African/Black History: Rarely talked about outside of Afro-history classes.

[The Dryad]

The Environment

(Why do Black people live in ghettos? What is this "gentrification" anyways? And the underfunding of economic investments MLK warned about in the capitalist mainstream)

 

The Ghettos.

 

 

I'm sure you've seen them on TV or driven through them or past them and wondered "why do Black people live like this", well the U.S. government created the Ghettos and also like the blame the creation of the Ghettos on the people who have no choice but to live there. I'm sure you've heard a politician say something similar before.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jul/09/ghettos-blight-on-united-states

 

Gentrification

 

gen·tri·fi·ca·tion

/ˌjentrəfəˈkāSH(ə)n/

noun

1. the process of renovating and improving a house or district so that it conforms to middle-class taste.

   "an area undergoing rapid gentrification"

   • the process of making a person or activity more refined or polite.

     "soccer has undergone gentrification"

In which a historically and typically black area/ghetto is renovated to improve much needed infrastructure to fit the standard of living typically found in white communities, but often neglects black people living there- meaning an investor will see a ghetto as a place for a new strip mall, apartments, etc., which would be welcome in many cases, except the cost of housing and cost of living are often outside of the budget meant for the people living in this area and meant to draw in more middle class white people. In the process of gentrification, many historic sites in black communities are often deemed not worthy and cannot compete with mainstream businesses, and are lost, like what's happening in Harlem right now, and the historic buildings that are being lost.

 

https://mobile.twitter.com/peta/status/862096102593626112

 

 

This is a picture of a waste lagoon on a an animal factory farm, due to issues like gentrification, you can find these near mostly poor communities across America (mostly black and Hispanic) in which the ammonia is known is cause respiratory problems as well as other lifelong issues in the quality of life.

 

Investments

 

Black (and Hispanic) schools are the most underfunded in America for many reasons, but mostly because companies black people support do not invest in black communities and the loss of black businesses from the 60s onwards means that the black dollar does not go towards improving the community, infrastructure or schools, Dr. King forsaw this happening and it did.

[The Dryad]

The History of U.S. Schools

(Separate but equal, white flight, private schooling, ethnic cleansing)

 

Everyone knows that blacks and whites went to different schools or different quality, but not everyone knows that (sometimes) White, Chinese, Mexican and some Native Americans who weren't confined to reservations, went to white schools- because of racist pseudo-science it was thought that these others people speak little of during this time were "close" to bring physically and intellectually white so that it was appropriate to somewhat intermingle with them, but black people would never be white, which is where the "one-drop rule" comes from. Yes, there was racism against these groups of people and at times they did have their own school if the population was big enough. (Like the Cleveland Chinese Mission School in Jim Crow era)

 

Ethnic cleansing of many sorts were done to Chinese, Mexican, and Native Americans like displacement, lynching, loss of culture, forced adoptions, etc.

 

In modern times it's believed that everyone is equal and has the same opportunities, however, we know from studies that the progress made from the 60s has been on the decline because of "white flight" and segregation is on the rise- meaning that private schools are preferred by white families while public, predominantly black schools are underfunded because investments go towards private schools.

 

 

 

 

[The Dryad]

Who was Betty Boop....really?

 

Helen Kane

 

 

 

From Wikipedia

 

In 1930, Fleischer Studios animator Grim Natwick introduced what was alleged to be a caricature of Helen Kane,^[5] with droopy dog ears and a squeaky singing voice, in the Talkartoons cartoon Dizzy Dishes. "Betty Boop", as the character was later dubbed, soon became popular and the star of her own cartoons. In 1932, Betty Boop was changed into a human, the long dog ears becoming hoop earrings.

