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A Black Activist in 1900s Britain: SJ Celestine Edwards

Friday, 21 March

The first Black editor of a British national newspaper, radical journalist and novelist. We explore his role in liberation theology.

Late nineteenth century Britain was the center of gravity for a host of Pan- African organisations and activists. Among them Samuel Jules Celestine Edwards. The first Black editor of a British national newspaper, radical journalist and novelist. A superb orator who drew huge crowds at his events. What was his role in the anti- colonial movement ? Where does he stand in the pantheon of Black Liberation theologists ?

This i- person event delves into the Ethiopianism Movement & Edwards role. Ethiopianism was a global Black Nationalist movement formed in the eighteenth century. Centered in an African Christian liberation ideology Its biblically inspired ideas travelled on an African revolutionary wave from the United States to Africa to the Caribbean and to Europe.

It inspired religious movements which built hundreds of radical churches across the U.S. Africa and the Caribbean. It produced some of the most significant African theologists and activists of the nineteenth century who together laid the foundation for Black Liberation Theology. It created revolutionary leadership instrumental in challenging Colonialism and Apartheid and spiritually fueling the drive towards independence.

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