black historee month

[jah_yout]

dread didd yuh read bout da afrikkan woo was richer dan solomon

da qwestian iss oww yuh view slavery?

look att awl dem didd to da slaves ann da slaves neva give upp ann keep rising

slaveree iss proof dat blakk peeps can ovacum anneeting

this is true...
but our history does not begin in slavery...slavery is a part, not the whole..

to these modern-day nee-grows, their history begins in slavery...
most "black history month" programs i see in the media or in schools only discuss post-slavery figures...never figures like akhenaten or mansa musa...
subliminally that disconnects the youth from their ancient past...
conditions them to view themselves only as a product of slavery---
the present condition & extreme brainwash of black youth says "black history month" has not helped much

[kia027]

Mansa Musa I of Mali – the richest human being in all history.



When we think of the world’s all-time richest people, names like Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and John D Rockefeller immediately come to mind.

But few would have thought, or even heard of, Mansa Musa I of Mali – the obscure 14th century African king who was today named the richest person in all history.

I am pleased to say in girlKia standard history book that I bought (2012 edition) Mansa Musa is in there - the history books are catching up as long as u noh buy the Texas edition

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I am pleased to say in girlKia standard history book that I bought (2012 edition) Mansa Musa is in there - the history books are catching up as long as u noh buy the Texas edition

does itt awlso ave crispus attuck real name too

[blugiant]

this is true...
but our history does not begin in slavery...slavery is a part, not the whole..

to these modern-day nee-grows, their history begins in slavery...
most "black history month" programs i see in the media or in schools only discuss post-slavery figures...never figures like akhenaten or mansa musa...
subliminally that disconnects the youth from their ancient past...
conditions them to view themselves only as a product of slavery---
the present condition & extreme brainwash of black youth says "black history month" has not helped much

didd yuh see da addar tredd mii tarted bout wat da purpose aff blakk histaree month? slaveree iss a part aff owa histaree ann wii affii deal widd itt. sum aff da criticism aff blakk histaree month widd regard to slaveree iss fram blakk woo ar natt comfartable dealinn widd slaveree so dem tri fe ignore itt

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Imhotep (2980 B.C.)

Imhotep, called "God of Medicine," "Prince of Peace," and a "Type of Christ." Imhotep was worshipped as a god and healer from approximately 2850 B.C. to 525 B.C., and as a full deity from 525 B.C. to 550 A.D. Even kings and queens bowed at his throne. Imhotep lived during the Third Dynasty at the court of King Zoser. Imhotep was a known scribe, chief lector, priest, architect, astronomer and magician (medicine and magic were used together.) For 3000 years he was worshipped as a god in Greece and Rome. Early Christians worshipped him as the "Prince of Peace."

Imhotep was also a poet and philosopher. He urged contentment and preached cheerfulness. His proverbs contained a "philosophy of life." Imhotep coined the saying "Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we shall die."

When the Egyptians crossed the Mediterranean, becoming the foundation of the Greek culture, Imhotep's teachings were absorbed there. Yet, as the Greeks were determined to assert that they were the originators of everything, Imhotep was forgotten for thousands of years and a legendary figure, Hippocrates, who came 2000 years after him became known as the Father of Medicine.

It is Imhotep says Sir William Osler, who was the real Father of Medicine. "The first figure of a physician to stand out clearly from the mists of antiquity." Imhotep diagnosed and treated over 200 diseases, 15 diseases of the abdomen, 11 of the bladder, 10 of the rectum, 29 of the eyes, and 18 of the skin, hair, nails and tongue. Imhotep treated tuberculosis, gallstones, appendicitis, gout and arthritis. He also performed surgery and practiced some dentistry. Imhotep extracted medicine from plants. He also knew the position and function of the vital organs and circulation of the blood system. The Encyclopedia Britannica says, "The evidence afforded by Egyptian and Greek texts support the view that Imhotep's reputation was very respected in early times...His prestige increased with the lapse of centuries and his temples in Greek times were the centers of medical teachings."

James Henry Breasted says of Imhotep: In priestly wisdom, in magic, in the formulation of wise proverbs; in medicine and architecture; this remarkable figure of Zoser's reign left so notable a reputation that his name was never forgotten. He was the patron spirit of the later scribes, to whom they regularly poured out a libation from the water-jug of their writing outfit before beginning their work. The people sang of his proverbs centuries later, and 2500 years after his death, he had become a god of medicine in whom Greeks, who call him Imouthes, recognized their own Asklepios. A temple was erected to him near the Serapeum at Memphis, and at the present day, every museum possesses a bronze statue or two of the apotheosized wise man, the proverb maker, physician, and architect of Zoser.

