Black Women's Internationalism: A New Frontier in Intellectual History

Published in Paris 1928 under the leadership of Guadeloupean Maurice Satineau, newspaper La dépêche africaine featured a mélange African diasporic contributors from across French colonies. Chief among them were Afro-Martinican intellectuals and sisters Jane Paulette Nardal. It was here that Nardal published her now famous essay “Internationalisme noir,” introducing idea “black internationalism” into popular parlance. documented new understanding blackness collectivity amid post-World War I globalization. Just as wartime had broken down barriers Europeans white Americans, so too it fostered “sentiment” black people around world they “belong[ed] to one same race.” Introducing reifying terms such “Afro Latino” “African American” English vernaculars, focused on people's efforts rhetorically ideologically link diaspora while also reconciling these identities with “ancient traditions” Africa. The result: first define internationalism an ideology, worldview, political practice moment which over trying negotiate modernizing their place it.