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Mali is only one African Civilization, there are many other cool ones like Benin and Congo. To illustrate the sophistication of these cultures so people can understand it, just understand that African American culture has it's roots in Africa. Most people don't know the influence on American culture and the skills and even technologies that slaves brought to America, so this this post is for Yonis
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I've read that slave owners looked at what area of Africa slaves came from because certain areas of Africa had people that had specific skills, like horsemen...
Posts: 2642 | Registered: Sep 2007
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Credit Markellion for posting these facts about African Inventions. We need more posts like these to stop the senseless insults and attacks on each other. Africans should not be hating each other no matter what region they are from they have made great contributions to the World. I hope Yonis thinks twice before he attacks a African Americans as just a slave. It's tooo bad because of there status back in those days they did not get proper due for there inventions.
The truth is that *ALL* people contributed to the world and has done there part to make this world somehow better. We don't need to compete to see which ethnic group gave the most to the world. That is why It bothers me that we have on this forum Intra African hate. We don't need this, this makes the people who control us happy because this makes posting of truth stagnat and makes our goal of freeing peoples mind to the real truth harder. I just think that some people need to really think before they type. The attacks need to stop before we become a forum where scholars have no fear of coming to and learning from. We really need to put an effort towards peacemaking and spreading respect.
Does anyone else have anything to add to Markellions posts. Remember we *ALL* come to learn from each other and we don't need the insults.
Peace
Posts: 9651 | From: Reace and Love City. | Registered: Oct 2005
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I thought this was interesting, written in 1971 this is from "African Kingdoms" by Basil Davidson P. 168
quote:Against a background of world history, what was the human value of traditional African civilization, of its teachings, its beliefs, and its politics and moral patterns of behavior? Where and how have Africans contributed to the sum of man's behavior? Where and how have Africans contributed to the sum of man's achievement? Will some aspects of that old culture still play a part in shaping the developing Africa today? Over the past two decades of historical reconstruction, students of Africa have returned a number of replies of varying worth.
Significantly, much of the answer can be best discovered by observing the African influence on the Western Hemisphere. The history of the Americas would have been a very different one without the great contribution made by African labor, African arts and African skills. The African's role in the growth of the sugar and tobacco plantations of the Caribbean and North America is well known. Less familiar is the African contribution in other fields. At least until the early 19th Century, the mines of Brazil were mainly worked by Africans who had learned their skill at home.
The Negroes also lent something of the traditional African style to the American crafts in which they engaged, and they engaged in many. "I have now," an American traveler could say of Brazil in the mid-19th Century, "seen slaves working as carpenters, masons, pavers, printers, sign and ornamental painters, carriage and cabinet makers, fabricators of military ornaments, lamp-makers, silversmiths, jewelers, and lithographers." If the slaves made many things that Africa had never known, they nevertheless created them with the artistry and skill that derived from their native culture.
Truthfully, IMO it ain't all that cute at first and judging by your posts you must be an insanely miserable idividual.
Posts: 5555 | From: Tha 5th Dimension. | Registered: Apr 2006
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Harlem was once the Mecca of African American culture, this is where African(black) and American(white) cultres combined to form the culture we see today. Everything from intellectuals to Rap music to Afrocentrism and Black Activism spring from this movement in Harlem. The birth place of Jazz and Rock and Roll two fundamentally southern Forms of music would thrive here. The H.R was a true rebirth for African Americans.
Posts: 8804 | From: The fear of his majesty had entered their hearts, they were powerless | Registered: Nov 2007
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quote:Originally posted by Jari-Ankhamun: I love being African American, we have conrtibuted SO MUCH to American culture and to the world, Im so proud of my AA culture!!!\
I second that sentiment. Btw, has anyone ever read this article? I'm about to post it below. It's rather intriguing and sheds light on the value of AA achievement in this country. .......................................
A World Without Black People
This is a story of a little boy name Theo, who woke up one morning and asked his mother, "Mom, what if there were no Black people in the world?" Well, his mother thought about that for a moment, and then said, "Son, follow me around today and let's just see what it would be like if there were no Black people in the world." Mom said, "Now go get dressed, and we will get started."
Theo ran to his room to put on his clothes and shoes. His mother took one look at him and said, "Theo, where are your shoes? And those clothes are all wrinkled, son. I must iron them." However, when she reached for the ironing board, it was no longer there.
You see Sarah Boone, a black woman, invented the ironing board, and Jan E. Matzelinger, a black man, invented the shoe lasting machine.
