SLAVERY ABOLISHED IN ENGLAND BEFORE U.S.

From: Black Saga: The African-American Experience by Charles M. Christian

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Murray,_1st_Earl_of_Mansfield

"On June 22, 1772, Chief Justice Lord Mansfield abolished slavery in ENGLAND and thereby gave immediate freedom to 14,000 slaves. His decision in the Sommersett case stated that, 'by Common Law no man could have property in another man and that as soon as a Negro came to England he is free, one may be villein in England but not a slave.' Penalties were levied on those who did not free their slaves. The English courts did not attempt to apply this decision to their colonies and no official body in America took notice of the decision. Nevertheless some slave upon hearing of the decision ran way from their owners and attempted  to get passage to England." 

HOW DID ISLAM CONQUER AFRICA? DID CHRISTIANS FIGHT BACK?

According to the General History of Africa, Vol 3: Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century, there were several basic patterns of Islamization in Africa between the 600 and 1000 C.E (A.D.)

1) The Arab conquest of Egypt and North Africa
2) The commercial activities of Muslims
3) Clerics and holy men spread the word
4) The penetration into different societies into Arab societies 

 From: http://17-122.qataracademy.wikispaces.net/Islamic+Empires+Webpage

From: General History of Africa, Vol 3: Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century, pages 90-91

"Christians fought back as much as they could, however. In North Africa, in Nubia and in Ethiopia the incoming Muslims encountered Christianity. The resistance of local Christians to Islamization varied according to local political and social conditions. In the Maghrib where the Christians represented only a minority (mostly of mixed or foreign origin), Islamization has been more complete and Christianity completely  died out by the eleventh century. In Egypt the process took a longer time being accelerated only by the Fatimids; Islamization has never been complete, as about 10 per cent of Egyptians still belong to the Coptic Church. 

In Christian Nubia, by contrast, the impact of Islam until the end of the thirteen century was minimal but during the next two centuries Christianity gradually vanished, being superseded by Islam. Only in the Ethiopian highlands were Christians able to resist. Neither the peaceful penetration of Muslim merchants nor the military campaigns of Muslim states to the south of the plateau shattered the fidelity of the Ethiopians to the faith of their fathers. Although Christianity in Ethiopia emerged from this centuries-old struggle victorious, it remained an isolated outpost amidst a Muslim sea." 

BLACK SAILORS IN THE REVOLUTIONARY NAVY

  Black people have always served in America's armed forces since the time of the Revolutionary War. 




FROM:

                                                          http://www.portraitsinblack.com/Navy.htm

Picture from: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/2p51.html

"The small Continental navy was supplemented by individual state navies, privateers, and vessels sailing under letters of marquee. All carried blacks, although race was not always noted on the ship rosters. Naval vessels suffered from chronic manpower shortages. Many black seamen had naval experience from previous colonial wars or from serving on numerous coastal vessels prior to the war. Although no ship captains were black, many pilots were black. As early as 1775 a recruiting poster in Newport sought “ye able backed sailors, men white or black, to volunteer for naval service in ye interest of freedom.” The War of 1812 proved, for the most part , to be a naval war with fleets engaged at sea as well as on the Great Lakes. With their Revolutionary War experience and relatively unlimited access to shipping jobs, blacks proved to be a most valuable and eagerly sought source of manpower. Blacks constituted from 10 to 20% of most ship’s crews and performed heroic duty in many engagements. Oliver Hazard Perry spoke of his black crew members as “absolutely insensible to danger” after their efforts in freeing the Great Lakes from British control."

  

ISLAM AND THE AFRICAN CHURCHES

Northern Africa played a huge role in early Christianity. I am not saying that these early Christian theologians were all Black, but I am say that Africans played a significant role in the creation of Church doctrine and history.  




From Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years by Diarmaid MacCulloch

"The story of Christianity in Africa into the early modern period is ... one of defensiveness and decline nearly everywhere, leading inexorably to its complete extinction along the North African coast and in Nubia. The North African Church, the first stronghold of Latin Christianity, the home of Tertullian, Cyprian, and Augustine of Hippo, should be given credit for surviving the Arab conquest of the 690's for some five centuries in certain areas, but it never recovered its unity after the bitterness of the fourth- and fifth-century divisions between the Donatists and the Catholic elite which was in communion with the wider Mediterranean  Church. Eventually, in the twelfth century, the rigidly intolerant Almohad dynasty insisted on mass conversions of both Jews and Christians....
Western Christians have forgotten that before the coming of Islam utterly transformed the situation in eastern Mediterranean and Asia, there was a good chance that the center of gravity of Christian faith might have moved east to Iraq rather than to Rome. Instead, the ancient Christianity of the East was nearly everywhere faced with a destiny of contraction in numbers, suffering from martyrdom which still continues. But there is one practical consequence of the fifteenth century Latin delusion that Prester John might unite with Western Christians. The myth generated an optimism which had a vital galvanizing effect on Latin Christianity, so it played a part in that surprising new expansion worldwide which from the fifteenth century led Western Catholicism and Protestantism to become the dominant form of Christian faith into modern times."

BLACK MEN READ?!

Black Men Read?! by Lindsay Robinson--member of a Black, all male, book club near Washington, D.C.

from http://www.kasitimes.co.za/

Th

The Audacity of Hope by President Barack Obama,

When Chickenheads come home to Roost: A Hip-Hop Feminist Breaks It Down by 

Joan Morgan

Bedtime Stories by Trey Ellis

Moving to higher ground: How Jazz Can Change Your Life by Wynton Marsalis

This is just a snippet of the literature that has been digested, diagnosed and discussed in the book club, Black Men Read?! (A name to both poke fun at the stereotype and destroy it simultaneously) 

Let me pose a question. When was the last time an African American male approached you with these words, "I want to start a African American Book club complete with brothers who like to read exclusively?" That is what a friend asked me about 3 years back. This was an interesting idea that I must confess was new to me. I have been a part of male dominated study groups and know of some women’s book clubs, but never one solely devoted to African American men. 

I jumped in, a bit intimidated by the letters and multiple degrees of the gentlemen involved; however, one thing came to the forefront immediately: anyone can read and simply give their opinion, good, bad or indifferent and enjoy other points of view.

Fresh from our, at times, enlightening, and at other times heated meetings on, "Them," by former Washington Post writer Nathan McCall and “The Beautiful Struggle” by Ta-Nehisi Coates and a number of other good books, I wanted to share my experience with others on the fun and benefits of our group. 

The only setback for me comes from the fact the club meets two hours away from me. Going 2 hours away five times a year does not sound that difficult, but at times life and TRAFFIC get in the way.  I considered starting a similar group in my area or get a couple more brothers willing to ride down from time to time.  I was floored by the response and reactions of others when I spoke loud and proud of the Black Men Read?!

When I approached brothers, sad to say, some admitted they did not read books. Some only read hardcore books on the Black experience, which we do that category as well. We just mix in some other genres because we want variety. Some only read papers and magazines and some did read, but the just were not too keen on the idea of an all male book club. Some admitted to only reading when bored. I am not sure whether their reading maintained of lifted their boredom.  

I really gave up on the idea early of a new reading group; however, from time to time, I would just throw the question out there to get a response. I met one brother who loved to read, but like to keep that a secret. Perhaps, it may ruin his reputation.

Another stated, "Do you all read a book then sit around talking about it!?

“Yes,” I responded.  What was his political correct comeback? 

"That is so gay!" A lady accused us of saying it is a book club, but actually we really go to strip clubs. 

My truly unscientific research has minimum if any real credentials to come to any conclusions either way on the subject matter of, Black Men Read!?

I guess stereotypes take time to fall, and I have the audacity to feel that one day, African American men gathering to read will not cause a stir. Until then, although there should be more, I am glad know that SOME, Black Men Read!?

RACE: AN ILLUSION, SKIN COLOR: EVOLUTION PROOF

"Nina Jablonski Breaks the Illusion of Skin Color"
Watch the Video:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/nina_jablonski_breaks_the_illusion_of_skin_color.html

Map  of UV Exposure on Earth's Surface:                        











Map of average human skin color












And read her paper:
http://www.direct-ms.org/pdf/VitDGenScience/Jablonski%202002%20Skin%20color.pdf



Skin deep
Abstract:
Throughout the world, human skin color has evolved to be dark enough to prevent sunlight from
destroying the nutrient folate but light enough to foster the production of vitamin D. Recent
epidemiological and physiological evidence suggests that the worldwide pattern of human skin color
is the product of natural selection acting to regulate the effects of the sun's ultraviolet radiation on
key nutrients crucial to reproductive success.



