher and principal and a novelist.

Dr. Williams remained a staunch advocate that African historians do independent research and investigations so that the history of African people be told and understood from their perspective. Dr. Williams stated clearly, "As long as we rely on white historians to write Black History for us, we should keep silent about what they produce." Dr. Chancellor Williams joined the Ancestors in 1992.

Reviews

[Shila Iris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a “blueprint” book, meaning it will give you a foundation from which to think and build.

[Avery · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful and insightful book that still applies today.

[JRT · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The Rebirth of African Civilization by the great scholar or African history Chancellor Williams presents a case study of British Colonial Ghana (Gold Coast colony) on the eve of independence (1953/1954). Williams and other professors and scholars of African history, anthropology, and education, survey local Ghanaians and evaluate the prospects of successful independence, focusing on various areas of emphasis—including sociopolitical formations (i.e. government and religion), economic systems (“cooperative democracy”), and education. As noted early in and throughout the book, the locals interviewed were most concerned with how independence from the British would allow them to better meet their basic subsistence needs. The book sought to elevate the conversation on where mass education fit with respect to driving an effective post-independence Ghana.

Colonial Ghana had a strict socioeconomic hierarchy that had local Africans at the bottom, not even able to own, operate, or often times work in businesses in their own communities. The book surveyed specific communities in Ghana in order to get a feel for what the people believed about traditional customs and their place in the future independent nation. Ethnic belonging, domestic slavery, human sacrifice, and familial practices were all examined, as was Kwame Nkrumah’s movement to not just free the masses from British control, but also the archaic and oppressive traditions of the “Chiefs. Williams ultimately emphasized the need to modernize traditional African sociopolitical practices by maintaining the healthy and revered traditions, while flushing the damaging ones. Government should emphasize study and education (particularly literacy) of the masses. Economics should be “cooperative” in the sense that it flows from pre-existing kinship / family-oriented institutions. Neither capitalist nor communist. Government should be “cooperatively democratic” where strong and organic leadership concerned with forging widespread political participation is emphasized.

While I appreciated this snapshot of time this book provides, some of the concepts were simply too vague to build on. I found the definitions of “cooperative democracy” in the African context to be unduly ambiguous. Perhaps this is part of the reason why no such widespread system of cooperation has developed in the 60+ years since independence. Overall, this is a good book if you want to understand the needs of African people in the late colonial era.