"Oh well," she said, "please go and do something to your hair." Theo ran in his room to comb his hair, but the comb was not there. You see, Walter Sammons, a black man, invented the comb.
Theo decided to just brush his hair, but the brush was gone. You see Lydia O. Newman, a black female, invented the brush.
Well, this was a sight: no shoes, wrinkled clothes, hair a mess. Even Mom's hair, without the hair care inventions of Madam C. Walker, well, you get the picture.
Mom told Theo, "Let's do our chores around the house and then take a trip to the grocery store." Theo's job was to sweep the floor. He swept and swept and swept. When he reached for the dustpan, it was not there. You see, Lloyd P. Ray, a black man, invented the dustpan.
So he swept his pile of dirt over in the corner and left it there. He then decided to mop the floor, but the mop was gone. You see, Thomas W. Stewart, a black man, invented the mop. Theo yelled to his Mom, "Mom, I'm not having any luck."
"Well, son," she said, "Let me finish washing these clothes, and we will prepare a list for the grocery store." When the wash finished, she went to place the clothes in the dryer, but it was not there. You see, George T. Samon, a black man, invented the clothes dryer.
Mom asked Theo to go get a pencil and some paper to prepare their list for the market. So, Theo ran for the paper and pencil but noticed the pencil lead was broken. Well, he was out of luck because John Love, a black man, invented the pencil sharpener.
Mom reached for a pen, but it was not there because William Purvis, a black man, invented the fountain pen.
As a matter of fact, Lee Burridge invented the typewriting machine and W. A. Lovette the advanced printing press. Theo and his mother decided just to head out to the market.
Well, when Theo opened the door, he noticed the grass was as high as he was tall. You see, John Burr, a black man, invented the lawn mower. They made their way over to the car and found that it just wouldn't go. You see, Richard Spikes, a black man, invented the automatic gearshift, and Joseph Gammel invented the supercharge system for internal combustion engines. They also noticed that the few cars that were moving were running into each other and having wrecks because there were no traffic signals. You see, Garrett A. Morgan, a black man invented the traffic light.
Well, it was getting late, so they walked to the market, got their groceries, and returned home. Just when they were about to put away the milk, eggs, and butter, they noticed the refrigerator was gone. You see John Standard, a black man, invented the refrigerator. So, they just left the food on the counter.
By this time, Theo noticed he was getting mighty cold. Mom went to turn up the heat, and what do you know? Alice Parker, a black female, invented the heating furnace. Even in the summertime, they would have been out of luck because Frederick Jones, a black man, invented the air conditioner.
It was almost time for Theo's father to arrive home. He usually takes the bus, but there was no bus, because its precursor was the electric trolley, invented by another black man, Elbert R. Robinson.
He usually takes the elevator from his office on the 20th floor, but there was no elevator because Alexander Miles, a black man, invented the elevator.
He also usually dropped off the office mail at a near by mailbox, but it was no longer there because Philip Downing, a black man, invented the letter drop mailbox, and William Barry invented the postmarking and canceling machine.
Theo and his mother sat at the kitchen table with their heads in their hands. When the father arrived, he asked, "Why are you sitting in the dark?" Why? Because Lewis Howard Latimer, a black man, invented the filament within the light bulb.
Theo quickly learned more about what it would be like if there were no black people in the world, especially if he were ever sick and needed blood. Dr. Charles Drew, a black scientist, found a way to preserve and store blood, which led to his starting the world's first blood bank.
Well, what if a family member had to have heart surgery? This would not have been possible without Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, a black doctor, who performed the first open-heart surgery.
So, if you ever wonder, like Theo, where would we be without black people? Well, it's pretty plain to see. We would still be in the DARK!
Posts: 4021 | From: Bay Area, CA | Registered: Mar 2007
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Who's tried Salvia Divinorum? Is it any good? Was it really used by the Mazatec shamans?
Posts: 3423 | From: the jungle - when y'all stop playing games, call me. | Registered: Jul 2006
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That particular article happens to be self defeating because allot of the information is misleading.
To clear up two other common misconceptions that I see sometimes, George Washington Carver is one of the greatest inventors in American history but he didn't invent peanut butter. Rosa Parks was a Civil rights activist who had been preparing for her stand against segregation, which inspired the bus boycott. She was not an old woman who was too tired to stand up, it was planned.
quote: The problem with this article is the wording of each sentence is very very misleading. The article is on Black Inventors. Their are plenty of Black inventors that have contributed mightily to the advancement of our society. And considering the extra hurdles that have been heaped on blacks and other minorities, the inventions are all that more impressive.