In 1932, Helen filed a $250,000 infringement lawsuit against Max Fleischer & Paramount for unfair competition and exploitation of her personality and image. Before his death, cartoonist Grim Natwick admitted he had designed a young girl based upon a photo of Kane. Margie Hines, Mae Questel, Bonnie Poe, Little Ann Little, and Kate Wright provided the voice for Betty Boop. They had all taken part in a 1929 Paramount contest, which was a search for Helen Kane impersonators.

It was later proven in court that Kane based her style in part on Baby Esther, an African American singer and entertainer of the late 1920s who was known for her "baby" singing style. Baby Esther performed regularly at the Cotton Club in Harlem, and theatrical manager Lou Walton testified during the Fleischer v. Kane trial that Helen Kane saw Baby Esther's cabaret act in 1928 with him and appropriated Jones' style of singing, changing the interpolated words "boo-boo-boo" and "doo-doo-doo" to "boop-boop-a-doop" in a recording of "I Wanna Be Loved By You". Kane never publicly admitted this.

 

Esther Jones, AKA Baby Esther

 

 

Known for her baby-like singing voice while performing, she was most likely the "inspiration" behind Helen Kane's stage act, who further inspired Betty Boop.

[The Dryad]

Modern Day African/Black royalty (African and European courts)

 

 

Princess Elizabeth of Toro (Uganda)

Lawyer, model, diplomat, etc.

 

 

Probably the most interesting Princess on this list who deserves a full page, but I'll link a blog page because she's so interesting!

 

 

https://www.messynessychic.com/2018/05/31/vintage-muse-du-jour-princess-elizabeth-of-toro/

 

Princess Angela of Liechtenstein

 

 

Princess Angela, Her Serene Highness was born in Panama and married into European royalty becoming an official princess and is known as the first black princess***.

 

Ariana Austin Makonnen

Princess of Ethiopia

 

 

 

An American writer and philanthropist, married into the House of Solomon and the great grandson of Haile Selassie I.

 

Princess Keisha (Nigeria)

 

 

 Princess Keisha Omilana of Nigeria is an American fashion model and businesswoman. She is the first African-American woman to be featured in three consecutive commercials for Pantene. Through her marriage to Prince Adekunle Adebayo Omilana she is a Nigerian princess of the Yoruban House of Arigbabuowo.

 

 

 

[The Dryad]

Empress Shebah 'Ra III

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(*Note: I have not done any true research on this Queen, and I cannot say if she's an acting regent of true monarchy)

[The Dryad]

Philip Emeagwali

 

Nigerian Computer Scientist

 

Known as the creator of the fastest computer, also called the father of modern day internet.

 

 

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=47RzSvweTOE

 

 

[The Dryad]

George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower 

 

Composer, Violinist prodigy

 

 

His father, John Frederick Bridgetower, was probably a West Indian (possibly Barbadian) servant of the Hungarian Prince Esterházy(Joseph Haydn's patron), although he also claimed to be an African prince. His mother was from Germany, and was probably a domestic servant in the household of Sophie von Thurn und Taxis. He moved to London at an early age and was performing at the Drury Lane Theatre by the age of ten.

He exhibited considerable talent in his childhood, giving successful violin concerts in Paris, London, Bath and Bristol in 1789. In 1791, the British Prince Regent (later George IV) took an interest in him, and oversaw his continuing musical education. At the Prince's direction, he studied under François-Hippolyte Barthélémon (leader of the Royal Opera), with Croatian-Italian composer Giovanni Giornovichi (Ivan Jarnovic), and with Thomas Attwood (organist at St Paul's Cathedral and professor at the Royal Academy of Music). 