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Marcus Mosiah Garvey


Marcus Mosiah Garvey, one of the greatest leaders African people have produced, was born August 17, 1887 in St. Ann's Bay, Jamaica, and spent his entire life in the service of his people--African people. He was bold; he was uncompromising and he was one of the most powerful orators on record.

He could literally bring his audiences to a state of mass hysteria. Garvey emphasized racial pride. His goal was nothing less that the total and complete redemption and liberation of African people around the planet. His dream was the galvanization of Black people into an unrelenting steamroller that could never be defeated.

As a young man of fourteen, Garvey left school and worked as a printer's apprentice. He participated in Jamaica's earliest nationalist organizations, traveled throughout Central America, and spent time in London, England, where he worked with the Sudanese-Egyptian nationalist Duse Mohamed Ali. In 1916 Garvey was invited by Booker T. Washington to come to the United States in the hopes of establishing an industrial training school, but arrived just after Washington died. In March 1916, shortly after landing in America, Garvey embarked upon an extended period of travel. When he finally settled down, he organized a chapter of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League. The UNIA & ACL had been formed in Jamaica in 1914. Its motto was "One God, One Aim, One Destiny," and pledged itself to the redemption of Africa and the uplift of African people everywhere. It aimed at race pride, self-reliance and economic independence.

Within a few years Garvey had become the best-known and most dynamic African leader in the Western Hemisphere and perhaps the entire world. In 1919 Mr. Garvey created an international shipping company called the Black Star Line. By 1920 the UNIA had hundreds of divisions. It hosted elaborate international conventions and published a weekly newspaper entitled the Negro World.

No other organization in modern times has had the prestige and the impact as the UNIA & ACL. During the 1920s UNIA divisions existed throughout North, South and Central America, the Caribbean, Africa, Europe and Australia.

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"A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots"
Marcus Garvey


The Economics of Marcus Garvey

Pan-African development

Marcus Garvey



There is a disconnected generation, since Garvey and the Nation of Islam, that has played completely into the hands of their own oppression by ignoring economics. The myth that poverty is piety in revolution has lead to a revolution lost to its own liberation mechanism; impractical and destined to fail. Revolution is a privilege for the well fed, who can focus their concerns beyond a hand-to-mouth existence, who can resist trinkets, and stay true to the mission beyond temptation. Financial success also means having the disposable income to commit to great public projects, which embed and enshrine liberation values. How then is the myth of a pauper revolutionary a legitimate methodology of revolution? How is it revolution when it tightens the shackles of slavery? How can it ever be a more authentic experience of struggle, when it fails to grasp the objectives of struggle--end of poverty (culturally, spiritually, and materially) . ~ AHS



Marcus Garvey directed the largest mass-based movement among African Americans in the history of the United States.

His phenomenal success came at a time when African American confidence was low and unemployment was considered a way of life. Garvey harnessed these conditions to build momentum for his cause.


While his worldwide accomplishments and controversies have been analyzed by numerous scholars (Rogoff and Trinkaus, 1998), this paper investigates the economic thoughts of Marcus Garvey. Specifically, it visits Garvey's capitalistic approach to the economic development of African Americans in the United States. It was suggested by W.E.B. DuBois (1940) that Garvey's business ventures failed because of incompetence and economic ineptitude. However, Marcus Garvey's plan for African American capitalism was an enormous contribution because his ill-fated business enterprises became the procedural and conceptual model for future achievements in African American economic development.

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"The Negro is ignored today simply because he has kept himself backward; but if he were to try to raise himself to a higher state in the civilized cosmos, all the other races would be glad to meet him on the plane of equality and comradeship"
Marcus Garvey


Economic Self-Sufficiency


On March 23, 1916, after corresponding with Booker T. Washington, Garvey arrived in the United States to connect his movement to Washington's movement in Tuskegee, Alabama (Stein, 1986). However, Washington died before Garvey arrived. Stein (1986) noted that Garvey came to the U.S. at a time when a new economic order was anchored to American prosperity. A sweeping increase in technological innovations of mass production techniques and new machinery increased American output 13 percent while consequently reducing the workforce 8 percent. Profits were soaring as a 29 percent increase in worker productivity was complemented by only a 4.5 percent increase in real wages. Organized African American unions were suffering as the power of the American capitalists increased.

