Although just a singer, Miriam Makeba decided that she could not stay without telling the world about the oppression suffered by her people at the hand of the apartheid government. So, with a small voice, she stood at the United Nations General Assembly in 1963 and delivered a speech where she exhorted the leaders of this world to act. In her own words, she said: “I ask all the leaders of the world: would you act differently, would you keep silent and do nothing if you were in our place, would you not resist if you were allowed no right in your own country because the color of your skin was different from the color of the rulers?”
Yes… that’s right! Alexander Pushkin, the father of modern Russian literature, was in reality Black. His great-grandfather was actually an African slave, Abram Petrovich Gannibal, who later became a general to “Peter the Great”. The regional origin of Gannibal is often contested as it is often said that he was born in 1696 in the village of “Logon” in modern-day Eritrea (a statue of Pushkin was erected in Asmara in 2009), while others claim that he was from the Logone-Birni area in Cameroon (possibly from the Kotoko kingdom or the Kanem-Bornu Empire). Today, most agree that he was actually from Cameroon. Interestingly enough, Alexander himself was very proud of his African ancestry.
Alexander Pushkin
Just to give you a time frame, Pushkin lived from 1799 to 1837 in Russia, and even wrote a book about his great-grandfather entitled “Peter the Great’s Negro,” also known as “Blackamoor of Peter the Great.” He is considered to be the greatest Russian poet and pioneered the use of vernacular speech in his poems, plays, mixing both drama and romance. Alexander Pushkin introduced Russia to all the European literary genres. He brought natural speech and foreign influences to create modern poetic Russian. Even though he lived a short life, he left examples of nearly every literary genre of his day: lyric poetry, narrative poetry, the novel, the short story, the drama, the critical essay, and even the personal letter. He lived a life entirely based on his favorite quote: “Live by the pen, die by the sword.” He lived a very provocative life, and was a real playboy. He died in a duel.
Pushkin’s monument in St Petersburg
Monuments have been erected in Russia, in St Petersburg, Moscow, and schools do carry his name. PBS did a piece on Frontline, entitled Pushkin Genealogy. It is said that Leo Tolstoy‘s book’s character Anna Karenina is based on Pushkin’s daughter (Maria Gartung), whom Tolstoy described as being extremely beautiful and intelligent. Check out some of his books on Amazon: Eugene Onegin, The Queen of Spades, Boris Godunov, and others… Check out Wikipedia to learn more about the father of modern Russian literature.
Alphadi is an African stylist from Niger, with Touareg origin who, just like Pathe’O and Chris Seydou, has revolutionized African fashion. Alphadi was born in Timbuktu Mali from parents who were traders. Alphadi’s gift was born from applying makeup on his sisters and mother as a young child. Very young he was fascinated by anything that could enhance feminine beauty. He hails from Niger, a muslim country where fashion and men don’t quite go together, and are not viewed well. However, this has not stopped Alphadi. After studies in tourism, and actually serving as director in the ministry of tourism in Niger, Alphadi finally decided to start his own line. In 1987, he was awarded the price for Best African Designer by the French federation of Couture and Pret-a-porter. In 1998, he won the Prince Claus Award, while in 1999, he won the Kora award for fashion, and in 2001Chevalier de l’Ordre de Merite de la France. Alphadi’s work is recognized everywhere: Niamey, Abidjan, Paris, Brussels, New York, Tokyo, etc…
Alphadi’s creation at a fashion show 2009
To encourage fashion on the African continent, he has also created the International Festival of African Fashion (FIMA) organized in his native country of Niger. Even though this event is viewed by radical muslims in his country as being wrong, and his life was even threatened, Alphadi has decided to continue bringing light to his country’s culture and beauty through his art, inviting stylists (such as Yves Saint Laurent, Ralph Lauren, etc…) and models from all over the world to Niger.
Alphadi’s creation
Alphadi’s originality is founded in the rich traditions of the Songhai, Zarma, Mbororo or Wodaabe, Haoussa and Touareg people. His insolent style allies itself with audacious lines and forms, creating a balance between the desert and western influences where he gathered his first experiences. In 1999, Alphadi widened his label by creating along side of his haute couture line a new, more sportswear line called “Alphadi Bis”. He also created with Wrangler “Alphadi Jeans” for a younger crowd. And in 2000, he launched l’Air d’Alphadi, the very first perfume by an African couturier.
