10 Facts About Obi Egbuna

Obi Benue Egbuna was a Nigerian-born novelist, playwright and political activist known for leading the Universal Coloured People's Association and being a member of the British Black Panther Movement during the years when he lived in England, between 1961 and 1973.

Obi Egbuna studied at the University of Iowa and Howard University, Washington, DC, moving in 1961 to England, where he lived until 1973.

In London, Obi Egbuna was a member of a group called the Committee of African Organisations that had roots in the West African Students' Union, and which organised Malcolm X's 1965 visit to Britain.

Obi Egbuna participated in events organized by the Caribbean Artists Movement, and in 1966 his play Wind Versus Polygamy was performed at the World Festival of Negro Arts in Dakar, Senegal, where the Pan African Players and the Negro Theatre Workshop represented the United Kingdom.

Obi Egbuna became a pioneer of the Black Power movement in Britain, forming the Universal Coloured People's Association – "the first avowed Black Power group in Britain in August 1967, following Stokely Carmichael's visit" – and speaking at a major anti-Vietnam war rally in October that year.

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In 1968 Obi Egbuna published a pamphlet entitled Black Power or Death.

Obi Egbuna saw the socialist and communist student movements of the 1960s as problematic to the Black Power cause.

Obi Egbuna was later that year imprisoned accused of threatening to kill police and certain politicians.

Obi Egbuna died in Washington, DC, on 18 January 2014, aged 75, and a tribute to his life and work was held on Saturday, 1 March 2014, at the Rankin Memorial Chapel, Howard University, Washington, DC.

Obi Egbuna's papers are held at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, at the New York Public Library.