He was given leave to visit his mother and brother (a cellist) in Dresden in 1802, giving concerts there. He visited Vienna later in 1803, where he performed with Ludwig van Beethoven. Beethoven was impressed, and dedicated his great Violin Sonata No. 9 in A major (Op.47) to Bridgetower, with the goodheartedly mocking dedication Sonata per un mulattico lunatico. Barely finished, the piece received its first public performance at a concert in the Augarten on 24 May 1803, with Beethoven on pianoforte and Bridgetower on violin. Bridgetower had to read the violin part of the second movement from Beethoven's copy, over his shoulder. He made a slight amendment to his part, which Beethoven gratefully accepted, jumping up to say "Noch einmal, mein lieber Bursch!" ("Once more, my dear fellow!"). Beethoven also presented Bridgetower with his tuning fork, now held by the British Library. The pair fell out soon afterwards, Bridgetower having insulted a woman who turned out to be Beethoven's friend; Beethoven broke off all relations with Bridgetower and changed the dedication of the new violin sonata to the violin virtuoso Rudolphe Kreutzer, who never played it, saying that it had already been performed once and was too difficult — the piece is now known as the Kreutzer Sonata. The Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Rita Dove dramatized the relationship between Beethoven and Bridgetower in the book-length lyric narrative Sonata Mulattica.

 

Bridgetower's own compositions include Diatonica armonica for piano, published in London in 1812 and Henry: A ballad, for medium voice and piano, also published in London. A list of his compositions may be found in Black Music Research Journal, Vol. 10, No. 2, Fall 1990, in an article by Dominique-Rene de Lerma.

 

(From Wikipedia)

[The Dryad]

Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges

 

champion fencer, classical composer, virtuoso violinist, and conductor of the leading symphony orchestra in Paris.

 

 

 

Born in the French colony of Guadeloupe, he was the son of George Bologne de Saint-Georges, a wealthy married planter, and Anne dites Nanon, his wife's African slave.

 

His father took him to France when he was young, and he was educated there, also becoming a champion fencer. During the French Revolution, the younger Saint-Georges served as a colonel of the Légion St.-Georges,^[3] the first all-black regiment in Europe. He fought on the side of the Republic. Today the Chevalier de Saint-Georges is best remembered as the first classical composer of African ancestry; he composed numerous string quartets and other instrumental music, and operas, which were less successful.

 

Saint-Georges' first compositions, Op. I, were a set of six string quartets, among the first in France. They were inspired by Haydn’s earliest quartets, brought from Vienna by Baron Bagge. Saint-Georges wrote two more sets of six string quartets, three forte-piano and violin sonatas, a sonata for harp and flute, and six violin duos. The music for three other known compositions were lost: a cello sonata, performed in Lille in 1792, a concerto for clarinet, and one for bassoon.

Saint-Georges wrote twelve additional violin concertos, two symphonies, and eight symphonie-concertantes, a new, intrinsically Parisian genre of which he was one of the chief exponents. He wrote his instrumental works over a short span of time, and they were published between 1771 and 1779. He also wrote six opéras comiques and a number of songs in manuscript.

In 1773, when Gossec took over the direction of the prestigious Concert Spirituel, he designated Saint-Georges as his successor as director of the Concert des Amateurs. After fewer than two years under the younger man's direction, the group was described as "Performing with great precision and delicate nuances [and] became the best orchestra for symphonies in Paris, and perhaps in all of Europe."[24]

The Queen, Marie Antoinette, attended some of Saint-Georges' concerts at the Palais de Soubise, arriving sometimes without notice, so the orchestra wore court attire for all its performances. "Dressed in rich velvet or damask with gold or silver braid and fine lace on their cuffs and collars and with their parade swords and plumed hats placed next to them on their benches, the combined effect was as pleasing to the eye as it was flattering to the ear."[25] Saint-Georges played all his violin concertos as soloist with his orchestra.

 

(From Wikipedia)

[The Dryad]

Ignatius Sancho

 

British composer, actor, and writer. He is the first known Briton of African heritage to vote in a British election.

 

 

 

He gained fame in his time as "the extraordinary Negro", and to eighteenth-century British abolitionists he became a symbol of the humanity of Africans and immorality of the slave trade.[4] The Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, an African, edited and published two years after his death, is one of the earliest accounts of African slavery written in English by a former slave of Spanish and English families.