Garvey had admired Washington's business ownership approach toward self-reliance. He agreed that other forms of advancement would follow economic development. However, he saw a flaw in Washington's approach. Specifically, he believed that focusing primarily on individual entrepreneurial advancement would fail to promote community development because individual profit motives would impede group advancement. In order to promote the collective interests of African Americans, Garvey sought to use collective decision making and group profit sharing. Thus, Garvey created a Nationalist version of Washington's economic program that resulted in mass organization supported by millions of African Americans (Allen, 1969).

Garvey believed that African Americans were universally oppressed and any program of emancipation would have to be built around the question of race. In his mind, African Americans would aspire to positions of influence if they had educational opportunities, and this would bring them into direct competition with the white power structure. However, he believed that within 100 years, such a position would lead to racial strife which would be disastrous for them (Sertima, 1988). Hence, his theory of racial separation was born. It was a stratagem to ensure self-reliance and equality for the downtrodden African race, but it did not stress racial superiority. Garvey stated:

"The Negro is ignored today simply because he has kept himself backward; but if he were to try to raise himself to a higher state in the civilized cosmos, all the other races would be glad to meet him on the plane of equality and comradeship"

The urgency that he felt for racial independence and self-reliance existed because he believed African Americans suffered in the face of enormous economic superiority and power of the white world. He thought that they should strive to first build a solid industrial foundation and the consequential success would allow African Americans to shape their own destiny.

Within months of his arrival in the United States, Garvey began to research the economic position of African Americans. He wrote:

"The acme of American Negro enterprise is not yet reached. You have still a far way to go. You want more stores, more banks, and bigger enterprises"

Garvey thought they needed to innovate and create a new ideology that fit their needs. He was not only talking about capitalism, but the creation of an economic state where they could maximize their economic interests. In short, he was talking about economic development.

Garvey likened the underdeveloped African American communities to underdeveloped countries. Both are often exploited with unfavorable terms of trade and high unemployment. After studying work by Dr. Robert Love, a spokesman who organized blacks in Jamaica, Garvey realized that tax dollars paid by African Americans often ended up supporting economic interests outside their communities (Lewis, 1992). Consequently, he sought to use the tax dollars to make purchases from and support African American entrepreneurs. Monies spent by their schools, hospitals and urban services should go to African American entrepreneurs creating a guaranteed market where there would always be a demand for their goods and services. By directing tax revenue back to the economy, Garvey believed this would foster economic development without requiring large sums of private investment. Therefore, a maximum return for tax dollars would be received by the communities (Haddad and Pugh, 1969).

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''Without commerce and industry, a people perish economically. The Negro is perishing because he has no economic system''



Garvey's Promotion of African American Entrepreneurship

After coming to America, Garvey was able to use his extraordinary personality to persuade African Americans to invest. These capitalistic economic investments were made possible because of Garvey's poetic words of nationalism and back-to-Africa dreams. Indeed, Garvey was able to raise large sums of money to invest in risky capitalistic ventures. It was through capitalism that Garvey wanted to achieve economic self-sufficiency for African Americans. He believed that protection against discrimination came through financial independence. Once a strong economic base was constructed, they could seek other political and social objectives. He believed that these material achievements by way of entrepreneurial effort would enable African Americans to be equally recognized. It should be noted that this philosophy can be extracted from African attorney Casely Hayford's Gold Coast Leader (Stein, 1986).

Garvey believed that commerce and industry were the props of the economic life of the state, community and society as a whole. Progressive nations indulged in commerce and industry, and these activities provided occupations for the residents of the state. You were either an employer, an employee, or a ward of the state, and a man without his own business or specialized training was always at a disadvantage in making a living. Great wealth is made out of commerce and industry. In Garvey's opinion, African Americans who attempted to go into business, commercial or industrial, were at a disadvantage because they could not appreciate starting at a point and climbing up the ladder. While other races started at the bottom and climbed their way up, African Americans always desired to start at the top, thus resulting in failure. Garvey said, "No success ever came from the top, it is always from the bottom up. He will never be an industrial or commercial factor until he has learned the principles of commercial and industrial success.