C’était il y a très, très longtemps à l’époque ou les animaux parlaient et ou les hommes pouvaient comprendre leur langage. Il y avait une grande famine. Kakou Ananzè, l’araignée-à-l’esprit-plein d’astuce a résolu de partir à travers le pays, en quête de nourriture. Il marche longtemps, longtemps, pendant des jours et des nuits. Il aperçoit enfin au loin une fumée qui monte dans le ciel. Il se dirige vers elle. En arrivant, il voit le génie Aziza en train de manger, assis auprès du feu. Sa longue et épaisse chevelure se hérisse autour de sa tête et retombe sur son visage, cachant complètement ses yeux et l’empêchant de voir. Kakou Ananzè s’approche tout doucement du génie Aziza et, sans faire le moindre bruit, commence à voler un peu de nourriture. Quand Aziza prend un morceau de viande, Araignée, vite en prend un autre, tout en faisant bien attention que sa main ne rencontre jamais celle du génie. Bientôt il ne reste plus qu’un seul morceau dans le plat. Instinctivement, Araignée tend la main. Au même moment, le génie tend la sienne, ce qui fait qu’elles se rencontrent.
Qui est là? gronde le génie.
– C’est moi Kakou Ananzè, dit l’Araignée d’une faible voix.
– Je vais te dévorer, rugit Aziza en se dressant.
– Je le veux bien! Répond Kakou Ananzè, mais auparavant, puissant génie, laissez-moi tresser votre chevelure afin que vous puissiez me voir.
Elephant
Aziza accepte et se rassie, s’adossant à un arbre. Araignée se met à rire sous cape, et prend les longs cheveux du génie. Mais au lieu de les tresser, il s’en sert pour entourer le tronc de l’arbre et ainsi attache solidement Aziza de façon à ce que celui-ci ne puisse plus faire un mouvement.
Te voila prisonnier, pauvre sot! C’est moi maintenant qui vais te dévorer!
Kakou Ananzè met le feu à l’arbre. Et le génie est grillé. Quand il est cuit à point, Araignée le mange. Bientôt il ne reste plus que les os d’Aziza. Déçu, car il avait encore faim, Kakou Ananzè se met à examiner le petit tas d’ossements à la recherche d’un lambeau de viande oublié. Et un os bien long et bien pointu lui pique le nez, puis s’y fixe. Le nez de l’araignée enfle, s’allonge et devient une sorte de longue trompe.
Que vais-je devenir avec cette horrible chose sur le visage? se lamente Kakou Ananzè, il faut que je redevienne normal car les gens vont rire de me voir ainsi.
La trompe de l'elephant
Or en là, les animaux avaient coutume d’ôter leur nez et de le déposer sur la berge de la rivière ou du marigot, avant d’entrer dans l’eau pour se laver. Araignée profite de cette habitude. Il court jusqu’à la rivière la plus proche et se cache dans les arbustes. Eléphant arrive pesamment pour faire sa toilette. Il ôte son nez, le dépose soigneusement sur l’herbe et entre dans l’eau. Alors Kakou Ananzè s’empare du nez d’Eléphant, ôte sa vilaine trompe qu’il dépose sur l’herbe. Il fixe sur son visage le nez volé et s’enfuit à toute allure.
Quand Eléphant a terminé son bain, il remonte sur la berge et veut récupérer son bien. Mais malgré ses recherches il ne trouve que la vilaine trompe, et il est contraint de la mettre sur sa figure.
Conte tiré de “Contes des Lagunes et Savanes,” Collection ‘Fleuve et Flamme,’ édition Edicef, 1975.
