Summer in 2009 Part 4

The Glory of Africa Part 2


Africa will forever have a special place in my heart. The land of Africa and the people of Africa (which consists of many colors and backgrounds) certainly acquire a profound connection with me. The reason is that my own ancestors came from Africa. Yes, I am a black American and I'm not ashamed of who I am or where I come from. Yet, all people, regardless of their background, should comprehend the continent of Africa as a succint portion of our human history in general. The diversity of Africa is seen in the forests of Central Africa to the urban high rises (with skyscrapers) of Johannesburg, South Africa. This work will delve more into the past histories of Africa that deals with the African experience. This African experience is very well known for spreading all over the Earth. I want to do this, because this story is so often ignored in our society. Finally, more people are fixed on the interesting story of Africa. Thousands of years ago, ancient Egypt consisted of a very advanced civilization. They had heiroglyphics, science, mathematics, architecture, astronomy, law, and other confines of a complex nation. A similar culture and civilization and culture can be found in Nubia and ancient Ethoipia as well.

Ancient Nubia existed even before ancient Egypt came about as a civilization. Nubia or Kush has been called the land of Gold. Nubia and ancient Egypt fought various wars with each from time to time, yet both countries had countries had peaceful coexistence for extended periods of time. The Historian Michael Rice wrote about Nubia that: "...The Southern Kingdom, Upper Egypt, was clearly conceived as the dominant of the two regions. It was from the south that the most enduring influences in Egyptian society came and without doubt most of its greatest leaders were southerners too. Through her long history Egypt constantly needed to return to the south to refresh herself and to restore her institutions, even perhaps her soul, when the weight of years or of external pressures laid too heavily upon her..." The Neolithic period in the Nile Valley probably came from Sudan according to scholars. This period was in ca. 4,000 B.C. There are rock reliefs showing scenes of a cattle cult. Megaliths discovered at Nabta Playa are early examples of what seems to be one of the world's first astronomical devices, out dating Stonehenge by several 1000 years. In 3,800 B.C., there was the A Group Culture. Qustul in Nubia in 3300 B.C. was an unified Kingdom with many structures. Qustul was also called Ta-Seti. Around the turn of the protodynastic period, Naqada, in its bid to conquer and unify the whole Nile valley, seems to have conquered Ta-Seti (the kingdom where Qustul was located) and harmonized it with the Egyptian state, and thus, it became the first nome of Upper Egypt. At the time of the first dynasty, the A-Group area seems to have been entirely depopulated, most likely due to immigration to areas west and south. The B Group came in Nubia in about in the early 28th century B.C. Today most historians believe that B-Group was merely A-Group but far poorer. The causes of this are uncertain, but it was perhaps caused by Egyptian invasions and pillaging that began at this time. There were the C Group which flourished from ca. 2240 B.C. to ca. 2150 B.C. The C-Group is known for its pottery having incised geometric lines with white infill (plus impression imitations of basketry). Modern Nubia came about in ca. 2,000 B.C. being one of the first black civilizations in the world. Nubia is home to ebony, writings, trade, and other interesting components. The people of Kerma organized thier Kingdom in Nubia as well. The Nubians regularly mixed with the ancient Egyptians especially in the New Kingdom of ancient Egypt. The famous black Nubian King Taharqa (he's mentioned in the Bible) ruled both Nubia and Egypt. Meroe (800 BC - c. AD 350) lay on the east bank of the Nile about 6 km north-east of the Kabushiya station near Shendi, Sudan, ca. 200 km north-east of Khartoum. The queens of Meroe were called Candaces. The Nubian Queen of Amentari and King Netek-amen worshipped the 3 headed lion diety called Ampedak. The Nubians were known to defeat Alexander the Great and the Roman armies.


