Racial Oppression & the Rise
of Black Leadership
 |
The
picture [above] would have appeared shocking to a viewer in the Civil War
era, when it was taken, because it shows a little black boy with a
little white girl on his arm. This is a posture suggestive of
"traditional courtship roles," and it violates taboos
concerning what we would today call, "interracial dating." |
But look closely at the caption! They are both
"emancipated slave children!" They are both legally black.
So it is okay for her to take his arm. Whoever
distributed this photo was certainly aware that he/she was
making several points, not the least of which was that "white"
girls could be designated "black" slaves under American law.
—Wilson J. Moses
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Abbe Raynal on
Oppression & the Rise of Black Leadership
Your slaves stand in no need either of your
generosity or your counsels, in order to break the sacrilegious
yoke of their oppression. Nature speaks a more powerful language
than philosophy or interest . . . There are so many indications
of the impending storm, and the Negroes want only a chief,
sufficiently courageous, to lead them on to vengeance and
slaughter. Who is this great man, whom nature owes to her
afflicted, oppressed, and tormented children? Where is he? He
will undoubtedly appear, he will show himself, he will lift up
the sacred standard of liberty.
This venerable signal will collect around him
the companions of his misfortunes. They will rush on with more
impetuosity than torrents; they will leave behind them, in all
parts, indelible traces of their just resentment. Spaniards,
Portuguese, English, French, Dutch, all their tyrants will
become the victims of fire and sword. The planes of America will
suck up with transport the blood which they have so long
expected, and the bones of so many wretches, heaped upon one
another, during the course of so many centuries, will bound for
joy. The Old World will join its plaudits to those of the New.
In all parts the name of the hero, who shall
have restored the rights of the human species, will be blest; in
all parts trophies erected to his glory. Then will the black
code be no more; and the white code will be a dreadful one, if
the conqueror only regards the right of reprisals. Till this
revolution shall take place, the Negroes groan under the
oppression of labours, the description of which cannot but
interest us more and more in their destiny.
—Abbe Raynal,
A Philosophical and Political
History of the Settlements and Trade of the Europeans in the
East and West Indies, Vol. 6 (1798), pp. 128-129
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Raynal quote contributed by Scot
French: I
checked out the Raynal book while working on my manuscript and had
to return it to the library this afternoon. I transcribed the
excerpt for future use and thought you might have use for it on your
website. [A quick search on Google tells me it's not readily
available on the internet, though -- as you mentioned -- it's often
cited in reference to Toussaint.] Thanks for sharing with me
your reading of Raynal's quote; it's inspired me to think about how
to incorporate such material within a future lecture on slavery and
abolition in the Age of Enlightenment. All
the best, Scot
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Guillaume-Thomas-Francois
Raynal (1713-1796). The
"Abbe Raynal," French writer, was born at Saint-Geniez in
Rouergue on the 12th of April 1713. He was educated at the Jesuit
school of Pzenas, and received priests orders, but he was dismissed
for unexplained reasons from the parish of 5 int-Sulpice, Paris, to
which he was attached, and thenceforward he devoted himself to
society and literature. Among the objects of his fiercest attacks
were the Inquisition and European methods of colonization.
Raynal's
Histoire
philosophique et politique des etablissements et du commerce des
Europeens dans les deux Indes (1770), quoted above, went
through many editions, revised and augmented from time to time by
Raynal. The Histoire was translated into the principal
European languages, and appeared in various abridgments. Its
introduction into France was forbidden in 1779. The book was burned
by the public executioner, and an order was given for the arrest of
the author, whose name had not appeared in the first edition, but
was printed on the title page of the Geneva
Exiled
from France, Raynal took refuge successively at the Courts of Berlin
and St. Petersburg, but returned to his native district during the
Revolution.
Other
works by Raynal:
Histoire du divorce de Henri VIII. roi d'Angleterre, et de
Catharine d'Aragon (1763); , and Tableau et Revolution des
colonies Anglaises de l'Amerique Septentrionale.
Source:
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/CREV/notes.html
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Marketing Ghana as a Mecca for the African-American Tourist—The
Afro-American tourist market constitutes an important niche
market. At the moment, the U.S.A is Ghana's second highest
tourist generating market with the U.K being the first. In 2003,
some 27,000 tourists arrived in Ghana from the Americas.
Approximately 10,000 were African-Americans. Also, about a
thousand are living and working in Accra. The African-American
tourist market is Ghana's niche market because it has the
greatest growth potential in terms of arrivals and receipts.