 

 

[The Dryad]

Lonnie Johnson

 

American inventor and engineer who holds more than 120 patents

 

 

Former NASA engineer, is mostly known for creating the Super Soaker water gun.

[The Dryad]

Patricia Bath

 

Doctor and inventor

 

 

Dr. Patricia Era Bath is an American ophthalmologist, inventor, humanitarian, and academic. She was the first woman member of the Jules Stein Eye Institute, first woman to lead a post-graduate training program in ophthalmology, and first woman elected to the honorary staff of the UCLA Medical Center.

 

Among many firsts, Patricia Bath is the first African American to complete a residency in ophthalmology and the first African-American female doctor to receive a medical patent. She invented the Laserphaco Probe for cataract treatment in 1986.

[The Dryad]

Queen Nzinga, Of Ndongo and Matamba (Angola)

 

 

 

Known for fighting off the Portuguese for decades when they came to conquer her region. Born with her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck, her name is said to have been a good omen of strength. Because she was not a child of the Queen Mother, but of the King and a concubine, she was contested and scorned as a true heir- but her father adored her and allowed her to watch him rule the kingdom. It is said that she played a supporting role to her brother King and ruled as Queen herself. When she met with the Portuguese, she was disrespected by not being given a chair, but a cushion on the floor, so she sat on the back of her servant to equal the power play. She is legendary for fighting off the Portuguese for around 60 years before her death.

 

* It is rumored that the television show Xena: The warrior princess is partially* based off of Queen Nzinga.

 

 

[The Dryad]

Queen Califia (The Legend of California)

 

 

 

 

 

Calafia or Califia is a warrior queen who ruled over a kingdom of black women living on the Island of California. The story of Queen Calafia was written by Spanish writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo who first introduced her in his popular novel entitled Las sergas de Esplandián, written around 1500. 

 

This legend is where California as a state gets it's name from, as Spanish explorers discovered the land similar to the one that was written and popularized.

 

 

 

*Note Califia has been whitewashed many times throughout history.

 

 

 

* I have contacted Califia Farms about their misrepresentation of Queen Califia in their emblem before, and on a page they have updated, they explain that Califia was a legendary African queen, but they still represent her as a white woman.

[The Dryad]

Oshun (Yoruba) and Mami Water (most invoked goddess/goddesses in Voodoo)

 

 

Oshun (known as Ochún or Oxúm in Latin America) also spelled Ọṣun, is an orisha, a spirit, a deity, or a goddess that reflects one of the manifestations of God in the Ifá and Yoruba religions. She is one of the most popular and venerated orishas. Oshun is the deity of the river and fresh water, luxury and pleasure, sexuality and fertility, and beauty and love. She is connected to destiny and divination.

 

Vernated in Haitian voodoo, Latin America, West African Vodun and is found in Louisiana voodoo.

 

She is one of the most powerful Orisha, if not the most powerful in the pantheon of Yoruba.

 

Oshun is syncretized with Our Lady of Charity, patron saint of Cuba, and Our Lady of Aparecida, the patron saint of Brazil. In Trinidad she is associated with St. Philomenaand the Hindu deity Ganga Mai or Mother Ganges.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Because Oshun is a water goddess, she also has a mermaid form.

 

 

 

Mami Wata

 

(patron Goddess venerated in West African Vodun, Haitian Vodou, Folk Catholicism, Odinani, Yoruba religion, Louisiana Voodoo)

 

(A popularized poster by Adolph Friedlander Company in Hamburg, carrying it around the globe, gave an image to the African deity of the diaspora)

 

Mami Wata (Mammy Water) is a water deity venerated in West, Central, and Southern Africa, and in the African diaspora in the Americas. Mami Wata spirits are usually female, but are sometimes male.