From:  Scientific American; New York; Oct 2002; Nina G Jablonski;George Chaplin; Volume: 287; Issue: 4
Start Page: 74-81; ISSN: 00368733; Subject Terms: Ultraviolet radiation; Skin Color Evolution

ISLAM SPREADS THROUGH AFRICA

Two different views of the same history.

1. Watch a short youtube video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPPdpXKv_CY

From: http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/students/curriculum/m14/activity3.php

2. From the BBC's The Story of Africa: Islam
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/index_section7.shtml

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Africa

"According to Arab oral tradition, Islam first came to Africa with Muslim refugees fleeing persecution in the Arab peninsula. This was followed by a military invasion, some seven years after the death of the prophet Mohammed in 639, under the command of the Muslim Arab General, Amr ibn al-Asi. It quickly spread West from Alexandria in North Africa (the Maghreb), reducing the Christians to pockets in Egypt, Nubia and Ethiopia.

Islam came to root along the East African coast some time in the 8th century, as part of a continuing dialogue between the people on the East coast and traders from the Persian Gulf and Oman. Like early Christianity, Islam was monotheistic, that is, Muslims worship only one God.
Islam was a modernising influence, imposing a consistent order among different societies, strengthening powers of government and breaking down ethnic loyalties. 

Unlike Christianity, Islam tolerated traditional values, allowing a man to have more than one wife. For many, this made conversion to Islam easier and less upsetting than conversion to Christianity 

In the early centuries of its existence, Islam in Africa had a dynamic and turbulent history, with reforming movements and dynasties clashing and succeeding each other. Gaining power depended on securing trade routes into gold-producing areas in Sub-Saharan Africa. Islamic rulers expanded north as well as south. In the last quarter of the 11th century, Islam dominated the Mediterranean world. 

In the 14th century the Black Death came from Europe and seriously undermined the social and economic life of North Africa, or the Maghreb, as it is known. However Islam remained the dominant religion. 

From the 16th to the 19th century, much of the Maghreb was under Ottoman rule. By the 1880's, Islam had taken root in one third of the continent."

THE TRUE HERITAGE OF GEORGE JEFFERSON

I know that some of you remember the progression of Sherman Hemsley's character, George Jefferson. The Jeffersons was a spin-off from All in the Family. George Jefferson was Archie Bunker's next door neighbor. George gave Archie hell. Archie was the lovable "racist", uneducated, underachieving, and stuck in a lower middle class existence. George, on the other hand, was a successful businessman who owned multiple dry cleaners. Eventually, George and the rest of his TV family moved away from Queens to a posh part of New York, the upper east side of Manhattan. George had two contradictory sides to his personality. Yes, he was rich, but he also played an egotistical, selfish buffoon.

What message was George sending us? I loved the fact that George made it on his own, moved out of the 'hood, and owned his own successful business. According to the writers of the TV show, the price he had to pay was being totally addicted to making money, being insensitive to everyone around him, and ultimately being a clown. Admittedly, the show was a comedy, and George always showed his redeeming qualities by the end of each show. The problem is, the only independently successful, and outspoken Black man on TV, also had to be at times ridiculous.

A less explicit case was the son Micheal on Good Times. The young brother was smart, radical, and on his way to success, but he was often denigrated by his own family for his "crazy" views. Even now, when one  reads the cartoon Boondocks or watches it on TV, yes the Black pride comes out, but it's always couched in comic terms.

So the legacy of these comedies seems to be, "Yes, we know that there are many racial injustices that you are experiencing, but your pain, like so many Three Stooges pratfalls, is fodder for our comic relief."

But the fact is, like much of America, there was a time I loved all if these comedies, and laughed as much as anyone else. I laughed because the hard truth expressed by a gifted comic is extremely funny, and makes you think without being clouded by anger. George Jefferson expressed the truth of a Black man trying to make it to the top. In order to "move on up" you may just have to strut and fret your hour upon the stage until you are heard no more.

