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 The First Pan-African Conference was held in London from 23 to 25 July 1900 (just prior to the Paris Exhibition of 1900 "in order to allow tourists of African descent to attend both events").Ramla Bandele"Pan-African Conference in 1900", Article ...

. 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.

Biography

Benito Sylvain was born in Port-de-Paix, 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, who defeated the Italians at the Battle of Adwa. Sylvain represented both Ethiopia and Haiti at the

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