In 1912, Garvey went to London and studied with Duse Mohammad Ali. Ali, a historian and author, brought to light the plight of African descendants all over the world. His influence shaped Garvey's speeches, and led him to organize the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in Jamaica in 1914 (Vincent, 1971). It has been suggested that the UNIA motto, "One God, One Aim, One Destiny" originated from Duse Ali's Islamic influences on Garvey (Rashid, 2002). Their business entrepreneurial approach to economic self-sufficiency mirrored Booker T. Washington's endeavors in the United States.

Garvey sought to meet with Washington to discover how to improve Jamaica's educational system. After arriving in the United States, his purpose changed as he organized a UNIA branch in New York. He wanted to create African American owned business firms that would provide them with adequate income. Between 1918 and the early 1920s, Garvey efforts established a number of UNIA businesses.

Garvey aspired to develop an international shipping line that would carry passengers and freight between America, Africa and the West Indies. By drawing on the speculative get-rich-quick mentality of African Americans, he was able to persuade investors to purchase stock in a new shipping corporation. Consequently, the Black Star Line (BSL) steamship corporation was incorporated in 1919. The project was capitalized exclusively by African Americans. Individual purchases were limited to 200 shares priced at five dollars each. In the company's first year, capital stock investments reached approximately $750,000 ($7.825 million in 2002 dollars).

The African American ownership gave Garvey's supporters a sense of pride and hope for prosperous returns. Eventually, the BSL purchased three ships. Unfortunately, the company was unable to negotiate a fair market price for the ships as dealers took advantage, charging inflated prices for severely depreciated capital. These overpriced purchases depleted BSL's funds and contributed to their eventual bankruptcy. By 1922, the ships were lost and the corporation collapsed. The BSL had lost more than $600,000, and accounts payable exceeded $200,000. There were never any dividends paid, and the value of BSL's investment assets had depreciated completely. Nevertheless, the BSL was the first large-scale business venture financed and managed by African Americans. It still remains one of the largest African American owned companies in U.S. history. It should be emphasized that the underpinnings for the BSL's financial losses reflected market troubles plaguing the entire industry. The shipping industry was in a recession magnified by the excess capacity of transport ships after World War I. Many shipping firms were unable to recover their variable costs, and consequently, shut down business operations.

To accomplish the goal of enhancing entrepreneurship, in 1919 the UNIA established the Negroes Factories Corporation (NFC) incorporated in Delaware as 200,000 shares were offered at $5 per share (Lewis, 1992). Its objective was to promote African American entrepreneurship in large industrial centers by providing investment capital and technical expertise. The corporation assisted in the development of grocery stores, restaurants, a steam laundry, a millinery store, a tailor, a dressmaking shop, and a publishing business. Garvey encouraged and established through the NFC a factory that mass produced the first African American dolls. In Garvey's plan, each individual business would be cooperatively owned by UNIA members, and eventually linked into a worldwide system of economic cooperation that simulated a socialistic planned economy (Lewis 1992). This trading community would be sufficiently large so that the economies of scale generated would enable it to thrive even in the face of hostility from the rest of the world. Garvey summed up this idea: "Negro producers, Negro distributors, Negro consumers! The world of Negroes can be self contained. We desire earnestly to deal with the rest of the world, but if the rest of the world desire not, we seek not" (Martin, 1976). Although these business investments were, for the most part, not successful, they became a solid economic foundation for future African American business ventures.

Economic self-reliance was foremost on Garvey's list because he foresaw a depression which he thought would severely harm African Americans (Lewis and Bryan, 1991). Consequently, Garvey's attempts to establish economic self-reliance went beyond cooperate business enterprises. The UNIA also acted as a community service agency by paying death and other minor benefits to members. Local divisions were required to maintain a charitable fund for the purpose of assisting distressed members or needy individuals of the race. A fund for "loans of honor" to active members, and an employment bureau to aid members seeking employment, also established (Martin, 1976).

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Garvey on Capitalism

Garvey's thoughts on economic development led him to consider his views of capitalism and communism. He considered capitalism to be necessary in the process of human advancement but expressed difficulty with the results of its unrestrained uses. He remarked, "It seems strange and a paradox, but the only convenient friend the Negro worker or laborer has in America at the present time, is the white capitalist. The capitalist being selfish is seeking only the largest profit out of labor--is willing and glad to use Negro labor wherever possible on a scale `reasonably' below the standard white union wage" (Jacques-Garvey, 1969). It was Garvey's belief that white capitalists tolerated African American workers only because they were willing to accept a lower standard of wage than unionized white workers. If, however, African American workers organized and unionized demanding comparable wages as the white union men, the preference of employment would go to the white worker.

