Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop

Cheikh Anta Diop, a modern champion of African identiy was born in Jiourbel, Senegal on December 29, 1923. At the age of twenty three he journeyed to Paris, France to continue advanced studies in Physics. Within a very short time, however, he was drawn deeper and deeper into studies relating to the African origins of humanity and civilization. Becoming more and more active in hte African student movements then demanding the independence of French colonial possessions, he became convinced that only by reexamining and restoing Africa’s distorted, maligned and obscured place in world history could the physical and psychological shackles of colonialism be lifted from our Motherland and from African people dispersed globally. His initial doctorate dissertation submitted at the University of Paris, Sorbonne in 1951, based on the premise that Egypt of the pharaohs was an African civilization was rejected. Regardless, this dissertation was published by Presence Africaine under the title "Nations Nègres et Culture" in 1955 and won him an international acclaim. Tow additional attempts to have his doctorate granted were turned back until 1960 when he entered his defense session with an array of sociologists, anthropologists and historians and successfully carried his argument. After nearly a decade of titanic and herculean effort, Diop had finally won his Docteur es Lettres (Ph.D) . IN that sme year, 1960 were published two of his other works, the Cultural Unity of Black Africa and Precolonial Black Africa. Dr Diop was an avid political activist during his student years. He was the Secretary General of the Rassemblement Democratique Africain (RDA) from 1950 t 1953. He  also participated in hte first World Congress of Black Writers and Artists held in Paris in 1956. His most important and influential work are “The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality, 1974” and Civilization or Barbarism: An Authentic Anthropology, 1981).

Upon returning to his country, Dr Diop became the Director of Radiocarbon Laboratory at the Fundamental Institute of Black Africa (IFAN) at the University of Dakar. He died quietly in Dakar, Senegal on February 7, 1986

Sundiata Keita (1210?-1260?)

Founder and ruler of the Mali Empire in West Africa in the 13^th century. Samanguru was a warrior that managed to conquer a great deal of West Africa once Ghana was weakened. Samanguru was hostile to the Mandinka people who lived in the region. His taxes were high, he felt it was his privilege to carry off Mandinka women, and he failed to maintain law and order along the trade routes.

The griots of West Africa still speak of the story of the sickly young boy who grew up to become a great warrior. Sundiata was one of 12 brothers who were the children of a Mandinka warrior. Samanguru killed the twelve brothers, but spared Sundiata because he believed the boy would die anyway. That was a mistake that would lead to Samanguru’s downfall, because the sickly boy recovered eventually assembled an army to confront Samanguru. Sundiata’s forces killed Samanguru and destroyed his forces in the Battle of Kirina in 1235.That victory marked the founding of the Mali Empire.  After his victory, Sundiata consolidated his authority among the Mandinka people and established a strong centralized monarchy.

Sundiata then became mansa, or king of a new empire which we know today as Mali, or “where the king resides.” Sundiata proved himself a great warrior, but he was only interested in removing Samanguru and once again making West Africa a safe place to travel and trade. He converted to Islam, but only as a gesture of goodwill to the merchants and traders. To his own people, Sundiata presented himself as a champion of traditional West African religion.

According Ibn Khaldun, a 14th-century North African historian, Sundiata ruled Mali for 25 years. He expanded the state by incorporating the Ghana empire and the West African gold fields. At its height in the 14^th century, Mali stretched from the Atlantic south of the Senegal to the Songhay empire of Gao on the east of the middle Niger bend. Sundiata built his capital at Niani, which was in his home region. Mali gained economic strength by controlling the region's trade routes and gold fields. Under his rule, Mali converted to Islam but the traditional religions were still practiced freely. When Sundiata died, his son Uli became the mansa, or king, of Mali. His legend is still kept alive today by the griots among the Mandinka .

