Friday Feature

Angela Davis

Activist, scholar and writer who advocates for the oppressed

Angela Davis, born on January 26, 1944, in Birmingham, Alabama, became a master scholar who studied at the Sorbonne. She joined the U.S. Communist Party and was jailed for charges related to a prison outbreak, though ultimately cleared. Known for books like Women, Race & Class, she has worked as a professor and activist who advocates gender equity, prison reform and alliances across color lines

Early Life

Writer, activist and educator Angela Davis was born on January 26, 1944, in Birmingham, Alabama. Davis is best known as a radical African-American educator and activist for civil rights and other social issues. She knew about racial prejudice from her experiences with discrimination growing up in Alabama. As a teenager, Davis organized interracial study groups, which were broken up by the police. She also knew several of the young African-American girls killed in the Birmingham church bombing of 1963.

Academic Career

Davis later moved north and went to Brandeis University in Massachusetts where she studied philosophy with Herbert Marcuse. As a graduate student at the University of California, San Diego, in the late 1960s, she was associated with several groups including the Black Panthers. But she spent most of her time working with the Che-Lumumba Club, which was all-black branch of the Communist Party.

Hired to teach at the University of California, Los Angeles, Davis ran into trouble with the school's administration because of her association with communism. They fired her, but she fought them in court and got her job back. Davis still ended up leaving when her contract expired in 1970.

Soledad Brothers

Outside of academia, Davis had become a strong supporter of three prison inmates of Soledad Prison known as the Soledad brothers (they were not related). These three men -- John W. Cluchette, Fleeta Drumgo and George Lester Jackson -- were accused of killing a prison guard after several African-American inmates had been killed in a fight by another guard. Some thought these prisoners were being used as scapegoats because of the political work within the prison.

During Jackson's trial in August 1970, an escape attempt was made and several people in the courtroom were killed. Davis was brought up on several charges, including murder, for her alleged part in the event. There were two main pieces of evidence used at trial: the guns used were registered to her, and she was reportedly in love with Jackson. After spending roughly 18 months in jail, Davis was acquitted in June 1972.

Later Years

After spending time travelling and lecturing, Davis returned to teaching. Today, she is a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she teaches courses on the history of consciousness. Davis is the author of several books, including Women, Race, and Class (1980) and Are Prisons Obsolete? (2003).

Source: http://www.biography.com/people/angela-davis-9267589#later-years

Friday Feature

Assata Shakur

Assata Olugbala Shakur (birth name JoAnee Deborah Byron, married name Joanne Chesimard) was born on July 14, 1947. Shortly after her birth, her mother and father divorced. Consequently, Shakur lived with her mother, her aunt, and her grandmother and grandfather (Lula and Frank Hill), in Jamaica, New York. At the age of three, she moved with her grandparents to the house where her grandpa was raised in Wilmington, North Carolina. Shakur’s grandparents opened up a business on their beachfront property. Her early childhood was spent working for her grandparents in the restaurant and on the beach. Her grandfather instilled in her a love of reading, and she spent a great deal of her time reading to satisfy her lively imagination.

After returning to live with her mother and stepfather in Queens, Shakur began her political education. She began to confront issues of racism and discrimination she was experiencing (The Washington Post). When she was in her early teens, her mother and stepfather divorced. Soon afterward, Shakur ran away from home and began to search for answers to her questions about the world in which she lived. At the age of seventeen, she dropped out of high school and officially moved out of her mother’s house. In the late 1960’s, Shakur became involved with the controversial Black Panther party and her political problems began.

Between 1973 and 1977 Shakur was indicted ten times and stood trial for two bank robberies, the kidnapping of a drug dealer, attempted murder of several police officers, and the murder of a New Jersey state trooper (The Washington Post). In 1973, on the New Jersey Turnpike, Shakur and her two friends - Malik Zayad Shakur and Sundiata Acoli - were stopped by state troopers because of a shattered headlight. When stopped, the trooper had said they were “suspicious” because they had Vermont license plates.