Yes… I know… many people say Blacks don’t like the cold! maybe we don’t like the cold, but we still have our indomitable competitive spirit in the cold. This week, I have decided to talk about the few Blacks who have been representing the indomitable strength of our race at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Shani Davis
What best way than to start with Shani Davis, an olympian from Chicago, IL. Shani Davis is a proud member of the American speed skating team, and competes in both long and short track speed skating. At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Davis became the first Black athlete to ever win an individual gold medal at the winter games. This year in Vancouver, Davis became the first man to ever win back-to-back gold medal in the 1000 m speed skating event. He also won the silver medal in the 1500m event. His story is truly exceptional, and tells of hard work in a sport where very few Blacks have ever competed.
Robin Szolkowy & Aliona Savchenko
Vancouver also allowed us to meet Robin Szolkowy of Germany, whose father is from Tanzania and mother from Germany. Szolkowy is a German pair skater, who skated with partner Aliona Savchenko to win the Bronze medal at the Olympics this year.
Two members of the British Bobsleigh team are Henry Nwume and Lascelles Brown. A proud member of the female bobsleigh Canadian team is Shelley-Ann Brown; One of our brothers, Jarome Iginla, is also part of the Canadian ice-hockey team, which will probably take gold this year. Sister Nkeiruka Ezekh is a Russian Federation curling athlete.
Nkrumah-Acheampong
Our hats are raised to Ethiopian cross-country skier Robel Teklemariam, Ghanaian Alpine skier Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong also known as the “snow leopard”, Jamaican freestyle skier Errol Kerr, Senegalese alpine skier Leyti Seck, and Algerian cross-country skier Meidhi-Selim Khelifi who have proudly represented the continent, and our entire race this year by participating for the first time at the Winter olympics.
To find out more about Black presence at the Winter olympics, feel free to read this really good article published by The Root and entitled Soul on ice. This article shows pictures of brothers and sisters, pioneers at the Winter Olympics, such as Debi Thomas, Surya Bonaly, Vonetta Flowers, Randy Jones, Garrett Hines, and few others.
Il y avait une fois un village bien malheureux car, malgré tous les efforts des villageois, les cultures n’avaient pas poussé. La nourriture manquait et tout le monde était devenu maigre et bien affamé. Cochon, Bœuf et Araignée, trois habitants de cette infortunée région, erraient chaque jour dans la brousse en quête de quelque chose à se mettre sous la dent.
Un beau matin, Cochon, tout affaibli par la disette, se lamente sur le chemin à l’entrée du village lorsque, compère bœuf vient à passer. Surpris de la mine florissante de celui-ci, cochon l’interpelle: « Holà, mon compère, d’où te vient ta belle mine alors que, tous ici, nous mourons de faim et tombons en faiblesse? »
Bœuf accélère son allure et passe devant le cochon sans répondre, comme s’il n’avait pas entendu la question.
Cochon comprend qu’il y a là quelque chose de louche et se met à observer attentivement son ami. Plusieurs jours de suite, il se cache dans des arbustes au bord du chemin, et voit passer chaque matin Bœuf qui va toujours dans la même direction.
Cochon
Chaque soir, Bœuf revient tranquillement au village et tandis que la faim ronge son malheureux compère, il semble lui au contraire, prendre un embonpoint de plus en plus dodu. Alors n’y tenant plus et sentant sa fin prochaine, cochon s’écrie en lui barrant la route. « Compère! Compère! Tu grossis à vue d’œil alors que je me meurs .Par pitié, dis-moi ou tu trouves tant de nourriture, ou j’appelle tous les habitants du village pour leur signaler ta conduite. A nous tous, nous saurons bien t’obliger à nous révéler ton secret. »
Bœuf s’arrête, réfléchit et déclare enfin: « Frère, tu me fais pitié. Jure-moi de ne rien révéler à personne et je viendrai à ton secours.
