In the article below, Syracuse University historian Herbert Ruffin explores the rapid rise of the Black Lives Matter Movement in 2013 as the most recent development in the ongoing struggle for racial and social justice in the United States. In the summer of 2013, three … Read MoreBlack Lives Matter: The Growth of a New Social Justice Movement
Sharon P. Wilkinson is an American diplomat. She served as United States Ambassador to Burkina Faso from 1996 to 1999 and United States Ambassador to Mozambique from 2000 to 2003. She has extensive experience in foreign affairs and has served all over the globe. Born … Read MoreSharon P. Wilkinson (1947- )
In 2014, Cynthia Akuetteh, career Senior Foreign Service officer, was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as ambassador to Gabon and the island nation of Sao Tomé & Principe. After U.S. Senate confirmation she arrived in Libreville, capital of Gabon, to take up her … Read MoreCynthia Helen Akuetteh (1948- )
Robert Perry was born in Durham, North Carolina in 1945. He graduated from Hillside High School in that city in 1963. During his time in high school, Perry played in the marching band, was a member of the Honor Society, and served as president of … Read MoreRobert C. Perry (1945- )
Arlene Render became a Foreign Service officer in 1970 and has since served in many influential positions in the U.S. Department of State, including as Director of the Office of Central African Affairs, and ambassador to Gambia, Zambia, and Ivory Coast. In 1994-1995, Render played … Read MoreArlene Render (1943- )
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Pamela E. Bridgewater is a career Foreign Service officer who has been recognized for important diplomatic work in South Africa, Ghana, and Liberia. Her most recent posting was as U.S. Ambassador to Jamaica. Born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, Bridgewater earned a … Read MorePamela E. Bridgewater (1947- )
In the article below independent historian Robin Loftin explores the past, present, and possible future relationship between the world’s most populous nation and people of African ancestry. Africa and China have had contact for more than a thousand years. Some scholars assert that the contacts … Read MoreAfricans and African Americans in China: A Long History, A Troubled Present, and a Promising Future?
Bangui is the capital and largest city of the landlocked nation of the Central African Republic. The city had a population of 750,000 people in 2012 which is about 16% of the nation’s 4.6 million people. Bangui spans an area covering 67 square km, or … Read MoreBangui, Central African Republic (1889- )
Ambassador Sue Katherine Brown is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister Counselor. In 2011 President Barack Obama nominated her to become the U.S. Ambassador to Montenegro, the first African American to hold this post and only the second … Read MoreSue K. Brown (1948- )
Following the introduction of cattle into the Caribbean in 1493, during Christopher Columbus’s second voyage, cattle ranching proliferated along a series of frontiers across the grasslands of North and South America. While historians have recognized that Africans and their descendants were involved in the establishment … Read MoreAfrican Cowboys on the Argentine Pampas: Their Disappearance from the Historical Record