Ancient Ethiopia or Abyssinia have a interesting history. It's one of the most ancient countries in the world. In 1,000 B.C., the region of Ethiopia, Eritrea, and southern Yemen traded with other and had a similar ethnic group. They were made up of Negriod and Semitic people. Southern Arabia was also known for the Saba civilization with damns, artwork, etc. The Queen of Sheba from the Bible is known as coming from this part of the world. She is called "black and comely" and had a relationship with the Israelite King Solomon. Today, those in Ethopia believe that Sheba and Solomon's descendants are in the Royal family of Ethiopia. In that area of the world, they knew about astronomy. They also worshipped celestial bodies including the sun plus the moon. Punt was a famous country in Somalia. There was the D'mt cvilization in the 1st millennium B.C. Axum is the famous civilization in ancient Ethiopia that most people understand. It began to be prominent in ca. the 1 century A.D. They even conquered Nubia for a time. The King Ezana ruled Axum in the 4th century A.D. Christianity arrived in Nubia and Axum early on. Ethiopia resisted European imperialists for centuries. One example is how they under King Menelik II defeate the Italians in the Battle of Adwa from 1896. Italy and Ethiopia subsequently signed a temporary provisional treaty of peace on October 26, 1896. The early twentieth century was marked by the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie I, who came to power after Iyasu V was deposed. It was he who undertook the modernization of Ethiopia, from 1916, when he was made a Ras and Regent (Inderase) for Zewditu I and became the de facto ruler of the Ethiopian Empire. The Papal fascist Benito Mussolini of Italy occupied Ethioipia from 1936 to 1941. Hall Selassie is the most famous Emperor in Ethiopia's history. He was born of parents from the 3 major Ethiopian ethnicites of Ormo, Amhara, and Gurage. Ge'ez is alphabet in Ethiopia. Famous words in Ethiopia for the cold zone is dega, for the hot zone is kolla, and Tsehay is for the sun. Ethopia was liberated by a combination of British Commonwealth forces and Ethiopian patriot forces. Today, Ethiopia has tons of ethnic groups (like the Amhara, Gurage, Sidama, Afar, the Falasha or Beta Israel, and the Tigray-Tigrinya peoples) and even a significant minority Muslim population. The Falasha are some of the Lost Tribes of Israel who existed in Ethiopia.

I. The transaltantic slave trade was evil by any concievable definition. It was influential in history in defining much of the African experience. It was brutal, hateful, and terroristic. It treated fellow human beings as less than human. Between 9.4 and 12 million Africans traveled into North and South American during the slave trade according to many modern historians. We mostly hear stories about the slaves traveling into America, which should be known about. Yet, most of the African slaves traveled into places like Brazil, the Caribbean, and South America. Most of the African slaves came from West and Central Africa (some even came from East Africa). Africans and African Americans classify this injustice as Maafa or Holocaust or great disaster in Swahili. This trade was inhuman and was apart of economic mercantilism. This economic system of the Middle Passage or the Triangular Trade lasted for centuries. Now, slavery existed for thousands of years before this event, but this information relates to African history. Many traitorous Africans sold black slaves to Arabic people then centuries later to the Europeans. Europeans used their African agents to get the slave trade going forth. The 2 major eras of this trade are called the First and Second Atlantic System. The First Atlantic Sytem dealt with Portugeuse and Spanish empire getting African slaves from Africa to fund their empire. This was only a small percentage of all of the Atlantic slave trade being only 3%. It started in the late 1400's and grew mightily by 1502. During this period some of the Dutch, English, Spanish, and French traders worked in this trade as well. The Second Atlantic system was of course dealing with English, Brazilian, French, and Dutch traders stealing African people form their homeland and sending them into the Caribbean colonies, Brazil, and the rest of North America. Even some Jewish people (mostly from Spain, the Netherlands, Britian, etc.) have a role in the international slave trade that's even exposed in mainstream history. The slave trade continued onward into the 19th century. The Native Americans suffering smallpox and population depleted inspired the Europeans to increase the slave trade among African people. No one knows the total dealt toll of the slave trade. Soem believe that from 8 million to 16 million Africans ded in the slave trade (which includes the procurement of slaves, storage, shipment, landing of people into the new world). Slaves in the Americas were used to build up crops like sugar, cotton, tobacco, etc. in that part of the war. Some of the profits from these crops aided the wars of the Seven Years' War in 1763, etc. Many then and today apologize for slave and the slave trade. They should. On July 30, 2008, the United States House of Representatives passed a resolution apologizing for American slavery and subsequent discriminatory laws. The language included a reference to the "fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow" segregation. On June 18, 2009, The United States Senate issued an apologetic statement decrying the "fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery". The news was welcomed by President Obama, the nation's first President of African descent.



