Tag: Africa and Africa-American relations

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A “Go Back to Africa” media campaign uses AI to boost African American tourism

By Haleluya Hadero

“Go Back to Africa”, a racist putdown long used used against African-Americans, Africans, and other black people in North America and Europe has been getting a social media makeover.

Black & Abroad, an Atlanta-based lifestyle and travel company targeting black travelers, is reclaiming the derogatory statement with a new tourism campaign encouraging African-Americans to indeed go back to Africa.

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Discussions

‘The new diaspora is riding on the sacrifices of the old diaspora,’ and other takeaways from a black leaders roundtable

By Valerie Russ

It was the evening before Independence Day, and about 40 black people whose families had come from around the globe gathered at S.A. Cafe in Upper Darby to talk about an independence of their own.

This was the first Diaspora Leaders Roundtable, sponsored by FunTimes magazine publisher Eric Nzeribe, for people of African descent — African-Americans, African immigrants, and African-Caribbeans — to talk about bridging cultural divides and building a future together.

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Uncategorized

50 African-Americans meet Oba of Benin during journey of rediscovery to Africa

50 Americans who traced their origin to Benin Kingdom have visited have visited the Palace of the Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, the Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare II.

While welcoming the Americans, Oba Ewuare II commended them for making effort to trace their roots back home and thanked the ancestors for protecting them in their sojourn.

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Ancestry

50 African Americans Arrive Nigerian city of Benin to trace their ancestry

50 African-American have arrived the Nigerian city of Benin on a mission to trace their ancestry.  The tourists, arrived Benin from California, United States of America (USA), and were entertained by the Benin Cultural Troupe as well as been treated to delicious local African dishes, including palm oil fruits soup (banga), blended vegetable (black) soup, owo soup, pounded yam and agidi (corncake) among others.

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Ancestry

African-Americans Moving to Africa? Howard Professor Publishes Article on Their Reasons for Leaving the U.S.

By Imani Pope-Johns

The perception that African-Americans are moving to Africa, whether they have been or not, has become a trending topic for the past few years. Howard University Assistant Professor of Journalism, Mark Bedford, traveled to Ghana as an advisor for Alternative Spring Break, a week of local and international volunteerism by Howard University faculty, staff and students. He recently published a story for Narratively, after witnessing first-hand the increased number of African-Americans migrating to Africa, and the booming market for opportunities they’re taking advantage of, such as the technology industry.

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Ancestry

Livingstone endorses HBCU Africa Homecoming

Livingstone College was the only historically black college in North Carolina represented at the HBCU Africa Homecoming Initiative media launch June 10 in Washington. Kimberly Harrington, assistant director of public relations, endorsed the initiative on behalf of Livingstone President Jimmy R. Jenkins Sr.

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Opinion

Juneteenth should be a time for African-Americans to connect with Africa

By Kevin Cokley

The irony of Juneteenth is that while African-Americans celebrate a holiday on June 19 that commemorates the abolition of the last remaining enslaved Africans in Texas, many African-Americans have been socialized to distance themselves from Africa and Africans. Ghanaian president, Nana Akufo-Addo designated 2019 “The Year of Return” to commemorate 400 years since the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in Jamestown, Va.

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Ancestry

Here are the African roots of some African-American stars including Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey

By Nii Ntreh

Americans of African descent are open to knowing where in Africa they would have been had history not taken them to the US. Most of those in this category are celebrities. Here are some of America’s most famous black people who have known from DNA and background searches, the African countries they originated from.

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Obituary

Niara Sudarkasa, renowned anthropologist and Yoruba scholar takes a bow

Professor Niara Sudarkasa, first female president of Lincoln University of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and one of the foremost scholars of Yoruba culture and language has died at the age of 80 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

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Ancestry

AfricanAncestry.com to Host Ancestral Reveal For African-Americans at Ghana’s ‘Door of No Return’

Ancestry Pioneer Joins NAACP’s Jamestown to Jamestown Delegation and Ghana’s The Year of Return 2019

Nearly four hundred years ago the first enslaved Africans were sold to America, losing much of their rich African heritage. This August, AfricanAncestry.com will correct history for many African Americans in an historic ancestral Reveal hosted on African soil. The event takes place in Accra, Ghana, and is a part of the NAACP’s Jamestown to Jamestown event in partnership with Ghana’s Year of Return 2019.

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Ancestry

SEVENTY AFRICAN-AMERICANS TRACE THEIR ROOTS TO OYO KINGDOM IN NIGERIA

By Bode Durojaiye

Seventy African-Americans have traced their ancestral lineage to the ancient town of Oyo, Nigeria and were feted at a reception organised in their honor at the Palace of the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi 111. The monarch used to the occasion to call on the Nigerian government embark on re-integrating Yorubas across the globe back to their ancestral roots. 

