Philosophies of Dr. Chancellor Williams

[Olùkọ́ Ọbádélé]

Philosophies of Chancellor Williams

"The mere breaking of the chains of bondage only free an individual or a people mentally and physically. What is done from that point on determines whether or not they are actually free. For freedom depends on the mind and character. Those with weak wills and dependent mentalities are never free. Freedom means standing on your own feet and assuming responsibilities. Bluntly, this puts a stop to everlastingly leaning on the white man's shoulders, and being, like a child, fearful of venturing forth without his guidance. Even among some of the most brilliant Negro intellectuals nothing is true until the white man has pronounced it to be true."

Chancellor Williams
The Re-Birth of African Civilization

"The success of the movement is going to depend very heavily on the number of people willing to sacrifice in giving some unpaid or not fully paid service."

Chancellor Williams
The Destruction of Black Civilization


"That we are here studying a single race, not races, and a single people, not peoples, is a major theory and fact of black history and one of our principal guidelines. We are, therefore, primarily concerned only with those things which were characteristically African, practically universal among them from one end of the continent to the other and which thereby indicated an ancient common culture in a common center of Black Civilization. On this we stand.
In this light the African Constitution is discussed as a body of fundamental theories, principles and practices drawn from the customary laws that governed Black African societies from the earliest times. The first task was to divorce traditional African institutions from those influenced by later Asian and European incursions; to determine what is truly African in origin and what is in fact either Asian or European or a reflection of any other external influence. Another task was to determine whether an institution called 'African' was in fact African in the sense of being universal among the Blacks, a continent-wide institution in contra-distinction to something peculiar to one or more tribes, nations or African regions. This distinction is important here, for too often things are characterized as 'African' which apply only to certain societies. These represent the development of the whole complex of cultural variations about which Western wri ters declaim in emphasizing the 'great ethnic differences' among the people. (This is not accidental or without design. Caucasian fears about the possibility of Blacks developing a sense of oneness and unity of action is deep and centuries old. Many subtle schemes are used to maintain divisiveness, and with success."

Chancellor Williams
The Destruction of Black Civilization


"Having lost the honor of full manhood that comes only from the pride of racial worth and identity, the black man's mind generally operates favorably toward his white enemies and negatively toward himself and his kind."

Chancellor Williams
The Destruction of Black Civilization



"The record of the 5,000 years that ended with the European conquest of the whole continent in the nineteenth century shows that every African state remained relatively secure and independent as long as it maintained a strict policy of excluding foreigners from settlement within its borders. That same record makes clear that wherever this policy was abandoned and whites were admitted under any pretext whatsoever, the eventual doom of that state was certain."

Chancellor Williams
The Destruction of Black Civilization


"For the Africans themselves had invented writing, and all attempts to connect this ancient achievement with Egyptian* or Asiatic influence have failed. Here the 'external influence' school has suffered a major defeat, because the written records found on statues, alters, tombstones, graffiti, etc., were so distinctly African that their native origin could not be successfully disputed. Moreover, the African system of writing was very different from the Egyptian. It was simpler and had vowels, whereas Egyptian had none. There were twenty-three characters or letters in the African alphabet, four vowel signs, seventeen consonants, and two signs of the syllable. New concepts and new or special words could be easily introduced by the old picture system. Clarity and easy reading was assured by measured spacing between words. A system of numerical symbols for mathematics was developed. The African inscriptions on monuments and such reco rds as those found in royal tombs were in a special category. General writing was done on tablets of wood and skins prepared for that purpose. Such things as rocks, walls, vases and broken bits and pieces of earthenware comprised other artifacts where ancient African writing was found."

Chancellor Williams
The Destruction of Black Civilization
*["Egyptian" here refers to post-invasion Egypt]

"Freedom and independence will never thrive in poverty."

Chancellor Williams


"In theory, Government is 'of' the people and 'for' the people, but in no country we know of is it 'by' the people. In every country in the world effective power is exercised by relatively few men. And, because of the vastness and complex nature of modern societies and the generally indifferent attitude of the people themselves, it could hardly be otherwise. The myth that the people rule is so wonderful and flattering to the people that many have actually come to believe that somehow they do. Reality is concealed by the great stir of elections when candidates for office appeal to them for votes, and the general voting by the people gives them the erroneous feeling that they, the people are running things through the men they elect to office. Actually, they themselves do not choose the men for whom they vote. Even the candidates for office are generally selected by a few men. All the people have power to do is to vote for one or another of the candidates presented to th
em by the respective party leaders....In considering democracy we have pointed out that the party system is not sacred, and it is not necessarily 'democratic,' no matter whether it is one, two, three or any number whatsoever. All the hullabaloo over party systems disguises the fact that under all of them the power structure remains the same. Changing names does not change the operating facts of political life."

Chancellor Williams


"The hand of opposition is never exposed."

-Chancellor Williams


"The necessary re-education of Blacks and a possible
solution of racial crisis can begin, strangely enough,
only when Blacks fully realize this central fact in
their lives: the white man is their bitter enemy.
This is not the ranting of wild-eyed militancy, but
the calm and unmistakeable verdict of several thousand
years of documented history."

-Chancellor Williams

[olufemi_baina_ayo]

I have read both of Dr. Williams' books and they speak the truth about how we should build a Pan-Afrikanist Unity. In my opinion,by reading these powerful books,they are part of the blueprints to a New Afrika!