In the article below, Carlton McLellan, PhD, a senior fellow at the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training (ADST), briefly describes the history of the more than one hundred and forty black women and men who have led diplomatic delegations as U.S. Ambassadors in ninety-five … Read MoreAmerica’s Black Ambassadors: A Historical Snapshot
Harriet Elam-Thomas is a diplomat and professor who served as United States Ambassador to Senegal from 1999 to 2002. She retired in 2005 from the U.S. State Department as a Senior Foreign Service Officer with the rank of Career Minister. Born on September 15, 1941 … Read MoreHarriet Elam-Thomas (1941- )
Irvin Hicks was a career Foreign Service Officer who rose from a communications clerk position to serve three times as a U.S. ambassador. Hicks served in the Department of State during the nascent years of African Independence from European colonial rule. Hicks was appointed Ambassador … Read MoreIrvin Hicks Sr. (1938- )
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?
Born in Tinton Falls, New Jersey in 1957, Marcia Stephens Bloom Bernicat earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, in 1975. Thinking she might teach overseas, Bernicat earned a teaching credential in social sciences at the secondary level. Rather than … Read MoreMarcia Stephens Bloom Bernicat (1957- )
Bamako, with a population of 1.8 million, is the largest city in the Republic of Mali. It serves as Mali’s seat of government and the country’s economic and cultural center. The city is located in the southwestern corner of Mali, along the banks of the … Read MoreBamako, Mali (11th Century- )
Anne Forrester Holloway was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Mali on November 6, 1979 by President Jimmy Carter. She was the first African American woman to hold that post. Forrester was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on June 2, 1941. She attended public schools in Philadelphia but then transferred … Read MoreAnne Forrester Holloway (1941-2006)
Tripoli has been the capital of Libya since its independence in 1951. Tripoli is the largest city in the country and in 2002 it had an estimated population of 1,223,300 people. The city is also the chief seaport, commercial, transport, communication, and industrial center of … Read MoreTripoli, Libya (7th Century BCE- )
Musée de l’Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire, Dakar, Senegal Image Ownership: Public Domain One of West Africa’s premier research institutions, the Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire (IFAN), was first created by the French Government in 1938. Established in Dakar, Senegal, the organization was originally called the Institut … Read MoreInstitut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire (IFAN) (1938– )
Dakar was the political center of French West Africa and is the capital of modern Senegal. Located on Cape Verde, the westernmost point of the African mainland, Ndaxaru, known by its French name, Dakar, has been occupied at least since Europeans began to explore the … Read MoreDakar, Senegal (1857- )
