Comments on: Back To Roots

By: ????

???? — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 08:51:17 +0000

Really Good Work…! You Helping People A lot The first 10 amendments were written with the common man in mind!

By: bebedee

bebedee — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 02:25:55 +0000

Hey Lady Bella…this is such an awesome article. We know so little truths about slavery inthe US, much less across the diaspora. I recently went with a friend to see the movie Amazing Grace, which centered on 19-century Parliament member William Wilberforce (yes, who the HBCU is named after!), who spent his entire political career trying to abolish the slave trade in England. These are the kind of history lessons we should have gotten in school. Please keep sharing these historical gems with us. Thanks!

By: BwoyRuff

BwoyRuff — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 16:22:56 +0000

i think every afro-carribean person should know about the maroons and there history, a good film if you don’t mind subtitles is “Quilombo”(u can buy in on dvd in my dvd shop http://www.reggaefilms.co.uk), this film is based on fact and tells the story of the brasilian slaves of the 17th Century, they revolted and headed for the mountains to form there own communities, where i think they can still be found today, same as in JA there are still maroons in some areas.
They screened lots of different shows on slavery in the UK last month, they also did a documentary on Mary Secole – Angel of the Crimea, i managed to tape most of them if you need any info on jamaican/black films or want to request a film then please visit http://www.reggaefilms.co.uk and post up your questions or requests in the forum.
A great film on the slavery story is Roots, a 9 or 6 part drama i think which took the US by storm when it first aired in the late 70′s, is a great series if you haven’t seen this then u should get a copy, it tell the story of kunta kinte and follows his life+his childrens life to present day…..

By: ck

ck — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 20:38:25 +0000

Interestingly, it says on the Wikipedia article for abolitionism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abolitionism) that Ethiopia didn’t give up slavery until 1936 and that was only because the Italian Fascists forced them to do it. I imagine they don’t teach that too often in history classes.

By: Yolanda Carrington

Yolanda Carrington — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 22:29:42 +0000

Afrobella, thanks for writing this great post. This is a very important discussion.

Personally I wouldn’t compare any acts of genocide in terms of which was worse. The genocides against Africans, Native Americans and Jews all wreaked devastating effects on humanity which still exist to this day. The only difference, if any, is that many Jews are white and benefit from white privilege. Other than that, I don’t find the “which was worse” argument very enlightening or helpful.

By: afrobella

afrobella — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 20:06:02 +0000

Sorry Rob — not even those two historic tragedies truly compare, in my opinion. I’m not trying to rank horrible historic incidents, and Lord knows the Native Americans have suffered and continue to suffer. But the trans-Saharan and trans-Atlantic slave trade involved estimates of over 12 million people, and lasted from the mid-fourteenth century to 1867. So in terms of duration and numbers, there you go. (I got my stats from here: http://www.answers.com/topic/slave-trade).

By: Rob Schmidt

Rob Schmidt — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 19:36:34 +0000

Re “The African slave trade canâ€™t really be compared to any historic tragedy”: Not even the genocidal destruction of Native Americans and Jews? Hmm…that’s debatable.

By: Kirshan

Kirshan — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 17:03:58 +0000

I absolutely LOVE learning new things in regards to black history. Ever since I was young, I have devoured any information I could obtain (on my own and in the classroom). However, the Maroons is a story new to me. Thanks for the great article! http://www.blackinthecity.net http://www.raceandpolitics.com

By: monica

monica — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 05:03:50 +0000

Usually I just read your posts because I like them. They are informative and intellgent and i like the piece about Ms. Dynamite. But I feel like I have to speak. That guy that wrote that post is so not in tune to black people and the problems that we are still faceing today. To compare the Irish potato faminie with slavery is just wrong on so many levels. It is one thing to have to leave you home because of a faminie, but it is quite another to be kidnapped from the only place you know, packed into a ship like sardines, and then sold off like cattle. Just writing this makes me upset because of the nerve for a white man to tell me how I feel and think and about what I go through just really gets under my skin. Even though slavery ended a long time ago black people are still being affected by the things that happened after slavery; the lynchings, the kkk, jim crow laws, all those things came into play during reconstruction to “tame” the black man. I’m out of words for now, i just don’t know what else to say plus this comment is way to long. I’ve said what i have to say

By: Adrianna

Adrianna — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 03:19:29 +0000

Thank you Afrobella for this post!Racialicious is a daily read for me, as well as your blog. I’m from Haiti and I learned everything about Haitian and french history in school. Our histories are so intertwined, but I wish that they had done more on Caribbean and African history. I mean I did not even know about the Maroons, or the Negritude movement started by Aime cesaire, Leopold Senghor and Leon Damas or the Pan-African movement or African-American Histor. I ‘m history buff so I’m always doing research, and I know how miss Dynamite felt when she learned about Nanny. That how I felt when I learned about the Ancient African queens. A great link http://www.royalty.nu/Africa/. History is a must if we need to move into the future.