In the article below, culinary historian Diane M. Spivey describes the centuries-old diaspora of African foods and cooking traditions in North and South America. Africa has been a major contributor to the cuisine of North and South America although this contribution has long been overlooked, … Read MoreTransAtlantic Food Migration: The African Culinary Influence on the Cuisine of the Americas
In 2013, Karamba Diaby was one of the two Afro-Germans elected to the Bundestag, the German federal parliament. Born November 27, 1961, in the small town of Marsassoum in southwest Senegal, by age seven both of his natural parents were deceased. He was raised by … Read MoreKaramba Diaby (1961- )
Sundiata (Sunjata) Keita was a West African political leader who would become the founder and first ruler of the Mali Empire in medieval West Africa. He founded the empire circa 1235 CE and ruled until his death in circa 1255 CE. The Mali empire was prosperous under his rule. Sundiata … Read MoreSundiata Keita (1210?-1255?)
Afro-German politician, human rights activist, and scholar Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana was born in Bamako, Mali, but grew up in Dakar, Senegal, the daughter of a Cape Verdean mother, Dona Joaquina Semedo-Lopès, who was Christian, and a Guinean father who was Muslim. Her early experience with nationalities and religions greatly influenced the course of her life. A … Read MorePierrette Herzberger-Fofana (1949- )
Prominent Afro-German politician, actor, and author Charles M. Huber was born Karl-Heinz Huber in Munich, Germany, on December 3, 1956, the illegitimate son of Senegalese diplomat Jean-Pierre Faye, a nephew of Léopold S. Senghor, the first president of independent Senegal, and German domestic worker Olga Huber. He was raised by his … Read MoreCharles Muhamed Huber (Karl-Heinz Huber) (1956- )
Professional singer and guitarist Baaba Maal was born in 1953 in Podor, Northern Senegal, in a fishermen’s family belonging to the Toucouleur people. Nevertheless, his first contact with music came from his parents, as his father sang in their local mosque, and his mother sang during communal ceremonies. His interest … Read MoreBaaba Maal (1953- )
Habib Koité is a Malian musician, born in Thies, Senegal, in 1958. He grew up in a family of griots, who are story-tellers and musicians of the Khassonke ethnic group. Koité entered the Institute of Art of Bamako (INA) in Bamako, the capital of Mali, in 1978, and … Read MoreHabib Koité (1958- )
Homer Smith, Jr., best known for his fourteen-year sojourn in the Soviet Union, was born in 1909 in Quitman, Mississippi to parents Mr. and Mrs. Homer Smith, Sr. In 1916, at the age of seven, he moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota with his parents. Between 1922 and 1928, Smith studied journalism at the … Read MoreHomer Smith, Jr. (1909-1972)
Image Ownership: Public Domain Yahya Jammeh is a Gambian politician and former military officer who was the second president of Gambia from 1994 to 2017. Jammeh ruled Gambia for 23 years after rising to power as a young army officer in a bloodless military coup … Read MoreYahya Abdul-Aziz Jemus Junking Jammeh (1965- )
Adama Barrow is a Gambian politician and real estate developer who is the third and current president of Gambia. Barrow defeated Yahya Jammeh in the 2016 Gambian presidential election, but because the incumbent president initially refused to recognize the victory, Barrow was inaugurated at the … Read MoreAdama Barrow
(1965- )
