A Tale of Two Nations 1

Ethiopian and African-American Relations:
A Brief Timeline

by Andrew Laurence




18th - 20th Century A.D. - Numerous references to Ethiopia in the Bible, such as (Psalm 68:31) “…Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hands unto God,” provides refuge and salvation for Negro slaves in America.

During the American Revolutionary War, one African-American regiment proudly wears the appellation of “Allen’s Ethiopians,” named after Bishop Richard Allen, founder of the African Methodist Church in Philadelphia.

Robert Alexander Young, a slave preacher, publishes The Ethiopian Manifesto. Phyllis Wheatley, the poet-laureate of colonial America, also makes use of this discourse as did Prince Hall, a Revolutionary War veteran and founder of the African Masonic Lodge.

Drusilla Dunjee Houston, researcher and historian, writes the amazing book, Wonderful Ethiopians of the Ancient Cushite Empire. Frederic Douglas Jr. orates eloquently on the Negro problem alluding inspirationally to Ethiopia.

The decisive victory over Italy at Adwa cements Ethiopia’s independence from European colonialism and has a profound impact on the quest for dignity and respect for Africans throughout the world.

Ethiopian inspired Pan-African movements give hope to those seeking justice in the eyes of God and the world. Martin Delaney, Carter G. Woodson, John Jackson, Willis Huggins, Joseph Harris, and Edward Blyden are prolific scholars who write brilliantly on Ethiopia’s origin and history.

Thinkers and scholars from William E. B. Dubois, editor of the influential Crisis Magazine, Sylvester Williams, C.L.R. James, Chancellor Williams, Walter Rodney, George Padmore, John Henri Clarke and Aime Cesaire build on these traditions of Pan-Africanism and Ethiopianism.

They point the way for future African leaders such as Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba, Haile Selassie, Sekou Toure, Leopold Senghor, Jomo Kenyatta, Julius Nyerere, Robert Mugabe, Nelson Mandela; and African-American activists Mary Mcleod Bethune, Paul Robeson, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Harry Belafonte, Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture); and political leaders Congresswomen Maxine Waters, Sheila Jackson Lee, Barbara Lee, Congressmen Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Donald Payne, Ron Dellums, Gregory Meeks and John Conyers, Ambassador Andrew Young, Melvin Foote of Constituency for Africa, Randall Robinson, Danny Glover and Bill Fletcher Jr. of TransAfrica Forum, to name just a few.

Picture: Pastor and US Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Accepts the Ethiopian Lalibela Cross from Emperor Haile Selassie at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York – 1954.


To be continued…..