An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States

proclaiming it in June 1966, in Greenwood, Mississippi. He later evolved
his message into one that centered African diasporic connections and Africa
as Black people’s homeland. Unlike Garvey, he would go on to live on the
continent. According to Carmichael biographer Peniel Joseph, “Ture’s
journey from civil rights militant and Black Power icon to the revolutionary
socialist who unfurled the Pan-African banner high enough for much of the
world to see indelibly changed the black freedom struggle.” 56
For Carmichael, land was a central component. In the 1969 inaugural
issue of the Black Scholar, he wrote, “We need a land base.” Echoing
Malcolm X’s famous 1964 speech, “Message to the Grassroots,”
Carmichael remarked, “In the final analysis, all revolutions are based on
land.” While he believed that “the best place” and “quickest place that we
can obtain land is Africa,” he also left open the possibility that they might
find land in the US. More importantly, he noted, “but I do not see it clearly
in my mind at this time. We need land immediately.” 57 The hesitancy likely
stems from his opposition to the United States’ ongoing occupation of
Indigenous land. He was perhaps a unique individual, understanding that it
would be wrong to impose oneself upon other people’s land without their
consent, even if their blood, sweat, tears, and pain are deeply rooted in the
soil.
In addition to his own organizing and education in the United States,
Carmichael learned a great deal about Pan-Africanism and its broadening
approach from his mentor, Kwame Nkrumah. In 1969, Carmichael moved
to Guinea, whose head of state at that time was Sékou Touré. There, he
became a mentee of Nkrumah. Nkrumah was in exile following the USbacked
coup that led to his removal from power in 1966. While in Guinea,
he wrote political primers on behalf of Nkrumah, even traveling and
speaking on his behalf. Carmichael considered him a father figure and a
revolutionary leader. 58
Nkrumah became the first president and prime minister of Ghana in
1957, helping lead the colony to independence. He attended Lincoln
College in Pennsylvania in the 1930s. Nkrumah wrote many books on Pan-
Africanist philosophy and scientific socialism. He was invested in totally
liberating Africa and then unifying it. He wrote extensively on
neocolonialism and the transnational financial institutions that attempted to
maintain control over the resources of African nations. In Class Struggle in
Africa (1970), Nkrumah wrote, “The neocolonialist period begins when