 

The appearance of her hair ranges from straight, curly to kinky black and combed straight back. Incorrectly, mostly western sources have suggested the name "Mami Wata" is pidgin English for "Mother Water". This is impossible as the deities existed in Africa long before colonization on the continent allowed English to infiltrate. The Mami Wata name is Ethiopian and Egyptian in origin and is linked to ancient African culture, spiritual belief systems, and folklore. The Ethiopian words "mama" indicated wisdom or truth while "uat-ur" meant ocean water. Additionally, in some early languages of the Sudan "wata" referred to a woman.

 

Mami Wata also has a mermaid form that is popular.

 

 

*It is thought that Mami Wata is another name for Oshun.

 

 

[The Dryad]

Other mermaids (legends)

 

Jengu (pluralized as miengu)

 

 

 

is a water spirit in the traditional beliefs of the Sawa ethnic groups of Cameroon, particularly the Duala, Bakweri, and related Sawa peoples. Among the Bakweri, the name is liengu (plural: maengu). Miengu are similar to Mami Wata spirits.

The miengu's appearance differs from people to people, but they are typically said to be beautiful, mermaid-like figures with long hair and beautiful gap-teeth. They live in rivers and the sea and bring good fortune to those who worship them. They can also cure disease and act as intermediaries between worshippers and the world of spirits. For this reason, a jengu cult has long enjoyed popularity among the Duala peoples. Among the Bakweri, this cult is also an important part of a young girl's rite of passage into womanhood.

 

Mermaids of Karoo 

 

Folk legends of the natives of South Africa state that the Karoo Desert has been a sighting spot for mermaids, which some media networks have gone investigating for.

 

 

 

[The Dryad]

Afonso I of Kongo (Christian name)

 

Mvemba a Nzinga, King of the Kongo Empire

 

 

Known for converting Kongo to Catholicism from Portuguese influence. He is also known for his letters to the Portuguese King...

 

In 1526 Afonso wrote a series of letters condemning the violent behavior of the Portuguese in his country and the establishment of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. At one point he accused them of assisting brigands in his own country and illegally purchasing free people as slaves. He also threatened to close the trade altogether. However, in the end, Afonso established an examination committee to determine the legality of all enslaved persons presented for sale.

Afonso was a determined soldier and extended Kongo's effective control to the south. His letter of 5 October 1514 reveals the connections between Afonso's men, Portuguese mercenaries in Kongo's service and the capture and sale of slaves by his forces, many of which he retained in his own service.

In 1526 Afonso wrote two letters concerning the slave trade to the king of Portugal, decrying the rapid destabilization of his kingdom as the Portuguese slave traders intensified their efforts.

In one of his letters he writes

 

"Each day the traders are kidnapping our people - children of this country, sons of our nobles and vassals, even people of our own family. This corruption and depravity are so widespread that our land is entirely depopulated. We need in this kingdom only priests and schoolteachers, and no merchandise, unless it is wine and flour for Mass. It is our wish that this Kingdom not be a place for the trade or transport of slaves."

 

Many of our subjects eagerly lust after Portuguese merchandise that your subjects have brought into our domains. To satisfy this inordinate appetite, they seize many of our black free subjects.... They sell them. After having taken these prisoners [to the coast] secretly or at night..... As soon as the captives are in the hands of white men they are branded with a red-hot iron.[7]

Afonso believed that the slave trade should be subject to Kongo law. When he suspected the Portuguese of receiving illegally enslaved persons to sell, he wrote in to King João III in 1526 imploring him to put a stop to the practice.[10]

 

(From Wikipedia)

 

 

[The Dryad]

Emanuele Ne Vunda (or Antonio Manuel)*

 

The First African Ambassador to Europe 

 

 

Antonio Emanuele Ne Vunda (died 1608), also Antonio Manuel Nsaku ne Vunda (or Vunta or Funda) was an ambassador from the West African Kingdom of Kongo to the Vatican, sent by the king of Kongo Alvaro II to Pope Paul Vin 1604–1608.[1][2] Ne Vunda traveled through Brazil and Spain and only reached Rome on 3 January 1608, but he died two days later of illness.[3][4]

Emanuele (in Portuguese, Manuel) Ne Vunda is nowadays considered to have been the first African ambassador to Europe in history.