PHILLIS WHEATLEY: GREAT AMERICAN POET

From My Name is Phillis Wheatley by Afua Cooper.
This is youtube video of an interview with Ms. Cooper
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdLPT2lr4NE&feature=related


From Phillis Wheatley: Biography of a Genius in Bondage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS7LiMrUjCM

From Poetry Foundation

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/phillis-wheatley

Phillis Wheatley
1753–1784
"Although she was an African slave, Phillis Wheatley was one of the best-known poets in prenineteenth-century America. Pampered in the household of prominent Boston commercialist John Wheatley, lionized in New England and England, with presses in both places publishing her poems, and paraded before the new republic's political leadership and the old empire's aristocracy, Phillis was the abolitionists' illustrative testimony that blacks could be both artistic and intellectual. Her name was a household word among literate colonists and her achievements a catalyst for the fledgling antislavery movement.

 No more, America, in mournful strain

Of wrongs, and grievance unredress'd complain,

No longer shalt thou dread the iron chain,

Which wanton Tyranny with lawless hand

Had made, and with it meant t' enslave the land.

   Should you, my lord, while you peruse my song,

Wonder from whence my love of Freedom sprung,

Whence flow these wishes for the common good,

By feeling hearts alone best understood,

I, young in life, by seeming cruel fate

Was snatch'd from Afric's fancy'd happy seat:

What pangs excruciating must molest,

What sorrows labour in my parent's breast?

Steel'd was that soul and by no misery mov'd

That from a father seiz'd his babe belov'd:

Such, such my case. And can I then but pray

Others may never feel tyrannic sway?

EGYPT BIRTHPLACE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION (PART 2)

From Black Athena (The Fabrication of Ancient Greece). Check out this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXdgURdWRCA

Examine the claims of Professor Martin Bernal who questions the assumption of the "Europeaness" of our civilization, placing instead the "black" Egyptians and Phoenicians at the center of the West's origin. Black Athena examines Cornell Professor Martin Bernal's iconoclastic study of the African origins of Greek civilization and the explosive academic debate it provoked. This film offers a balanced, scholarly introduction to the disputes surrounding multiculturalism, "political correctness" and Afrocentrist curricula sweeping college campuses today. In his book Black Athena, Prof. Bernal convincingly indicts 19th-century scholars for constructing a racist "cult of Greece" based upon a purely Aryan origin for Western culture. He accuses these classicists of suppressing the numerous connections between African and Near Eastern cultures and early Greek myth and art. Leading classical scholars, on the other hand, contend that Bernal, like the 19th-century classicists he attacks, uses evidence selectively, uncritically and ahistorically to support his own Afrocentric agenda. They argue that cultural diffusion alone can't account for the distinctive achievements of the Greeks during the Classical Period. Black Athena can help students begin to distinguish between sound scholarship and cultural bias - whether inherited from the past or imposed by the present.

EGYPTIAN INFLUENCE ON GREEK PHILOSOPHY (Part 1)

George G.M. James wrote a book entitled Stolen Legacy: The Egyptian Origins of Western Civilization. According to Barnes & Noble:

"Western Philosophy and Civilization did not begin in ancient Greece, as is commonly assumed; many centuries before, the Ancient Egyptians began the very basis of Western European thought in Africa. With thorough research and the eye of a scholar, George James traces the evolution of Western and Hermetic philosophy in Egypt, and its migration to Europe through the Greeks."


From: Stolen Legacy: Greek Philosophy is Stolen Egyptian Philosophy by George G. M. James
The Journal of Pan African Studies 2009 eBook: http://www.jpanafrican.com/ebooks/eBook%20Stolen%20Legacy.pdf

An excerpt:

