Lets Explore Various African and African Diaspora History/culture VOL.1

[cole phelps]

The Jitterbug is a kind of dance popularized in the United States in the early twentieth century and is associated with various types of swing dances such as the Lindy Hop,[1] Jive, and East Coast Swing

Early history
The term jitterbug comes from an early 20th-century slang for alcoholics who suffered from the "jitters" (i.e., delirium tremens).[citation needed] The term became associated with swing dancers who danced without any control or knowledge of the dance. In popular culture, it became generalized to mean swing dancers themselves, or a type of swing dance – for example "they danced the jitterbug", or the act of swing dancing – "People were top-notch jitterbugging, jumping around, cutting loose and going crazy".[2]
Cab Calloway's 1934 recording of "Call of the Jitter Bug" (Jitterbug) [1] and the film "Cab Calloway's Jitterbug Party"[3] popularized use of the word "jitterbug" and created a strong association between Calloway and jitterbug. Lyrics to “Call of the Jitter Bug” clearly demonstrate the association between the word jitterbug and the consumption of alcohol:
If you'd like to be a jitter bug,
First thing you must do is get a jug,
Put whiskey, wine and gin within,
And shake it all up and then begin.
Grab a cup and start to toss,
You are drinking jitter sauce!
Don't you worry, you just mug,
And then you'll be a jitter bug!
In the 1947 film Hi De Ho, Calloway includes the following lines in his song "Minnie the Moocher": "Woe there ain't no more Smokey Joe/ She's fluffed off his hi-de-ho/ She's a solid jitterbug/ And she starts to cut a rug/ Oh Minnie's a hep cat now." [4]
Regarding the Savoy Ballroom, dance critic John Martin of The New York Times wrote the following:
The white jitterbug is oftener than not uncouth to look at ... but his Negro original is quite another matter. His movements are never so exaggerated that they lack control, and there is an unmistakable dignity about his most violent figures...there is a remarkable amount of improvisation ... mixed in ... with Lindy Hop figures. Of all the ballroom dances these prying eyes have seen, this is unquestionably the finest."[5]
Norma Miller wrote, however, that when "tourists" came to the Savoy, they saw a rehearsed and choreographed dance, which they mistakenly thought was a regular group of dancers simply enjoying social dancing.[6]
One text states that "the shag and single lindy represented the earlier popular basics" of jitterbug, which gave way to the double lindy when rock and roll became popular.[7]
A young, white middle-class man from suburban Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania learned to dance jitterbug in 1939 by going to the "Hill City" section of that city to watch black dancers. They danced smoothly, without hopping and bouncing around the dance floor. "The hardest thing to learn is the pelvic motion. I suppose I always felt these motions are somehow obscene. You have to sway, forwards and backwards, with a controlled hip movement, while your shoulders stay level and your feet glide along the floor. Your right hand is held low on the girl's back, and your left hand down at your side, enclosing her hand."[8]
When he ventured out into "nearby mill towns, picking up partners on location," he found that there were white girls who were "mill-town...lower class" and could dance and move "in the authentic, flowing style". "They were poor and less educated than my high-school friends, but they could really dance. In fact, at that time it seemed that the lower class a girl was, the better dancer she was, too."[8]
A number called "The Jitterbug" was written for the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. The "jitterbug" was a bug sent by the Wicked Witch of the West to waylay the heroes by forcing them to do a jitterbug-style dance. Although the sequence was not included in the final version of the film, the Witch is later heard to tell the flying monkey leader, "I've sent a little insect on ahead to take the fight out of them." The song as sung by Judy Garland as Dorothy and some of the establishing dialogue survived from the soundtrack as the B-side of the disc release of Over the Rainbow.

