The following are short descriptions of individuals, places and events which have contributed to the shaping of African American history. These encyclopedia entries serve as a starting point for much more inclusive descriptions and discussions that appear in other sources. For additional information please consult the print or website sources cited in the entry.
Historian, educator, and politician Eric Eustace Williams was born in 1911 in Port of Spain, Trinidad, to working class parents. His family’s struggles to survive economically introduced Williams to the brutal social and racial hierarchy of the British colony. As an adult, he gave up … Read MoreEric Eustace Williams (1911-1981)
David George, a slave and later a Baptist minister, was born in 1742 on a plantation in Virginia. His parents had been brought from Africa as slaves, and the cruel treatment they suffered prompted George to run away to South Carolina where he hid for … Read MoreDavid George (1742-1810)
Walter Rodney, one of the most important Guyanese intellectual and political figures of the 20th Century, was born on March 23, 1942 in Georgetown, Guyana. Because of his working-class background, the period in which he lived, and his parents’ political awareness, Rodney was introduced to … Read MoreWalter Rodney (1942-1979)
Writer and political activist Mariama Bâ was born in 1929 in Dakar, Senegal to a well-to-do family. Her father worked in the French colonial administration and in 1956 became the Minister of Health of Senegal. Her mother died when she was young. Bâ was raised … Read MoreMariama Bâ (1929-1981)
Cyril Lionel Robert James was born in the British colony of Trinidad on January 4, 1901. James was a bright youth who absorbed literature, history, music, sports, and art-the foundational texts of Western civilization. He attended Queen’s Royal College in Port of Spain, but chafed … Read MoreC.L.R. James (1901-1989)
Writer and activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali was born in Mogadishu, Somalia on November 13, 1969. Her father, Hirsi Magan Isse, was a prominent Somali intellectual and revolutionary leader. As a child, Ali had to move with her family to Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, and Kenya, due … Read MoreAyaan Hirsi Ali (1969- )
The Kingdom of Kush with its three major cities of Meroe, Kerma, and Napata, emerged in the Nubian Desert south of Egypt along the Upper Nile River Valley from the 2nd millennium B.C. to the fourth century A.D. Archaeology, architecture, art, and burials provide the most … Read MoreAncient Kush (2nd millennium B.C. – 4th century A.D.)
Samora Machel, the leader of the Mozambique Liberation Front and first president of independent Mozambique (1975-1986), was a Marxist-Leninist. In the speech below, given in Maputo, the capital, on February 7, 1980, he describes the use of the state bureaucracy in fashioning his version of … Read More(1980) Samora Machel, “Transform the State Apparatus into an Instrument of Victory”
In the following address given in Berlin, East Germany on April 11, 1983 at celebrations marking the centennial of the death of Karl Marx, Samora Machel, discusses the relevance of Marxist struggle to the Third World and especially to his nation, Mozambique. Dear comrades, with … Read More(1983) Samora Machel “Every Revolution is a Contribution to Marxism”
W.E.B. DuBois once lauded Dantès Bellegarde as the “International Spokesman of Black Folk” for his active career as a Haitian diplomat, historian, and advocate for the ending of United States’ occupation of Haiti. Louis-Dantès Bellegarde was born on May 18, 1877 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He … Read MoreDantès Bellegarde (1877-1966)
