Through the Lens of History: Biafra, Nigeria, the West and the World

By David Trask
Guilford Technical Community College

This unit creates the opportunity to analyze a single event in Nigerian history for the purpose of learning more about colonial and post-colonial Africa, the West and the world. This is achieved by starting with a single event and then expanding our inquiry to answer the questions raised by the attempt to grasp the meanings of this event of the late 1960s by moving further and further into the background of the era.

This unit presents a field of historical sources to enable students to examine the dynamic interactions which have helped shape post-colonial Africa by seeing how these dynamics worked out within Nigeria in the events associated with the Biafran secessionist movement of 1966-1970. At the same time this information gives students the opportunity to learn more about the meaning and impact of European ideas, interests and actions outside of Europe. Students are presented with historical sources arranged by topic and era; this information is accompanied by some questions and suggestions for dealing with these sources. In addition students will be asked to develop their own questions in order to mine these materials more fully and to determine relationships among the different readings. Although students could work through this material as individuals, one goal of this unit is to create the possibility for students to work collaboratively in teams.

Contents

• Reflective Essay
• Information about the Unit
• Annotated Site Materials & Bibliography
• Why Study about Biafra?
  • Critique of Western Attitudes and Understandings of Events in Africa
  • “The White Man’s Burden”
• Slavery: The European Impact (pre-1850)
• The Colonial and Pre-Colonial Eras in Nigeria (1850–1945)
  • The Pan-African Movement
  • England’s Indirect Rule in Its African Colonies
  • The Corrupting Influences of the West
  • Riot or Rebellion? The Women’s Market Rebellion of 1929
  • Igbo Village Democracy
  • Slavery among the Igbo
  • An Outsider’s View of the Igbo People
• The First Nigerian Republic: Formation and Operation (1945–66)
  • Manifesto to the United Nations
  • Igbo Market Literature
  • Nnamdi Azikiwe
  • A Northern Nigerian Call for Independence
• The Republic of Biafra (1966–70)
  • Biafra: From First Coup to Final Defeat
  • Biafran Declaration of Independence
  • Global Concerns about Biafran Secession
  • “The Dawn of National Reconciliation”
  • A Pro-Biafra Statement of Causes
  • Letters to the Editor on the Biafran Question