Popularity
In 1944, with the United States' continuing involvement in World War II, a 30% federal excise tax was levied against "dancing" night clubs. Although the tax was later reduced to 20%, "No Dancing Allowed" signs went up all over the country. Jazz drummer Max Roach argued that, "This tax is the real story why dancing ... public dancing per se ... were [sic] just out. Club owners, promoters, couldn't afford to pay the city tax, state tax, government tax.[9]
World War II facilitated the spread of jitterbug across the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans. British Samoans were doing a "Seabee version" of the jitterbug by January 1944.[10] Across the Atlantic in preparation for D-Day, there were nearly 2 million American troops stationed throughout Britain in May 1944.[11] Ballrooms that had been closed because of lack of business opened their doors. Working class girls who had never danced before made up a large part of the attendees, along with American soldiers and sailors. By November 1945 after the departure of the American troops following D-Day, English couples were being warned not to continue doing energetic "rude American dancing."[12] Time Magazine reported that American troops stationed in France in 1945 jitterbugged [2], and by 1946, jitterbug had become a craze in England. [3] It was already a competition dance in Australia.[13]
Jitterbug dancing was also done to early rock and roll. Rockabilly musician Janis Martin equated jitterbug with rock and roll dancing in her April 1956 song "Drugstore Rock 'n' Roll":
The girls fill the jukebox and then demand
The jitterbug hand-in-hand...
Drugstore's rockin', rock-rock".[4][5][6]
In 1957, the Philadelphia-based television show American Bandstand was picked up by the American Broadcasting Company and shown across the United States. American Bandstand featured currently popular songs, live appearances by musicians, and dancing in the studio. At this time, the most popular fast dance was jitterbug, which was described as "a frenetic leftover of the swing era ballroom days that was only slightly less acrobatic than Lindy."[14]
In a 1962 article in the Memphis Commercial Appeal, Bassist Bill Black, who had backed Elvis Presley from 1954 to 1957, and now the leader of the Bill Black Combo listed "jitterbug" along with the twist and cha-cha as "the only dance numbers you can play."[15]

 

[cole phelps]

Mexico Many black men sought conjugal companionship with the local Amerindian women due to a shortage of black women (there were three times as many male slaves as female ones). Black men, both free and slave, kept Amerindian concubines. Although this was discouraged by the Spanish, it did not deter black men from pursuing Amerindian women. Even if a black man was a slave, by having children with Amerindian women (who were considered free subjects) their offspring would be free. Black male slaves who took Amerindian concubines were in effect circumventing the class stratification of colonial society. As time went on, black men (free or slave) were allowed to marry Amerindian women. However, their offspring would have to pay tribute to the Spanish government. Mixing between black men and Amerindian women led to the process of endoacculturation

 

[↓R↑LYB]

Okomfo Anokye was an Ashanti priest, statesman and lawgiver. He occupies a Merlin-like position in Ashanti history. A co-founder of the Empire of Ashanti in West Africa, he helped establish its constitution, laws, and customs. There can be no talk of stools without special mention of the sacred Golden Stool of the Ashantis, the single most important object of reverence in the Ashantis universe. The Golden stool (Sika Dwa Kofi) is the uniting power and commanding spirit of the Ashanti nation and its creation thus becomes the greatest achievement of Okomfo Anokye the most famous African magic spiritual practitioner .He conjured it from the sky on a certain Friday night in 1700 to permanently unite the loose confederation that Osei Tutu, founder of the nation formed to fight the Denkyiras.

After the Ashanti Defeat of the Denkyira in 1699, Okomfo Anokye, constitutional and spiritual adviser to King Osei Tutu, thought it expedient to transform the confederation into a kingdom with a common stool, he thus called a meeting of all notable chiefs and queen mother’s on a certain Friday.

Amid thunderous rumblings and a thick cloud of white dust, he conjured a Golden stool from the sky and it floated gently onto the laps of Osei Tutu, thus proclaiming him head of a new dynasty for a new united natio

The greatest historical figure


Sad that my parents completely abandon Ashanti history, because of Christianity and the demonization of all things traditional, and I have to learn all this on my own

I have a wooden Ashante stool sitting on the console table in my house. It's one of the first things you see when you walk in the crib

 

[cole phelps]

It has been estimated that 25,000 Afro-Bolivians live in the Yungas. One thing we do know is that the Afro-Bolivians are proud of their culture and have fought very hard to preserve it. In fact, in the town of Mururata, the Afro-Bolivians managed to maintain their traditional culture, to the point of maintaining a continuous Afro-Bolivian monarchy currently led by Julio Pinedo. Afro-bolivan spread to east in Cochabamba and Santa Cruz de la Sierra, But in Santa Cruz there is more Afro-Brazilian than Afro-Bolivian. Not only that, but they are also in the process of trying to put together African culture classes for the young people, in an attempt to maintain their African culture

 

[cole phelps]

