Blaxit: Difference between revisions

The creationnation of [[Liberia]] was aformed reactionin amongresponse to the racism which emancipated Black Americans were subjected to in the 1820s.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=Silence is Not an Option|url=https://www.cnn.com/audio/podcasts/don-lemon-silence-is-not-an-option|access-date=2020-10-29|website=CNN}}</ref> Kevin Gaines, the Julian Bond professor of Civil Rights and Social Justice at theHistorian [[UniversityKevin ofK. VirginiaGaines]], said around 15,000 emancipated and freeborn American Blacks emigrated between the 1820s and the Civil War period and beyond.<ref name=":1" /> Other Black Americans emigrated to Canada, which had been a "beacon of freedom" for Black Americans from the time of the Revolutionary War (see: [[Black Loyalist]]s), with hundreds of fugitive enslaved people emigrating by 1830 and more emigrating after the 1850 passage of the [[Fugitive Slave Act]].<ref name=":1" /> Prominent abolitionist [[Mary Ann Shadd]] emigrated to Canada and encouraged other African Americans to emigrate.<ref name=":1" />

In the early 1900s, many Black creativesactors, artists and writers emigrated to Europe, pursuingthey emigrated to Europe in an attempt to pursue opportunities which did not availableexist in the US.<ref name=":1" /> [[Ira Aldridge|Ira Aldredge]] pursued his acting career in Europe because ofhe had a limited number of opportunities in the US.<ref name=":1" />

During [[World War I]], when for the first time many Black Americans experienced life in other countries for the first time, many of them decided to remain in France, according to Gaines "where they were treated with respect."<ref name=":1" /> Gaines said that this createdexperience lead to the creation of an [[African Americans in France|African-American expatriate community in Paris]] and other large French cities.<ref name=":1" /> In this period Jazz music was introduced to France by [[James Reese Europe]], who had headed the [[Harlem Hellfighters]] military band.<ref name=":1" /> [[Josephine Baker]] found recognition in Paris and later became a French citizen.<ref name=":1" /> [[James Baldwin]] described his experience in Paris, contrasting them favorably to those in the US.<ref name=":1" /> [[Richard Wright (author)|Richard Wright]] also moved to Paris, and [[Langston Hughes]] for a time lived in London.<ref name=":0" /> [[Nina Simone]] lived in France and several African countries.<ref name=":0" /> [[Paul Robeson]] testified to the [[House Committee On Un-American Activities|House Committee on Un-American Activities]] by stating that in Russia, "I felt for the first time like a full human being."<ref name=":0" />

After [[World War II]], when [[Ghana]] became the first [[Sub-Saharan Africa|sub-Saharan]] colonializedcolonized African nation to [[Ghana Independence Act 1957|gain independence in 1957]], the country became attractive to US Blacks who wanted to visit it for purposes of travel and emigration.<ref name=":1" /> [[Maya Angelou]] and [[W. E. B. Du Bois|W.E.B. Dubois]] moved there.<ref name=":1" />

''[[USA Today]]'' said "Black Americans, like expatriates of all races and ethnicities, leave the USA temporarily or permanently for different reasons: in search of a better quality of life, for work opportunities, to marry or retire abroad, for tax reasons, for adventure."<ref name=":0" /> Kristen West Savali, writing for [[Essence (magazine)|''Essence'']] in January of 2020, compared Blaxit to the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]], saying, "it has become increasingly clear that there is no corner of the United States where it is safe to be Black."<ref name=":2" />