Read the full story of Sundiata

Mansa Musa

Mansa Musa is one of the great rulers of the Mali Empire. He captured the attention of the Arab world when he left his home in Mali to make a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324. Unlike Sundiata, Mansa Musa truly was a Muslim. Islamic law requires that all faithful Muslims make a pilgrimage, or holy visit, to the city on the Arabian peninsula where the faith was started. Mansa Musa was said to have taken more than 500 people with him, each carrying a staff of solid gold. When Mansa Musa passed through Cairo, he gave away so much gold that the price of gold fell and the economy was affected for more than twenty years.

A scholar, a great economist and a true man of the arts, Mansa Musa is well known for the impact he created with his flamboyant style. In 1324 he led his people on the Hadj, a holy pilgrimage from Timbuktu to Mecca. His caravan consisted of 72 000 people whom he led safely across the Sahara Desert and back, a total distance of 6,496 miles. So spectacular was this event that Mansa Mussa gained the respect of scholars and traders throughout the world. During his reign, Mali was one of the most prestigious and wealthiest empires in the world. This empire at this time also contained one of the worlds most prestigious universities at Timbuktu.

YAA ASANTEWA

The story of Yaa Asantewa of the Ashanti Empire against British colonialism in Africa is one that is woven in the history of Ghana. According to oral tradition, Osei Tutu, the founder of the Ghana Empire, had been bestowed king upon receiving a golden stool which became a national symbol for Ghana throughout their history. In the 19^th century the British stole the golden stool from the Empire as well as the asantehe (king) Prempeh. The chiefs then held a secret meeting at Kumasi to discuss their reply to that attack. Yaa Asantewa, the Queen Mother of Ejisu, one of the heir kings also captured by the British, was at the meeting. The chiefs were discussing how they should make war on the British and force them to bring back the Asantehene. Yaa Asantewa noticed that some of the chiefs were afraid. Some said that there should be no war. They should rather go to beg the Governor to bring back the Asantehene King Prempeh. Then suddenly Yaa Asantewa stood up and reminded the men of the affront that was just committed on them and of their heroic past. She galvanized them into fighting the British. For months the Ashantis led by Yaa Asantewa fought very bravely and put the British on a siege in a fort in Kumasi without water and food. Yet British reinforcements totaling 1,400 soldiers arrived at Kumasi. Yaa Asantewa and other leaders were captured and sent into exile. Yaa Asantewa's war was the last of the major war in Africa led by a women.  

AKHENATON (1375-1358 B.C)

The creator of monotheism, Amenhotep IV, known as Akhenaton was the first ruler in recorded history to believe in the concept of One God. He also taught this concept to all his citizens. He built a new city in the desert that was dedicated to religion, art and music. This new city, Akhenaton (now Tell el Amara), with its lush gardens and magnificent buildings is where Akhenaton and his wife Queen Nefertiti changed Kehmet's (Ancient Egypt) culture so radically that their influence is felt for centuries right up until today.  

ANTONIO MACEO

Commonly known as the Titan of Bronze, General Antonio Maceo Grajales was one of the outstanding guerrilla leaders in 19^th century Latin America. He was second in command of the Cuban independence army. The son of a Venezuelan mulatto and Afro-Cuban woman, Maceo began his fight for Cuban liberation by enlisting as a private in the army n 1868 when the Ten Years War began. Five years later, he was promoted to the rank of general because of his bravery and his demonstrated ability to outmaneuver the Spanish army, in 1878, when most of the Cubans generals believed that their armies could not defeat the slavery. Ultimately he was forced to leave Cuba. He returned to Cuba when war with Spain began again. His most famous campaign in the War of Cuban Liberation was his invasion of western Cuba when his troops covered more than 1000 miles in 92 days and fought the enemy in 27 separate encounters. On December 7, 1896 Maceo was captured and killed as he attempted to rejoin Maximo Gomez forces. His death prompted yet another congressional resolution for belligerent rights for Cuba.

IMHOTEP: THE WORLD FIRST KNOWN GENIUS

Imhotep was the royal advisor to King Zoser during the Third Dynasty of Kemet (Ancient Egypt).