The Wilmington Coup d'Etat of 1898, also known as the Wilmington Massacre of 1898 or the Wilmington Race Riot of 1898, occurred in Wilmington, North Carolina starting on November 10, 1898 into the following days; it is considered a turning point in North Carolina politics following Reconstruction. Originally described as a race riot, it is now observed as a coup d'etat with insurgents having overthrown the legitimately elected local government.[1][2][3]
Two days after the election of a Fusionist white mayor and biracial city council, Democratic Party white supremacists illegally seized power from the elected government. More than 1500 white men participated in an attack on the black newspaper, burning down the building. They ran officials and community leaders out of the city, and killed many blacks in widespread attacks, but especially destroyed the Brooklyn neighborhood. They took photographs of each other during the events. The Wilmington Light Infantry (WLI) and federal Naval Reserves, told to quell the riot, instead used rapid-fire weapons and killed several black men in the Brooklyn neighborhood. Both black and white residents later appealed for help after the coup to President William McKinley, who did not respond. More than 2,000 blacks left the city permanently, turning it from a black-majority to a white-majority city.
In the 1990s, a grassroots movement arose in the city to acknowledge and discuss the events more openly, and try to reconcile the different accounts of what happened, similar to efforts in Florida and Oklahoma to recognize the early 20th-century race riots of Rosewood and Tulsa, respectively. The city planned events around the insurrection's centennial in 1998, and numerous residents took part in discussions and education events. In 2000 the state legislature authorized a commission to produce a history of the events and to evaluate the economic impact and costs to black residents, with consideration of reparation for descendants of victims. Its report was completed in 2006.

 

[cole phelps]

Background

In 1860, before the Civil War, Wilmington was majority black and the largest city in the state, with nearly 10,000 people.[4] Numerous slaves and free blacks worked at the port, as domestic servants, and as artisans and skilled workers.[4]
After the Battle of Fort Fisher, which the Union won in January 1865, Wilmington was taken by Union troops in February, after they had worked their way through Confederate defenses up the Cape Fear River. Numerous slaves had escaped to Union lines before this, seeking freedom, and some fought with the Union. With its victory in the Battle of Wilmington, the Union completed its blockade of major southern ports. The Confederate General Braxton Bragg had burned tobacco and cotton stores before leaving the city.
With the end of the war, freedmen in many states left plantation and rural areas for towns and cities, not only to seek work but to gain safety by creating black communities without white supervision. Tensions grew in Wilmington and other areas because of a shortage of supplies; Confederate currency had no value and the South was impoverished at the end of the long war.
Federal constitutional amendments had abolished slavery, and granted citizenship and voting rights to freedmen. Adults and children were pursuing education, and freedmen were eager to vote, tending to support the Republican Party that had achieved their freedom.
In North Carolina, state and local races were close, with Republicans winning most of the offices. Their ascendancy to power can be traced to granting the franchise to freedmen, plus the successful formation of a biracial coalition of freedmen, recent black and white migrants from the North, and white Southerners who Reconstruction. Many white Democrats had been embittered since the Confederacy's defeat, and most veterans were armed. Insurgent veterans joined the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), which started in Tennessee but soon had chapters across the South. It generated considerable violence at elections to suppress the black vote, and Democrats regained control of the state legislature in 1870. After the KKK was suppressed by the federal government through the Force Act of 1870, new paramilitary groups arose in the South. By 1875, chapters of Red Shirts, a paramilitary arm of the Democratic Party, had formed in North Carolina and were instrumental in suppressing the black vote during elections, but a Republican governor was elected in 1876.
In the years that followed, Wilmington, then the largest city in the state, had a majority-black population with numerous black professionals and a rising middle class. The Republican Party was biracial in membership. Unlike many other jurisdictions, blacks in Wilmington gained positions as members of the police force and fire department, as well as in elected positions.

 

[cole phelps]

Election of 1898
In 1871 Democrats regained control of the state legislature.
After 1875, the campaign to reduce voting by freedmen was helped by the Red Shirts, a paramilitary group that openly disrupted Republican and especially black meetings, and intimidated voters to keep them from the polls. It had started in Mississippi in 1875, and chapters arose in both the Carolinas. Although Democrats dominated state politics after 1877, both blacks and whites continued to participate in politics and, in the 1890s, the Populists appealed to many former Democratic voters.
In the 1894 and 1896 elections, North Carolina’s Populist Party fused with the Republican Party and won enough votes to gain control of the state government; they were known as the Fusionists. The Fusionists won the elections and passed laws increasing the franchise for blacks for the first time since the Reconstruction era by decreasing property requirements for voters. They also elected the Republican Daniel L. Russell as governor - the first since 1877 and the last until 1973.