 

(From Wikipedia)

 

 

(Bust of Antonio Manuel, by Francesco Caporale)

[The Dryad]

Kimpa Vita

 

Prophetess

 

 

 

 

Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita (1684 – 2 July 1706), was a Kongo Empire prophet and leader of her own Christian movement, Antonianism, this movement taught that Jesus and other early Christian figures were from the Kongo Empire. The name "Dona" indicates that she was born into a family of high Kongolese nobility; she was later given the name "Beatriz" after the Catholic Saint. Her teaching grew out of the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church in Kongo, and caused her to upbraid the Catholic priests for not believing as she did. Dona Beatriz believed she was the reincarnation of St. Anthony and used this claim to attempt to restore the ideal of Kongo as a unified Christian Kingdom. Kimpa Vita is seen as an antislavery figure and is known as a prefigure to modern African democracy movements. While the role of Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita is widely overlooked, the years of her movement are some of the best documented in Kongo's history.

 

According to her testimony, given at an inquest on her life and reported by the Capuchin missionary Bernardo da Gallo, Beatriz had visions even as a youth, and her high spirits and otherworldly outlook caused her two youthful marriages to fail and led her deeper into a spiritual life. Kimpa Vita was trained as nganga marinda, a person said to be able to communicate with the supernatural world. The nganga marinda was connected to the kimpasi cult, a healing cult that flourished in late seventeenth century Kongo. However, sometime around 1700, she renounced her role and moved closer to the views of the Catholic Church.

 

Antonianism, or Antonine sect (Portuguese: Antonianismo), was a syncretic Christian new religious movement formed in the Kingdom of Kongo between 1704 and 1706 as a development within the Roman Catholic Church in Kongo. Its founder was a young charismatic woman named Beatriz Kimpa Vita who said she was possessed by Saint Anthony of Padua.[1][2] Beatriz became known for healing and other miracles. It was eventually suppressed by King Pedro IV of Kongo, and Dona Beatriz was burned at the stake as a heretic.[3]

 

(From Wikipedia)

[The Dryad]

*Author's Note: I've been reluctant to post about these subjects because they're still so hurtful and controversial, but honestly, I still hear about them today, and we all know that these are some of the ideas that our social structures are built on, so I figured it's best to post about it in case anyone is truly ignorant on these subjects and doesn't quite know what the early anthropologists, sciences and theologists based their ideas on, and why they still have impact today.

 

 

(Upcoming posts: Biblical "curses", The curse of Ham, Hamitic theory/myth)

[The Dryad]

"Biblical Curses": The connection between the sciences and religion as it related to race during colonial and imperalist times.

 

The Curse of Ham

* The most common Biblical justification of the enslavement of black people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, the "Hamitic theory" differed from the "Hamitic curse", in which white scholars sought out "white tribes" around the world, in South America, North America,Africa, Japan, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Dryad]

"Biblical Curses" Continued...

 

(Ted talk on "The Curse of Ham, and the Hamitic theory itself, in more detail)

 

Reading/Introduction Material (Wikipedia)

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamites

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_Ham

 

The Rwanda Genocide (that was at least partly caused by "Hamitic" ideology)

 

https://www.newtimes.co.rw/section/read/91902

 

Another Biblical curse..

 

 

The Curses of Deuteronomy, that Black Hebrew Isrealites and other groups say are about black people.

 

 

 

[The Dryad]

Wagadou (The Ghana Empire)

 

(Ghana, Mauritania, Senegal, Mali)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghana_Empire

[The Dryad]

The Ashanti Empire/Kingdom

an Akan Empire

 

*The Akan are another group of people who claim origin from the East/Nile Valley.