This is because the African-American tourist of today is more
interested in exploring his/her cultural and historical
heritage; the very products that Ghana offers. Also, they have a
$300 billion spending power and spend 98% of their household
income. The total income of this segment of the American
population is the largest of all the ethnic groups at $485 and
projected to reach $1.01 trillion by 2010. In a 2000 Gallup poll
commissioned by the National Summit on Africa, 73% of
African-Americans were interested in learning more about Africa.— ModernGhana
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Strange Fruit Lynching Report
/
Anniversary of a Lynching
Willie
McGhee Lynching /
My Grandfather's Execution
Dr. Robert Lee Interview /
African American dentist in Ghana
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Bob Marley—
Exodus
Bob Marley was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was
the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist for the ska,
rocksteady and reggae bands The Wailers (19641974) and Bob
Marley & the Wailers (19741981). Marley remains the most widely
known and revered performer of reggae music, and is credited for
helping spread both Jamaican music and the Rastafari movement
(of which he was a committed member), to a worldwide audience.
|
Exodus
Exodus:
movement of jah people! oh-oh-oh, yea-eah!
Men and people will fight ya down (tell me why!)
When ya see jah light. (ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!)
Let me tell you if youre not wrong; (then, why? )
Everything is all right.
So we gonna walk - all right! - through de roads of
creation:
We the generation (tell me why!)
(trod through great tribulation) trod through great
tribulation.
Exodus, all right! movement of jah people!
Oh, yeah! o-oo, yeah! all right!
Exodus: movement of jah people! oh, yeah!
Yeah-yeah-yeah, well!
Uh! open your eyes and look within:
Are you satisfied (with the life youre living)? uh!
We know where were going, uh!
We know where were from.
Were leaving babylon,
Were going to our father land.
2, 3, 4: exodus: movement of jah people! oh, yeah!
(movement of jah people!) send us another brother
moses!
(movement of jah people!) from across the red sea!
(movement of jah people!) send us another brother
moses!
(movement of jah people!) from across the red sea!
Movement of jah people!
Exodus, all right! oo-oo-ooh! oo-ooh!
Movement of jah people! oh, yeah!
Exodus!
Exodus! all right!
Exodus! now, now, now, now!
Exodus!
Exodus! oh, yea-ea-ea-ea-ea-ea-eah!
Exodus!
Exodus! all right!
Exodus! uh-uh-uh-uh!
Move! move! move! move! move! move!
Open your eyes and look within:
Are you satisfied with the life youre living?
We know where were going;
We know where were from.
Were leaving babylon, yall!
Were going to our fathers land.
Exodus, all right! movement of jah people!
Exodus: movement of jah people!
Movement of jah people!
Movement of jah people!
Movement of jah people!
Movement of jah people!
Move! move! move! move! move! move! move!
Jah come to break downpression,
Rule equality,
Wipe away transgression,
Set the captives free.
Exodus, all right, all right!
Movement of jah people! oh, yeah!
Exodus: movement of jah people! oh, now, now, now,
now!
Movement of jah people!
Movement of jah people!
Movement of jah people!
Movement of jah people!
Movement of jah people!
Movement of jah people!
Move! move! move! move! move! move! uh-uh-uh-uh!
Move(ment of jah people)!
Move(ment of jah people)!
Move(ment of jah people)!
Move(ment of jah people)! movement of jah people!
Move(ment of jah people)!
Move(ment of jah people)!
Movement of jah people!
Movement of jah people!
Movement of jah people!
|
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Relations
Between Africans and African Americans: Misconceptions, Myths
and Realities
By
Godfrey Mwakikagile
(Grand
Rapids, Michigan: National Academic Press, 2005) 302 pages
Chapter Four: The Attitude of Africans Towards African Americans
Chapter Six: Misconceptions About Each Other
* * *
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Chiefs in Cape
Coast, Ghana /
Grand Durbar Parade
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Dentist Dr. Robert Lee
Championed African-American Community in
Ghana
In the
mid-1950s, Dr. Robert Lee, a dentist from
South Carolina, moved to Ghana to escape
racism in the south. Over the next half
century, Lee became a fixture in the
African-American community in the West
African country. Dr. Lee died on Monday,
July 5th at the age of 90. But few here in
his home state, or in the States at all,
knew of his work. But in Ghana, he made a
name for himself. Dr. Robert Lee, trained as
a dentist, moved to Accra in the mid-1950s.
Over the past half century, Lee became a
fixture in the black American ex-patriot
community in Ghana.
NPR
Host Michel Martin talks to NPR West African
correspondent Ofeibea Quist-Arcton about his
life and legacy.
