1. Kent State University’s Department of Pan-African Studies is hosting the conference “Slavery, Colonialism and African Identities in the Atlantic World” on April 26 and 27, 2012 in Oscar Ritchie Hall. The keynote speaker is Sylviane Diouf, Ph.D., author of the renowned book Dreams of Africa in Alabama, which won the 2009 James F. Sulzby Award of the Alabama Historical Association, was a 2008 Finalist Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and won the 2007 Wesley-Logan Prize of the American Historical Association. She is also author of the acclaimed book Servants of Allah: African Muslims Enslaved in the Americas. Diouf is currently  Curator of Digital Collections  at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Her address is titled “Deconstructing and Reconstructing Africans’ Identities During Slavery.” Conference registration is $20. Students and faculty are eligible to have the fee waived.For  more information, please visit: http://www.kent.edu/CAS/PAS/conference/schedule.cfm

    Kent State University’s Department of Pan-African Studies is hosting the conference “Slavery, Colonialism and African Identities in the Atlantic World” on April 26 and 27, 2012 in Oscar Ritchie Hall.

    The keynote speaker is Sylviane Diouf, Ph.D., author of the renowned book Dreams of Africa in Alabama, which won the 2009 James F. Sulzby Award of the Alabama Historical Association, was a 2008 Finalist Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and won the 2007 Wesley-Logan Prize of the American Historical Association. She is also author of the acclaimed book Servants of Allah: African Muslims Enslaved in the Americas. Diouf is currently  Curator of Digital Collections  at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Her address is titled “Deconstructing and Reconstructing Africans’ Identities During Slavery.”

    Conference registration is $20. Students and faculty are eligible to have the fee waived.For  more information, please visit: http://www.kent.edu/CAS/PAS/conference/schedule.cfm

    (Source: )

  2. Sannu Niger! By Sylviane A. Diouf, Curator of Digital Collections, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture “Niger? You mean Nigeria?” No Niger, the largest country in West Africa. “The country of the Nigerians?” No, the country of the Nigeriens. I have visited Niger several times and always came back with wonderful memories… and exceptional crafts. It is one of the most fascinating places I know. Sannu (hello) Niger! With over 490,000 square miles, Niger covers more territory than Nigeria. But the latter’s 167 million inhabitants make it the seventh most populous country in the world while the former is home to just above 15 million people. Not surprising since the Sahara desert occupies more than two-thirds of Niger’s landmass. The landlocked country is surrounded by seven sometimes difficult neighbors: Algeria, Libya, Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, Nigeria, and Chad.  I love its arid environment and the desert has some extraordinary sandscapes, however it is the people I find remarkable. Nigerien pageantry is unparalleled. It is colorful yet restrained; mysterious and friendly.  I vividly remember the astonishing sight of thousands of men crossing a bridge over the River Niger, in total silence. Hausa on horseback, their boubous (kaftans) and turbans shining in the sun; Tuareg on camels, with only their eyes visible; and Bororo on foot, sporting long braids and delicately embroidered clothes. It had taken them days and for some, weeks, to reach the capital, Niamey, for a cultural festival.  To read more, click here.

    Sannu Niger!

    By Sylviane A. Diouf, Curator of Digital Collections, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

    “Niger? You mean Nigeria?” No Niger, the largest country in West Africa. “The country of the Nigerians?” No, the country of the Nigeriens.

    I have visited Niger several times and always came back with wonderful memories… and exceptional crafts. It is one of the most fascinating places I know.

    Sannu (hello) Niger!

    With over 490,000 square miles, Niger covers more territory than Nigeria. But the latter’s 167 million inhabitants make it the seventh most populous country in the world while the former is home to just above 15 million people. Not surprising since the Sahara desert occupies more than two-thirds of Niger’s landmass. The landlocked country is surrounded by seven sometimes difficult neighbors: Algeria, Libya, Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, Nigeria, and Chad.

     I love its arid environment and the desert has some extraordinary sandscapes, however it is the people I find remarkable. Nigerien pageantry is unparalleled. It is colorful yet restrained; mysterious and friendly.

     I vividly remember the astonishing sight of thousands of men crossing a bridge over the River Niger, in total silence. Hausa on horseback, their boubous (kaftans) and turbans shining in the sun; Tuareg on camels, with only their eyes visible; and Bororo on foot, sporting long braids and delicately embroidered clothes. It had taken them days and for some, weeks, to reach the capital, Niamey, for a cultural festival. 

    To read more, click here.

  3. By: Sylviane A. Diouf, Curator of Digital Collections, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture Story has it that 270 years ago, Chico Rei, believed to have been a ruler in Congo, his family, and others were forced aboard a slave ship. The Middle Passage took his wife and children, but he and one son survived. They landed in Brazil and were sent to Vila Rica (Rich Town, founded in 1711) in the region of Minas Gerais, the center of the gold rush. For a few years, half of the extracted gold in the world came from its hills — the city is at 4,000 feet elevation — and rivers.  Like another 21,000 enslaved people (97 percent of them African-born) Chico Rei, it is said, labored in the mines. Working every Sunday for himself, he bought his son’s freedom, then his own, and later purchased the Encardadeira mine — where he used to work. With its benefits, he freed a large number of Africans who in turn bought the freedom of others.  They built a church dedicated to the  Nubian princess St. Iphigenia. The      church is located on the highest hill so  that it could be seen from everywhere.  Inside are representations of two other  black saints: Benedict and Antônio de  Noto. Fact or fiction — and there is a  lot of the latter, as Chico Rei has      gained mythical status and his very    existence is in dispute— it is said    that Africans went to mass with gold  powder in their hair and washed it away in the baptismal fonts. Chico Rei is credited by the brotherhood with being the founder of the Congado — a religious and cultural dance and procession that culminates in the coronation of the king and queen of Congo — in Minas Gerais. Congados continue to be held every year at the end of October, on January 1, and on May 13, which marks the abolition of slavery in 1888. For more information about Chico Rei, click here.

    By: Sylviane A. Diouf, Curator of Digital Collections, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

    Story has it that 270 years ago, Chico Rei, believed to have been a ruler in Congo, his family, and others were forced aboard a slave ship. The Middle Passage took his wife and children, but he and one son survived. They landed in Brazil and were sent to Vila Rica (Rich Town, founded in 1711) in the region of Minas Gerais, the center of the gold rush. For a few years, half of the extracted gold in the world came from its hills — the city is at 4,000 feet elevation — and rivers. 

    Like another 21,000 enslaved people (97 percent of them African-born) Chico Rei, it is said, labored in the mines. Working every Sunday for himself, he bought his son’s freedom, then his own, and later purchased the Encardadeira mine — where he used to work. With its benefits, he freed a large number of Africans who in turn bought the freedom of others.

     They built a church dedicated to the  Nubian princess St. Iphigenia. The      church is located on the highest hill so  that it could be seen from everywhere.  Inside are representations of two other  black saints: Benedict and Antônio de  Noto. Fact or fiction — and there is a  lot of the latter, as Chico Rei has      gained mythical status and his very    existence is in dispute— it is said    that Africans went to mass with gold  powder in their hair and washed it away in the baptismal fonts.

    Chico Rei is credited by the brotherhood with being the founder of the Congado — a religious and cultural dance and procession that culminates in the coronation of the king and queen of Congo — in Minas Gerais. Congados continue to be held every year at the end of October, on January 1, and on May 13, which marks the abolition of slavery in 1888.

    For more information about Chico Rei, click here.