 

 

 

 

 

(Dwa, the infamous Golden Stool)

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashanti_Empire

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akan_people

[The Dryad]

Balthazar (Magus)

 

One of the three Biblical Magi that gifted Christ on his birth.

 

Balthazar is traditionally referred to as the King of Arabia and gave the gift of myrrh to Jesus. In the Roman Catholic Church, he is regarded as a saint (as are the other two Magi).

 

The Gospel of Matthew does not give the names of the Magi (or even how many there were), but their traditional names are ascribed to a Greek manuscript from 500 AD translated into Latin and commonly accepted as the source of the names.[2] In this original manuscript, Balthazar is called Bithisarea which later developed into Balthazar in Western Christianity.[1] Balthazar was described in the 8th century by Saint Bede as being "[of] black complexion, with [a] heavy beard" with the "myrrh he held in his hands prefigured the death of the Son of man".[3]

 

 

 

 

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balthazar_(Magus)

 

Considered a Saint to some, he and the other three Magi (also saints) appear in art and architecture all over Europe especially.

[The Dryad]

I found all of these traditional African legends in illustration form (Created by Ken Wilson-Max, illustrator)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Dryad]

 

A somewhat popular bust, believed by some to be one of the people described in Homer's 'The Odyssey'.

[uhtred]

On 1/18/2019 at 12:35 PM, The Dryad said:

The Environment

(Why do Black people live in ghettos? What is this "gentrification" anyways? And the underfunding of economic investments MLK warned about in the capitalist mainstream)

sniop

I don't think gentrification is simple.  Due to past discrimination there are ghettos where black people live because they are very inexpensive.  These areas have terrible infrastructure, may be polluted etc.  The areas aren't improved because the poor residents don't have the capital to improve them.

 

A group comes in (private or public), with the capital to fix the place up. Now there is an area that is not longer broken, polluted, crime-ridden etc.  So the land owners (who typically don't live there), naturally want to make money (that is why they invested in land in the first place), and find that they can increase their rents because the better infrastructure attracts wealthier businesses and people. 

 

With wealthier people living there, the increased money causes more businesses to move in - but they are catering to the new wealthy people. (again, people go into business in order to make money).

 

Meanwhile the poor minority original inhabitants find that they can no longer afford to live in their old homes - prices have gone up too much. Their neighborhood has been fixed up - but now is denied to them economically. 

 

Its not an easy problem to fix. 

[The Dryad]

Ancient writing systems native to Africa (continued)

 

Uli (an lesser known writing system)- Nigeria

 

 

 

 

There isn't much readily available on this writing system, especially compared to Nsibidi, which is already little. But from what I know it's related to Nsibidi.

 

Adrinkra (Ashanti, Ghana)

 

 

 

 

 

[The Dryad]

Nabta Playa

 

Depending on who you ask, Nabta Playa is either an ancient Nubian astronomical observatory or some type of Stone decoration, sacrificial/ceremonial sacred place, or Stone calendar.

 

[The Dryad]

Dogon Astrology (Mali, West Africa)

 

*(Said to be descendents of Egyptians, or other Nile Valley peoples, possible proof of Nabta Playa's prior use?)

 

(From Wikipedia)...They reported that the Dogon believe that the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius (sigi toloor "star of the Sigui"[33]), has two companion stars, pō tolo (the Digitaria star), and ęmmę ya tolo, (the female Sorghum star), respectively the first and second companions of Sirius A.[34] Sirius, in the Dogon system, formed one of the foci for the orbit of a tiny star, the companionate Digitaria star. When Digitaria is closest to Sirius, that star brightens: when it is farthest from Sirius, it gives off a twinkling effect that suggests to the observer several stars. The orbit cycle takes 50 years.[35] They also claimed that the Dogon appeared to know of the rings of Saturn, and the moons of Jupiter.[36]