Colonial history in America was filled with tragedy and fights for freedom. John Casor was a black man in 1655 who was the first legally recognized slave in the area that became the United States. In the Stono Rebellion, South Carolina slaves gathered at the Stono River to plan an armed march for freedom. This occurred in September 9, 1739. Rhode Island forbade the import of slaves in 1774. All of the colonies except Georgia had banned or limited the African slave trade by 1786; Georgia did so in 1798 - although some of these laws were later repealed. Vermont in July 8, 1777 was the first state to passed a constitution that abolished slavery. The First African Baptist Church of Savannah, Georgia was organized under Andrew Bryan in 1788. The abolitionist movement to end slavery exist among many races, but black people took the lead. David Walker was a famous abolitionist. He express the words of freedom and seeking liberty. Walker's "The Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World," which was considered the most radical anti-slavery document of its time. It aroused fear in Southern slave owners and caused a stir among slaves. Slave rebellions were unsuccessful before the Civil War liek the famous Nat Turner rebellion in August of 1831. There were Federick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and Sojouner Truth that worked in the Underground Railroad to free escaped slaves. Some slaves went into the North and beyond into Canada.


II. Black people in the Caribbean have made great contributions in human history. On my mother's side, I have some Caribbean ancestry. There is the great Trinidadian author C.L.R. James born. Shirley Chisholm, who was the first African American nominee for the Presidency is of Caribbean descent. Now, the Caribbean is a bast region that stretchs from the Gulf of Mexico into the Atlantic Ocean. It's fully of over 7,000 islands, islets, reefs, and cays. The Caribbean is caused Caraibe in French and the Caribe in the Spanish language. Native American are the original settlers in the Caribbean Islands and countries. Hispaniola had human settlement in 3600 B.C. The earliest dates in the Lesser Antilles are from 2000 BCE in Antigua. A lack of pre-ceramic sites in the Windward Islands and differences in technology suggest that these Archaic settlers may have Central American origins. The Carib speaking and Arawak speaking groups lived in Trinidad. There were the Taino tribes in the Greater Antilles, the Bahamas, and the Leeward Island. The Papal imperalist Christopher Columbus (with Knights Templar crosses on his ships) came into Bahamas, Taino, and Hispaniola. He did this under the Spanish crown to get gold and other resources. There were small resources of gold, but not mcuh. Spanish imperalists would import African slaves in order to get resources. They soon claimed the entire Caribbean, yet settled in the islands of Puerto Rico, Cuba, Jamaica, Trinidad, and Hispaniola (which consists of Haiti and the Dominican Republic). The Spanish Empire soon declined, so other European powers took over areas of the Caribbean. In the 1600's, the British started to colonize Bermuda, the Bahamas (the English admiral William Penn seized Jamaica in 1655 and it was under British rule for over 300 years), and other places. Haiti was ruled by France, and the Dutch took over many islands like Tobago, St. Croix, Tortola, Aruba, etc. The imperalism in the Carribean develop the European lust for sugar crops and grew the slave trade. The oppression in the Islands caused of course wars and rebellions. Haiti fought for their independence and it was the first name to achieve independence in the Caribbean in 1791. A slave rebellion that became the Haitian Revolution under the leadership of Toussaint l'Ouverture established Haiti as a free, black republic by 1804. Haiti became the world's oldest black republic, and the second-oldest republic in the Western Hemisphere, after the United States. The remaining two-thirds of Hispaniola were conquered by Haitian forces in 1821. In 1844, the newly-formed Dominican Republic declared its independence from Haiti. Other nations gained independence from European nations in the 19th century. To this day, some states in Caribbean are controlled by European powers.


