Educated Bantu sought recognition as full men, not material betterment

Evidence

If, among Ă©voluĂ©s or “those who chase after the Whites” much seems completely materialized according to the pattern among so many colonisers, there is fortunately a greater number of them who still preserve something of this human dynamic faith of their fathers. What they want more than anything else is not improvement of their economic or material circumstances, but recognition of and respect for their full value as men by the Whites. Their greatest and deepest sorrow is that they are treated perpetually as half-wits, as “monkeys”, as nyama. In this profound exasperation they prove themselves worthy sons of their fathers. — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_
, 695

Categorization

  • DEFINE: Nyama (‘beast insult’) and Ă©voluĂ© are glossed within the surrounding context.