The were part of a caste system in Japan that were required to live in separate villages and to wear identifying leather patches. They worked low status occupations that were considered "unclean" such as gravediggers and butchers.

It developed as a reaction to the impact of european colonialism in africa on peoples of african descent. in the  mid-20th century, activists in africa adopted pan-africanism as a rallying cry for independence from colonial rule. some african pan-africanists sought to unite the continent as one independenthope it was useful