Republic of New Afrika


The Republic of New Afrika, founded in 1968 as the Republic of New Africa, is a black nationalist organization and black separatist movement popularized by black freedom fighter groups in the United States. The larger New Afrika movement in particular has three goals:
The vision for this country was first promulgated by the Malcolm X Society on March 31, 1968, at a Black Government Conference held in Detroit, Michigan. The conference participants drafted a constitution and declaration of independence, and they identified five Southern states as subjugated national territory.

History

The Black Government Conference was convened by the Malcolm X Society and the Group on Advanced Leadership, two influential Detroit-based black organizations with broad followings. The attendees produced a Declaration of Independence, a constitution, and the framework for a provisional government. Robert F. Williams, a controversial human rights advocate then living in exile in China, was chosen as the first president of the provisional government; attorney Milton Henry was named first vice president; and Betty Shabazz, widow of Malcolm X, served as second vice president.
The Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika advocated/advocates a form of cooperative economics through the building of New Communities—named after the Ujamaa concept promoted by Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere. It proposed militant self-defense through the building of local people's militias and a standing army to be called the Black Legion; and the building of racially based organizations to champion the right of self-determination for people of black African descent.
The organization was involved in numerous controversial issues. For example, it attempted to assist Oceanhill-Brownsville area in Brooklyn to secede from the United States during the 1968 conflict over control of public schools. Additionally, it was involved with shootouts at New Bethel Baptist Church in 1969 and another in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1971. In the confrontations, law-enforcement officials were killed and injured. Organization members were prosecuted for the crimes.

Notable members