The Monroe doctrine influenced that part of the world, because that Doctrine says that Europe shouldn't have undue influence in the Western Hemisphere. It was invented by President James Monrore in the early 1800's. The West Indies are a major region in the Caribbean as well. There were Spanish colonists in the region and African slaves that arrived there mostly from 1500 to 1800. Black slaves came from West Africa (like the Kongo, the Ashante of Ghana, the Mende of Liberia, the Igbo [including the Yoruba and Akan] of Nigeria, and immigrants (from Britian, France, Spain, the Netherlands, and even Denmark). The majority of the Carribean are made up of black people (even though Hispanic people, Asians, English, French, Portugeuse, Chinese, and Indian people live in the Caribbean) in the region that once were colonized by the English, French, and the Dutch. The Spanish speaking Caribbean are made up Africans, Europeans, and Hispanic people. Puerto Rico has a mixture of African peope, Native Americans, Hispanics, etc. Today, the Caribbean has made great strides and many problems like us Americans have.

III. Black people in Latin America, Mexico, and South America have a huge history. It can take books and books of information to describe the whole history of the Black experience in Latin America, but here is summary of these gems of history. In Colombia there are black people. Some existed in the nation as slaves in the 1500's. African slaves worked on gold mines, sugar cane plantations, cattle ranches, and large haciendas. This was immoral. Colombia banned slavery in 1851. African Colombians today are prominently situations in Colombia's urban centers. There was eugenics trying to use the Spanish mestizaje plan to get rid of black people genetically from Colombia. It didn't work. Not until 1991, after a very strong popular struggle, did the new Colombian Constitution give Afro-Colombians the right to collective ownership of traditional Pacific coastal lands, and special cultural development protection. Today, discrimination against black Colombians exist just like in America. Edgar Renteria is a famous major league baseball player being a black man. Joe Arroyo is one of the top Salsa soloists of all time. Dating back to his days in the city of Cartagena, the city of escaped slaves, he started singing in church choirs and in nightclubs. He provides a fusion of sorts in his music by incorporating sounds of Cumbia, Soca and Zouk which ends up having a very Caribbean sound. Joe Arroyo sings songs deal with the struggles in life and of his black heritage. Senator Piedad Cordoba is the highest ranking Afro-Colombian congress person. He promotes equal rights for many people. Plan Colombia is an "anti-drug" campaign supported by America that some criticize as negatively effecting the black community in Colombia. In this plan, homes have been destroyed and people have suffered. There are blacks in Ecudor. Afro-Ecuadorians are well known. Augustin Delgado is a top soccer player from Ecuador. The blacks in Venezuela are very African conscious with their magazine called Africanias. Many black Venezuelans are in top positions of their government, but inequalities exist there. They live heavily on the coast. Barlovento is the Black mecca for Venezuela. Black heritage reigns in Barlovento such as Esmereldas in Ecuador and Choco in Colombia. The Venezuelan African community in Barlovento hosted the Second International reunion of the Latin African Family in 1999 with reps coming from Puerto Rico right down to Argentina. The Africans in Venezuela are now playing a prominent role on the international stage whereas previously, they were unseen (with people like Oscar D'Leon and others). Blacks live in Belize and Guatemala. Guatemala is the most populous natiion in Central America.

