Reparations: A Can of Worms?

descendants of slaves, reparations, slavery

What a sensitive subject the idea of reparations has become! Related to the transatlantic slave trade, making amends for imposing slavery is a concept that embroils class, race, and involves social, political, and economic issues across the board. Suddenly conversations become emotionally charged. People who reject the concept outright line themselves against those demanding repayment. The different approaches can be bitter and deep – and even among those who think Read More

African Americans: The Canary in the Mine

African American History, American legal system, American politics, ancestors, descendants of slaves, ethnic studies, slavery

Through conditioning and experience, especially after age 35, African Americans, almost to a person, understand the United States from a different perspective than other Americans. W.E.B. Du Bois described it as living in two worlds, having two voices. In The Souls of Black Folk, Du Bois said that African Americans were neither African nor American, but both. That has held true throughout the history of the United States. For example, Black Read More

Where Did They Go? The African Diaspora

African Diaspora, Middle Passage, slave ports

The African Diaspora that resulted from the transatlantic slave trade is referenced frequently in our blog posts. Our particular project relates to the two to six million Africans who did not survive the ocean voyage, and placing markers in their honor at primary Middle Passage ports where Africans arrived. The widespread dispersal of these captured people is illustrated as we survey the history of specific regions: North America, Central America, Read More

Minority Rules

African American History, American legal system, American politics

Have we been sold a bill of goods throughout US history? From affirmative action to one-man-one-vote, to waging war to make the world safe for democracy, and then examining the creation of the Electoral College, and the ideals set forth in the Declaration of Independence are there not some contradictions between national rhetoric and the historical record? More aggressive critics wonder whether citizens have been “hoodwinked, flimflammed, or bamboozled” when Read More

Central America: Variations on a Theme, Part Two

African American History, Afro-Caribbeans, Afro-Latinos, descendants of slaves

In Honduras mining was the most important industry, occurring originally near the Guatemalan border and in the interior. However by the 1540s, mining had shifted eastward toward the Rio Guayape Valley. Between 1540 and 1640 there were more Africans than Europeans, and in 1545 alone there were 2,000 Africans working the gold and silver mines. With continual slave rebellions from 1548 to the 1570s and near depletion of known sources Read More

Central America: Variations on a Theme, Part One

African American History, Afro-Latinos, descendants of slaves

The nations comprising Central America are Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. Until the 1650s Africans comprised a larger portion of the population than European and mestizo combined in Santiago de Guatemala (Guatemala) which was the Spanish Empire’s capital for all of Central America. Although Africans and their descendants have lived throughout this region for more than five hundred years only Nicaraguans easily acknowledge their Black Read More

Canada: Africans to the North

African American History, descendants of slaves, Native Americans

According to the 2006 Canadian Census, 2.5 percent of its citizens are of African descent. Many surmise that this represents people entirely emigrating from the US on the Underground Railroad, from the West Indies and Africa during the 19th Century to the present. Yet contrary to this popular perception, Canada’s history with Africans and their enslavement is a long one. As in every nation in the Americas, there was an Read More

Blessed: Thanksgiving

African American History, ancestors

Have you ever asked people how they were, and the response was “blessed,” and then wondered if this is a statement of faith, a celebration of life, or a comparison to all those who are worse off. Sometimes it seems like a litmus test for inclusion. “I’m blessed; are you?” This post is prompted by two recent occurrences. One took place in an African American history class when a student Read More

Mexico: Defining the Mix

African American History, Afro-Latinos, descendants of slaves, Mexican Americans

A great number of the posts for this blog have referred to the history of the U.S. mainland. The African Diaspora includes, obviously, other regions of the Western Hemisphere as well. Mexico is such an example, and as a neighbor of the United States has shared culture, history and even land. Both countries practiced slavery, first of the indigenous people and later Africans and Asians. Both countries are ambivalent in Read More

The Descendant Community

African American History, burial ceremonies, descendants of slaves, oral history

Over centuries, increasing sensitivity to the history of all peoples has been developing. A major example of this is that humanitarians now urge implicit respect for different cultures and beliefs. None of these efforts is more important than protecting and preserving sacred ancestral burial sites and the remains they contain. Recently, the discovery of an African burial ground in Lower Manhattan was a particularly important cultural event. The burial ground Read More