-Je le jure
-Demain matin, accompagne-moi dans la forêt et tu sauras tout. »
Le lendemain, tous deux s’en vont ensemble à travers la foret. Parvenus à une clairière, ils trouvent une grosse meule. Alors Bœuf s’approche et dit haute voix : « Meule, prépare-moi a manger! » En un instant, la meule prépare un bon repas et Les deux compagnons le dévorent. Quand il a fini, cochon ordonne à la meule :
« Meule prépare-moi encore à manger!» La meule obéit aussitôt. Bien repus les deux amis reviennent au village. Et, tous les matins désormais, ils vont dans la clairière et la meule magique les nourrit. Bientôt, cochon à son tour devient très gros. Ce phénomène attire l’attention d’Araignée. Il attend que ses compagnons soient revenus chez eux et va rendre visite à cochon. « Cochon, mon bon ami, aide-moi. Je vois que tu sais trouver assez de nourriture pour devenir gros et gras. Si tu ne viens pas à mon secours, je vais appeler tous les habitants du village et on saura bien te contraindre à nous dire ou tu trouves à manger! »
Cochon répond aussitôt: « Garde le silence! Si tu me promets le secret, demain matin, avant le lever du soleil, je te conduirai aux victuailles. »
Araignée
Araignée jure tout ce qu’il veut, et le lendemain à l’aube ils vont ensemble jusqu’à le lendemain à l’aube ils vont ensemble jusqu’à la clairière, trouvent la meule qui leur prépare à manger, puis reviennent au village.
Araignée, une fois rentré chez lui, s’assoit dans sa concession et se met à réfléchir. « Tout cela est bien joli. Mais Bœuf et Cochon sont des goinfres. Ils mangent trop, grossissent à vue d’œil et vont bientôt attirer l’attention de tous les villageois. Si nous sommes nombreux à connaître le secret, le meule ne voudra plus nous nourrir. Il faut que je trouve une solution! »
Il réfléchit encore, encore, encore puis il se lève et malgré la nuit, se dirige vers le foret. Quand il est arrivé à la clairière, il s’approche de la meule et lui dit :
« Meule, ne sois pas fâchée contre moi. Je vais te transporter jusqu’à ma maison pour te mettre à l’abri des curieux, et des goinfres! Laisse-toi soulever ! » Ceci dit, il se baisse, soulève la meule et la charge sur son dos. Alors la meule devient de plus en plus lourde et l’écrase.
Celui qui se croit plus malin que les autres rencontre toujours un plus malin que lui.
Conte Mina tiré de “Contes des Lagunes et Savanes,” Collection ‘Fleuve et Flamme,’ édition Edicef, 1975.
Ngugi wa Thiong’o is a world-acclaimed Kenyan writer cut from the same cloth as African veteran Chinua Achebe. Ngugi is the author of several novels, plays, short stories, critical pieces, and children books. Ngugi reached fame writing in English, and then decided to write in Gikuyu, his mother-tongue. Today, his books are written in Gikuyu, and then translated into English. His first books Weep not child (1964) followed by The river between (1965) were on the secondary school syllabus in Cameroon, and a friend of mine used to love reading The river between.
The wizard of crow
When Ngugi first started writing in Gikuyu, he was threatened by the Kenyan government, and in the late 70’s, the political overtone of his play I will marry when I want, got him arrested by the then vice-president Daniel Arap Moi (who later became president, and ruled Kenya for 22 years). After his release from jail, Ngugi spent two decades in exile, and tried returning to Kenya in 2004 under the new government, but was viciously attacked in his hotel and his wife was sexually assaulted… after that he returned to the USA where is a professor at New York University. His latest novel, The wizard of crow which is 1000-pages long, and which I own, discusses a dictatorship in an imaginary country in Africa.
The other day I went to the museum of arts where I visited the Native American section, and realized that there was a strong difference between Native American baskets and African baskets. This is when I thought of discussing African baskets on my blog.
Wolof basket (Senegal)
Well, first of all, you should know that African baskets are different from country to country. You will find out that West African baskets (Togo, Senegal, Ghana…) are different from Central African baskets (Cameroon, DRC, Burundi…), which are different from Southern African baskets (Zimbabwe, South Africa, etc…). This difference is mostly due to the fact that different ethnic groups inhabit those regions, like the bantus in the South, the Nilotes in the North, etc… plus our own experiences in life, and the climate give us different tools to make baskets.
