African History - KOLUMN Magazine

Stephanie St. Clair, Harlem’s ‘Numbers Queen,’ Dominated the Gambling Underground and Made Millions | Smithsonian Magazine

May 27, 2021May 27, 2021African History, Black History ...

In the 1930s, the enigmatic figure ran an illegal lottery while championing New York City’s Black community — BY, SARAH DURN On the eve of the Great Depression, with Prohibition in full swing, everyone in Harlem knew the name Stephanie St. Clair, the “queen of numbers.” A gangster, civil rights advocate, fashionista and businesswoman, she […]

The Nigerian drummer who set the beat for US civil rights | BBC

September 2, 2020September 2, 2020African History

Three years before Rosa Parks’ bus boycott, Nigerian drummer Babatunde Olatunji protested against racial segregation in the southern states of America. He was part of a generation of Africans who played an important role in the fight for racial justice in the US – and continue to do so, writes the BBC’s Aaron Akinyemi. By […]

How the autobiography of a Muslim slave is challenging an American narrative | PBS News Hour

July 24, 2020July 24, 2020African History

By Amna Nawaz & Leah Nagy, PBS News Hour Omar Ibn Said was 37 years old when he was taken from his West African home and transported to Charleston, South Carolina, as a slave in the 1800s. Now, his one-of-a-kind autobiographical manuscript has been translated from its original Arabic and housed at the Library of […]

Félicien Kabuga: Rwanda genocide survivors happy with arrest | BBC

May 18, 2020May 18, 2020African History, Rwanda

Rwandan genocide survivor groups have welcomed the arrest in France of one of the most wanted men accused of being behind the mass killings. Félicien Kabuga, 84, was detained near Paris, where he had been living under a false identity. He is alleged to have been the main financier of the ethnic Hutu extremists who […]

How Sarah Forbes Bonetta Was ‘Gifted’ to Queen Victoria | How Stuff Works

May 13, 2020June 30, 2020African History

By EJI Staff, How Stuff Works In episode 17 of the British historical television drama, “Victoria,” titled “Comfort and Joy,” the King of Dahomey “gifts” Queen Victoria an African princess by the name of Sarah. Even for 1846, the gesture is disturbing to say the least, but as many fictionalized versions of the Queen’s life have suggested, […]

A Novel About Ethiopian Women Who Fought in WWII to Get Film Adaptation | Colorlines

May 7, 2020May 7, 2020African American Entertainment, African History

“Harriet” director Kasi Lemmons will write and direct Maaza Mengiste’s novel “The Shadow King” The story of the Ethiopian women soldiers who fought against Mussolini’s 1935 World War II invasion in author Maaza Mengiste’s novel “The Shadow King” will be adapted into a film and helmed by “Harriet” director Kasi Lemmons, Deadline reports. By N. Jamiyla Chisholm, ColorlinesFeatured Image, Director Kasi Lemmons at […]

Three African Skeletons Found in Mexico Show Horrors of Early Slavery in the New World | Gizmodo

May 1, 2020July 7, 2020African History, Technology

By George Dvorsky, Gizmodo Three skeletons belonging to African individuals have been uncovered at a mass grave in Mexico City. They represent some of the first African people to arrive into slavery in the New World. An interdisciplinary analysis of these remains is shedding new light on this grim period of history and the harsh conditions […]

Enslaved Africans Attempt Escape in Washington, D.C.; Later Captured and Punished | Equal Justice Initiative

April 16, 2020April 16, 2020African History, Black History ...

On Sunday, April 16, 1848, at least seventy-five black men, women, and children were aboard a sixty-four-foot cargo ship nicknamed the Pearl, trying to escape enslavement in the Washington, D.C. area. They set off one day before, because Saturday was a traditional day of rest for enslaved people and the two white abolitionists who charged the ship […]

Ghana: How Ghana Went Above and Beyond For Year of Return 2019 | AllAfrica

January 31, 2020January 31, 2020African History, Ghana

Cape Town — Ghana is to launch a multi-million dollar fund aimed at attracting investment from members of the African diaspora in the United States and around the world – a follow-up to the “Year of Return 2019” in which the nation reached out to the diaspora on the 400th anniversary of the arrival of […]

How Kwame Nkrumah used metaphor as a political weapon against colonialism | The Conversation

January 21, 2020January 21, 2020African History, Ghana

Kwame Nkrumah (1912-1972), a pioneering pan-Africanist and Ghana’s independence leader (1957-1966), is regarded by many as one of Africa’s greatest politicians . [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] Commentators, historians and scholars have given him accolades such as ‘the Black Star’, ‘Africa’s Man of Destiny’ and ‘the Pride of Africa’. Twenty years ago, the BBC’s African listeners voted him […]