Dr. Robert Lee NPR Interview
Dentist Championed
African-American Community In Ghana
Dr Robert Lee passes on
|
 |
| |
Dr. Robert Lee (right) in
2009 with Kwame Zulu Shabazz |
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The State of African Education
(April 200)
Attack On Africans Writing Their Own History Part 1 of 7
Dr Asa
Hilliard III speaks on the assault of academia on Africans writing and
accounting for their own history.
Dr Hilliard is A teacher,
psychologist, and historian.
Part 2 of 7
/
Part
3 of 7 /
Part 4 of 7
/
Part 5 of 7 /
Part 6 of 7 /
Part 7 of 7
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* * * *
The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
/
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
/
Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery
*
* * * *
The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
/
January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
* * * *
*
Basil Davidson's "Africa Series"
Different
But Equal /
Mastering A Continent /
Caravans
of Gold /
The King and the City /
The Bible and The Gun
* * * *
*
 |
West Africa Before the Colonial Era: A
History to 1850
By
Basil Davidson
This
book is excellent as an introduction to West
African history. It begins with a brief
overview of region's history from earliest
times but the focus of the book is on the
thousand years between the 9th and the 19th
centuries A.D.
Comprehensive overviews of the political
histories of both well and little known West
African states and cities are recounted.
These include the histories of the empires
of Ghana, Mali, Songhay, Kanem-Bornu, Oyo,
Benin, Dahomey and Asante. Accounts of
several other smaller states are also
detailed such as the Hausa city states, the
Wollof kingdom, the Bambara states, the
Niger Delta trading states, the Fulani
states of Futa Jallon and Futa Toro, the
important cities of Timbuktu, Jenne and Gao
and several others. |
Apart from these
political histories, Davidson also provides an insight
into the social fabric of West Africa, especially at the
dawn of the 17th century. He describes economic features
(like trade items, routes, currencies etc), religion,
arts and learning in the region, social stratification
and dominant trends. These provide the reader with a
real "feel" of the society at that time. Like all of
Davidson's writings on this subject matter, this book
dispels the myth that Africa had no history or
civilization before contact with Europe. It is clear,
concise and very easy to read.
D. E. Chukwumerije
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|
Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in
America
By Melissa V.
Harris-Perry
According to the
author, this society has historically exerted
considerable pressure on black females to fit into one
of a handful of stereotypes, primarily, the Mammy, the
Matriarch or the Jezebel. The selfless
Mammy’s behavior is marked by a slavish devotion to
white folks’ domestic concerns, often at the expense of
those of her own family’s needs. By contrast, the
relatively-hedonistic Jezebel is a sexually-insatiable
temptress. And the Matriarch is generally thought of as
an emasculating figure who denigrates black men, ala the
characters Sapphire and Aunt Esther on the television
shows Amos and Andy and Sanford and Son, respectively.
Professor Perry
points out how the propagation of these harmful myths
have served the mainstream culture well. For instance,
the Mammy suggests that it is almost second nature for
black females to feel a maternal instinct towards
Caucasian babies.
As for the source
of the Jezebel, black women had no control over their
own bodies during slavery given that they were being
auctioned off and bred to maximize profits. Nonetheless,
it was in the interest of plantation owners to propagate
the lie that sisters were sluts inclined to mate
indiscriminately.
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Sex at the Margins
Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry
By Laura María Agustín
This book explodes several myths: that selling sex is completely different from any other kind of work, that migrants who sell sex are passive victims and that the multitude of people out to save them are without self-interest. Laura Agustín makes a passionate case against these stereotypes, arguing that the label 'trafficked' does not accurately describe migrants' lives and that the 'rescue industry' serves to disempower them. Based on extensive research amongst both migrants who sell sex and social helpers, Sex at the Margins provides a radically different analysis. Frequently, says Agustin, migrants make rational choices to travel and work in the sex industry, and although they are treated like a marginalised group they form part of the dynamic global economy. Both powerful and controversial, this book is essential reading for all those who want to understand the increasingly important relationship between sex markets, migration and the desire for social justice. "Sex at the Margins rips apart distinctions between migrants, service work and sexual labour and reveals the utter complexity of the contemporary sex industry. This book is set to be a trailblazer in the study of sexuality."—Lisa Adkins, University of London |
* * * * *
The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
* * * * *
If you like this page consider making a donation
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Enjoy!
* * * * *
The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
/
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
/
Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
* *
* * *
The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
/
January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
* * * * *
* *
* * *
ChickenBones Store
(Books, DVDs, Music, and more)
update 1 January
2012
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