During the 1898 election, the Democratic Party regained control at the state level, in part due to widespread violence and intimidation of blacks by the Red Shirts, which suppressed black voting. Russell was unable to satisfy both the Populist and Republican parties to keep the Fusion coalition viable.[5]
Because Wilmington was a black-majority city, its election was followed statewide. Groups of four to eight white men had been patrolling every block in the city for weeks before the election.[6] On November 4, 1898, the Raleigh News & Observer noted that,
The first Red Shirt parade on horseback ever witnessed in Wilmington electrified the people today. It created enthusiasm among the whites and consternation among the Negroes. The whole town turned out to see it. It was an enthusiastic body of men. Otherwise it was quiet and orderly.

Despite the Democrats' inflammatory rhetoric in support of white supremacy, and the Red Shirt armed display, voters elected a biracial fusionist government to office in Wilmington on November 8; the mayor and 2/3 of the aldermen were white.
Democratic Party white supremacists, led by Alfred Moore Waddell, who had run unsuccessfully for governor, had organized a secret committee of nine. They had planned to replace the government if the Democratic Party candidates lost. During the election campaign, whites had criticized Alexander Manly, editor of Wilmington's Daily Record, the state's only black-owned newspaper, and wanted to close him down.


For some time, Josephus Daniels, editor of the Raleigh News and Observer, had used Wilmington as a symbol for “Negro domination” because of its government, although it was biracial. Many newspapers published pictures and stories implying that African-American men were attacking white women. Manly denied such charges, claiming the stories represented consensual relationships and suggested "white men [should] be more protective of their women against sexual advances from males of all races."[7] White supremacists publicized his words as a catalyst for violence against the black community.[7]
After the election, whites created a Committee of Twenty-Five, all supremacists, and presented their demands to the Committee of Colored Citizens (CCC), a group of politicians and leaders of the African-American community. Specifically, the whites wanted the CCC to promise to evict Manly from the city. They gave the CCC a deadline of November 10, 1898 for their response. When Waddell and the Committee had not received a response by 7:30 a.m., he gathered a large group of white businessmen and veterans at the Wilmington Light Infantry (WLI) armory.[3] By 8:00 a.m., Waddell led the armed group of 1,000-1500 men, organized in military formation, to the Daily Record office, where they destroyed the equipment and burned down the building of the only African-American newspaper in the state. By this time, the crowd had swelled to nearly 2,000 men.[6]


By this time, Manly, along with many others, had hidden or fled Wilmington for safety. Waddell tried to get the group to return to the Armory and disband, but he lost control, and the armed men turned into a mob. Whites rioted and shot guns, attacking blacks throughout Wilmington but especially in Brooklyn, the majority-black neighborhood.[6] The small patrols were spread out over the city and continued until nightfall. Walker Taylor, of the Secret Nine, was authorized by Governor Russell to command the Wilmington Light Infantry (WLI) troops, newly returned from the Spanish-American War, and the federal Naval Reserves, taking them into Brooklyn to quell the "riot". They intimidated both black and white crowds with rapid-fire weapons, but the WLI killed several black men.[6]
Whites drove the opposing political and business leaders from the town. The estimated number of deaths ranges from six to 100, all blacks. Because of incomplete records by the hospital, churches and coroner's office, the number of people killed remains uncertain, but no whites were reported dead. Some whites were wounded. Hundreds of blacks fled the town to take shelter in nearby swamps. After the violence settled, more than 2100 blacks left Wilmington permanently, hollowing out its professional and artisan class and changing the demographics to leave a white majority city.[3]
Waddell and his mob forced the white Republican Mayor Silas P. Wright and other members of the city government (both black and white) to resign. (Their terms would have lasted until 1899). They installed a new city council that elected Waddell to take over as mayor by 4 p.m. that day.[6]
City residents' appeals to President William McKinley for help to recover from the widespread destruction in Brooklyn were met with no response.
Subsequent to Waddell's usurping power, the Democratic state legislators (see North Carolina General Assembly of 1899-1900) passed the first Jim Crow laws for North Carolina. The legislature passed a constitutional amendment in 1899 requiring voters to pay a poll tax and pass a literacy test to register to vote, both measures that discriminated against blacks. When Democrats had first proposed it in 1881, The New York Times estimated that 40,000 black men would be disfranchised by such action in North Carolina. The legislators infringed on the constitutional right to vote, but the US Supreme Court had recently upheld similar measures in a challenge to Mississippi's 1890 constitution. Democrats in other southern states also worked to reduce the black vote. Once that was done, Democrats passed laws imposing racial segregation of public facilities. They essentially imposed martial law on African Americans in North Carolina, setting an example that had influence beyond the state's borders. Not until the African-American Civil Rights Movement and passage of national laws in the mid-1960s several generations later would African Americans regain their civil rights in North Carolina.
Hugh MacRae was among the nine conspirators who planned the insurrection. He later donated land outside Wilmington to New Hanover County for a park, which was named for him. In the park still stands a plaque in his honor that does not mention his role in the 1898 insurrection. His descendant contributed to the 1998 centennial commemoration.