Regarded as the world's first recorded multi-genius, Imhotep was an architect, an astronomer, a philosopher, a poet and a physician. As an architect he was responsible for designing the Step Pyramid and the Saqqara Complex. During his lifetime he was given a host of titles, among them:Chancellor of the King of Lower Kemet, the First after the King of Upper Kemet, High Priest of Heliopolis and Administrator of the Great Palace. As a physician, Imhotep is believed to have been the author of the Edwin Smith Papyrus in which more than 90 anatomical terms and 48 injuries are described. This is well over 2,200 years before the Western Father of Medicine Hippocrates is born. Some 2,000 years after his death, Imhotep was deified by the inhabitants of Kemet and was known later as Asclepius, God of Medicine, to the Greeks. His very name, Im-Hotep, translates as the Prince of Peace. His tomb near Memphis became a sacred place and the site of pilgrimages for those seeking a cure. As a philosopher and poet, Imhotep's most remembered phrase is: "Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we shall die." There still remain many bronze statuettes, temples and sanatoria bearing his name, as is depicted in the picture of the statue above.

Dr. Philip Emeagwali

Who developed the fastest computer on earth? Dr. Philip Emeagwali, an interdisciplinary computer scientist/inventor, used 65 000 processors to perform the world’s fastest computation of 3.1 billion calculations per second. His design was inspired by the complex geometries of nature. From geometrical theories, Emeagwali proved that bees use the most efficient method to construct their honeycombs, so a computer which emulated the honeycomb will be efficient and powerful. Emeagwali’s computers are currently being used to forecast the wheather and to predict future global warming.

SHAKA: KING OF THE ZULUS (1818-1828)

A strong leader and military innovator, Shaka is noted for revolutionizing 19th century Bantu warfare by first grouping regiments by age, and training his men to use standardized weapons and special tactics. He developed the "assegai", a short stabbing spear, and marched his regiments in tight formation, using large shields to fend off the enemies throwing spears. Over time, Shaka's troops earned such a reputation that many enemies would flee at the sight of them. He built the Zulus into a nation of over a million strong. He was also sucessful in uniting all the ethnic groups in South Africa against the despicable vestiges of colonialism.

TAHARKA

KING OF NUBIA (710-664 B. C.)

Taharka is probably one of the most famous rulers of Napatan Kush. He was 32 when he became king and was heir to a kingdom that included not only Kush but KMT(Kemet, Ancient Egypt) as well. He is said to have commanded military campaigns in Western Asia as far away as Palestine and led expeditions all the way to Spain. Mention of his great campaigns can be found in the Bible (Isaiah 37:9, 2 Kings 19:9). During his reign, Taharka controlled the largest empire in Ancient Africa. He was able to initiate a building program throughout his empire which was overwhelming in scope. The numbers and majesty of his building projects were legendary, with the greatest being the temple at Gebel Barkal in the Sudan. The temple was carved from the living rock and decorated with images of Taharka over 100 feet high.

Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable

Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable was born in Haiti (then St Domingue) around 1745. His father was a French sea captain. Du Sable’s mother was an ex-slave. His father took Du Sable to France to be educated. Du Sable later worked as a seaman on one of his father’s ships. When Du Sable was twenty, he headed toward New Orleans in one of his father’s boats. While sailing in hte Gulf of Mexico, his boat sank and he was injured. New Orleans at this time belonged to France but was under Spanish control. Du Sable had lost his identification papers and was almost enslaved. French priest protected him and he made his way up the Mississipi River to St Louis. Du Sable later settled in an area near Peoria, Illinois.

In the early 1770s Du Sable built a log cabin and owned over 800 acres of land. The potawatomi indians gave him an indian as bride. He named her Catherine and they later had a son and a daughter. Years later, Du Sable left the Area and made his way north until he reached the Great Lakes area. The Indians called this land Eschikagou (Chicago), the “place of bad smells” due to the odor of the swampland. By 1779, Du Sable built the first permanent home on the north bank of the Chicago River. He also built a trading post. Trappers were well paid for their fur pelts and Du Sable sold them supplies and tools. A mill, smoke house, dairy, horse stable, poultry house and barn were some of the buildings on Du Sables trading post. Within a short time, this trading post bevcame the main supply station for trappers, traders and Indians and was the key route for merchant trading in Detroit and Canada. Among the many things he supplied were furs, meats, wheat, and bread. However, on May 7 1800, the “Father of Chicago” sold his land and property for a mere $ 1200 and left the area. He moved to St Charles, Missouri and died almost penniless on August 28, 1818.