IV. The ending of colonization for Africa increased after the end of WWII. Ghana for thousands of years had trade roots, courts, and other fields of advanced civilization. Even in the 12th century, Ghana's wealth were eclipsed by Mali to the north. In the 1600's, the Trans-Atlantic slave trade effected Ghana in a higher level. The Europeans lusted after the gold and the people in the coast of West Africa. This is where the nickname of the Gold Coast originated from. The Ashante tribe united as a bulwark against European imperalists. They united under Osei tutu who ruled from a golden stool in he capital city of Kumasi in the early 1700's. They had guns and made their mark. The Fante worked with the Europeans and the economy of the Asante plus other coastal kingdoms were depleted drastically. The Asante fought the British during the era of the Industrial Revolution since the British wanted to use rail transport to get into the interior of Africa more effectively. The Berlin Conference of 1884 divided Africa, but the Europeans disagreed with other on how to get that division accomplished. Wars occured and independence movements for Ghana and the rest of Africa exist. Kwane Khrumah was a gifted Ghanian student. He studed in London during the 1940's. Even back in 1945, he worked with W.E.B. DuBois to institute the Fifth Pan African Conference. This allowed and inspired many courageous, young African intellectuals to promote the cause of liberation of African people from the imperalists and to cooperate for the benefit of all. By 1948, Nkurmah went home in Ghana to protest the British rule of his nation. Soon, British granted independence to Ghana in 1957. Ghana was the first sub-Saharan nation that broke free from Europe. He was leader in Ghana from 1961 to 1965. He tried to create a form of socialism, but a military coup ousted him. Too much reliance on the West for aid have caused Ghana many large debts owed to the World Bank and the IMF. The World Bank and the IMF are known for using debts as an excuse to further control many nations, especially those in the Third World. Nkrumah wanted a unified group of African nations to improve Africa. He was an architect of the OAS or the Organization of African States. Of course, I don't agree with globalist institutions. A famous Ghananian is Kofi Annan, who was the ex-Secretary General of the United Nations. Annan is a new world order puppet and his relatives have ties to Freemasonry. So, we respect the Ghanian independence as an inspiration that real changes can still occur in the world. South Africa is another example of how oppression should be opposed in any time.



Southern Africa have people fighting for their liberty as well. As numerous scholars realize, the Bantu tribes mostly lived in this region of Africa. There were the King of the Methethwa being defeated in battle (whose name was Dingiswagyo.. His stalwart lietuenant was Shaka). They were a branch of the Ngoni speakers of the Bantu people. The Bantu people migrated from West Africa into South Africa over the span of thousands of years. They were a very peaceful people. Conflicts came when fertile became dry. The conquered Methethwa people were and are called the Zulu. The Dutch even in 1652 landed on the southernmost point of Africa (called the Cape of Good Hope today). The Dutch East India Company did this to create a settlement of supply station for trading ships (to go into Asia by way of the African coast. The Suez canal wasn't formed yet). The Dutch raised cattle and crops. They contacted the indigenous people of the Khiokoi and the San. Some of the Dutch colonists used enslaved Africans and Asians on their farms. Some used their sons to own a 6,000 acre lot with acquired forced labor to work. Later, Holland turned the settlement over to Britain. Britain banned slavery in 1832, so the Dutch went into the "open land." Long wagon trains of Dutch settlers came out. They pushed north and the Zulu pushed south. Soon, they were headed towards each other. Shaka Zulu used new weapons, training, tactics, and military organization to defeat his aversaries. His enemies fled him or absorved into the Zulu. Shaka formed Zululand as a huge expanding Kingdom by 1828 (after 10 years of hardcore fighting). Shaka wanted to touch European settlements. Shaka contacted traders already. He allowed them into Zululand with strict superivison. Shaka ultimately wanted access to European trade goods and access to their weaponry plus military knowledge. Shaka was such a genius that the British would use his ideas in WWI and the Germans in WWII. Shaka was assassinated in 1828 by his brother in support of other commanders. One can only wonder if Shaka reached the Europeans and advanced his technology even greater. His brother, Dingane, was no match for the Dutch who defeated him decisively at the Battle of Blood River in 1838. Soon, the Europeans expanded all over the South African coast. They competed for resources like diamonds. Britian wanted a piece of the action in South Africa because diamonds were discovered in the 1870's and gold was found in the 1880's. Britian fought with the Dutch when the UK went in the interior of South Africa. The British was victorious in 3 years. By 1945, South Africa was granted independence as a country. The country was ruled by a small white minority. The evil of apartheid laws came about in 1948. This made racial discrimination a reality in every aspect of society even in the constitution of the country. There have been peaceful methods to obtain justice. Black Africans, white Africans, and even Robert Kennedy opposed apartheid heavily in the 1960's. Nelson Mandela in the 1960's was the leader of an armed struggle to make changes in South Africa. He was captured and impriosned in 1964. He won't be released until decades later. The indigenous population was ultimately corralled into horrendous slums ("townships") in the cities and banished to largely infertile, resource-deprived areas of the countryside ("bantustans."). Later, all of the adjacent European colonies gained their independence. In the early 80s, the elite in South Africa repeatedly offered to release Nelson Mandela if he renounced armed struggle. Mandela refused to do so. Apartheid was so evil that America and other nations worldwide issued a boycott against South Africa (of all economic activities). In 1988, a combined force of Angolans, Namibians, South African freedom fighters and thousands of Cuban soldiers decisively defeated a large South African force. In 1990, Mandela was released without any precondition. The world celebrated. Soon, blacks were allowe to vote, enter the political process, and Nelson Mandela became President of South Africa. Mandela lead his political party called the ANC or the African National Congress. During that period, though, in an attempt to divide and still rule, some in the white minority encouraged the Zulu to engage in violent conflict with other indigenous peoples. That has since stopped and Mandela has passed on the leadership to Thabo Mbeki. South Africa and its neighbors are the world's leaders in the source of gold, diamonds, platinum, uranium, copper, manganese, chrone, and other minority. South Africa has a AIDS problem, but in struggle, improvement can come in South Africa. South Africa is a land that all people have a right to live and respect.

