The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States

This book is history of a preeminent African American abolitionist, author, public intellectual, physician, the highest ranking Black officer during the Civil War, and a notable activist for the emigration of Blacks to Africa, Martin Robison Delany has left an enduring legacy in his writings, the power of his ideas, and his political activism. If many of his contemporaries were armchair thinkers, Delany went to Africa to see things for himself. So influential was he during the nineteenth century that a number of people now refer to him as the Father of Black Nationalism. He spent most of his career working toward the goal of seeking Black emancipation through practical projects aimed toward returning African Americans to Africa, where he hoped his people would make a new beginning within the context of political freedom and a society devoid of racism. He describes the way of life, diseases and their treatment, climate, soil, animals, plants, and peoples. He also provides an impressive amount of data on how to improve agriculture, land, ventilation, and housing to promote better living standards. Taken together, these two provocative and intriguing nineteenth-century documents shed much light on the Black nationalism movement in the context of African American history.