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European colonizers basically invented the idea that there was a race called “African.” [European Colonizer on stage]

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If you asked a medieval Igbo citizen or an Ethiopian feudal lord what race they belonged

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to, they would probably say…

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Uh…human.

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And then say a prayer for your confused soul.

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Medieval Africans instead identified with their religions, language groups, social classes, [Examples of how Medieval Africans identified themselves]

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political organization…

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You know…the things by which other people in the world define themselves.

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However, slave traders and colonizers weren't really interested in the nuance and complexity

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of Africa.

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It’s way easier to oppress and abuse people if you dehumanize them. [Man's head turns into polar bear face]

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So they just lumped everybody from the African continent into one category.

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And that category was… less-than.

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European scholars even tried to back-up this racism with all sorts of pseudoscience. [Man graduating]

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The most popular idea was that people from Africa had similar physical characteristics,

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like skin tone, which nobody else in the world had. [Guys point to Africans sitting on a bench]

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Unfortunately, that was…completely untrue.

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Boy, being a pseudoscientist must’ve been sweet.

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You could just… make stuff up. [Scientist sleeping]

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If we actually tried to divide up the whole human race by skin tone, it would be impossible

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to have all Africans on one side and everybody else on the other.

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The line between white and black is arbitrary. [Michael Jackson standing with fans]

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There are plenty of individuals from other continents with darker skin than certain individuals

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from Africa.

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In the 1900s, a new movement gained steam that flipped these racist ideas on their heads.

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Unfortunately, racists have…very hard heads.

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Though it was true that lumping all African peoples together was bad because it denied [Africans on one side of a venn diagram]

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them their humanity…

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…it also seemed true that a united Africa would have more power in this war of ideas.

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And so a new unity movement came along called Pan-Africanism.

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Yeah, people from Africa were incredibly diverse, but they all had one thing in common. [African man being interviewed]

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Years of relentless oppression.

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Wonderful.

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Maybe they could start a Meetup group.

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Pan-Africanists wanted to re-assert Africans' humanity in the face of years of misinformation [Pan-Africanist throwing things onto road]

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from Europeans.

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To prove that they weren’t sub-humans incapable of running a country, Pan-Africanists pointed

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to Ethiopia.

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The Ethiopian Empire had grown and modernized over the years, and was proof positive that [Ethiopia transforms into modern city]

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Africans could get along just fine without brutal occupation.

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Imagine that.

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Ethiopia became the poster-child of Pan-Africanism.

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The two colors of the Ethiopian flag even became the official colors of the movement:

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green and red.

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The similarity to Christmas colors is, uh…completely coincidental. [Kids playing with toys and Santa appears]

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Pan-Africanism had fans not only from inside Africa, but also from people of African descent

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in Europe and the Americas.

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It gained strength over the years and had a big effect on the formation of African states

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and civil rights movements everywhere. [People marching in civil rights movement]

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Racism meant that people of African descent faced huge challenges.

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They were all in a… crappy boat. [Africans in a boat together]

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But at least they were all in that same crappy boat together…

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