Unfortunately this type of politically correct journalism does more harm then good to the black community. When an article as this one lays claim to certain inventions by not being specific in its content, it lays wide open the Black community to ridicule. The bigots will be given more fuel for their demented ideals. The manner in which the statements are made causes anyone reading this article to believe for instance that the hairbrush was invented by Lydia O. Newman in the the 1800's! The eye catcher for me was the invention of the printing press by W.A. Lavette! If you do a web search with About.com, Wikipedia or Google you will find that the inventors listed in the article above all had either an invention or an improvement to an existing invention, or invented a component to another device. For instance the article makes a statement that Alexander Miles invented the elevator! He did not! Again from About.com come this answer:
"Alexander Miles did not invent the first elevator, however, his design was very important. Alexander Miles improved the method of the opening and closing of elevator doors; and he improved the closing of the opening to the elevator shaft when an elevator was not on that floor". What is true is that all the people mentioned in this article did have very credible inventions, innovations or improvement to an existing invention. Their is absolutely no reason to stretch the truth by purposely being vague or incomplete, it will not help blacks gain greater prominence for their inventions. Stealing someone else's creation by using vague language is shameful and disrespectful. Almost without fail every holiday we celebrate with family and friends our meals will include a couple of bowls of potato chips. And yes Theo, potato chips were invented by a black man (half black/half Indian). And to make sure the weather would be OK for a BBQ I might consult a farmers almanac, which was also invented by a black man.
I have found many other great advances, innovations and inventions created by black people all across the world. In this great heritage their is plenty of reasons to be proud of our black heritage. The list of inventions created by blacks is impressive but the above article is unimpressive. Well that old saying "the proof is in the pudding" applies here. Do a web search or use the local library's resources and find out for yourself.
quote: Their is absolutely no reason to stretch the truth by purposely being vague or incomplete, it will not help blacks gain greater prominence for their inventions.
If that's the case, everyone's "stretching the truth" when they say that Columbus discovered America, or (note vaguity) 'the Chinese' invented (yes, invented) gun powder.
quote:What is true is that all the people mentioned in this article did have very credible inventions, innovations or improvement to an existing invention.
Exactly. If it's appropriate to say that .. Benjamin Franklin discovered or even invented electricity (look up ancient Greeks discoveries of the properties of amber, or if you want quantification look up French scientist Charles Augustin Coulomb) than the article is perfectly fine in my opinion.
(Ok, maybe the 'comb', and elevator thing were a wee bit vuage or incomplete)
Posts: 5555 | From: Tha 5th Dimension. | Registered: Apr 2006
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^^Agreed. Also, while I agree with markellion's interjection, the statement, "What is true is that all the people mentioned in this article did have very credible inventions, innovations or improvement to an existing invention."..
^^This is only true in a progressive sense since many of these people came up with truly unique ideas and inventions that coincide with the premise of the article being questioned. Just about all of them own patents, though we must of course consider when exaggerations are applied..
Posts: 4021 | From: Bay Area, CA | Registered: Mar 2007
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Ancient Iraqis used batteries for gold electroplating on silver, i.e., electrum.
quote:Originally posted by Alive-(What Box): ... Benjamin Franklin discovered or even invented electricity (look up ancient Greeks discoveries of the properties of amber, or if you want quantification look up French scientist Charles Augustin Coulomb) than the article is perfectly fine in my opinion.
(Ok, maybe the 'comb', and elevator thing were a wee bit vuage or incomplete)
Posts: 8014 | From: the Tekrur in the Western Sahel | Registered: Feb 2006
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Almost 100 years ago, Carter G. Woodson called upon Black intellectuals, not only to defend their integrity and examine the values of their contributions to America, but also, to put an end to the lies that were being perpetuated by the self-declared scholars, historians and pseudo-scientists, who began their degrading and humiliating attack on Africa and the Africans. These anti-African groups went to describe Africa as the “Dark Continent,” full of savage tribes and devoid of any attributes of civilization before the coming of Europeans. Writing and lecturing, in the tradition of Thomas Jefferson, they made every effort to justify the inferior social economic and political positions America assigned to Black citizens. Woodson saw that the celebration of Black History Month may help to educate both whites and blacks about the Black contribution to America and the world and thus may help to enhance efforts to improve race relations at home. He also saw that by demonstrating to the world that Africa and people of African descent have and continue to contribute to the advancement of world civilization, he would regain a respectful place for Africa in the world community.
