Ottobah Cugoano – The Poem
This summer, I embarked on a 21-day trip to Ghana, motivated by my deep admiration for Ottobah Cugoano, an important historical figure whose legacy is...
Tag : History Maker
Ottobah Cugoano: The Pioneer of the Black Radical Tradition
Ottobah Cugoano was a pioneer of the Black radical tradition, becoming a prominent leader in the British abolitionist movement in 1787 with the publication of...
Mathias De Sousa: The first African-American in Maryland
Mathias de Sousa, possibly of African and Portuguese ancestry, is considered the first known Portuguese immigrant on record to have settled in North America. He...
James Weldon Johnson: Author of “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing”
James Weldon Johnson was an African-American writer, who distinguished himself in civil rights, diplomacy, education, journalism, law, literature, and music. In 1900, Johnson wrote the...
Walter Rodney: The Afrikan-Caribbean Revolutionary Scholar and Activist
“Walter Rodney was Most Rare. He is an exemplar. He belongs in that rare category of Marcus Garvey, CLR James, George Padmore and Frantz Fanon.”...
McHenry Boatwright: An African-American Bass-Baritone Opera Singer
John McHenry Boatwright was one of the leading baritone-bass opera singers in America. Boatwright made numerous appearances as a recitalist, and a soloist with orchestras...
Cudjoe Kossula Lewis: The “last African-American ancestor?”
Born in Africa as Oluale Kossula, he died in America in 1935 as Cudjoe Lewis. Ouale Kossula was considered the last person born in Afrika...
Paul Belloni Du Chaillu: The “African” Zoologist who became known as the first modern European to confirm the existence of gorillas
“In such a wild country as Africa one does not go far without adventures. The traveler necessarily sees what is strange and wonderful, for every...
Isaac Burns Murphy: One of the Greatest American Jockeys of All Time
Isaac Burns Murphy was an African-American Hall of Fame jockey, who is considered one of the greatest riders in American Thoroughbred horse racing history. Murphy...
Walter Tull: Black British War Hero
Walter Tull was the British Army’s first ever Black officer. Tull, who was a professional footballer at the outbreak of the first world war, gained...