Garvey aimed to reform the social democratic nature rather than attempting to eradicate the capitalist system. He felt that the capitalistic system gave African Americans a chance for competitive employment and also gave them the opportunity to make a profit from their labor. Henderson and Ledebur (1970) noted that Garvey favored strict limitations on the amount of income or investable funds controlled by individuals and corporations. Sums accumulated above these figures should be appropriated by the state. The state should also expropriate, without compensation, the assets of capitalists and corporations who started wars and strife in order to further their own financial interests. He attempted to implement these ideas by organizing his business ventures along cooperative lines and by placing a ceiling on the number of shares any one person could own. In his mind, these actions were attempts by poor people to establish "a capitalistic system of their own to combat the heartless capitalistic system of the masterly ruling class" (Martin, 1976).

Garvey on Communism

Garvey felt that communism was a white man's creation to solve their own political and economic problems. He believed that the communist party wanted to use the African American vote "to smash and overthrow" the capitalistic white majority to "put their majority group or race still in power, not only as communists but as white men" (Jacques-Garvey, 1969). To him, it suggested the enthronement of the white working class over the capitalistic class of the race. It was never intended for the economic or political emancipation of African Americans, but rather to raise the earning capacity of the lower class workers. Garvey said, "It is a dangerous theory of economic and political reformation because it seeks to put government in the hands of an ignorant white mass who have not been able to destroy their natural prejudices towards Negroes and other non-white people. While it may be a good thing for them, it will be a bad thing for the Negroes who will fall under the government of the most ignorant, prejudiced class of the white race" (Nolan, 1951).

The communists hoped to capture the UNIA movement spawned by Garvey's magnetic appeal over the African American masses. The act of the communist party inviting them to join their ranks was to support the theory that they were communists too. Hence a white employer would be faced with the choice of hiring either a white communist or an African American communist and the appeal of race would give the white communist an advantage. Garvey's plan involved letting the communists fight their own battles. African Americans needed to take advantage of the opportunities that were presented during the fight, without joining in the fight. The danger of communism to Garvey is that they sought the minority vote to overthrow and become a dominant power. He believed that the communists were still white men who would still seek to take advantage of African Americans. Consequently, Garvey advised against supporting the communist party, or he would be guilty of transferring government from the intelligent to the ignorant (Martin, 1986).

Conclusion

In the perspective of history, Marcus Garvey was a phenomenal success. Through the accumulation of risk capital, Garvey sought to fight capitalistic inequality through capitalistic methods of economic organization. This gave African-Americans a sense of unity, and provided hope for a better way of living. However, Garvey's economic philosophy for business success was doomed to fail in the United States. His ideas were handicapped by numerous theoretical and conceptual flaws. Specifically, Garvey's economic ideas did not meet the demands of twentieth-century development. Indeed, it was Garvey's own personal economic ineptitude and his unwillingness to evolve his pro-capitalistic activities that led to his business failures. He failed to discover that there were economic theories applicable to the African American movement other than the accumulation of risk capital.

Garvey's Nationalism lacked the racial equality and economic thought to address problems of poverty and political rights needed for African American economic success. While he did not openly endorse any major economic system, his philosophy for limited individual and corporate ownership helped label him a "welfare-state liberal" (Vincent, 1971). It remains, however, that the Black Star Line was a landmark in African American history providing a blueprint in which to build entrepreneurial business ventures. Indeed, Marcus Garvey's plan for African American capitalism was an enormous development. Garvey's ill-fated business enterprises became the procedural and conceptual model for future achievements in African American economic development.

References

Allen, R. (1969). Black Awakening in Capitalistic America. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc.

DuBois, W.E.B. (1940). Dusk of Dawn. New York, NY: Harcourt Brace.

Garvey, M. (1924). "UNIA report." Negro World, January.

Haddad, W., and Pugh, D. (1969). Black Economic Development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Henderson, W., and Ledebur, L. (1970). Economic Disparity: Problems and Strategies for Black America. New York, NY: The Free Press.

Jacques-Garvey, A. (Ed.). (1969). The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey. New York, NY: Atheneum.

