Year of Africa - Effects and Legacy

Effects and Legacy

The Year of Africa changed the symbolic status of Africans worldwide, forcing the world to recognize the existence of African nations in the international arena. It marked the beginning of a new, more Afrocentric, era in African studies, marked by the founding of the Cahiers d'Études africaines and the Journal of African History.

The Year of Africa had energizing power for African Americans, engaged in a civil rights struggle within their own country. The Baltimore Afro-American, confident that sit-ins would defeat segregation in the American South, editorialized: "The 'winds of change' which are sweeping over Africa, are blowing in the benighted areas of the United States, too." Professor James H. Meriwether, looking back on the Year of Africa, writes: "The events of 1960 strengthened links between African Americans and the worldwide struggle against white supremacy, while doing so on a more Africa-centered basis." More concretely, resisters to segregation in the American South may have begun to look to South Africa for inspiration—and vice versa.

The phrase "Year of Africa" was used again in 2005, mostly in conjunction with Western attention to the continent surrounding the 31st G8 summit.

Many African nations celebrated 50 years of independence on the "Year of Africa" semicentennial in 2010.