Times In History

National Liberation and Culture [Amilcar Cabral Series]

History teaches us that, in certain circumstances, it is very easy for the foreigner to impose his domination on a people. But it also teaches us that, whatever may be the material aspects of this domination, it can be maintained only by the permanent, organized repression of the cultural life of the people concerned.

Implantation of foreign domination can be assured definitively only by physical liquidation of a significant part of the dominated population.

posted
2012

Mar

Remember the legends 1 Steve ‘Black Meteor’ Mokone

Stephen Madi Mokone OIG (born 23 March 1938) is a former South African footballer who was the first black player to play in a professional European league. He was nicknamed The Black Meteor and Kalamazoo.

After signing up for English club Coventry City in 1955, Mokone went on to achieve superstar status playing for the Dutch side Heracles and later for Torino in Italy, becoming one of a few players in Europe to earn £10 000 a year.

posted
2010

May

The African Presence In Indian Antiquity

Exceptionally valuable writings reflecting close relationships between Africa and early India have existed for more than two thousand years.

In the first century B.C.E., for example, the famous Greek historian Diodorus Siculus penned that, “From Ethiopia he (Osiris) passed through Arabia, bordering upon the Red Sea as far as India

posted
2010

Apr

Hannibal, The Brilliant African Warrior who took on the Roman Empire

In 218 B.C., Hannibal began the most daring military move in history, that of invading Rome by way of the Alps. But why did this African military genius decide to war against Rome?

Before Hannibal’s birth, the Romans ruled Italy, and the Carthaginians ruled Carthage in North Africa. The Carthaginians also ruled the Mediterranean Islands of Corsica, Sardinia, and Syracuse (now know as Sicily).

posted
2010

Mar

QUEEN NZINGA (1583-1663)- of the Mbundu people Angola

In the sixteenth century, the Portugese position in the slave trade was threatened by England and France. As a result, the Portugese shifted their slave-trading activities to the Congo and South West Africa.

Mistaking the title of the ruler (ngola) for the name of the country, the Portugese called the land of the Mbundu people Angola—the name by which it is still known today.

posted
2010

Jan

Haitian Revolution – François Toussaint

Toussaint Bréda, Toussaint-Louverture (20 May 1743 – 8 April 1803) Was a leader of the Haitian Revolution.

Born in Saint Domingue, in a long struggle for independence Toussaint led enslaved Africans to victory over Europeans, abolished slavery, and secured native control over the colony, Haiti, in 1797 while nominally governor of the colony.

posted
2009

Nov

The African Presence In The Ancient Far East

Although the island nation of Japan is assumed by many to have been historically composed of an essentially homogenous population, the accumulated evidence places the matter in a vastly different light.

A Japanese proverb states that: “For a Samurai to be brave, he must have a bit of Black blood.” Another recording of the proverb is: “Half the blood in one’s veins must be Black to make a good Samurai.” Sakanouye Tamura Maro, a Black man, became the first Shogun of Japan.

posted
2009

Nov

Ivan Gladstone Van Sertima

Ivan Gladstone Van Sertima (26 January 1935 – 25 May 2009) was a British historian, linguist and anthropologist at Rutgers University in the United States. He was noted for his controversial Afrocentric theory of pre-Columbian contact between Africa and the Americas.

He was born in Kitty Village, Guyana, when Guyana was still a British colony. He remained a British citizen. Little is known of his childhood.

posted
2009

Nov

The City Of Timbuktu

Timbuktu, also spelled TOMBOUCTOU, is a city in the West African nation of Mali. It is historically important as a post on the trans-Saharan caravan route. It is located on the southern edge of the Sahara, about 8 mi (13 km) north of the Niger River. Timbuktu was a centre for the expansion of Islam, an intellectual and spiritual capital at the end of the Mandingo Askia dynasty (1493-1591) and home to a prestigious Koranic university. Three great mosques built at that time, using traditional techniques, still remain.

posted
2009

Nov

Hip Hop History Month

In the early years of the culture, the movement went untitled until Afrika Bambaataa, started calling it “Hip Hop”, a term originated by Lovebug Starski. In the 70’s, ten years prior to it’s gaining global recognition, Hip Hop was a celebration of life gradually developing each of it’s elements to form a cultural movement.

Due to it’s energy, dynamics, and momentum, Hip Hop culture has become, ultimately, a key to upliftment and reformation, as well as a billion-dollar industry.

posted
2009

Nov