The troopers made the three exit the car with their hands up. All of a sudden, shots were fired. Not much is known about who did what -- but in the end, state trooper Werner Foerster and Malik Shakur were killed. Shakur and Sundiata were charged with the death of trooper Foerster. The subsequent trial contained many flaws, including racial injustice by the jury and admitted perjury by the trial’s star witness. With the help of some of her “comrades,” Shakur escaped from prison in 1979. In 1987, she published her first book, simply titled Assata Shakur: An Autobiography. Shakur had been missing for eight years until she published the book, at which time she established her whereabouts in Cuba, where she was granted political asylum.

The U.S government, under the lead of New Jersey governor Whitman, is actively trying to extradite Shakur on charges of killing state trooper Foerster. In the book, she tells her side of the story, describing her upbringing, her reasons for becoming a revolutionary, and the events before, during and after the shooting of trooper Foerster. The book is also complemented by many poems written by Shakur. For Shakur, “she who struggles,” the struggle is not over.

Though in Cuba, she is still an active voice in the struggle for equal rights in America.

Source: http://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/166322/Shakur,%20Assata.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Friday Feature

MARCUS GARVEY- Jamaica

Civil rights activist

( 17 August 1887- 10 June 1940 )

Born in Jamaica, Marcus Garvey was an orator for the Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements, to which end he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League. Garvey advanced a Pan-African philosophy which inspired a global mass movement, known as Garveyism. Garveyism would eventually inspire others, from the Nation of Islam to the Rastafari movement.

Early Life

Social activist Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr. was born on August 17, 1887, in St. Ann's Bay, Jamaica. Self-educated, Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association, dedicated to promoting African-Americans and resettlement in Africa. In the United States he launched several businesses to promote a separate black nation. After he was convicted of mail fraud and deported back to Jamaica, he continued his work for black repatriation to Africa.

Marcus Mosiah Garvey was the last of 11 children born to Marcus Garvey, Sr. and Sarah Jane Richards. His father was a stone mason, and his mother a domestic worker and farmer. Garvey, Sr. was a great influence on Marcus, who once described him as "severe, firm, determined, bold, and strong, refusing to yield even to superior forces if he believed he was right." His father was known to have a large library, where young Garvey learned to read.

At age 14, Marcus became a printer's apprentice. In 1903, he traveled to Kingston, Jamaica, and soon became involved in union activities. In 1907, he took part in an unsuccessful printer's strike and the experience kindled in him a passion for political activism. Three years later, he traveled throughout Central America working as an newspaper editor and writing about the exploitation of migrant workers in the plantations. He later traveled to London where he attended Birkbeck College (University of London) and worked for the African Times and Orient Review, which advocated Pan-African 

Founding the United Negro Improvement Association

Inspired by these experiences, Marcus Garvey returned to Jamaica in 1912 and founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) with the goal of uniting all of African diaspora to "establish a country and absolute government of their own." After corresponding with Booker T. Washington, the American educator who founded Tuskegee Institute, Garvey traveled to the United States in 1916 to raise funds for a similar venture in Jamaica. He settled in New York City and formed a UNIA chapter in Harlem to promote a separatist philosophy of social, political, and economic freedom for blacks. In 1918, Garvey began publishing the widely distributed newspaper Negro World to convey his message.

By 1919, Marcus Garvey and UNIA had launched the Black Star Line, a shipping company that would establish trade and commerce between Africans in America, the Caribbean, South and Central America, Canada and Africa. At the same time, Garvey started the Negros Factories Association, a series of companies that would manufacture marketable commodities in every big industrial center in the Western hemisphere and Africa.

In August 1920, UNIA claimed 4 million members and held its first International Convention at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Before a crowd of 25,000 people from all over world, Marcus Garvey spoke of having pride in African history and culture. Many found his words inspiring, but not all. Some established black leaders found his separatist philosophy ill-conceived. W.E.B. Du Bois, a prominent black leader and officer of the N.A.A.C.P. called Garvey, "the most dangerous enemy of the Negro race in America." Garvey felt Du Bois was an agent of the white elite.

Article sourced from: http://www.biography.com/people/marcus-garvey-9307319

Friday Feature

Paul Bogle- Jamaica

Paul Bogle led the last large scale armed rebellion for voting rights and an end to legal discrimination and economic oppression against African Jamaicans. 

