OPINION: Nearly 200 years after the first Negro National Convention, is it time to try again?

This week in 1830, a group of free Black Americans met in Philadelphia to discuss strategies and actions to improve life and conditions for themselves as free citizens and to advance the freeing of those Black people still being held in slavery. That was a big deal because it was a united effort for the benefit of the entire people. Subsequent conventions were held throughout that century. Depending upon the environment at the time, the conventioneers suggested settling in Canada, the Caribbean, Latin America, or Africa OR struggling to change the USA. Each year, however, they advocated dedication to education, thrift, and morality as vehicles for advancing and for changing white attitudes toward Black people.

The biggest disadvantage in 1830 was that Black people were basically shut out of the political arena. They were extremely marginalized economically and in the northern areas they were a distinct minority. By the time of the last such convention in 1887, Richard Allen had helped launch the African Methodist Church and Henry Highland Garnett had echoed David Walker’s call for the enslaved Africans across the country to revolt. Other Black people had also come together to try and advance their united cause – the National Black Catholic Congress between 1889 and 1894 and the Niagara Movement, which evolved into the NAACP, in 1909.

The next iteration of the old Negro National Conventions to capture international attention, however, was the 1972 Black Political Convention in Gary, Indiana. That convention attracted more than 8,000 people. It issued a declaration and drew-up a comprehensive agenda. It occurred on the heels of the organization of the first Congressional Black Caucus, which we point out because much of what the convention ratified was deferred to the caucus and because there was a clear willingness of many of the Black Democrats to suggest that that party could and would greatly assist their cause, if they were not weakened by any third party actions.

The 1972 convention had greatly enhanced the call which would be carried loudest by Rev. Jesse Jackson – “It’s nation time.” Nevertheless, the unity that had been envisioned did not last. Many Black people simply decided to rely upon the Democratic Party and electoral politics to advance their cause. A smaller number continued to advocate independent, non-traditional avenues to Black liberation. Then there were many Black people who simply remained non-political, for whatever reasons.

While we do not expect “pie in the sky,” these developments may suggest that a National African American Convention could be held and be fruitful. There are now more than 40 million African Americans here, who are generously distributed in the country’s urban areas and in the rural areas of the sparsely-settled South. There now are nearly 60 African Americans in Congress and many others who serve in or head state and municipal governmental bodies. There are hundreds who head civil rights and other high-profile organizations. There is a growing number of Black business persons and celebrities. This means that a united voice from Black America could go much farther than was the case in 1830 or 1972. This is especially the case since they are a major influence in the Democratic Party.  

On the one hand, the needs of the average Black person and Black household are monumental and their wealth is nowhere near what it should be because of the years of slavery, oppression, discrimination, and exploitation. They are on par with many Third World countries. 

On the other hand, there are structures and institutions that continue to hamper even those Black people who have risen above the rest of the community and are fairly well-off. All of this can and should be addressed by a national convention that is open to Black people nationwide. From such a fertile environment there could be developed a positive set of goals and a playbook as comprehensive as is the infamous Project 2025. There is no limit to what could be developed by a convention based upon the history, knowledge, and compassion of those who have lived the Black experience. At least, the idea seems worth the try.