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March 29 Flag of the Central African Republic, originally designed by Barthélemy Boganda for the United States of Latin Africa On March 29 the Central African Republic remembers the amazing life and mysterious death of Barthélemy Boganda. Though France had abolished slavery in the 19th century, the conditions under which Boganda’s family lived at the time of his birth in 1910 in French Oubangui-Chari were not much better. His mother was beaten to death by officials …Read more 
March 2 In the 1890s, Italy, once the seat of an Empire that stretched through three continents, held only two small colonies on the Horn of Africa, which it had won with aid from Ethiopia. Apparently the amity treaty between Ethiopia and Italy, signed by Menelik II of Ethiopia in 1889, contained a discrepancy in the Amharic and Italian translations, the latter of which established Ethiopia as an Italian protectorate. Menelik denounced the treaty, prompting Italy to …Read more 
February 27 Independence does not mean PeaceA common theme in decolonization. When Western powers depart from their former colonies, old claims over the newly-independent territory resurface, and neighboring powers assert that the new nation was a territory prior to its European annexation. Morocco and Western Sahara are neighbors but their history is like night and day. Morocco was an independent nation back when America was still a colony of Britain. Morocco was one of the first nations to recognize the …Read more 
February 18 Early in the spring of 1750, in the village of Juffure, four days upriver from the coast of The Gambia, West Africa, a man-child was born to Omoro and Binta Kinte. So begins Alex Haley’s classic Roots: the Saga of an American Family. The book and subsequent mini-series reawakened the American consciousness to the history of slavery and the black experience in America. It’s actually The Gambia, not Gambia. Inclusion of the article “The” in …Read more 
February 5 Today is Chama Cha Mapinduzi Day in Tanzania.
Chama Cha Mapinduzi is the name of the ruling party of Tanzania. It means Party of the Revolution in Swahili. The party came to be on February 5, 1977 after the merging of Tanzania’s two major parties under the leadership of Julius Nyerere. Nyerere was born in 1922 just east of Lake Victoria in what was then Tanganyika. He herded sheep and “led a typical tribal …Read more 
January 28 “Rwanda Democracy Day, a holiday in Rwanda, which is called the African Switzerland; a civic day concerned with equality for all peoples in the nation.” –Anniversaries and Holidays, by Ruth Gregory, 1983 Just over a decade later, “Rwanda” would be synonymous, not with “African Switzerland” but with the genocidal carnage that rocked the country in 1994. In the late 19th century, Rwanda became part of German East Africa. During World War …Read more 
January 19 (January 20 in Leap Years)
If you’ve just had an epiphany, you’re not alone. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church celebrates Epiphany on January 19. (January 20 in Leap Year.) It’s called Timkat, or Timket. In parts of Europe and the Americas Epiphany is also known as Three Kings Day, (though no number or rank is specified in the Bible) and celebrates the visit of the Magi who bestow gifts on the baby Jesus. In …Read more 
January 15 For nearly a century historians have puzzled over the actions of John Chilembwe, one of the most controversial figures in Malawian history and Malawi’s national hero. The focus: the last days of his life and the uprising he led in January 1915. By all accounts, Chilembwe was not the type to start an uprising. He was educated by the Church of Scotland missionary school in what was then Nyassaland (Malawi). He later studied under and …Read more |
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