Introduction
Characteristics of Greek Philosophy
The term Greek philosophy, to begin with is a misnomer, for there is no such philosophy in
existence. The ancient Egyptians had developed a very complex religious system, called the
Mysteries, which was also the first system of salvation.
As such, it regarded the human body as a prison house of the soul, which could be liberated from
its bodily impediments, through the disciplines of the Arts and Sciences, and advanced from the
level of a mortal to that of a God. This was the notion of the summum bonum or greatest good, to
which all men must aspire, and it also became the basis of all ethical concepts. The Egyptian
Mystery System was also a Secret Order, and membership was gained by initiation and a pledge
to secrecy. The teaching was graded and delivered orally to the Neophyte; and under these
circumstances of secrecy, the Egyptians developed secret systems of writing and teaching, and
forbade their Initiates from writing what they had learnt.
After nearly five thousand years of prohibition against the Greeks, they were permitted to enter
Egypt for the purpose of their education. First through the Persian invasion and secondly through
the invasion of Alexander the Great. From the sixth century B.C. therefore to the death of
Aristotle (322 B.C.) the Greeks made the best of their chance to learn all they could about
Egyptian culture; most students received instructions directly from the Egyptian Priests, but after
the invasion by Alexander the Great, the Royal temples and libraries were plundered and
pillaged, and Aristotle's school converted the library at Alexandria into a research centre. There
is no wonder then, that the production of the unusually large number of books ascribed to
Aristotle has proved a physical impossibility, for any single man within a life time.
The history of Aristotle's life, has done him far more harm than good, since it carefully avoids
any statement relating to his visit to Egypt, either on his own account or in company with
Alexander the Great, when he invaded Egypt. This silence of history at once throws doubt upon
the life and achievements of Aristotle. He is said to have spent twenty years under the tutorship
of Plato, who is regarded as a Philosopher, yet he graduated as the greatest of Scientists of
Antiquity. Two questions might be asked: (a) how could Plato teach Aristotle what he himself
did not know?; and (b) why should Aristotle spend twenty years under a teacher from whom he
could learn nothing?

FREEDOM IN AMERICA: MAROON SOCIETIES

Maroon societies are a reminder that Blacks were able to survive and thrive in the New World despite being harassed, hunted, and attacked.

FROM: http://www.nps.gov/subjects/ugrr/discover_history/maroon-slave-societies.htm

In many ways, the colonial era presented enslaved Africans with more opportunities to escape than did the more settled and legally restrictive American society of the nineteenth century.  More runaways before the American Revolution than afterward may have tried to form maroon societies.  Large sections of all the colonies were uninhabited by whites.  Vast tracks of forests and swamps, not yet claimed and settles, offered deep cover for runaways.  Colonies were only just beginning to develop laws to protect slaveholders.  Maroon societies were bands of communities or fugitive slaves who had succeeded in establishing a society of their own in some remote areas, where they could not easily be surprised by soldiers or slave catchers.  Maroon societies had several degrees of stability.  At the least stable end would be gangs of runaway men who wandered within a region, hiding together, and who sustained themselves by raids.  Other, more stable societies included men and women and might have developed trade with outsiders.  Some maroon societies felt safe enough to plant crops and maintain some semblance of permanency. By the time of the American Republic, such refuges were fewer.  Native Americans, themselves retreating in the face of Anglo settlement into their homelands, already inhabited the North American backcountry.  Florida and the Texas-Mexico border had several active communities, as did Louisiana, before its acquisition by the United States.  In 1783, the Spanish governor of Florida offered freedom to slaves who escaped from the British colonies.  Spain, fearful of British land claims, made this appeal to try and destabilize British colonies.  After this edit, slaves ran away in groups to St. Augustine and nearby Florida villages.  In response, slave-owners organized slave patrols over land and water.  Many of the Florida village’s slaves escaped to also contained remnants of Southeastern Indian tribes, gathered together for survival.  This group later became known as the Seminoles.

The Great Dismal Swamp, Okefenokee, and other sites were also briefly home to bands of runaways, some of whom left after a period and other who planned to stay on and out of sight. Perhaps the most famous fugitive outpost was Fort Negro, occupied by the British until the end of the War of 1812.  Freedom seekers occupied the fort after the British departure had used it as a base to harass slave owners.  This threat to slavery did not last long.  American troops led by General Andrew Jackson destroyed the outpost in 1816, killing or enslaving all inhabitants. There are some books on the subject reviews at: http://www.richandsally.net/maroon_societies___rebel_slave_communities_in_the_americas_8363.htm

NOK CULTURE -- WESTERN AFRICA

The awareness of different African cultures throughout history is Black Heritage and world heritage.

A video about Nok Culture: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVT--v-fAKw


FROM: http://nokculture.com/

Picture from: http://visualculture09.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/dont-know-much-about-nigeria/

Welcome to Nok, fountain of wealth and unique artifacts. The Nok Culture civilization was discovered in 1928. The first discoveries was  accidentally unearthed at a level of 24 feet in an alluvial tin mine in the vicinity of the village of Nok in Jaba Local Government  in the southern part of Kaduna state,   near the Jos Plateau region which lies in the  central part of Nigeria in west Africa .  As a result of natural erosion and deposition, Nok terracottas were scattered at various depths throughout the Sahel grasslands, causing difficulty in the dating and classification of the mysterious artifacts.

