Black Republic of Letters

Benito Sylvain

Benito Sylvain was naval officer from Port-de-Paix in northern Haiti. He settled in Paris in the 1880s and began studying law. In 1890, he founded the first Haitian newspaper in Paris, La Fraternité. He went on to be a major figure in early Pan-Africanism. In 1900, he helped organize the first Pan-African Conference in London. He visited Ethiopia multiple times beginning in 1897, making him perhaps the first Haitian to travel to Africa. He was also involved in many cultural and academic activities in Paris. He established groups for international students, including the Black Youth Organization, and was an active member of the Ethnological Society, where he gave many public presentations on European colonialism and African cultures.







Articles by Benito Sylvain:






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