Benito Sylvain (born Marie-Joseph Benoît d'Artagnan Sylvain; 21 March 1868 – 3 January 1915) was a

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

an journalist, diplomat, lawyer. He was also of the organizers of the 1900 Pan-African Conference. Sylvain pathed the connection between Afro-descendants and Africans and became a representative for these groups that were colonized by France. He is arguably considered to be a pioneer of

Pan-Africanism Pan-Africanism is a worldwide movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all Indigenous and diaspora peoples of African ancestry. Based on a common goal dating back to the Atlantic slave trade, the movement exte ...

Biography

Benito Sylvain was born in

Port-de-Paix Port-de-Paix (; ht, Pòdepè or ; meaning "Port of Peace") is a List of communes of Haiti, commune and the capital of the Nord-Ouest (department), Nord-Ouest Departments of Haiti, department of Haiti on the Atlantic coast. It has a population of ...

, Haiti, in 1868. In 1887, he finished his studies in Paris at the Collège Stanislas, then attended law lchool, where he obtained his license and then his doctorate. Supported by his country that appoints the officer of Marine and secretary to the embassy in London, Sylvain founded in Paris in 1890 a weekly committed against French colonialism, ''La Fraternité'' (which appeared until 1897). In 1897, Sylvain staying in Ethiopia became the aide-de-camp to Emperor

Menelik II , spoken = ; ''djānhoi'', lit. ''"O steemedroyal"'' , alternative = ; ''getochu'', lit. ''"Our master"'' (pl.) Menelik II ( gez, ዳግማዊ ምኒልክ ; horse name Abba Dagnew (Amharic: አባ ዳኘው ''abba daññäw''); 17 A ...

, who defeated the Italians at the

Battle of Adwa The Battle of Adwa (; ti, ውግእ ዓድዋ; , also spelled ''Adowa'') was the climactic battle of the First Italo-Ethiopian War. The Ethiopian forces defeated the Italian invading force on Sunday 1 March 1896, near the town of Adwa. The d ...

. Sylvain represented both Ethiopia and Haiti at the 1900 Pan-African Conference held in London, and was appointed as honorary president of the

Pan African Association The African Association, known as the Pan-African Association after 1900, was an organization formed by leaders of African descent to "promote and protect the interests of all subjects claiming African descent, wholly or in part, in British colo ...

. In 1906, Sylvain, who attend all lectures against slavery, published in Paris his principal work, entitled ''On the fate of the natives in the colonies of exploitation, an indictment against colonialism''. As there were very active Afro-descended students in France, including his compatriot Haitians, Sylvain endeavoured to make the connection between Afro-descendants and Africans, in a spirit of resistance to European colonialism, which he reasoned was a new form of slavery.

References

1868 births 1915 deaths Haitian journalists People from Port-de-Paix Collège Stanislas de Paris alumni French abolitionists {{Haiti-bio-stub