Embracing Black Humanism: Reflection on Dr.Anthony Pinn’s Vision

by Genesis Eririoma

Watching Dr. Anthony Pinn speak on “Black Humanism: Past, Present, Future” awakened in me a deeper sense of purpose, how humanism must speak to our historical struggles, our present pains, and our future hopes, especially for people of African descent. The lecture is a powerful call to root secular humanism in our specific stories, to resist erasure, and to reclaim dignity in a world shaped by colonialism and religious dominance emphasizing the fact that black humanism has always been there.

Three ideas stood out most powerfully:

1. Dr. Pinn emphasizes that humanism must account for history and identity. For Black people, the story is not abstract; our ancestors endured slavery, racism, and theological justifications of oppression. A humanism that ignores those wounds is inadequate. What’s needed is a humanism that addresses how religion was often complicit in denying humanity to Black bodies.

2. He argues that Black humanism must be creative and transformative. It cannot merely mimic Western secular models. It should renew our culture, arts, social movements, and community life around dignity, reason, and solidarity.

3. He insists that the future of humanism in Black communities depends on inclusive education, narrative reclamation, and institutional spaces that allow Black humanists to flourish without hostility or coercion.

Dr. Pinn made me feel both affirmation and challenge. Affirmation because his words resonate with what I have tried to do in Nigeria with the Africa Enlightenment Centre. They confirm that secular humanism must be sensitive to context, our wounds, our histories, our vernaculars. They challenge me to deepen my work so it is not only rational but healing, creative, rooted, and resilient.

This lecture pushes me to expand what I call “critical thinking” beyond logic and debate. It should also include reclamation of memory, liberation from internalized inferiority, and the construction of shared secular narratives in African cultures. It fuels my conviction that initiatives like Thinkers Club ought to host not just inquiry but story, expression, art, and community healing.

In the end, Dr. Pinn’s message reminds me that Black humanism is not a luxury: it is a necessity. In societies where religious dogma has often been used to oppress, humanism provides a language of freedom that is both universal and particular, anchored in reason but attuned to our unique journeys. My work must honor that balance: a rational revolution that heals as it liberates.