Lewis, R. (1992). Marcus Garvey: Anti-Colonial Champion. Trenton, NJ: African World Press.

Lewis, R., and Bryan, P. (Eds.). (1991). Garvey: His Work and Impact. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.

Martin, T. (1986). Message of The People: The Course in African Philosophy. Dover, MA: The Majority Press.

Martin, T. (1976). Race First: The Ideological and Organizational Struggles of Marcus Garvey and The Universal Negro Improvement Association. Dover, MA: The Majority Press.

Nolan, W. (1951). Communism versus the Negro. Chicago, IL: Henry Regnery Company.

Rashad, A. (2002). "Some early Pan-African nationalists." RaceandHistory.com.

Rogoff, E., and Trinkaus, J. (1998). "Perhaps the times have not yet caught up to Marcus Garvey, an early champion of ethnic entrepreneurship." Journal of Small Business Management, 36 (4), 66-71.

Sertima, I. (1988). "Great Black leaders: Ancient and modern." Journal of African Civilizations, 17 (4), 372-383.

Stein, J. (1986). The World of Marcus Garvey: Race and Class in Modern Society. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press.

Vincent, T. (1971). Black Power and the Garvey Movement. Berkeley, CA: Ramparts Press.

Shawn Carter is Assistant Professor of Economics at Jacksonville State University, Alabama. He holds a Ph.D. from Texas A&M University. Please send all correspondence to 700 Pelham Road North, Jacksonville, AL 36265, or call (256)782-5799.

http://www.africanlegends.info/

[Tropicana]

Very nice blugiant...keep it coming.

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Amos Wilson (1941 - 1995 )


Dr. Amos Nelson Wilson (1941 - 1995) Former Social Caseworker, Psychological Counselor, Supervising Probation Officer, Training Administrator in the New York City Department of Juvenile Justice, Assistant Professor of Psychology at the City University of New York, Master Teacher, Organizer, and Author. The late, Honorable Dr. Wilson was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi in 1941. Familiarly referred to as Brother Amos, he provided the average person with an acute analysis of where we are and the things that affect us. He served as a council to energize our race and those in positions of influence as to how to carry out their leadership responsibilities. Dr. Wilson's activities transcended academia into the fields of business, owning and operating various enterprises in the greater New York ar

Because of his understanding of consciousness (trained as a developmental psychologist/clinical psychologist), his comprehension per personality/identity/culture/socialization/pedagogy, etc., (esp., Psycho-history: how historical experiences--natural and social--shape the individual and the group), gave him another insight that many (really most) are now "catching-up" with today. He predicted and prescribed endless well-though out works as to the African American's and to a lesser degree, the global African "collective's," dire reality.

He found the historical romanticism (black firsts/"Egyptian Obsession") and contributionism (gifts to oppressive systems/"Black History Month") in excess, reactionary and an affront to the realization of African growth, development and advancement (Pan-Africanism). These are his body of work: Developmental Psychology of the Black Child Awakening the Natural Genius of Black Children Black-On-Black Violence: The Psychodynamics of Black Self-Annihilation in Service of White Domination Understanding Black Adolescent Male Violence: Its Remediation and Prevention The Falsification of Afrikan Consciousness: Euro-centric History, Psychiatry and the Politics of White Supremacy African-Centered Consciousness Vs. The New World Order Blueprint for Black Power: A Moral, Political, and Economic Imperative for the Twenty-First Century.

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wander iff blakk peeps readinn diss ovatand dat itt took oyinbo ann arabs wukkinn tiggithar fe colonized ann enslaved afrikkans



Ahmed Baba (1556-1627)

Ahmad Baba al-Massufi al-Tinbukti, full name Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Ahmad al-Takruri Al-Massufi al-Tinbukti .

The Songhai Empire ruled about two thirds of West Africa, including the lands now called Mali, Mauritania, Guinea, Senegal, Gambia, Northern Nigeria and Niger. When the Empire collapsed, due to an Arab and European invasion in 1591 AD, its intelligentsia were arrested by the conquerors and dragged in chains across the Sahara. One of these scholars was Professor Ahmed Baba. The author of 60 books, Professor Baba enjoyed a very high reputation. Amongst the Songhai, he was known as "The Unique Pearl of his Time". In a Moroccan text from the period, the praise for him was even more gushing. He is described as "the imam, the erudite, the high-minded, the eminent among scholars, Abu l-Abbas Ahmed Baba."