Since 1926, we have been celebrating Black History Month every February by examining Black struggles against slavery, social injustice and for equality. Every year in February we review direct and indirect contributions of Blacks to our nation and the world without sufficient efforts to examining the African people’s contribution to Western civilization. Woodson believed then, as I do today, that Africa is the great genealogical tree while African-Americans and all Africans in Diaspora are the branches of that great tree. To appreciate the branch but not the tree is to negate the very purpose of the celebration. It is impossible to have lasting respect for the people of African origin, if we don’t have respect for Africa and for the African’s contribution to our world. For the sake of empowering our children and ourselves, I appeal to African and Black scholars to start discussing objectively the African contribution to philosophy, science, art and religion, if not 365 days a year, at least during Black History Month. Let us be proud of our accomplishments, and equally proud of our African root.
It is one of the paradoxes of history that pre-colonial Africa’s contribution to our world is either distorted or remains hidden from most of us and our children. For years, the western world presented Africa as the continent where diamonds and ivory was sought for Europe and slaves for America, but not, as a continent of advanced civilization and culture. Today, we speak of Africa in terms of poverty, famine, war, genocide, political unrest and disease without examining the root causes of such horrific situations and events throughout the continent.
If truth is to be told about pre-colonial African’s contribution to our civilization, we have to begin with positive deconstruction of western history as we know it today. Without such deconstruction, the reconstruction of a fair, just and balanced history that will include African contribution to western civilization would be difficult, if not impossible.
There has been a deliberate and systematic destruction of African cultures and the records that speak to African civilization. This destruction started with the first invaders of Africa and every invader thereafter. Missionaries and colonizers did Africa more harm than good. Today, despite all the growing evidences to the contrary, the denial of Africa’s contributions to world civilization continues to persist at the highest social and academic levels. Most western scholars are still bent on negating Africa’s contribution to the study of science; mathematics; medicine; arts; laws and religion. A brief examination of our literature on Africa and Africans will shed some light why and how this was done.
To justify slavery and the dehumanization of slaves, Thomas Jefferson, who owned more than 200 slaves, set the wheels of racism in motion. Formulating the first racist theory in North America, he wrote: “blacks are inferior to whites in the endowment of both body and mind” and therefore incapable of creating civilization. Our Supreme Court, consistent with Jefferson’s theory, established not only “Separate but Equal” doctrine, but treated African-Americans as “three fifth” of a person. Even though “Separate but Equal” doctrine was overturned by “Brown decision” in 1954, the struggle for justice and equality continues.
Anyone who is born, raised and educated in the United States most likely obtained and internalized negative information about Africa and the people of African origin. John F. Kennedy confirmed this assertion when he wrote: “until very recently, for most Americans, Africa was trader horn, Tarzan, and tom-tom drums. We are only now beginning to discover that Africa unlike our comic strip stereotypes is a land of rich variety of noble and ancient culture and of vital and gifted people.” Such vital information about Africa and the African people is not recorded in our history books nor included in our school curriculum.
To repair the damage done to the continent, Black, African and Euro-American scholars must begin to look at Africa and its contribution to our world with socially, politically, culturally and spiritually librated minds and attitudes. Taking such reconstructive steps will have positive and lasting impact on our efforts to create shared vision world-wide. It will empower all learners, especially, students of color who are struggling to fit-in in a less welcoming environment. If we fail to take such positive steps, our children and grandchildren will not have the heart to forgive us.
Dr. Alem Asres is director of college diversity and affirmative action at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College.
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Which means of course that it is up to Africa's scholars to correct the situation. Why expect Western scholars--for the most part--to change their intepretations of Africa.
Posts: 5492 | Registered: Nov 2004
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Like Nathan Jones, you been gone too long. Read the description they made up for this forum.
OK
See now, this is the Sargasso Sea or Bermuda Triangle or Black Hole forum now. Any and every thing goes.
I know, I know.
All that hard work over the years slippin' away. But one cannot control what one does not own (or fund).
I suggest crossposting the more serious stuff to TNV where it can be readily found by index entry or search engine.
We can still have fun over here on this forum. Remember, that's how it was back when Ausar first made TNV: quasi-academic TNV as a retreat from troll spam flame war ES AE&E.
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