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Universal Races Congress
‐
Race relations conference
Place of event
London
About
The Universal Races Congress, held in London over three days in June 1911, was organized by Gustav Spiller, of the Ethical Culture movement. The aim of the Congress was to discuss race relations and relations between East and West. Anthropologists, sociologists, politicians, lawyers and students all gathered. A photographic exhibition was also on display. Dr Brajendranath Seal gave the opening address on 'Meaning of Race, Tribe, Nation', and G. A. Gokhale gave a speech on 'East and West in India'.
The Congress led Dusé Mohammed Ali, an Egyptian author, to establish the African Times and Orient Review. It is also claimed by some that the Congress was the stimulus to the foundation of the African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa in 1912.
Syed Ameer Ali, Thomas W. Arnold, Annie Besant, Mancherjee Merwanjee Bhownaggree, W. E. B. Du Bois, G. K. Gokhale, J. A. Hobson, Margaret Noble, Brajendranath Seal, Gustav Spiller.
Green, Jeffrey P., Black Edwardians: Black People in Britain 1901–1914 (Abingdon: Frank Cass, 1998)
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Image credit
Delegates at 1911 Universal Races Congress, Historic England Archive ref: bl21320_001, no known copyright restrictions
