Podcast Summary

Episode Overview

Podcast: New Books Network (Open Society Ideas Podcast, Ideas Workshop at OSF)
Host: Aisha Osori
Guest: Howard W. French, Professor at Columbia University and author
Book Discussed: The Second Emancipation: Nkrumah, Pan-Africanism and Global Blackness at High Tide
Date: December 20, 2025

This episode explores Howard W. French’s latest work, which traces the entwined histories of African decolonization and the global Black struggle for rights and dignity. With a focus on Kwame Nkrumah and Pan-Africanism, French and Osori unpack overlooked connections between Africa’s independence movements and the U.S. civil rights era, while addressing contemporary implications for Black internationalism.

Howard W. French: Background and Writing Trajectory

[02:13]

• French’s path to journalism and authorship was “mostly accident.”
• Grew up in Washington, D.C.; parents were professionals significantly involved in civil rights activism.
• Key formative experience: family relocation to Ivory Coast due to his father’s public health work.
• Exposure to Africa as a student profoundly shaped his worldview and professional interests.
• Mentored by Leon Dash (Washington Post), who encouraged his entrance into journalism via freelancing.

Notable Quote:

“I was very unfamiliar with...African realities. I had read a lot about Africa in college, but that’s very different from experiencing Africa. And it just took over my life.”
— Howard French [03:14]

The Book’s Genesis & Meaning of Title

[05:35]

• French’s family story shaped his perspective; descended from enslaved people tied to significant American revolutionary figures.
• Professional life as an international correspondent put him in the “world of the book” (Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, and the Americas).
• Born in Blackness inspired this new book, continuing a historical arc into the last 75-80 years—focusing on Pan-Africanism’s “high tide.”

Title Explained:

• “Second Emancipation” refers to meaningful Black freedom after formal abolition and the end of imperial rule—not just legal or symbolic independence, but the emergence of civil rights and African sovereignty.
• Argues the U.S. civil rights movement and African independence were “tightly bound up together,” a fact little understood on both continents.

Notable Quote:

“The second emancipation really is about how a greater semblance of freedom was achieved by Africans and by the African diaspora over this second sort of lapse of time after the end of formal enslavement... It’s not just about getting flag and anthem, it’s the beginning of a sovereign economic life.”
— Howard French [08:57]

Education, History, and Black Consciousness

[13:23]

• French didn’t learn about Haiti or Toussaint Louverture in school—exposure came through reporting in the Caribbean, learning Haitian Creole.
• Family steeped in U.S. civil rights struggle (parents marched at Selma, aided with mobile hospital).
• Highlights importance of “accidents” shaping history and individual trajectories:
  • Nkrumah’s formative mentors (Kwegir Agray, Nnamdi Azikiwe) pushed him to study in the U.S. rather than the U.K.
  • At Lincoln University, Nkrumah encountered “the larger Black world”—catalyzing his Pan-African consciousness.

Notable Quote:

“Nkrumah goes to this historically Black university, and this puts him on the path toward understanding global Blackness.”
— Howard French [17:22]

The State of Pan-Africanism and Black Internationalism (2025)

[18:47]

• French maintains that while elite/state-level Pan-Africanism is often perfunctory or absent, the idea “finds resonance” among ordinary Africans.
• Points to Sahelian countries (Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger) exploring renewed forms of regional cooperation and resistance to old powers.
• Diaspora interest in Africa endures—sometimes romantic, sometimes naive, yet filled with hope for reconnection.
• Calls for African leadership to galvanize this energy into renewed Pan-Africanist movements.

Notable Quote:

“Ordinary Africans find resonance in this to a degree today that I think is much deeper and more resonant than their elites and their leaders do.”
— Howard French [24:58]

Insights on Kwame Nkrumah

[27:53]

• Nkrumah’s insignificance in colonial ethnic hierarchies made him a less threatening political figure, easing his ascent.
• Lived experience of “balkanization” (family/ethnic group split by colonial borders) instilled in him a visceral sense of its harm.
• His approach to economic development (e.g., hydroelectric projects) was rooted in the vision of African industrialization and genuine unity.
• Example: Ghana’s support for Guinea (1958) after French withdrawal—“an extraordinary thing” of Pan-African solidarity.

Notable Quote:

“The scope of ambition and the range of solutions that Nkrumah tried and experimented with...was not for Ghana’s own purposes, but indeed on behalf of this idealistic vision of Pan-Africanism, which he never abandoned.”
— Howard French [32:14]

Contextualizing and Debating Nkrumah’s Authoritarianism

[36:50]

• French: Western critics often ignore the deeply authoritarian nature of colonial rule (UK's suppression, lack of liberties).
• Raises the hypocrisy of Western standards applied to Nkrumah while omitting context of the colonial precedents.
• Touches on the parallel with current global trends appreciating “strongmen” (reference to Rwanda, China).
• Argues understanding the precedents set by colonial powers is “germane” to assessing postcolonial leaders.

