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During the early decades of the 20th century the longstanding French policy of Assimilation towards the native Africans, who lived in and around their African colonies, came into question.  The French wanted to assimilate the native Africans which would include making the once barbaric African people civilized and adding the African labor and their natural resources to the French Empire.  Many white Europeans believed in the theory of Scientific Racism.  They thought the native African people were inferior beings and should be kept under the rule of whites.  This Scientific Racism caused many whites to disagree with the policy of Assimilation since Assimilation’s ultimate goal was to make the native Africans equals with white Europeans.  At first Assimilation supported white colonial power in Africa, but as the native Africans began to adapt to European culture and prove to be just as intelligent and moral, the Europeanized Africans no longer wanted to live under the heel of white colonial power.  Three Assimilation practices consist of converting Africans to Christianity, teaching them to read and write in European languages, and, in the case of the Four Communes, granting them the right of French citizen.  Five writings will be used to elaborate on how the three practices first supported white colonial power and then undermined it:  Henry Morton Stanley’s In Darkest Africa (1890), Frederick Lugard’s The Dual Mandate (1926), Robert Delavignette’s “Afrique Occidentale Francaise” (1931), Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1959), Tabitha Kanogo’s Squatters & the Roots of Mau Mau (1987), and Ferdinand Oyono’s Houseboy (1960).

The Europeans tried converting Africans into Christians as a step towards assimilating them. Missionaries and churches began approaching Africans in the name of Christianity.  Some of these native African people, especially along the coastlines, were very familiar with Europeans as they had been trading with them for decades.  Other Africans that lived in the interior of Africa or who just had little experience with whites before were far from ready to accept European civilization or rule.  A witnessed account by Henry Morton Stanley wrote that these Africans were “wild people” and “frantic mobs” around his expedition group.  (Stanley, pp. 299-300)  Missionaries bridged some of the culture gap between the European cultures and that of the native African tribes. Once the native African tribes were familiar with the Europeans and could communicate with them, the bridged culture gap allowed white colonial governments to move in and take power by manipulating the natives with misleading treaties, promises and threats.

Furthermore, as the British colonial officer Frederick Lugard writes, “The teaching of missions through many decades had in most cases produced a class…who would form a very valuable aid in the building up of a ‘Native Administration.’”  (Lugard, pp. 231)  Not only were the Africans introduced to Europeans through the missionaries and churches, but many were converted by the missionaries too.  These new Christian-Africans believed in the word of God and received this word from the missionaries.  When the white colonial governments came, most of the missionaries told these faithful Christian-Africans to accept the new government.  The missionaries believed a civilized government would in turn help civilize the native Africans.  Many of Christian-Africans were grateful for this new government and culture too since they were often “the low-born and the outcast” in their own native culture.  (Achebe, p. 172)

Moreover, white colonial governments often came to power directly through the chief of the tribe.  Missionaries would often first try to convert the leader who would in turn convert his people.  These African leaders, like Mushoeshoe of the Lesotho, could see the advantages of having missionaries with their knowledge of things like advanced technological and agricultural techniques.  (lecture, 1/22/02)  Building a hierarchy by way of the Christian chiefs, ruling over the African tribes became much easier for white colonial powers.

After Christianity had been interwoven through much of Africa’s native culture, Christianity turned from being a helpful tool for the white colonial powers to something they feared.  The church preached that through faith, believing in God and living according to his word, one could improve their level of living. The Bible placed seeds of desire for equality and freedom into the minds of the Christian-Africans.  Growing numbers of Christian-Africans wanted independence from the suppressive colonial powers.  Christian-Africans gathered in such large numbers to hear other Christian-Africans without white colonial control or supervision that these gatherings posed a threat to the power of white colonials.  In the case of Simon Kimbangu, the Christian-African saw visions and healed a critically injured woman in April of 1921 which gained him a following of thousands.  (lecture 1/22/01)