During European colonial rule in Africa, some Africans received special privileges for adopting European culture, speaking European languages, and following European customs. In the Belgian Congo, these Africans were known as évolués, a French word meaning “evolved” or “developed.”...
On September 7, 1889, a white mob broke into the Boone County Jail in Columbia, Missouri, seized a Black teenager named George Bush and hanged him from a second-story window of the county courthouse. Bush was just 17 or...
In October 1906, a wave of racial violence swept through Argenta, Arkansas, after a white farmer was shot and killed. Over the next four days, armed white mobs attacked Black residents, burned homes and businesses, and forced many families...
On this day in 1904, German General Lothar von Trotha issued an extermination order against the Herero people in German South West Africa, present-day Namibia. He ordered German troops to shoot any Herero found within German territory, including those...
In the late 16th century, when Portugal began pushing deeper into Angola, it turned to African military groups to help fight the powerful states of the interior. Among them were the Imbangala, whose warriors would eventually fight alongside the...
Ali Soilih was a Comorian president who attempted to transform his newly independent country through a radical socialist revolution. He challenged French influence, traditional Muslim customs and the authority of established elites. His policies won support among sections of...
Robert Wedderburn was a Jamaican-born preacher and radical abolitionist who was jailed for his outspoken attacks on slavery and religious authority. Born around 1762 to an enslaved Black woman and a Scottish plantation owner, he grew up close to...
The Opelousas Massacre, also known as the St. Landry Massacre, was one of the bloodiest episodes of racial violence during the Reconstruction era. Although the exact death toll remains unknown, historical estimates generally put the number of Black people...
Long before African countries began gaining independence from European colonial powers, Africans were already organizing against colonial rule. One of the early figures in that struggle was André Matsoua, a Congolese political activist who challenged French colonial rule decades...
Isaiah Nixon was a World War II veteran, a husband, a father of six and a farmer in Montgomery County, Georgia. He had served his country overseas and returned home hoping to build a quiet life with his family....
Anele is a web developer and a Pan-Africanist who believes bad leadership is the only thing keeping Africa from taking its rightful place in the modern world.