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Ancestry

Mass Royal Traditional African Wedding for African-Americans Denied Marriage During Slavery

In their first 250 years in America, Africans were not allowed to get married. A commemorative Royal Return Wedding 400: a traditional African wedding is being organised by Royal Return Ghana. The Premiere Mass Royal Traditional African Wedding Launch is to be held at First Africans Landing Site in Hampton, Virginia on August 24, 2019 during the city’s 400 Years Commemoration of African American History.

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Festivals

Africans v. African Americans Subject of Film Festival

Historical and recent migrations have resulted in the merging of cultures and shared experiences.

With its Migration Stories Film Series, the African Diaspora International Film Festival presents a rich palette of migration stories from around the world.

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Uncategorized

200 African Americans to get Ghanaian citizenship

By Salomey Appiah-Adje

Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, is set to grant Ghanaian citizenship to more than 200 members African-Americans residing in the country. The the ceremonies marking the conferment of citizenship will take place this month.

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Ancestry

Webster professor connected to African roots in Nigeria by ancestry test

This month, Dr. Cummings will travel to Nigeria, where many of her ancestors came from.

By Carol Daniel

A Webster University professor has long been an amateur genealogist but her discoveries took a huge leap forward with her recent ancestry.com test. Because family ties were severed by slavery in the United States, most African-Americans had little hope of finding relatives in Africa.

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Opinion

The Trip I Hope All African-Americans Can Take

By Mercedes Bent

At a naming ceremony in the home of my host family in Lagos, Nigeria, I wore brightly colored traditional clothing — a long, rectangular skirt tied tightly around my waist and an off-the-shoulder top withshort, flared cuffs, all in a pink ankara pattern with a matching head wrap.

“Please stand,” said my host, who had graciously offered to tailor the ceremony — which is normally performed for babies — for me, her adult visitor from the United States.

“I hereby give you the name Esosa; it means ‘God’s gift.’ You are now Esosa Oloke. Welcome to the family. You will always have a family here in Nigeria.”

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Ancestry

‘Year of return’: Hundreds of African-Americans resettle in Ghana

Ghana was one of the main West African departure points for the transatlantic slave trade.The government has launched a campaign to reach out to the descendants of those Africans who were forcibly removed from their homelands.

It has dubbed 2019 the “Year of Return”.

Several hundred people have already put down roots in Ghana, many of them African-Americans. 

The programme is prepared by Patrick Lovett and James Vasina.


Ancestry

For African Americans, DNA tests reveal just a small part of a complicated ancestry

By Eli Chen

African Americans often have scant knowledge about where their ancestors are from, so many are using DNA test kits, like 23andMe and Ancestry, to trace their roots. The transatlantic slave trade erased a lot of information about family history and countries of origin for many people descended from African slaves.

It took nearly 30 minutes for Eric Depradine to extract a saliva sample from his dying grandmother. Depradine, 35, of Kansas City, wanted to have his grandmother’s DNA tested to confirm his suspicions that her ancestors came from Madagascar.

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Uncategorized

Delaware State U. working with African Union to connect African Americans to Africa  

By Ryanne Persinger

Delaware State University has partnered with the African Peer Review Mechanism to help bridge the gap between Africa and its “Sixth Region” — people of African heritage who live outside the continent.

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Ancestry

NAACP Announces Memorial Trip to Ghana
  • Jamestown to Jamestown memorial trip to Ghana announced to commemorate 400 years of African diaspora
     

The Jamestown to Jamestown Memorial Trip to Ghana, an official event of Ghana’s Year of Return, was announced at the 50th NAACP Image Awards in Hollywood, California by Diallo Sumbry, Ghana’s first Black American Tourism Ambassador, in partnership with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

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Uncategorized

Why an African American Free Masons group “returned” to one of slave trade’s darkest places
By Joy Notoma

When a group of Prince Hall Masons from North Carolina arrived in Cotonou, Benin last month for the inauguration of a new grand lodge in Cotonou, the cultural significance wasn’t lost on the masons from Benin.

After The American Revolutionary War (1775-83), a formerly enslaved man from Massachusetts who had fought in the war for independence, was attracted to Freemason ideals like brotherly love, justice, and liberty, but the exclusively white group wouldn’t allow a black man in its ranks. The man, Prince Hall, wasn’t one to take no for an answer, though.

With all the traditional tenets of masonry, he decided to start his own group of masons.

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Religion

West African religions like Ifa and Vodou are on the rise in Maryland, as practitioners connect with roots
By Jonathan M. Pitts

They gathered in a clearing by a stream in Baltimore County one chilly early-spring day, some in the colorful African head ties known as geles, others wearing bracelets trimmed in shells or carved in wood.

One by one, they stepped forward to toss offerings into the Gwynns Falls – a pineapple, four oranges, a bouquet of tulips.

And when the lead priestess of these African-American women dropped a handful of shells to the ground and scrutinized their pattern, a message came through: Their celebration of the spring equinox was blessed by the divine.

