Studying colonial archives crystallized James’s conviction in self-government
Evidence
I began to study the history of the islands. I collected Hansards, old White Papers, reports of Royal Commissions. There were plenty around which nobody wanted. It was all very simple and straightforward. For background I had the Whig interpretation of history and the declarations of the British Labour Party. For foreground there were the black masses, the brown professional and clerical middle classes, the Europeans and local whites, Stingo and Shannon, Maple and Queen’s Park. My hitherto vague ideas of freedom crystallized around a political conviction: we should be free to govern ourselves. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 1209
Categorization
- corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 1209
- XREF: connects to: Ethiopia, Spain, and the Caribbean convinced James that Black armed rebellion was feasible; Colonial assemblies seized self-government from weakened royal authority; Du Bois, James, and Wright found rather than invented Black radicalism in mass movements. (+2 more)
Broader Connections
- Colonial assemblies seized self-government from weakened royal authority
#corroborates(0.45) - Du Bois, James, and Wright found rather than invented Black radicalism in mass movements.
#expands(0.35) - Wright, Padmore, James, and Du Bois founded Black revolutionary theory
#expands(0.35) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 1424 - Trotsky’s history writing converted James to Trotskyism in 1934.
#complicates(0.30) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 1238