Luckily, two archaeological sites, Samun Dukiya and Taruga, were found containing Nok art that had remained unmoved. Radiocarbon and thermo-luminescence tests narrowed the sculptures’ age down to between 2000 and 2500 years ago, making them some of the oldest in West Africa.

Because of the similarities between the two sites, archaeologist Graham Connah believes that "Nok artwork represents a style that was adopted by a range of iron-using farming societies of varying cultures, disputing the claim of solely being the diagnostic feature of Nok people.It is however a statement of fact that ,the Nok Terracotta fugurines  earned it’s name due to the Nok civilization that  inhabited the area from around 500 BC in the  village of Nok in Jaba Local Government  in the southern part of Kaduna state,  which lies in the  central part of Nigeria in west Africa . The Nok culture was considered to be the earliest sub-Saharan producer of life-sized Terracotta. The refinement of this culture is attested to by the image of a Nok dignitary figurine. Most parts of the terracotta is preserved in the form of scattered fragments. That is why Nok art is well known today only for the heads, both male and female, whose hairstyles are particularly detailed and refined. The statues are in fragments because the discoveries are usually made from alluvial mud, in terrain made by the erosion of water. The terracotta statues found there are hidden, rolled, polished, and broken. Rarely are works of great size conserved intact making them highly valued on the international art market. The terracotta figures are hollow, coil built, nearly life sized human heads and bodies that are depicted with highly stylized features, abundant jewellery, and varied postures.

AFRICANS DISCOVER IMMUNIZATION PROCEDURE

Picture from: http://www.niica.on.ca/ghana/CapitalCity.aspx

"In May of 1771, Dr. Zabdiel Boylston successfully used small-pox inoculations to treat a smallpox epidemic responsible for 844 deaths in the Boston area. Boylston was encouraged to experiment with the inoculation by Reverend Cotton Mather, who had learned of immunization from Onesimus, his slave. Onesimus had described to Mather the manner in which his people would deliberately infect themselves to establish immunity to the virus. Boyleston used Onesimus' method of inoculation on his son, Thomas, and two slaves. He later inoculated as many as 240 others, of whom 6 actually contracted the disease." -- From Black Saga: The African American Experience by Charles M. Christian 

ANCIENT AFRICA TIMELINE: THE FIRST 201,000 YEARS

Ancient Africa Timeline from 

Timeline Help

http://www.timeline-help.com/ancient-africa-timeline.html

"Ancient Africa timeline part 1 of 22 from 60,000 BCE to 633 BCE at Timeline Help. First the reasons why I designed this world event chronology. Africa is the second largest of the seven world continents world, full of colored cultures and an interesting history. More than 680 million people live there, almost 15 percent of the global population.
Africa is considered to be birthplace of the modern human beings. And that's where my extended Ancient Africa timeline starts ..."

- 60,000 BCE - 200,000 BCE - 25,000 BCE - 10,000 BCE - 6000 BCE - 4000 BCE - 5000 BCE - 3200 BCE - 2750 BCE - 2686 BCE - 2134 BCE - 2630 BCE - 2611 BCE - 2589 BCE - 2566 BCE - 2575 BCE - 2551 BCE - 2528 BCE - 2520 BCE - 2520 BCE - 2494 BCE - 2494 BCE - 2472 BCE - 2472 BCE - 2467 BCE - 2046 BCE - 1995 BCE - 2030 BCE - 1640 BCE - 1570 BCE - 1070 BCE - 1370 BCE - 1330 BCE - 1343 BCE - 1325 BCE - 1200 BCE - 800 BCE - 1000 BCE - 800 BCE - 982 BCE - 712 BCE - 633 BCE - 530 BCE

Early homo sapiens in central Africa. Cave rock paintings. River People in Niger and Congo. Cyclopean masonry in central Africa. Predynastic settlements along the Nile borders and southwestern Egypt. Ancient Nubian people in central Sudan. Upper and Lower Egypt united. Pharaoh Narmer rules Egypt. The Step Pyramid of Djoser build in Memphis' necropolis at Saqqara. Old Kingdom of Egypt. Pharao King Djoser. Pharao King Khufu. Pharao King Sneferu. Djedefra rules Egypt. Pharao King Khafra. Pharao King Menkaura Pharao King Shepseskaf. Pharaoh Mentuhotep II. Middle Kingdom of Egypt. New Kingdom of Egypt. Pharaoh Queen Nefertitit. Pharaoh King Tutankhamen. Phoenicians in North Africa. Bantu migration from southern Africa to the Sahara Desert. Menelik I Ethiopia's first Ancient Emperor. Pharaoh King Piankhi rules Egypt. Phoenician colonies in the Western Sahara region.

