Ere Roosevelt Came

Duse Mohamed Ali (1866-1945) was an Egyptian political activist known for his African nationalism. He was also a playwright, historian, journalist, editor, and publisher. In 1912 he founded the African Times and Orient Review, and while living in Lagos, Nigeria, The Comet newspaper, in which his novel Ere Roosevelt Came was serialised in 1934. He inspired many Black nationalists, including a young Marcus Garvey, who he mentored.Marina Bilbija is Assistant Professor of English at Wesleyan University, Connecticut. Her work has appeared in American Literary History, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, South Atlantic Review and Modern Fiction Studies.Alex Lubin is Professor of African American Studies at Penn State University, Pennsylvania. He is the author of Romance and Rights: The Politics of Interracial Intimacy, 1945-1956; Geographies of Liberation: The Making of an Afro-Arab Political Imaginary, and Never-Ending War on Terror.

'Bilbija and Lubin have made an outstanding contribution to literary Pan-Africanism by reintroducing the obscure Pan-African novel of Duse Mohamed Ali. This once influential Pan-Africanist ... a significant influencer, introduced Islam and the history of Africa to members of the UNIA. His novel and the accompanying essays make a welcome addition to the field.'

• i. Duse Mohamed Ali, West African print culture and an emergent pan-African literary formationii. Duse Mohamed Ali in the history of pan-Africanism, pan-Islamism, and the Third World movement1. Ere Roosevelt CameAppendix of other writings by Ali