Election of 1900
In 1900, a second "white supremacy" political campaign cemented the Democrats' domination in the state; they elected Charles B. Aycock as governor. Party agitators used photos suggesting "Negro domination" to raise fears and tensions. The crude strategy, plus the constitutional amendment, had sharply reduced African-American voting and the Democrats controlled the legislature and governor's office.
The night before the election, Waddell spoke:

You are Anglo-Saxons. You are armed and prepared and you will do your duty…Go to the polls tomorrow, and if you find the negro out voting, tell him to leave the polls and if he refuses, kill him, shoot him down in his tracks. We shall win tomorrow if we have to do it with guns.[8]
The Democratic Party won by a landslide.​

 

[cole phelps]

bump

 

[cole phelps]

Colonel Carmens Amelia Robles, Afro Mexican Woman Leader in the Mexican Revolution

 

[cole phelps]

Throughout the Americas resistance to slavery and the plantation system took the form of runaway slave communities called maroons, quilombos or mocambos.The most famous runaway slave community of the Americas was Quilombo dos Palmares, a series of Brazilian mocambos founded in the end of the 16th century which survived up until 1694 before being crushed by Portuguese, Indian and white forces. Palmares was formed when a small group of slaves escaped from their home plantation after a rebellion. They violently turned on their masters before taking to the forests with supplies and all of their worldly possessions. They ventured over the harsh terrain and settled in a valley that came to be the quilombo at Palmares. What began as a small fugitive camp quickly grew in size and complexity. Estimates place the population of Palmares in the 1690’s at around 10,000 to 20,000 inhabitants. The autonomous region successfully defended the territory while simultaneously performing raids on nearby plantations, freeing slaves, destroying crops and stealing supplies. When the territory was finally captured 200 Palmarista soldiers committed suicide rather than return to bondage. In an effort to demoralize and intimidate Africans, the Palmarista general Zambi was decapitated in a public execution and his head put on display. But instead, quilombos continued to exist in Brazil and lore of Zambi spread, as more fugitive slaves formed settlements in Brazil.

 

[cole phelps]

Puerto Rico’s Juano Hernandez, first Afro-Latino movie star The film industry is not an easy one to get in nowadays. Imagine how it was back in 1932, especially for an Afro-Latino actor.
Juano Hernandez, a Puerto Rican born in 1896, made his movie debut in 1932 playing a Cuban in “The Girl from Chicago,” a Oscar Micheaux’s film for African American audiences.
It was not until 1949 though that he received public praise – and a Golden Globe nomination as best newcomer – for his role as Lucas Beauchamp in “Intruder in the Dust.”
According HOLA, “film historian Donald Bogle said ‘Intruder in the Dust’ broke new ground in the cinematic portrayal of blacks, and Hernandez’s ‘performance and extraordinary presence still rank above that of almost any other black actor to appear in an American movie.’”
Efrain Nieves and Victoria Cepeda of Pa’Lante Latino, recognize Hernandez as the first Afro-Latino to become a movie star and one of the first black movie stars in history:
“Although Puerto Ricans like Rita Moreno, Jose Ferrer and Benicio del Toro have won academy awards, it is men like Hernández that truly paved the way for Afro-Latinos and Blacks to earn recognition in an era where color did matter.”
In total, Hernandez participated in 23 films but never as the leading character.

 

[cole phelps]

Afro Brazil – The Federative Republic of Brazil Republica Federativa do Brasil in Portuguese) is the largest and most populous country in South America. has the largest population of blacks of any country outside of Africa. Most black Brazilians are descendents of Yoruban slaves brought from Nigeria to the northern areas of the country to work on sugar plantations. Blacks and mulattoes in Brazil make up almost half the population. The largest concentration of Brazilian Africans are in the town of Bahia where over 80% of the people are black.

