The History and Development of Pan-Africanism and Its Relevance to Contemporary African Integration

This study traces the intellectual history and political evolution of Pan-Africanism from its origins in the African diaspora movements of the late nineteenth century through to its contemporary institutional expressions in the African Union and regional economic communities. Pan-Africanism, championed by thinkers including W.E.B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, Kwame Nkrumah, and Cheikh Anta Diop, has evolved from a solidarity ideology of resistance against colonialism into a framework for continental economic and political integration. Using a descriptive historical design, the study reviews Pan-African Congress documents, OAU and AU founding charters, and the intellectual works of Pan-African theorists, supplemented by secondary literature published between 2020 and 2024. The Pan-Africanism Theory and the Regional Integration Framework provide the analytical lenses. Findings reveal significant tensions within Pan-Africanist thought between nationalist and Nkrumahist continental unionist positions that continue to constrain African integration in the AU era. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), launched in 2021, is identified as the most substantive institutional embodiment of Pan-African economic integration principles since the formation of the OAU. Keywords: Pan-Africanism, African integration, African Union, Nkrumah, AfCFTA.