Lucy Craft Laney, educator, school founder, and civil rights activist, was born in Georgia on April 13, 1854 in Macon, Georgia to free parents Louisa and David Laney. David Laney, a Presbyterian minister and skilled carpenter, had purchased his freedom approximately twenty years before Lucy Laney’s birth. He purchased Louisa’s freedom shortly … Read MoreLucy Craft Laney (1854-1933)
Zhou Enlai with Unidentified African Leader, 1963 Image Ownership: Public domain Zhou Enlai’s first tour of Africa, popularly known as Zhou’s “Safari,” was a series of state visits to ten independent African countries, undertaken between December 1963 and February 1964 by the Chinese Premier. These … Read MoreZhou Enlai’s African “Safari” (1963-1964)
Haben Girma at the White House with President Barack Obama, July 20, 2015 Image Ownership: Public domain Haben Girma, both blind and deaf, is a disability rights advocate and attorney who became the first deaf and blind graduate of Harvard Law School in Massachusetts when … Read MoreHaben Girma (1988- )
In three covert military operations, called Moses, Joshua, and Solomon, over twenty thousand Ethiopian Jews were airlifted to Israel to escape hardship. This ancient community, called Beta Israel (House of Israel in English), lived in relative isolation from the rest of the Jewish world for … Read MoreOperations Moses, Joshua, and Solomon (1984-1991)
Image Ownership: Public domain William Henry Ellis, an African American businessman who challenged racial constructs in the United States by “passing” as Hispanic, was born a slave to Charles and Margaret Ellis on June 15, 1864. His parents had been brought by Joseph Weisiger from … Read MoreWilliam Henry Ellis (1864-1923)
"Image Ownership: Public Domain" John Charles Robinson, nicknamed the Brown Condor, was an African American aviator who fought with the Imperial Ethiopian Air Force against Benito Mussolini and Fascist Italy during the Second Italian-Ethiopian War, 1935–1936. He is also known as the Father of the … Read MoreJohn Charles Robinson (1903–1954)
Somali Tanks Entering Ethiopia at the Start of the Ethiopian-Somali War, 1977-1978 "Image Ownership: Public Domain" In 1977 Ethiopia and Somalia engaged in a brief territory conflict over the Ogaden region situated between and claimed by both nations. This conflict however held significance greater than … Read MoreEthiopian-Somali War Over the Ogaden Region (1977–1978)
Al Shabaab Fighters in Somalia "Image Ownership: Public Domain" Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen, more commonly known as Al-Shabaab (meaning youth), is a clan-based jihadist terrorist group in East Africa. Originating as the militant youth wing of the Somali Council of Islamic Courts (ICU), which took over … Read MoreAl-Shabaab (2006- )
"Image Ownership: Public Domain" The Second Italo-Abyssinian War was Italy’s conquest of Ethiopia, a process it began after the 1885 Partition of Africa. Italy was defeated in its first attempt at conquest at the battle of Adwa in 1896, allowing Ethiopia to become the only … Read MoreThe Second Italo-Abyssinian War (1935–1936)
American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) “Image Ownership: Public Domain” Labor leader Tefere Gebre fled Ethiopia at fourteen years of age, moved to the United States, and was elected years later, in 2013, executive vice president of the American Federation of Labor-Congress of … Read MoreTefere Gebre (1968–)