Afro Panama – Panama has the largest black population in Central America. Most Black Panamanians live on the Caribbean coast and are of West Indian heritage. The West Indians (mostly Jamaicans) came to the country to help build the Panama Canal. The rest of the poulation are of pure African, mulatto, or mixed black and Kuni Indian heritage. Panamanian language and music is Spanish with a West Indian accent. The most popular music genre in Panama right now is Spanish-language reggae. The actual percentage of blacks in Panama is unclear but it is somewhere in the range of between 14% and 42%.

Afro Cuba – Most Cubans (65%) are mulattoes; an additional 11% are pure blacks. Black Cubans were brought from the Yoruba and Congolese people of West Africa as slaves to work on the sugar cane fields. The slaves did not lose their culture, but practiced it in secret. Most dances out of Cuba such as Mambo, Salsa, Son, Santeria vodoo chanting, and Rhumba are mostly African in origin.

Afro Colombia – Colombia’s blacks make up 21% (mulatto 14%, pure blacks 4%, and zambos 2%) of the population, mostly concentrated on the northern coast. Black Colombians encounter a lot of racial injustice from the rest of Colombia’s population. Even though they are treated wrongly they overcome prejedice and have greatly affected culture. One of Colombia’s musical genres, cumbia, is of African origin.
Afro Dominican Republic – 84% of the Dominican Republic’s people have some African blood: 76% are mulattoes and 11% are pure black. Dominican blacks were brought as slaves in large proportions from West Africa to sugar cane plantations on the island. Blacks from Dominican Republic and Haiti are in the majority along the border between the two countries, and that is also where the pure blacks are mainly concentrated. Dominican culture is greatly effected by African tradition. The music, religion, language, food, and dress of the Dominican people have very noticeable African roots.

Afro Puerto Rico – All most all Puerto Ricans have some African lineage. The actual racial statictics of Puerto Rico are not known, but research indicates that close to 10% of Puerto Rico’s population are pure blacks, with most of the island’s population being mulattoes or mulatto mixed with Native American lineage. Most pure blacks in Puerto Rico are found in the Northern Coastal area (especially in the towns Loiza, Guayama,and Ponce).The music ( bomba) and ( plena) of Puerto Rico are Afro Latin genres danced to during parties and African derived festivals. Most Black boricuas are descended of African slaves brought from the Yoruba people of Nigeria.

Afro-Venezuela – Black Venezuelans make up 10% of the population. Many of these Venezuelans live in small slum-like towns called campos. Afro-Venezuelans are descended from African slaves and West Indian immigrants. They have kept their traditions and culture alive especially through music. President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez is of an Afro-Venezuelan and he is the first and only black to be elected to a South American presidency.

Afro Central America – The blacks of Central America are few in number and are found mostly in coastal cities. The blacks of Guatemala (5%) and Honduras (3%) are of mainly Garifuna heritage. The Garifuna people are descended from African slaves brought from Ghana who later mixed with Carib Indians. The Guarifinu live in small secluded villages and preserve their culture. The blacks of Nicaragua (9%) and Costa Rica (3%) are of West Indian heritage (mainly Jamaican) who were brought over as slaves to work on on banana plantations. Black Nicaraguans and Costa Ricans are noticeable because they speak Creole, Spanish, and have West Indian accents.

Afro South America – Most other South American countres do not have large black populations. For example, Uruguay (4%), Argentina (3%), and Chile (1%) all have very small populations of blacks who have preserved some of their culture, but have taken in the larger culture which is the broader Latin American culture. Ecuador (3%) and Peru (3%) are another group of South American countries with Blacks, but these African descendants have perserved their culture and live in predominately Afro-Ecuadorian or Afro-Peruvian nieghborhoods or towns. The province of Esmarelda in Ecuador is over 70% mulatto or pure Black.