Paul Bogle was born free to Cecelia Bogle, a free woman, and an unknown father in the St. Thomas parish (1822- 24 October 1865).  Bogle’s mother soon died and he was raised by his grandmother.  As an adult Bogle owned a home in Stony Gut and had another house in Spring Garden as well as a 500 acre farm at Dunrobin making him one of the few African Jamaicans prosperous enough to pay the fee to vote.  In 1845, for example, there were only 104 voters in St. Thomas parish which had an adult population of at least 3,300.

Bogle became a supporter of George William Gordon, an Afro-Jamaican politician and fellow landowner and Baptist.  In 1854 Gordon made the 32-year-old Bogle a deacon.  Bogle, in turn, built a chapel in Stony Gut which held religious and political meetings.

Officially Jamaican slavery ended in 1833 after the Sam Sharpe Rebellion a year earlier.  Yet from 1834 to 1838 former slaves served post-servitude “apprenticeships” to their former owners.  They were also subject to a judicial system controlled by the Colonial government primarily for the benefit of the former slaveholders.  They endured unemployment and taxes but low wages. In 1865, Gordon chose Bogle to lead a delegation to present their complaints to British Colonial governor, Edward John Eyre.

In August of that year Bogle led a 50 mile march of small farmers and former slaves to Spanish Town to meet with Governor Eyre to discuss their political grievances.  They were denied an audience with the governor.Two months after that attempted meeting, the The Morant Bay Rebellion started, sparked by the arrest of a supporter of Bogle for protesting the conviction of another black Jamaican for trespassing on a long-abandoned plantation.  Bogle and his supporters attended the trespassing trial in Spanish Town on October 7.  Shortly afterwards when colonial officials attempted to arrest the Bogle supporter who had also attended the trial, he was immediately freed by Bogle’s other supporters.  They then forced Colonial police to release the man convicted of trespassing.  Returning to Stony Gut, Bogle and his supporters learned that warrants had been issued for the arrest of 28 men for rioting in Spanish Town.  When the Colonial police attempted to arrest Paul Bogle, his followers fought them off.

On October 11, 1865, Bogle and his brother Moses armed with sticks and machetes led a protest march of nearly 300 people from Stony Gut to the Morant Bay Courthouse in Spanish Town.  They were confronted this time by the colonial militia who opened fire on them, killing seven of the protesters.  The protesters retaliated by killing a parish official, Baron von Ketelhodt, and fifteen militia members, they then set 51 prisoners free.

Colonial soldiers were now brought to Morant Bay to crush the rebellion.  Nearly 500 people were killed and a greater number were flogged before “order” was restored.  Stony Gut, considered the stronghold of the rebels, was destroyed.  Paul and Moses Bogle were captured by Maroon militia taken to Morant Bay where they were tried for conspiracy  and hanged on October 24, 1865 at the Morant Bay Court House a day after George William Gordon, who did not participate in the rebellion, was executed.

Back in Britain there was public outcry, there was increased opposition from liberals against Eyre’s handling of the situation, and by the end of 1865 the ‘Governor Eyre Case’ had become the subject of national debate. In January 1866, a Royal Commission was sent to investigate the events. Governor Eyre was suspended and recalled to England and eventually dismissed. Jamaica became a Crown Colony, being governed directly from England. The ‘Eyre Controversy’ turned into a long and increasingly public concern, dividing well known figures of the day, and possibly contributing to the fall of the government of Lord John Russell in 1866.

The Morant Bay rebellion turned out to be one of the defining points in Jamaica’s struggle for both political and economic enhancement. Bogle’s demonstration ultimately achieved its objectives and paved the way for the new attitudes. In January 1866, a Royal Commission was sent from London to investigate the Rebellion.  Following their investigation Governor Eyre was dismissed as the Governor of Jamaica, and then charged but not convicted of murder.  Jamaica became a Crown Colony governed directly from England as a result of the rebellion.

In 1969 the Right Excellent Paul Bogle was named a  National Hero along with George William Gordon, Marcus Garvey, Sir Alexander Bustamante and Norman Washington Manley.   Bogle is depicted on the heads side of the Jamaican 10 cent coin. His face was also depicted on the Jamaican two-dollar bill, from 1969 until 1989, when the two-dollar bill was phased out. In "So Much Things to Say", by Bob Marley & The Wailers (and subsequently covered by Lauryn Hill ), Marley mentions Bogle in the same breath as Jesus Christ and Marcus Garvey, concluding, "I'll never forget no way they turned their backs on Paul Bogle, so don't you forget no youth who you are and where you stand in the struggle."

