Henry Sylvester Williams

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Henry Sylvester Williams(1869 – 1911) was a Trinidadian known as an early advocate of Pan-Africanism. His parents were from Barbados. In his life he lived in Canada, the United States, and Britain. In Britain he became interested in the idea of an "African movement" founding an organization in 1897 and later holding the "Negro Conference" in 1900. After that he worked on expanding the effort, but by 1902 it fell aground. He later became a barrister and joined the Fabian Society. He would be one of the first two peope of African descent elected to office in the United Kingdom when he was elected to the Marylebone Borough Council.

He remined in England until 1908 when he returned to Trinidad and set up a successful legal practice in Port of Spain, where he worked until his death on 26th March, 1911.

He was named 16th on a recent list of the 100 Great Black Britons.