Beaded Bamileke basket (Cameroon)
For instance, in Cameroon (my country), baskets are made out of dried palm leaves, bark wood, or Raffia also known as African bamboo, in Rwanda they are made out of sisal fibers, banana leaves, or grass; in Senegal, njodax grass is used; while in South Africa, they are made out of llala palm leaves, sisal leaves, etc.
Burundi basket
The styles and patterns on the baskets also vary from sub-regions on the African continent. Baskets are dyed with either natural plant pigments, bark, berries, leaves, clay, roots, dung, or tea leaves as well as with commercial dyes.
Zulu basket (South Africa)
Weaving baskets is truly an art, and you can usually recognize which area and sometimes which country in Africa they are coming from.
The general public is familiar with Egypt and the pharaohs, but is not so aware that there was a highly important, sophisticated, and independent ancient civilization in Nubia, which is south of Egypt in present-day Sudan. For over a century, Nubian pharaohs dominated Egypt, and their kingdom extended from Lake Chad and well into the middle east. The conquest of Egypt started with Pharaoh Piye of Nubia, and continued with Taharqa who launched the most audacious building campaign of any pharaoh since the New Kingdom (around 1500 B.C.). Under Taharqa, the capitals were Napata and Thebes, and Jebel Barkal the holy mountain.
Black Pharaohs of Nubia
Nubia is a kingdom with 3 times as many pyramids as Egypt. Their language still needs to be decoded, and archaeologists are searching for a Rosetta stone similar to that discovered by Champollion which allowed the translation of Egyptian hieroglyphs. The Nubians were well known for their military genius, and Egyptian pharaohs will sometime hire Nubian mercenaries to fight their battles. Theirs was a civilization of strong queens such as Amanishaket, and Amanitore. One of these queens Candace Amanirenas defeated the roman army of Augustus Caesar.
I have been so stricken by the recent tragedy in Haiti, that I thought it would only be fit to talk about Haiti, and celebrate the first Black independent nation in the western hemisphere, and in the world. What better way than to salute Toussaint Louverture, the great black general who defeated Napoleon’s army, and French, British, and Spaniards? What better way than to salute the genius of Toussaint! Think about this: Napoleon, one of the greatest generals that ever lived, being beaten by a… self-educated slave with no military training… being driven off the shores of Haiti by Toussaint who then led his country to independence.
Toussaint Louverture
Well, Toussaint Louverture was a military genius like none other. He was actually born a slave and worked on a plantation, and then earned his freedom. By the time the slave rebellion started, he did not want to join in at first; but later on joined the slave rebellion only to realize that their leaders were inept and would compromise with the white farmers. Toussaint rose through the ranks and became the undisputed leader of the rebellion. He also had two great generals under him: Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Henri Christophe, who would both later become presidents of Haiti.
Toussaint’s struggle was a struggle for freedom, equal rights, and justice for all. Having earned his freedom before, he knew what it meant to be free, and drafted a constitution. After sending out the French in Saint-Domingue (present day Haiti) in 1799, he turned to spanish Santo Domingo where slavery was still in effect, and took control of the entire island defeating the spaniards, and freeing the slaves. He then started to draft a constitution in 1801 for the entire island of Hispaniola (present-day Haiti and Dominican Republic). The French, the Spanish, and even the Americans hated Toussaint, because of his effect on people. Imagine this: a Black leader freeing slaves, a nation where slaves had taken control of their destiny did not sit well with Americans who still owned slaves and could not bear such a news. By 1803, Napoleon ready to surrender Haiti, decided to meet with Toussaint on a peace deal; but the French tricked Toussaint, and when Toussaint came to the rendez-vous, he was arrested and taken to France by ship where he was put in the coldest prison of France. Toussaint, a tropic guy, died of cold and starvation in this prison.
Statue of Toussaint
The most important and beautiful about the story of Toussaint and Haiti, is that this was the first time a people rose up, an enslaved people rebelled and succeeded in getting their freedom, and in founding a country…. they were able to defeat the establishment. This is why Haiti is a treasure to the world. Haiti represents a people fighting for their rights, for their freedom, and for their voice to be heard. In the wake of this devastating earthquake, I know the Haitian people will rise from ashes just like the phoenix!
African Heritage 