Candace

EMPRESS OF ETHIOPIA (332 B.C.)

Alexander reached Kemet (Ancient Egypt) in 332 B.C., on his world conquering rampage. However, one of the greatest generals of the ancient world was also the Empress of Ethiopia which had a long history of being governed by women called Candace. This formidable Queen was world famous as a military tactician and field commander. Legend has it that Alexander could not entertain even the possibilty of having his world fame and unbroken chain of victories marred by risking a defeat, at last, by a woman. He halted his armies at the borders of Ethiopia and did not invade to meet the waiting black armies with their Queen in personal command.

Turner, Nat (1800-1831)

Nat Turner, a black slave and preacher, led the most famous slave revolt in United States history. In 1831, Turner and 60 to 70 other slaves revolted and killed about 60 whites in Virginia. The victims included the family of Joseph Travis, Turner's owner.

Turner was born on a plantation in Southampton County, Virginia. His parents and grandmother encouraged him to become educated and to fight slavery. Through the years, Turner became the property of several other slaveowners. The son of one of his masters taught him to read and write. Turner became known as a forceful preacher who believed that God wanted him to free the slaves. This conviction led to his planning the rebellion.

Jacques Roumain: (June 4, 1907 - 18 August 1944

Jacques Roumain is one of Haiti's most highly respected writers. Roumain was one of the most prominent pan-African poets of the 1930s and 1940s, acclaimed in Europe and Latin America.

Born in 1907, he was educated in Switzerland but returned home to fight for Haitian nationalism. As president of the Haitian Patriotic Youth League, Roumain was instrumental in ending the U.S. occupation of his country. Along with Philippe Thoby-Marcelin, Carl Brouard, and Antonio Vieux, in 1927 he founded La Revue Indigene: Les Arts et la Vie [The Indigenous Review: Arts and Life], a vehicle for new writing in Haiti. Because of his political activity, he was arrested and imprisoned soon afterward. Nevertheless, Roumain remained productive, publishing several collections of stories and poetry. After the departure of the U.S. Marines in 1934, he became deeply involved in Marxist politics, which led to his imprisonment and exile. In his travels in Europe and the United States, Roumain forged close friendships with other writers, notably Langston Hughes, who translated some of his poetry. He came to believe that the poor were inextricably bound together, regardless of their color.

With the change in government in Haiti, Roumain was allowed to return to his native country. In 1943 President Lescot appointed him charge d'affaires in Mexico, where his newly found creative freedom permitted him to complete two of his most influential books, the poetry collection Bois d'ebene [Ebony Wood] and the novel Gouverneurs de la Rosée [Masters of the Dew]. Although he lived only thirty-seven years, Roumain created some of the most colorful, dynamic, and moving poetry of his generation.

Pedro Albizu Campos

Albizu Campos, Pedro , 1891-1965, Puerto Rican political leader. After service in an African-American unit during World War I he developed a lasting enmity for the United States and became the fiery champion of Puerto Rican independence. His Nationalist party, however, failed to receive popular support in the Puerto Rican elections of 1932. Convicted of seeking to overthrow the U.S. government, he was imprisoned (1937-43) before returning to Puerto Rico in 1947. His party made a poor showing in the 1948 election, and in 1950 Nationalists attacked the governor's mansion in Puerto Rico and Blair House in Washington. Charged with inciting to murder, Albizu Campos was again imprisoned. He was pardoned (1953) because of failing health, but the next year he was implicated in the Nationalist armed attack on the U.S. House of Representatives, and his pardon was revoked. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. He suffered a stroke in 1956 and was again pardoned in 1964.