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Ghana’s US Ambassador Calls On African Americans To Visit Ghana   

Ghana’s ambassador to the United States, H.E. Dr. Barfuor Adjei-Barwuah, has called on the African American community in Baltimore to visit Ghana their mother land yearly.
Dr. Adjei-Barwuah was speaking at the 203rd Session of the Baltimore Annual Conference at the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Baltimore, Maryland.

Sharing with them the good message of the Year of Return, Dr. Adjei-Barwuah touched on Ghana’s open door community to the African Diaspora, particularly, the African American community.

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US civil rights legend, Andrew Young, gives South Africa some DIY advice
Don’t count on governments to end poverty – they’re all broke
By Peter Fabricius

US civil rights legend Andrew Young jolted many in his audience at the University of Johannesburg last week when he advised them to stop counting on the government to eradicate poverty and to rely instead on themselves – and the private sector.

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Appointments

Meet Ghana’s first African-American Tourism ambassador, Diallo Sumbry

By Michael Klugey
Diallo Sumbry, the founder of the Washington D.C. based The Adinkra Group, an African Cultural Edutainment Resource, and Consulting Company, and organizer of the Back2Africa Festival and Tour has been appointed as Ghana’s first African-American Tourism Ambassador by the Ghana Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture.

Mr. Sumbry will join Ghana Tourism Ambassadors including Afrobeats Star Fuse ODG, Ghanaian Rap Star, Sarkodie, Ghanaian British Singing Sensations, Reggie N Bollie, and Singer Wiyaala to transform and promote tourism as a leading sector of the economy in Ghana.

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Uncategorized

African-Americans in Ghana remember their African roots

The African American Association of Ghana celebrated their roots in Africa with an event during last Black History month.

The celebration dubbed “Black Migration: Exploring Our Roots and Beyond” focused on the 400 years anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in the United States in 1619 and the next wave of returnees to their homelands took place in Accra.

This year has been recognised in Ghana as the “Year of Return”, and Ghana is the first African country to organise a concerted effort to commemorate the 400 years anniversary.

Mrs Stephanie S. Sullivan, the United States (US) Ambassador to Ghana, who launched the program said, she was proud to join the Government of Ghana and other officials to celebrate the event as it signified the bond between the two countries.

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Health

U.S. hopes to send more experts to Congo as Ebola outbreak rages
By Lena H. Sun

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hopes to send experts to Congo in the next few weeks to train international and local personnel in the fight against a raging Ebola outbreak that has killed nearly 600 people and is far from under control, the CDC director said Thursday in an interview.

Because of the worsening security situation, the CDC experts would not be based in the epicenter of the outbreak, in conflict-ridden parts of eastern Congo. Armed attacks against Ebola treatment centers in North Kivu province have increased in recent weeks. One attack took place hours before CDC Director Robert Redfield and World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus arrived last week as part of a WHO delegation to assess the situation on the ground.

Three CDC personnel are on temporary assignment about 200 miles south of the epicenter, in the city of Goma, the capital of North Kivu, Redfield said.

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Policy

Escalation in Somalia Is a Foreign Policy Failure in Progress

U.S. intervention quietly escalates in Somalia.

While the Trump administration has very visibly made and modified plans to reduce U.S. military intervention in Syria and Afghanistan, it has quietly escalated the fight in Somalia. U.S. airstrikes in the North African nation are on the rise, The New York Times reported Sunday, and that higher pace of bombardment has contributed to increased civilian displacement and all the turmoil that comes with it.

This is a foreign policy failure in progress. If the last two decades of missteps in the Middle East and North Africa have demonstrated anything, it is that secretive wars of choice are prone to mission creep and rife with unintended consequences. Rather than expand, U.S. military intervention in Somalia should be shut down before it spirals into another needless generational conflict.

The United States has had some military presence in Somalia for the better part of three decades, and the current campaign began in 2007. But U.S. strikes were few—zero to three per year—until 2015, when former President Barack Obama started an upward trend the Trump team has continued. Last year, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) reported 47 strikes. The first two months of this year put us on track to triple that by December.

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Uncategorized

US Army captain killed in Ethiopia plane crash   

By: Kathleen Curthoys

Army Capt. Antoine Lewis was one of eight Americans killed when an Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed on Sunday, news reports say.

Lewis was on the flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to Nairobi, Kenya, when Flight 302 crashed, killing all 157 people aboard, according to aCBS report from Chicago.

Lewis was stationed in Ottawa, Canada, and he was on a vacation to Africa, his family said.

“I will say that plane went down with him doing what he wanted to do most, and that was to stretch out and embrace our mother country,” his mother, Antoinette Lewis, said in the CBS report.

His family, from the Chicago suburb of Matteson, Illinios, knew he was on the plane, tried calling him and didn’t get an answer, the report said.

Lewis, 39, had served in Afghanistan and South Korea during his military career, ABC 7 in Chicago reported. He was in Africa to do missionary work, the report said.

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