Black nationalism (BN) advocates a racial definition (or redefinition) of national identity for black people. There are different indigenous nationalist philosophies but the principles of all black nationalist ideologies are unity and self-determination—that is, separation, or independence, from European society.
Black separatism and black supremacy are subtypes of black nationalism. Separatists seek a black-only state, while supremacists add ideas from social Darwinism to their ideology. Both subtypes generally avoid the term supremacy because it has negative connotations.
Critics have argued that ideas such as black pride and black nationalism exist to provide a sanitized public face for black supremacy, and that most black nationalist groups promote racial violence.
Martin Delany (1812–1885), an African-American abolitionist, was the grandfather of Black nationalism.
Inspired by the success of the Haitian Revolution, the origins of Black and African indigenous nationalism in political thought lie in the 19th century with people like Marcus Garvey, Benjamin "Pap" Singleton, Henry McNeal Turner, Martin Delany, Henry Highland Garnet, Edward Wilmot Blyden, Paul Cuffe, etc. The repatriation of African-American slaves to Liberia or Sierra Leone was a common Black nationalist theme in the 19th century. Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association of the 1910s and 1920s was the most powerful black nationalist movement to date, claiming millions of members. Garveyite movement was opposed by mainline black leaders, and crushed by government action. However its many alumni remembered its inspiring rhetoric.