In Morocco, the Arab scholars petitioned to have him released from jail. He was released a year after his arrival on 9 May 1596. Major Dubois, a French author, narrates that: "All the believers were greatly pleased with his release, and he was conducted in triumph from his prison to the principal mosque of Marrakech. A great many of the learned men urged him to open a course of instruction. His first thought was to refuse, but overcome by their persistence he accepted a post in the Mosque of the Kerifs and taught rhetoric, law, and theology. An extraordinary number of pupils attended his lectures, and questions of the gravest importance were submitted to him by the magristracy, his decision always being treated as final."

Despite this adulation, Baba was careful to credit his learning to the Almighty and thus maintained his modesty. A Moroccan source tells of an audience he obtained with Al Mansur. It appears that the scholar gave the sultan something of a dressing down. Baba complained about the sultan's lack of manners, his ill treatment received during his original arrest, the sacking of his private library of 1600 books, and the destruction of the Songhai Empire. We are told by the Moroccan author that Al Mansur "being unable to reply to [any of] this, put an end to the audience."

The professor was detained in Morocco for a total of 12 years. Eventually he received permission from Al Mansur's successor to return to Songhai. Just before his departure across the desert, he vowed in the presence of the leading scholars of Marrakesh who had gathered to give him a send off, "May God never bring me back to this meeting, nor make me return to this country!" He returned to a devastated Timbuktu and died there in 1627.

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da blakk educated man woo school islam founder

Bilal ibn Rabah al-Habashi


Bilal ibn Rabah[1] (Arabic: بلال بن رباح) or Bilal al-Habashi (580-640 CE) was an Arab[2] companion of Islamic prophet Muhammad, born in Mecca who is considered as the first muezzin chosen by the prophet of Islam.He is notable as he is one of the most respected Sahabas of Islam. In 622, the year of the Hijra, Bilal migrated to Medina and over the next decade accompanied Muhammad on all his military expeditions, and according to Islamic tradition, a lawyer revered by Muslims for his majestically sonorous renditions of the adhan. Bilal also carried Muhammad's spear, which was used from 624 onward to point the direction of prayer.

He fought in the Battle of Badr, in the aftermath of which he killed his former master, Umayyah ibn Khalaf, in spite of the protestation of Umayyah's capturer and long-time friend Abdur Rahman bin Awf. Bilal was also present in all of the major events and battles, including the battles of Uhud and Battle of the Trench.

Edward Wilmot Blyden, himself an African man and former slave, wrote in 1874: The eloquent Adzan or Call to Prayer, which to this day summons at the same hours millions of the human race to their devotions, was first uttered by a Negro, Bilal by name, whom Mohammed, in obedience to a dream, appointed the first Muezzin or Crier. And it has been remarked that even Alexander the Great is in Asia an unknown personage by the side of this honoured Negro.

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Cetewayo "Zulu King" (d. 1884)

Cetewayo, King of the Zulu's, was a hero in a war with the British, causing the most crushing defeat the English ever experienced from any Africans in modern history. His victory at Isandlhwana was one of the most terrifying slaughters in history. In 1879, the British invaded Zululand. Cetewayo defeated the British, and killed Prince Napoleon, heir to the French throne.

A missionary, trying to frighten Cetewayo into accepting Christianity, told him of hell fire. "Hell fire?" Cetewayo laughed. Do you think I'm afraid of hell fire? My soldiers would put it out. He commanded his officers to have his warriors to eat a grass fire burning on a nearby hillside. His men immediately began to eat up the fire, not regarding their personal injuries. Cetewayo replied "I eat hell fire." He was a strict military disciplinarian. The army knew they must conquer or die. Certain death always awaited a defeated army.

Cetewayo banished the missionaries from the Zulu territory for plotting against him and meddling in his national affairs. It was then suggested to the governor of the Cape that the Zulu nation should be annihilated in order to secure South Africa.

Having conquered many more British, Cetewayo was soon captured and imprisoned. Three years later, Cetewayo was granted a request to present his case to Queen Victoria. The British found him to be a courteous, friendly, gentleman, not the man-eating savage depicted. He was honored as a hero and promised restoration of his power.

The whites of South Africa never kept the promise of the Queen. When Cetewayo returned home, he again went to war with the enemy. Cetewayo died in February, 1844. Never having surrendered his principles for freedom for his people, the Zulus.