Sir William Arthur Lewis

Arthur Lewis was born and educated in St. Lucia up to the secondary Level. He proved during this time to be quite a scholar. Later he entered the London School of Economics where he distinguished himself as a student of Economics. His excellence was rewarded, when at the age of twenty-three, he was made a lecturer. During this time he published numerous papers and pamphlets. Between 1951 and 1957 he was Stanley Jevons Professor of Political Economy at Manchester University. During this time, he was also adviser to numerous governments and served as adviser on underdeveloped countries. He advised the Ghana government   in 1953 and in 1957. He also served in the same capacity in Nigeria, Trinidad and Barbados. He had also been on numerous United Nations Commissions.  

He won a Nobel Prize in 1979, with Theodore Schultz, for pioneering research on economic development in emerging countries. He published a book, "The Theory of Economic Growth," in 1954 that is regarded as the seminal study in the field. In this book he advocates the development of infrastructure, education in all its areas and specialisation in agriculture and high employment.

Arthur Lewis also served as Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies, adviser to the British Colonial Development Corporation, Chancellor of the University of Guyana, Professor at Princeton University and as the Chairman of the Caribbean Development Bank. Sir Arthur Lewis died on June 15th, 1991. He is buried on the grounds of the College.

Charlemagne Péralte

Guerrilla leader - Born in 1886 in the town of Hinche, Péralte was an officer in the Haitian Army. He resigned in 1915 and returned to his home in Hinche to become a farmer. When the US Marines, who had invaded Haiti in 1915, began forcing Haitians into labour gangs to carry out public works, antipathy to the US occupation grew. In 1917 Péralte was arrested for an attack on the home of a US officer, and sentenced to five years hard labour. He escaped from captivity, and mobilised several thousand peasant irregulars to fight against the US occupation. This band of peasants called " Cacos" wreaked havoc in the countryside for the better part of two years. The success of the guerrilla resistance campaign led by Péralte, forced the US to deploy more Marines, but he was still able to declare a provisional government in the north of Haiti in 1919.

In November 1919 Péralte was betrayed by one of his troops, Jean Baptiste Conzé, who led a small contingent of disguised marines including second lieutenant Herman Hanneker to Peralte's hard-to-find camp. Peralte was killed in the short fight that followed. The US Marines took his body to the town of Hinche and attached it to a door in a Christ-like fashion in order to discourage furhter rebellion. A famous photograph, and also a painting by renowned artist Philome Obin have immortalized that image which has taken its place as an icon of Haitian nationalism. Peralte's lieutenant, Batraville continued the fight, but it never regained the impetus it had under Charlemagne.

Vesey, Denmark (1767?-1822)

Denmark Vesey, a black freedman, planned a slave revolt that involved more blacks than any other uprising in U.S. history. The revolt never took place. But the threat of it caused South Carolina to pass severe laws restricting the education, movement, and occupation of free blacks and slaves.

In 1822, Vesey organized about 9,000 free blacks and slaves and prepared to attack several South Carolina cities. But some of the slaves told their owners. Several blacks were arrested and gave information that led to the capture of Vesey and several other leaders in the plot. Vesey and about 35 followers were hanged. About 35 others were sold to West Indian plantation owners.

Historians know little about Vesey's early life. In 1800, he bought his freedom from his owner. He then worked as a carpenter in Charleston, S.C., until he started to plan the revolt.

Mackandal

One of the most famous Haitian maroons was a man named François Mackandal*. He was also a houngan, or voodoo priest, from Guinea. At night, he would attack the plantations, burning them and killing their owners. During his six-year rebellion, he and his followers poisoned and killed as many as 6,000 whites. In 1758, however, the French finally caught him and publicly executed him on the public square of Cap Francais (today Cap Haitien).

*As History goes, Mackandal's followers believed that he was unvulnerable. He was caught in 1758, and he was to be publicly executed. However, he somehow managed to escape from the flames thereby perpetuating the legend. Nevertheless he was recaptured later on and that time the French suceeded in executing him.