During his research trip to Accra, Ghana, Daniel Salem  has been exploring the Bureau of African Affairs archive, housed in the George Padmore Research Library. As a token of his appreciation to the research library, Daniel, a PhD researcher in the ERC project APARTHEID-STOPS, contributed a poster  on behalf of the project to the library. The poster, designed by Daniel himself, depicts George Padmore’s transnational “worlds.” The following text accompanies the poster:

“Padmore.” 2018.
 George Padmore’s struggle towards African independence reveals a complex history of trans-Atlantic travels. His “international” biography corresponds with the history of pan-Africanism, Padmore’s predominant ideological vision, which was the result of continued links between people of African dissent across vast portions of the globe. This work depicts such complexities by placing Padmore’s image over multiple layers. The immediate layer depicts an outline of Africa. The outline contains a collage of publication covers, historical moments, and political symbols pertaining to Padmore’s political biography. The backdrop consists of an old map of the Atlantic Ocean, a space that Paul Gilroy has termed “the Black Atlantic.” This layer reflects the vast geography and trans-Atlantic travels that were a working force behind Padmore’s political ideas and activism.

I would like to thank the George Padmore Research Library for allowing me to delve into the archives of the Bureau of African Affairs, in an attempt to reveal another chapter in the history of black international links.

 In Photograph: Daniel presenting the poster to the library staff. From left to right: Buella Bampoe, Coretta Lamptey, Daniel Salem, Sarah Yeboah and Robert Aryee.