Pan-Africanism is a belief that people of African descent have common interests and should be unified. It has taken the shape of a political or cultural movement throughout history. There are many varieties of Pan-Africanism, but at its core, it represents the aggregation of the historical, cultural, spiritual, artistic, scientific, and philosophical legacies of Africans from past times to the present. Pan-Africanist intellectual, cultural, and political movements tend to view all Africans and descendants of Africans as belonging to a single "race" or otherwise sharing cultural unity.

Pan-Africanism emerged in the late nineteenth century in response to European colonization and exploitation of the African continent. The movement emphasizes African modes of thought and culture as a corrective to the long tradition of European cultural and intellectual domination. Pan-Africanist ideas first began to circulate in the mid-19th century in the United States, led by Africans from the Western Hemisphere. The most important early Pan-Africanists were Martin Delany and Alexander Crummel, both African Americans, and Edward Blyden, a West Indian.

Pan-Africanism has often taken the shape of a political or cultural movement. In its narrowest interpretation, Pan-Africanists envision a unified African nation where all people of the African Diaspora can live. In more general terms, Pan-Africanism is the sentiment that people of African descent have a great deal in common, a fact that deserves notice and even celebration. Pan-Africanist ideals influenced the establishment of the Organisation of African Unity (since succeeded by the African Union) in 1963.

The Pan-African Congresses were organized chiefly by W. E. B. Du Bois and attended by the North American and West Indian black intelligentsia. The first Pan-African Congress was convened in London in 1900, followed by others in Paris (1919), London and Brussels (1921), London and Lisbon (1923), and New York City (1927) . These congresses helped to increase international awareness of racism and colonialism and laid the foundation for the political independence of African countries.