TalkAfricana

“Slaves, Obey Your Masters”: How the Church Used the Bible to Break the Spirit of Enslaved Africans and Instill Docility

In the brutal world of slavery, where whips tore skin and families were auctioned, and bred like cattle, the most powerful weapon wasn’t always the lash, it was the Bible. Through sermons, laws, and redacted scripture, Christianity which was...

Fancy Girls: How Light-Skinned Enslaved Girls Were Bought and Sold for Sex in 19th Century America

The term “fancy girls” refers to light-skinned enslaved biracial or african girls who were sold for the purpose of sexual exploitation and concubinage during the antebellum period in the United States. These young girls, many of them barely into their...

“Teach Them to Love Poverty”: King Leopold II’s 1833 Letter to Colonial Missionaries and the Mental Enslavement of Africa

In the year 1883, as European empires tightened their grip on Africa, King Leopold II of Belgium issued a letter to colonial missionaries that would later come to symbolize the most chilling fusion of religious evangelism and imperial conquest....

King Toera: The Malagasy King Who Was Beheaded for Resisting French Rule in 1897

King Toera was the last independent ruler of the Menabe region in western Madagascar who was executed by French colonial forces in 1897 during their conquest of the island. After initially extending hospitality to the French, he was met...

Franklin & Armfield: The Two Men Who Built the Largest and Most Profitable Slave Trading Firm in U.S. History

Isaac Franklin and John Armfield were not just slave traders; they were industrialists of human misery and were the most influential and ruthless slave traders in the history of the United States. Operating in the 1820s and 1830s, they...

Ellen Bordon: The Woman Who Tortured an Enslaved Woman to Death in a Jealous Rage

In September, 1855, the town of Franklin, Tennessee, was shaken by one of the most horrifying acts of cruelty ever recorded. A woman named Ellen Bordon, driven by jealousy over her husband’s attention to an enslaved Black woman in...

Sophiatown: The Black Cultural Hub That Was Destroyed Under Apartheid and Rebuilt as a Whites-Only Area

Sophiatown, also known as Sof’town or Kofifi, was a vibrant cultural and intellectual hub in Johannesburg, South Africa, before its destruction under apartheid. A unique freehold township, it was one of the few urban areas where Black South Africans...

Lemuel Walters: The Man Lynched in 1919 for Dating a White Woman

Lemuel Walters was a Black man in Longview, Texas, who was lynched in June 1919 after being accused of making “indecent advances” toward a white woman. His murder was one of the many acts of racial violence that erupted...

Willie Francis: The Tragic Tale of The Teenager Who Was Executed Twice

Willie Francis was an African American teenager sentenced to death in 1945 after a flawed murder trial. At 17, he survived a botched execution, becoming the first known person to survive the electric chair. However, his appeals failed, and...

Thomas Moss: The Black Entrepreneur Who Was Lynched by a White Mob and Robbed of His Business in 1892

Thomas Moss was a successful Black entrepreneur and postman in Memphis, Tennessee, known for co-owning the People’s Grocery, a thriving business that provided an alternative to white-owned stores in the area. In 1892, Moss was falsely accused of inciting...

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Fascinating Cultures and history of peoples of African origin in both Africa and the African diaspora
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Antonio Ruiz: The Black Hero of Argentina’s War of Independence

Antonio Ruiz, known as Falucho, was an Afro-Argentine soldier who rose from slavery to become a national hero in...
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