- 500 BCE - 200 BCE - 500 BCE - 450 BCE - 334 BCE - 323 BCE - 323 BCE - 283 BCE - 300 BCE - 100 - 300 BCE - 264 BCE - 241 BCE - 247 BCE - 183 BCE - 218 BCE - 201 BCE - 196 BCE - 149 BCE - 146 BCE - 69 BCE - 30 BCE - 47 BCE - 189 - 199 - 250 - 710 - 270 - 300 - 400 - 1200 - 600 - 1000 - 600 - 1500 - 622 - 639 - 641 - 700 - 800 - 700 - 1911 - 710 - 740 - 1492 - 750 - 1240 - 750 - 1076 - 1000

Ancient Nok culture in Nigeria. Greeks establish colonies along the coast of the Red Sea. Carthaginian Hanno the Navigator explores the northern African coast. Conquests of Alexander the Great. Pharao King Ptolemy I Soter rules Egypt. The Ancient Kingdom of Axum or The Aksumite Empire in northeastern Africa. Nubian capital of Mero is founded. First of the Three Punic Wars in Ancient Africa Timeline 2 between Carthage and Rome. Hannibal rules Carthage and invades Italy. Second Punic War. The Rosetta Stone created, and found in 1799. Third Punic War, Carthage is destructed. Pharaoh Queen Cleopatra VII rules Egypt. Fire destroys the Great ancient library of Alexandria. Pope Victor I, the African pope. The Ethiopian Kingdom of Axum. The Vandals establish a kingdom in North Africa. Axum conquers southern Arabia. Parts of North Africa are converted to Christianity. Medieval Ghana Kingdom. Bantu people migrates to southern Africa. Slave trade from central to northern African continent. Prophet Muhammad travels from Mecca to Medina. Islamic Khalif Omar conquers Egypt and Persi, and controls East African trade towns. Islamic conquest of North Africa. Arabs trade slaves on the African continent. Arabs invade and destroy the Ancient Kingdom of Axum. Islamicized African Moors invade southern Spain, and rule until the fall of Granada. The Soninke Empire of Ghana. Kingdom of Ghana or Wagadou Empire. City of Timbuktu founded in Mali.

THINK AND GROW RICH-DENNIS KIMBRO

THINK AND GROW RICH-DENNIS KIMBRO VIDEO

A book well worth reading. Below are a couple of youtube videos where Dr. Dennis Kimbro summarizes his book and gives his philosophy of success.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKrSDb3mCWk followed by
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=pYY0r0k2GcU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlwYMEEsPg0&feature=relmfu

\

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT EGYPT? (Easy)

Black Heritage Quiz 1

This quiz is primarily about Ancient Egypt

1. Egyptian Leaders were called:

President
Pharoah
Big Chief
Boss Man


2. Egypt is on what continent?

America
Asia
Africa
Egypt is a continent


3. You can find this in Egypt:

Pyramids
Sphinx
Nile
All of the above


4. What DIDN'T Egypt develop?

Mummification
Surgery
Astronomy
Computers


5. The affect of Egypt on Greece was:

Insignificant
Profound
Unsubstantiated
Exaggerated by most European scholars

Fantastic!

WHAT DOES "SANKOFA" MEAN?

Sankofa is a term that is used often in Black intellectual circles. This is the clearest definition I've read. Sankofa represents the essence of why we think Black Heritage Network is so important. 

FROM: The African American Studies Department at University of Illinois Springfield http://www.uis.edu/africanamericanstudies/students/sankofa.html

Meaning of the Sankofa bird

The concept of “Sankofa” is derived from King Adinkera of the Akan people of West Africa. “Sankofa” is expressed in the Akan language as"se wo were fi na wosan kofa a yenki." Literally translated, this means "it is not taboo to go back and fetch what you forgot".