Notable Quote:

“What was imperial rule except authoritarianism?...It was a higher form of authoritarianism than any African regime ever has implemented.”
— Howard French [37:43]

Nkrumah, Lumumba, and the Great Power Game

[40:58]

• French’s own research revealed deep interconnections between Ghana and Congo’s early postcolonial history.
• Argues Western (esp. US/UK) hostility to Nkrumah was driven by his support for Lumumba and African agency in the Congo—threatening control over resources (uranium).
• Nkrumah’s attempt to shield Lumumba cost him dearly in Western support, leading to his eventual overthrow.

Notable Quote:

“One of the proximate causes...of the West’s turn against Nkrumah...was Nkrumah’s support for Lumumba; for having the temerity...to act like Africans should have a say.”
— Howard French [41:36]

Fanon’s Warning and Modern Conflict

[42:50]

• Explores Fanon’s prescient warning (1958) about post-independence violence—“freedom is almost never granted, it is almost always won.”
• While acknowledging the power of Fanon’s focus on struggle, French emphasizes that nonviolent, determined action (e.g., Nkrumah’s own example) can sometimes prevail.
• Recalls Nkrumah’s multiple electoral victories denied by British authorities to sap his movement’s momentum—a lesson in the necessity of active struggle.

Notable Quote:

“Power doesn’t concede easily and maybe not at all. If you’re going to have meaningful freedom, you’re going to have to fight for it.”
— Howard French [43:23]

Closing: What’s Next for Howard W. French?

[46:50]

• French is working on a project focused for the first time within the United States—on Black musical creativity and the rise/destruction of the jazz world in mid-20th century New York.
• Reveals he’s three-quarters done with the writing, hoping the book will emerge in a year and a half.

Notable Quote:

“My present book is really about the United States...the world of musical creativity, extraordinary world of musical creativity—Black musical creativity—of the mid-century...about the rise and destruction of the world that created the jazz of the mid-20th century.”
— Howard French [46:55]

Memorable Moments & Timestamps

• [05:35]: “It’s a story at bottom of how intertwined these two struggles were. The struggle for citizens rights among Black people in the United States and the struggle for independence among Africans...they were tightly bound up together.”
• [17:22]: On Nkrumah’s transformative education and the “birth” of modern Pan-African consciousness.
• [24:58]: “Ordinary Africans find resonance in this [Pan-Africanism]...much deeper and more resonant than their elites and leaders do.”
• [32:14]: “He [Nkrumah] did not need to deny that he turned toward authoritarianism in the latter part of his rule. The scope of ambition...was not megalomaniacal or self-interested.”
• [37:43]: “What was imperial rule except authoritarianism?...It was a higher form of authoritarianism than any African regime ever has implemented on the African landscape.”
• [43:23]: “Power doesn’t concede easily and maybe not at all. If you’re going to have meaningful freedom, you’re going to have to fight for it.”

Key Discussion Points (with Timestamps)

• [02:13] Howard French’s accidental but formative path into Africa, journalism, and history writing.
• [05:35] The “Second Emancipation”—the real, unfinished struggle for Black global liberation.
• [13:23] Influence of education, the diaspora, and the power of “accidents” on revolutionary figures like Nkrumah.
• [18:47] Pan-Africanism’s evolution: from high-level collapse to grassroots endurance and flickers of renewal in Africa and the diaspora.
• [27:53] Nkrumah’s unique upbringing and why his vision for unity and sacrifice was both radical and pragmatic.
• [36:50] Colonial legacies, Western hypocrisy, and postcolonial governance debates.
• [40:58] Ghana-Congo connections, Western resource imperatives, and Nkrumah’s tragic clash with great powers.
• [42:50] Fanon’s warning, necessity of active struggle, and lessons for today’s global order.
• [46:50] French’s forthcoming book on Black American musical creativity.

Tone & Language

• Both the host and guest maintain a reflective, deeply researched, and engaged tone throughout, balancing scholarly rigor with personal insight and lived experience.
• French’s approach is measured yet provocative, weaving together biographical anecdotes, historical narrative, and incisive critique.

This episode is a must-listen for anyone seeking to understand the global legacies of African decolonization, the meaning and fate of Pan-Africanism, and the unfinished quests for Black self-determination and solidarity—seen through the expert lens of Howard W. French.