Afro-American Fragment

Langston Hughes (1902-1967)

What up world!! Today I have a great poem to share with you by Langston Hughes titled, “Afro- American Fragment.”

Afro-American Fragment

So long,
So far away
Is Africa.
Not even memories alive
Save those that history books create,
Save those that songs
Beat back into the blood-
Beat out of blood with words sad-sung
In strange un-Negro tongue -
So long,
So far away
Is Africa.

Subdued and time-lost
Are the  drums – and yet
Through some vast mist of race
There comes this song
I do not understand
This song of atavistic land,
Of bitter yearning lost
Without a place -
So long,
So far away
Is Africa’s
Dark face.
Langston Hughes

Kwame Nkrumah

The first president of Ghana.



What up world!!! Today I’m going to inform you about a radical African who led the Gold Coast’s drive for independence from Britain and presided over its emergence as the new nation of Ghana. “When elections were held in 1951, Nkrumah’s CPP won almost all the seats open to direct election to the new Legislative Assembly.  Dr. Nkrumah proved not only to be an effective grass-root organizer, but was also able to work effectively with the Gold Coast Governor, Sir Charles Arden-Clarke to form the structural basis of the new nation of Ghana that became independent in 1957. Ghana’s emergence as a member of the United Nations, the first Sub-Saharan African independent nation-state, was to open the flood gates. In the next decade most African colonies followed in her footsteps to independence.” [1] He was the first president of Ghana and the first prime minister of Ghana.

Ghana Flag

Kwame Nkrumah & John F. Kennedy

References

[1] Mendosa, Eugene L. "West Africa: An Introduction To Its History, Civilization and Contemporary Situation." Durham: Academic Press, 2002.

 



Ode to Ethiopia

Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)

What up world!! I read a remarkable poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar titled, “Ode to Ethiopia.” I thought I share it with you.

Ode to Ethiopia

O Mother Race! to thee I bring
This pledge of faith unwavering,
This tribute to thy glory.
I know the pangs which thou didst feel,
When Slavery crushed thee with its heel,
With thy dear blood all gory.

Sad days were those -- ah, sad indeed!
But through the land the fruitful seed
Of better times was growing.
The plant of freedom upward sprung,
And spread its leaves so fresh and young --
Its blossoms now are blowing.

On every hand in this fair land,
proud Ethiope's swarthy children stand
Beside their fairer neighbor;
The forests flee before their stroke,
Their hammers ring, their forges smoke,
They stir in honest labour.

They tread the fields where honour calls;
Their voices sound through senate halls
In majesty and power.
To right they cling; the hymns they sing
Up to the skies in beauty ring,
And bolder grow each hour.

Be proud, my Race, in mind and soul;
Thy name is writ on Glory's scroll
In characters of fire.
High 'mid the clouds of Fame's bright sky
Thy banner's blazoned folds now fly,
And truth shall lift them higher.

Thou hast the right to noble pride,
Whose spotless robes were purified
By blood's severe baptism.
Upon thy brow the cross was laid,
And labour's painful sweat-beads made
A consecrating chrism.

No other race, or white or black,
When bound as thou wert, to the rack,
So seldom stooped to grieving;
No other race, when free again,
Forgot the past and proved them men
So noble in forgiving.

Go on and up! Our souls and eyes
Shall follow thy continuous rise;
Our ears shall list thy story
From bards who from thy root shall spring,
And proudly tune their lyres to sing
Of Ethiopia's glory.

Written by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)

 

Damnation of Woman

W.E.B Du Bois (1868-1963)



What up world!! W.E.B Du Bois was a brilliant African American. In his essay the "Damnation of women he showed much love to our African American women.This quote from the essay is dedicated to all my beautiful African American and African sisters.

"For this, their promise, and for their hard past, I honor the women of my race. Their beauty,-their dark and mysterious beauty of midnight eyes, crumpled hair, and soft, full-featured faces-is perhaps more to me than to you, because I was born to its warm and subtle spell; but their worth is yours as well as mine. No other women on earth could have emerged from the hell of force and temptation which once engulfed and still surrounds black women in America with half the modesty and womanliness that they retain. I have always felt like bowing myself before them in all abasement, searching to bring some tribute to these long suffering victims, these burdened sisters of mine, whom the world, the wise, white world, loves to affront and ridicule and wantonly to insult. I have known the women of many lands and nations,-I have known and seen and lived beside them, but none have I known more sweetly feminine, more unswervingly loyal, more desperately earnest, and more instinctively pure in body and in soul than the daughters of my black mothers. This, then,-a little thing-to their memory and inspiration." [1]   1920

References

[1]  Gates Jr. Henry L., and Nelie Y Mckay. eds. "African American Literature" 2nd ed. New York: WW Norton & Company, 2004.

Asante Empire

Flag of the Asante People



What up World!!! Today I'm going to promote an empire never talked about much, but nevertheless just as important as any other empire in world history. "The Asante ultimately became the most powerful empire in West Africa ruling over 3 million subjects, at its height in the 19th century. By the time the Asante were conquered by the British, the Asantehene could expect tributary payments from 40 neighboring kingdoms, and the Europeans had to pay him rent and customs duties to live and trade along the coast south of the Asante heartland."[1]

The current Asantehene, Osei Tutu II

The Golden Stool

"The stool is the symbol of political authority in the forest kingdom. When Osei Tutu assumed rule, he required that subaltern political leaders bury their stools. No better example exists of the symbolic connection of a ruler with the divine. This stool, which was later to be coveted by the British, became the symbol of the new nation of Asante, and the priests of court maintained that it contained the very soul and substance of the Asante Union." [1]

Asante Woman

References

[1] Mendosa, Eugene L. "West Africa: An Introduction To Its History, Civilization and Contemporary Situation." Durham: Academic Press, 2002.















Igbos

Eastern Nigeria

What up world!! I discovered an interesting fact while reading my West African History book. The author states,"The largest Delta state was Bonny where 20,000 slaves a year passed on their fateful journey to the New World. Davidson estimates that 16,000 of those were Igbos, so it can be easily computed that very many African-Americans and residents of Brazil and the Caribbean can trace their ancestry back to Eastern Nigeria." [1]

Igbo people of Eastern Nigeria

References

[1] Mendonsa, Eugene L. "West Africa: An Introduction To Its History, Civilization and Contemporary Situation." Durham: Academic Press, 2002.

Book of the month

Welcome ladies and gentleman to my fresh new and exciting blog dedicated to the uplifting of African American males. My very first post for this blog I thought should set the tone.  I thought no better way to set the tone than my book of the month, Segu. Segu is a very excellent book displaying the beauty of West Africa and the rich culture while major changes were on the horizon. Maryse Conde’ masterfully guides you through West Africa and unveils the true story of the changing African culture.  I really love this book and feel this is the best book to begin to understand how our African culture was destroyed. Please send me comments and let me know what you thought.