Today, Africa is in a crossroads. Many places in Africa are growing economically and some are suffering heavily. The African journey isn't limited to Africa since that journey is made manifest globally. Black Americans have made great contributions, but still a lot is still needed to improve our communities. The CNN documentary "Black in America" lists the hopes, problems, contributions, and struggle of black Americans. It was hosted by CNN's Soledad O'Brian, who is partially black herself. A lot of other documentaries have done the same like "Eyes on the Prize." There are good news in the world as well. An Ethiopian native named Alfa Demmellash lives in America. Alfa fled Addis Ababa into America when she was 2 years old. She is helping low income entereprenuers in New Jersey. Many of them are people of color or African Americans, immigrants, the poor, etc. Now, these businesses are growing. Her nonprofit group is called "Rising Tide Capital," which provided training and support to more than 250 individuals. Most of these people are single mothers. Robin Mum is a woman who runs a flower shop in Jersey City that improve her business output with the skills that she learned through Demmellash. Kim Bratten, a 39-year-old painter and mother of six, says she's seen her yearly income increase by 50 percent since she started working with Demmellash and her team. "They put hope back into the community," Bratten says.

Regardless of what background that we are in in, we should dream big. If you want to be a doctor, lawyer, a business person, a scholar, an architect, a reporter, a public speaker, a police officer, teacher, writer, scientist, etc. that's fine. We should never give up. That same inspiration in our soul, we should exlude that power in our lives. In the end, the racists and skeptics will never win. In this generation, a lot of the racist don't overtly use degatory language. See, they use the slick tactic of using euphemisms or "code words" to outline their hate while denying being racist. The new code words are ghetto, aggressive, loud, and angry black person. First, ghetto is a location not a type of person one is. Many people who live in ghettos worldwide aren't violent or criminals at all. Many are very intelligent, college educated, and have wonderful children. So, everyone living in a certain neighborhood aren't monolithic at all. Racists see people as monoliths typically not as individuals or unique personalities. Racism accepts an extreme form of collectivism. Second, just because a person may raise their voice once in a while, doesn't a person is inferior or unstable. There is nothing wrong with raising your voice once in a while to express a legitimate point (not in order to harass a person or harm a person emotionally). So, I'm over the lies and stereotypes. I am a man, so a judge people on their actions not by the color of their skin. I don't believe in hating people, because of what they are or their background. I will always treat all people around me meekly and with respect. That's apart of God's commandments.


By Timothy