"Sankofa" teaches us that we must go back to our roots in order to move forward. That is, we should reach back and gather the best of what our past has to teach us, so that we can achieve our full potential as we move forward. Whatever we have lost, forgotten, forgone, or been stripped of can be reclaimed, revived, preserved, and perpetuated.

Visually and symbolically, "Sankofa" is expressed as a mythic bird that flies forward while looking backward with an egg (symbolizing the future) in its mouth. This ties with our motto: "In order to understand our present and ensure our future, we must know our past."

WHAT IS THE KEBRA NEGAST?

Christianity in Africa has taken many forms and has traditions and books that are unfamiliar to most of us in the United States. Black Heritage is as varied as it is interesting. 

From http://www.kebranegast.com/

"The Kebra Nagast (The Glory of Kings), is an account written in Ge'ez of the origins of the Solomonic line of the Emperors of Ethiopia. The Kebra Negast is one of the oldest text of linage in Africa and is at least seven hundred years old, and is revered by many Ethiopian Christians and Rastafarians. Just as the Tarikh Ul Sudan is for Islamic history. Not only does it contain an account of how theQueen of Sheba met Solomon, and about how the Ark of the Covenant came to Ethiopia with Menelik I, but contains an account of the conversion of the Ethiopians from the worship of the sun, moon, and stars to the current Tewahedo Church (Ethiopian Orthodox Church)"

You should also look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kebra_Nagast 

SLAVE SHIP REBELLIONS

The importance of slave ship rebellions is that fact that kidnapped Africans were not passive victims to the slave trade. We can be inspired by those who participated in these rebellions because they show how to be brave in the face of terror, death, and the unknown. 


Amistad from youtube.com: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxRfe6C3otM about an 1839 mutiny aboard a slave ship that is traveling towards the northeastern coast of America. Much of the story involves a court-room drama about the free man who led the revolt.

From: http://slaverebellion.org/index.php?page=african-insurrections
Thousands of enslaved Africans tried to overthrow their captors on slave ships taking them to the Americas. The exact number of shipboard rebellions is unknown. But, historians have documented over 500 incidents.^[1] On board slave revolts have been debated in a new light. For a long time scholars have been overly concerned with enslaved African resistances in the Americas and on the plantations, little attention has been given to the patterns of revolts on slave board ships on the African coast and in the Atlantic crossing between 1650 and 1860.


¹Eric Robert Taylor, If We Must Die: Shipboard Insurrections in the Era of the Atlantic Slave Trade. Louisiana State University Press, 2009.

BLACK GIRLS TAUGHT PROGRAMMING

In addition to being taught about their heritage, learning how to program computers is the most important skill that young Black people should acquire. They have to get into the world of not only being computer users, but also creators. If the intellectual, creative capacity of Black girls is let loose on the world of computer programming, who knows to what heights they will soar.

From Black Girls Code: http://www.blackgirlscode.com/

BlackGirlsCode is devoted to showing the world that black girls can code, and do so much more. By reaching out to the community through workshops and after school programs, BlackGirlsCode introduces computer coding lessons to young girls from underrepresented communities in programming languages such as Scratch or Ruby on Rails. BlackGirlsCode has set out to prove to the world that girls of every color have the skills to become the programmers of tomorrow. By promoting classes and programs we hope to grow the number of women of color working in technology and give underprivileged girls a chance to become the masters of their technological worlds.

BlackGirlsCode is proud to say we’ve completed our first year as an organization, during which time we had the honor of bringing technology and entertainment to many wonderful young girls of color. By teaching the girls programming and game design, we hope to have started the lifelong process of developing in them a true love for technology and the self-confidence that comes from understanding the greatest tools of the 21st century. 

THE KINGDOM OF AKSUM/AXUM

The importance of Axum is that it is another indication of African civilization building. This kingdom lasted for more than a thousand years.

From: Aksum - UNESCO World History http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/15

The ruins of the ancient city of Aksum are found close to Ethiopia's northern border. They mark the location of the heart of ancient Ethiopia, when the Kingdom of Aksum was the most powerful state between the Eastern Roman Empire and Persia. The massive ruins, dating from between the 1st and the 13th century A.D., include monolithic obelisks, giant stelae, royal tombs and the ruins of ancient castles. Long after its political decline in the 10th century, Ethiopian emperors continued to be crowned in Aksum.

Check: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axum