People, Locations, Episodes

The African Diaspora, a story

*The African Diaspora is affirmed on this date in 1000. This term refers to the global group of communities descended from Indigenous African people from Africa, predominantly in the Americas. Many Africans scattered throughout North America, South America, Europe, and Asia during the Middle Passage, Trans-Saharan, and Indian Ocean slave trades. The phrase most commonly refers […]

Slavery in Africa, a story

African Slavery in the 21st century is the subject of this date’s Registry. Yes, slavery of black Africans still continues. Currently, Arab-Berbers in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania continue to carry out the centuries-old practice of enslaving black Africans.

The Moors Community, a story

*The Moors community is celebrated on this date c 200.  They were Muslims from the medieval era in Northwest Africa and the Iberian Peninsula.  This included present-day Spain and Portugal as well as the Maghreb and western Africa, whose culture is often called Moorish.  Christian Europeans first used Moor to designate Muslims during the Middle […]

The Bantu People of Africa, a story

*Bantu people of Africa are affirmed on this date in 1000 BCE.  They are Black African speakers of the Bantu languages of several hundred indigenous ethnic groups.   The Bantu live in sub-Saharan Africa, spread over a vast area from Central Africa across the African Great Lakes to Southern Africa.  Linguistically, these languages belong to the Southern Bantoid branch of Benue Congo, one of the language families grouped within the Niger-Congo phylum.  It is generally accepted that […]

The Yoruba People, a story

*On this date in 1200, the Yoruba people were briefly affirmed. They are an ethnic group living in western Africa. October 1st was chosen to coincide with Nigeria’s independence. Documented since 1200, the Yoruba are mainly from Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, and Benin. The Yoruba constitute about 44 million people in total. The vast majority of this population is from Nigeria, where the […]

The Mali Empire, a story

*The Mali Empire is celebrated on this date in 1235. Historically referred to as the Manden Kurufaba, it was an empire in West Africa from c. 1235 to 1670. Sundiata Keita founded the empire and became renowned for the wealth of its rulers, especially Mansa Musa (Musa Keita). The Manding languages were spoken in the empire. […]

Black History in India, a story

*Republic Day in India is on this date from 1950. Many people throughout this country celebrate and affirm when India’s constitution came into force completing the country’s transition toward becoming an independent republic.

The First African Voyage To The Americas, a story

*On this date in 1312, we celebrate the first African voyage to the Americas. Though unproven, this episode is worth contemplation and this article. Mansa Musa, the 9th ruler of the Mali Empire, stayed in Cairo for three months in 1324 while en route to Mecca for the hajj. While there, he befriended an emir named Abu […]

The Kingdom of Kongo is Formed

*The Kingdom of Kongo is celebrated on this date in 1390. This was a kingdom in central Africa in present-day northern Angola, the western portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, and the southernmost part of Gabon. At its greatest extent, it reached from the Atlantic Ocean in the […]

Black History and Colonialism, a story

*Black history and modern colonialism are affirmed on this date in 1415. The Ancient historical phenomenon of colonization stretches around the globe and across time. The Phoenicians, Greeks, Turks, and Arabs practiced age-old and medieval colonialism. Colonialism, in the modern sense, began in the 15th century with the “Age of Discovery.” The Portuguese were expansionists […]

The ‘Middle Passage’ (The Transatlantic Slave Trade), a story

*On this date in 1440, the Middle Passage is briefly described.  The Middle Passage was the stage of the white-organized triangular trade in which millions of Black Africans were kidnapped and transported to the New World.   Sometimes referred to as the Atlantic Slave Trade or transatlantic slave trade, it involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people.  Ships […]

Goree Island, ‘The Door of No Return,’ a story

The date remembers Goree Island. This land mass played an important part in the early days of African American history. Goree Island is a small 45-acre island located off the coast of Senegal. Goree Island was developed as a center of the expanding European slave trade.

The African Slave Port of Elmina is Built

*The Port city of Elmina in West Africa is recognized on this date in 1441.  Elmina was one of many transport locations from the African continent used in the Middle Passage slave trade.   Before the arrival of the Portuguese, the town was called Anomansah in Ghana from its position on the peninsula and the […]

Black History in Europe, a story

*African (Black) history in Europe from 1400 is briefly recalled on this dates Registry.

To address the story of black people in Europe, certainly addresses the history of slavery and the history of European colonialism. The relationship between the two continents began with mutual respect and curiosity. For the last 600 years Africans, African Americans, African-Europeans, Europeans, and European-Americans are still paying for the results. The history begins, as so much in the modern world, with the business expansion of European culture.

The Fort of Arguin is Built

*The Fort of Arguin is celebrated on this date in 1443. This was a slave fort island off the western coast of Mauritania in the Bay of Arguin. The first European to visit the island was the Portuguese explorer Nuno Tristão. In 1445, Prince Henry the Navigator set up a trading post on the island, which acquired […]