Slavery always has, and always will, produce insurrections where it exists, because it is a violation of the natural order of things, and no human power can much longer perpetuate it.--abolitionist Angelina Grimke in her 1836 Appeal to the Christian
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The chattel slavery of Africans instituted in the Americas tended to oppress not only by race but also by gender. Treated little differently from their male counterparts, black slave women endured a system of brutality that sought not only to expl
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chain mail cavalry of Bornu
Arab geographers speak of an empire called Kanem as early as the 9th century AD. At its height, the kingdom controlled territory from Libya to Lake Chad to Kano in Nigeria and lasted, in varying forms, until 1893.
Kanem
Detail from "The Death of Major Pierson," 1782-84, oil painting by John Singleton Copley depicting a black soldier fighting for the British during the American Revolution. Black soldiers in Dunmore's Royal Ethiopian Regiment had "Liberty to Slaves" e
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Around 3100 BCE, a rich royal culture flourished in what is today Southern Egypt. Recent finds have concluded that these people called their region Ta-Seti, meaning "Land of the Bow." Later rulers of the region would give Ta-Seti new names- Kash,
Read more…This article is a re-post, courtesy of PBS Africans in America: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/
Benjamin Banneker - author, scientist, mathematician, farmer, astronomer, publisher and urban planner -was descended from enslaved Africans, an indentured
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Mural from the church of Abreha and Atsbeha in Eastern Tigray, Ethiopia. Legend has it that the blackened and soot filled ceiling was set afire by the warrior Queen Gudit, who is said to have conquered Axum around the 10th century.
Though a subject
Read more…Historian Carter G. Woodson would establish Negro History Week in 1926, choosing Feburary to coincide with numerous important events. By 1976 the Association for Afro-American History and Life, in order to further Woodson's legacy, decided to expand
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History, Slavery (and Reality) meets the Tea Party.
Following comments about slavery made by Congresswoman and Tea Party advocate Michelle Bachmann (R-MN), MSNBC's Chris Matthews grills Tea Party Express Leader Sal Russo on aspects of America's unsa
Read more…taken from Jan 24 2011 Democracy Now.org:
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/1/24/the_black_power_mixtape_danny_glover
We broadcast from Park City, Utah, home of the Sundance Film Festival, the nation’s largest festival for independent cinema. One of t
Read more…taken from Democracy Now.org Jan 21, 2011:
This week marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the first democratically elected leader of what is now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Lumumba’s pan-Africanism and
Read more…So posting this here now because the new souped up site allows for media! Video from the Discovery Channel's 2003 documentary Nefertiti Resurrected. It was Egyptologist's Joanne Fletcher's contention that she may have found the remains of the famed 1
Read more…A feature article on the Sahelian city of Timbuktu in the Jan 2011 issue of National Geographic--part history, part investigative journalism. Thanks to Charles Saunders for the heads up!
The Salt Merchant
In th
"Meeting of Saint Erasmus of Formiae and Saint Maurice" by Matthias Grünewald (1517-23)
As the story goes, Maximian was Emperor of the Roman Empire with Diocletian as his colleague. An uprising of the Gauls known as "Bagaude" forced Maximian to march
Read more…History Library- Book Suggestion
Khalil Gibran Muhammad. The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2010)
Lynch mobs, chain gangs, and popular views of black southern cri
Read more…Malik Ambar, born in 16th century Harar Ethiopia and sold into slavery beyond the continent, would eventually rise to the level of regent of Ahmednagar, found a city, oversee architectural projects and become a powerful player in the politics of 17th
Read more…There is a misconception that Africa was cut off from the world prior to European contact. Nothing could be further from the truth. Parts of Africa were very much engaged with the world. One vibrant example of that engagement was the involvement of
Read more…I actually use this film in a course on Slavery in Cinema. Students always have some "interesting" reactions. Wilmott uses some very "dark humour" to tackle issues that in the end, aren't so funny--but you find yourself laughing anyway, if only at th
Read more…Yesterday, Nov. 11th was Armistice Day around the world, first created by allied nations to commemorate the end of WWI, a time of remembrance of all those who lost their lives as well as a time to reflect on war's horrors and the hopes for peace. In
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