Imperialism, Race and Resistance: Africa and Britain 1919-1945

414 Pages·1999·4.67 MB·English

by  Barbara Bush

Imperialism, Race and
Resistance
Imperialism, Race and Resistance marks an important new development in the study of
British and imperial interwar history.
Focusing on Britain, West Africa and South Africa, Imperialism, Race and Resistance
charts the growth of anti-colonial resistance and opposition to racism in the prelude to the
‘post-colonial’ era. The complex nature of imperial power is explored, as well as its impact
on the lives and struggles of black men and women in Africa and the African diaspora.
Barbara Bush argues that tensions between white dreams of power and black dreams of
freedom were seminal in transforming Britain’s relationship with Africa in an era bounded by
global war and shaped by ideological conflict.
Barbara Bush is Principal Lecturer in History at Staffordshire University.

Imperialism, Race and
Resistance
Africa and Britain, 1919–1945
Barbara Bush
London and New York
First published 1999
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Routledge Ltd is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2001.
© 1999 Barbara Bush
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Imperialism, race, and resistance: Africa and Britain, 1919–1945/Barbara Bush. Includes
bibliographical references.
1. Africa, English-speaking West – Politics and government – 20th century. 2. South Africa –
Politics and government – 1909–1948. 3. Great Britain – Colonies – Africa –
Administration. 4. Africa, English-speaking West – Race relations – History – 20th century.
5. South Africa – Race relations – History – 20th century. 6. Great Britain – Colonies –
Africa – Race relations – History – 20th century. I. Title.
DT502.B87 1999
966’.09175217–dc21
98–55761
CIP
ISBN 0–415–15972–5 (hbk)
ISBN 0–415–15973–3 (pbk)
ISBN 0-203-01790-0 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-17331-7 (Glassbook Format)
To Sarah and Matthew

Contents
List of illustrations ix
Preface xi
Acknowledgements xv
Abbreviations xvii
Introduction: why imperialism, race and resistance? 1
1 Africa after the First World War: race and imperialism
redefined? 20
West Africa 47
2 Britain’s imperial hinterland: colonialism in West Africa 49
3 Expatriate society: race, gender and the culture
of imperialism 72
4 ‘Whose dream was it anyway?’ Anti-colonial protest
in West Africa, 1929–45 101
South Africa 129
5 Forging the racist state: imperialism, race and labour in
Britain’s ‘white dominion’ 131
6 ‘Knocking on the white man’s door’:
repression and resistance 157
viii Contents
7 ‘Fighting for the underdog’: British liberals and the
South African ‘native question’ 181
Britain 203
8 Into the heart of empire: black Britain 205
9 Into the heart of empire: the ‘race problem’ 228
10 The winds of change: towards a new imperialism in Africa? 248
Retrospective: Africa and the African diaspora in a
‘post-imperial’ world 271
Notes and references 278
Bibliography 344
Index 376
Illustrations
Tables
Table 1 The non-African population of the Gold Coast, 1931 77
Table 2 Females as a proportion of the total non-African
population of the Gold Coast, 1931 81
Table 3 The marital status of the non-African population, 1931 82
Table 4 Return of Africans in occupations other than industry 106
Table 5 The Gold Coast: occupations of Africans and the
return of Africans engaged in industry 107
Table 6 Gold mining in the Gold Coast, 1921–31:
general statistics 111
Table 7 Gold mining in the Gold Coast, 1921–31: the six major
companies at work on 31 March 1931 111
Figures
Illustration 1 Cover illustration of Empire Youth Annual 26
Illustration 2 Rule Britannia 27
Illustration 3 On the banks of the Volta, Burifo, N.T. 32
Illustration 4 West Africa in the English imagination 50
Illustration 5 Captain Puckridge 62
Illustration 6 N.T.C. Trooper, Tamale 70
Illustration 7 Women travellers to West Africa: Lady Dorothy Mills 80
Illustration 8 Map of Princess Marie Louise’s tour through the Gold Coast 83
Illustration 9 Bogged in the Nasia Swamp 85
Illustration 10 Lady on Nkole Ferry 91
Illustration 11 Palaver at Sunyani, Ashanti 96
Illustration 12 Minute by the Governor on the Criminal Code
Amendment Bill, 1934 116
Illustration 13 Wartime loyalty 124
Illustration 14 Map of the approximate distribution of native areas in
Southern Africa, c. 1930 136