Africa Before the African American

February is Black History in the United States. The shortest month of the year is the time for Americans to celebrate and give tribute to the legacy and achievements of the African American.  Far too often, the memorial and recollection of historical facts of the African American start with the Transatlantic Slave Trade and slavery. Black History does not begin with slavery.  Black History commenced on the continent of origin for the African American - Africa!

Africa is an enormously large continent, not a single country. Before slavery, Africans had a rich and varied history and culture. Africa has and always had an immense municipality of political arrangements including kingdoms, city-states, each with specific and individualized languages and philosophies.

Harpoon Point

The arts, education, and technology flourished in Africa.  The skilled Africans were masters  of medicine, mathematics, and astronomy. They also made luxury items in bronze, ivory, gold, and terracotta (clay-based glazed or non-glazed ceramic). These items were used in daily life and were traded internationally.

Here are five historical facts of Africa and the African before for Transatlantic Slave trade:

1.      Africans were the first to organize fishing expeditions 90,000 years ago. At Katanda, a region in the Zaire (now Congo), historians discovered a finely built series of harpoon points, all elaborately polished and barbed. 

2.     West Africans built in stone by 1100 B.C. In the Tichitt-Walata region of Mauritania, archaeologists found “large stone masonry villages” that date back to 1100 B.C. The villages consisted of roughly circular compounds connected by “well- defined streets”.

Kanem Borno Court, circa 1700 A.D.

3.      Ngazargamu, the capital city of Kanem-Borno, became one of the largest cities in the seventeenth-century world. By 1658 A.D., the metropolis, according to an architectural scholar housed “about a quarter of a million people". It had 660 streets. Many were broad and unbending, reflective of city planning of today.

4.     Ruins of a 300 B.C. astronomical observatory were found at Namoratunga in Kenya. Africans were mapping the movements of stars such as Triangulum, Aldebaran, Bellatrix, Central Orion, as well as the moon, to create a 354-day lunar calendar.

Pillars are aligned with sevev star systems: Triangulum, Pleiades, Bellatrix, Aldebaran, Central Orion, Saiph, and Sirius

5.      Africans were the first to engage in mining 43,000 years ago. In 1964, a hematite mine was  found in Swaziland at Bonvu Ridge in the Ngwenya mountain range. Ultimately, 3,000 artifacts were recovered including thousands of stone-made mining tools. Adrian Boshier, one of the archaeologists on the site dated the mine to be a staggering 43,200 years old.

The history of the African American starts in Africa, not with slavery. The African continent was and still is a rising global economic oasis with endless possibilities.

When we begin to learn our history, no one can influence the importance or relevance of our existence. 

“History is a clock people use to tell their historical culture and political time of the day. It’s a compass that people use to find themselves on the map of human geography. The history tells them where they have been, where they are and what they are. But most importantly history tells a people where they still must go and what they still must be." 

– Dr. John Henrik Clarke

Please comment below and share your thoughts on Africa Before the African American. 

Research: Browder, Anthony Y. Nile Valley Contributions to Civilization Washington, DC: Institute of Karmic Guidance, 1992. Bennett, Lerone. Before the Mayflower: A History of Black America Harmondsworth: 1962 Jackson, John G. Introduction To African Civilizations Foreword by Runoko Rashidi. Introduction by John Henrik Clarke. New York: Citadel, 2001.

Leaves in the Wind, Part II

My oldest daughter was celebrating her 16th year of life, while my youngest is trying to understand the significance of being 5 and entering kindergarten.  Please, I can't forget to mention, my 14-year-old is evolving in her incubation chamber (her room) watching old Michael Jackson videos. 

Each is growing a year older, yet all are experiencing very different phenomenons of life.  

In indigenous African culture, there are different initiation rites to lead individuals through the transformation processes of life.  These ceremonies or rituals are done to ensure each person understands their responsibilities and acquires all the knowledge needed to be successful while encountering new life experiences.  

There are five initiation rites in indigenous African culture:

1. Birth

2. Adulthood

3. Marriage

4. Eldership

5. Ancestorship

Birth - During this rite, the welcomed infant will complete a naming ceremony. Culturally Africans believe each person is born with a specific purpose and a message to share with the world. During the naming ceremony, the infant received his or her name, and it is now the responsibility if the infant's family and community to help the infant remember their purpose. 

Adulthood - Around the ages of puberty, pre-teens are taken through various rites and ceremonies to teach them how to become productive members of society. These lessons are often done away from their families and conducted by respected elders.  During these rites, society rules and restrictions are reinforced, while participants receive a deeper appreciation of their life's missions.  

Marriage - This rite is an essential component of all successful  culture. This ceremony not only joins two families, but also joins two life missions. Marriage in indigenous African societies was communal and not based on external lusts of the flesh and fleeting emotions of attraction. Marriages were respected institutions to assist the young man and women on the journey of completion of their life's missions. Spousal unions were key factors of building thriving communities; the emphasis was the community, not the individuals. When a marriage was successful, the community thrived.

Eldership - There is a significant discrepancy between being an older person and being an elder. An older person has just lived longer, but an elder is a man or women who has earned admiration and respect in their families and communities.  Elders are the keepers of traditional and providers of cherished wisdom. Becoming an elder in an African population is the highest compliment. Elders and infants are a prized possession of all African communities. These two groups, elders and infants, are said to be the to God

and the spiritual world.  Infants have just left the spiritual world and elders are closer to returning. 

Ancestorship -  When a respected elder passes, then the final rite of Ancestorship is initiated. Ancestors are the respected deceased of the community. The esteemed ancestors are called on behalf of their families and communities to solidify certain matters in the physical world. Indigenous African traditions believe staying in continuous communication with their respected ancestors after they have passed, is a source of increased power, balance and divine reciprocity.

Like leaves blowing in the wind, many of us are still mentally between birth and adulthood.  

We have no direction and indeed no clue of our life's purposes and missions. We're tumbling continuously in hopes of finally landing in a safe place. Letting the life and traditions of others toss us beyond all comprehensible control.  It's time we learn who we are and stop allowing other people determine our velocity and bearings.  

By traditional African standards, we're all behind and living outside of our life's purposes. We could learn something for the rites if of indigenous African cultures. When we know better, we can do better!  No more leaves blowing in the wind, but immortal spirits motivated by ancestral excellence, rooted in divine purpose. 

I'm here to be a mother, so welcome to my motherly advice or as I like to call it Motherly Love!