LONDON.- Autograph ABP presents a new exhibition to mark the 70th anniversary of the Fifth Pan-African Congress, featuring photographs by John Deakin exhibited for the first time.

The Fifth Pan-African Congress took place in Manchester in October 1945, only five months after the end of the Second World War - demanding that European powers liberate hundreds of millions of Africans living under colonial rule, and passing radical measures condemning imperialism, racial discrimination and capitalism.

A Pan-African Film Lounge accompanies the exhibition, screening a programme of films exploring Pan-African history and ideals, guest-curated by June Givanni.

Organised by George Padmore, the Congress was held in Chorlton-upon-Medlock Town Hall with 87 delegates representing 50 organisations. The fifth was the most influential and politically significant of the seven Pan-African Congresses, as it brought together key activists who would later play leading roles in liberation struggles across the continent, including Jomo Kenyatta, the first leader of Kenya after independence, and Kwame Nkrumah, who later led anti-colonial resistance in Ghana. American writer and civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois travelled from the USA to chair the Congress, describing 1945 as ‘a decisive year in determining the freedom of Africa’.

Also in attendance were several black activists living in Manchester including Len Johnson, former boxer and member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB); Dr Peter Milliard from Guyana, of the Negro Association and president of the Pan African Federation (PAF); Ras Makonnen of the International African Service Bureau (IASB), which was established by CLR James, George Padmore, Amy Ashwood Garvey and others in 1937, and James Taylor of the Negro Welfare Centre. Delegates from South Asia also attended, such as Surat Alley and T. Subasingha. Topics debated included 'The Colour Problem in Britain', 'Oppression in South Africa' and 'The Problems in the Caribbean'.

Although the British press scarcely covered this pivotal meeting, extraordinarily Picture Post magazine commissioned celebrated Soho photographer John Deakin (1912-1972) to document the event – his sole assignment for the magazine in his career – published on November 10th 1945, under the editorial title Africa Speaks in Manchester. The writer sent to cover the conference was acclaimed war woman journalist Hilde Marchant.

This is the first time these rarely seen photographs are shown together as a body of work. The exhibition also presents a diptych of the pioneering Trinidadian writer and historian CLR James, photographed by artist Steve Pyke in Brixton during James’ last formal sitting shortly before his death in 1989.

The delegates to the Fifth Pan-African Congress believe in peace. How could it be otherwise when for centuries the African peoples have been victims of violence and slavery. Yet if the Western world is still determined to rule mankind by force, then Africans, as a last resort, may have to appeal to force in the effort to achieve Freedom, even if force destroys them and the world. - George Padmore, The Challenge to the Colonial Powers, 1947

Black Chronicles III: The Fifth Pan-African Congress represents the third exhibition in Autograph ABP’s ongoing Black Chronicles series dedicated to excavating archives to research black photographic history and reveal ‘missing chapters’.