 

[cole phelps]

Arturo Alfonso (January 24, 1874 –June 8, 1938) Schomburg was born in Puerto Rico on January 24, 1874. He began his education in a primary school in San Juan, where he studied reading, penmanship, sacred history, church history, arithmetic, Spanish grammar, history, agriculture and commerce. Arturo’s fifth-grade teacher is said to have told him that “Black people have no history, no heroes, no great moments.” Because of this and his participation in a history club, Schomburg developed a thirst for knowledge about people of African descent and began his lifelong quest studying the history and collecting the books and artifacts that made up the core of his unique and extensive library.
He came to New York in April 1891 and lived on the Lower East Side. He was involved in the revolutionary movements of the immigrant Cubans and Puerto Ricans living in that area, regularly attending meetings and working at odd jobs while attending night school at Manhattan Central High School. Schomburg became a Mason and met bibliophile and journalist John Edward Bruce. “Bruce Grit” introduced Schomburg to the African-American intellectual community and encouraged him to write about African world history and continue to increase his knowledge.
Arturo Schomburg would look everywhere for books by and about African people. He also collected letters, manuscripts, prints, playbills and paintings. He was especially proud of his collection of Benjamin Banneker’s Almanacs. In fact, his library contained many rare and unusual items from all over the world. The history of the Caribbean and Latin America and the lives of heroic people in that region was also an area of special interest to Schomburg. And he actively sought any material relative to that subject.
Schomburg’s collection became the cornerstone of The New York Public Library’s Division of Negro Literature, History, and Prints. He frequently loaned objects from his personal library to the 135th Street Branch of The New York Public Library, which was a center of intellectual and cultural activity in Harlem. In 1926 his collection of 10,000 items was purchased by the Library with the assistance of the Carnegie Corporation. He was later invited to be the curator of the new division which included his collections. He became involved in the social and literary movement that started in Harlem, known as the “Harlem Renaissance.” which spread to African-American communities throughout the country. Schomburg fully shared his knowledge of the history of peoples of African descent with the young scholars and writers of the New Negro movement. One of his primary motivations was to combat racial prejudice by providing proof of the extraordinary contributions of peoples of African descent to world history. Schomburg wrote, “I depart now on a mission of love to recapture my lost heritage.”

 

[cole phelps]

Frédéric/Federico Mialhe (who lived in Cuba from 1838 to 1854), ”Dia de Reyes” (also known as “Twelfth Day Festival, or “Day of the Kings”), ca. 1851
In nineteenth-century Cuba, people of African descent were organized in cabildos-associations related to African “nations” or ethnic groups. During the Day of the Kings on January 6 (Epiphany), authorities granted the cabildos permission to celebrate on the streets.
Permitting slaves certain days of fiesta was a way for the slave-owners to keep up a sense of morale or at least keep rebellion at bay, but this fiesta was highly significant because the owners declared their slaves free for the day. Each ethnic group of slaves would choose a king, and then each group would parade down the street, demanding money from the crowd, the government officials, and the houses they passed. Their costumes—imitating liturgical colors, white elites’ formal dress, or devils—were meant not just “to reenact African ritual practices but to astonish and even to frighten.”

 

[cole phelps]

Bayano, also known as Ballano or Vaino, was an African enslaved by Spaniards who led the biggest of the slave revolts of 16th century Panama. Captured from the Mandinka community in West Africa, it is alleged that he and his comrades were Muslim. Different tales tell of their revolt in 1552 beginning either on the ship en route, or after landing in Panama's Darien province along its modern-day border with Colombia. Rebel slaves, known as cimarrones, set up autonomous regions known as palenques, many of which successfully fended off Spanish control for centuries using guerrilla war and alliances withpirates, or indigenous nations who were in similar circumstances.

King Bayano's forces numbered between four and twelve hundred Cimarrons, depending upon different sources, and set up a palenque known as Ronconcholon near modern-dayChepo River, also known as Rio Bayano. They fought their guerrilla war for over five years while building their community. The account written by Dr. Abdul Khabeer Muhammad based on the belief that Bayano's followers were Mandinka, and as Mandinka had been influenced by Islam, argued that they created democratic councils and built mosques.[1]However, the most important primary source, written in 1581 by Pedro de Aguado, devotes space to their religious life, and describes the activities of a "bishop" who guided the community in prayer, baptized them, and delivered sermons, in a manner that Aguado believed to be essentially Christian.[2] Bayano gained truces with Panama's colonialgovernor, Pedro de Ursua, but Ursua subsequently captured the guerrilla leader and sent him to Peru and then to Spain, where he died.[3] Bayano's revolt coincided with others, including those of Felipillo and Luis de Mozambique.

Bayano's name has become immortal in the Panamanian consciousness through the naming of a major river, a valley, a dam, and several companies after him.