Sources:

http://www.itzcaribbean.com/caribbean-history/people/paul-bogle/

http://www.blackpast.org/gah/bogle-paul-1822-1865

Friday Feature

“Kwame Ture” - Trinidad and Tobago

Famed civil rights leader Stokely Carmichael was born on June 29, 1941, in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. Carmichael's parents immigrated to New York when he was a toddler, leaving him in the care of his grandmother until the age of 11, when he followed his parents to the United States. His mother, Mabel, was a stewardess for a steamship line, and his father, Adolphus, worked as a carpenter by day and a taxi driver by night. An industrious and optimistic immigrant, Adolphus Carmichael chased a version of the American Dream that his son would later criticize as an instrument of racist economic oppression. As Stokely Carmichael later said, "My old man believed in this work-and-overcome stuff. He was religious, never lied, never cheated or stole. He did carpentry all day and drove taxis all night and the next thing that came to that poor black man was death—from working too hard. And he was only in his 40s."

In 1954, at the age of 13, Stokely Carmichael became a naturalized American citizen and his family moved to a predominantly Italian and Jewish neighborhood in the Bronx called Morris Park. Soon Carmichael became the only black member of a street gang called the Morris Park Dukes. In 1956, he passed the admissions test to get into the prestigious Bronx High School of Science, where he was introduced to an entirely different social set—the children of New York City's rich white liberal elite. Carmichael was popular among his new classmates; he attended parties frequently and dated white girls. However, even at that age, he was highly conscious of the racial differences that divided him from his classmates. Carmichael later recalled his high school friendships in harsh terms: "Now that I realize how phony they all were, how I hate myself for it. Being liberal was an intellectual game with these cats. They were still white, and I was black.''

Though he had been aware of the American Civil Rights Movement for years, it was not until one night toward the end of high school, when he saw footage of a sit-in on television, that Carmichael felt compelled to join the struggle. "When I first heard about the Negroes sitting in at lunch counters down South," he later recalled, "I thought they were just a bunch of publicity hounds. But one night when I saw those young kids on TV, getting back up on the lunch counter stools after being knocked off them, sugar in their eyes, ketchup in their hair—well, something happened to me. Suddenly I was burning.'' He joined the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), picketed a Woolworth's store in New York and traveled to sit-ins in Virginia and South Carolina.

A stellar student, Carmichael received scholarship offers to a variety of prestigious predominantly white universities after graduating high school in 1960. He chose instead to attend the historically black Howard University in Washington, D.C. There he majored in philosophy, studying the works of Camus, Sartre and Santayana and considering ways to apply their theoretical frameworks to the issues facing the civil rights movement. At the same time, Carmichael continued to increase his participation in the movement itself. While still a freshman in 1961, he went on his first Freedom Ride—an integrated bus tour through the South to challenge the segregation of interstate travel. During that trip, he was arrested in Jackson, Mississippi for entering the "whites only" bus stop waiting room and jailed for 49 days. Undeterred, Carmichael remained actively involved in the civil rights movement throughout his college years, participating in another Freedom Ride in Maryland, a demonstration in Georgia and a hospital workers' strike in New York. He graduated from Howard University with honors in 1964.

Carmichael left school at a critical moment in the history of the Civil Rights Movement. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee dubbed the summer of 1964 "Freedom Summer," rolling out an aggressive campaign to register black voters in the Deep South. Carmichael joined the SNCC as a newly minted college graduate, using his eloquence and natural leadership skills to quickly be appointed field organizer for Lowndes County, Alabama. When Carmichael arrived in Lowndes County in 1965, African Americans made up the majority of the population but remained entirely unrepresented in government. In one year, Carmichael managed to raise the number of registered black voters from 70 to 2,600—300 more than the number of registered white voters in the county.

Unsatisfied with the response of either of the major political parties to his registration efforts, Carmichael founded his own party, the Lowndes County Freedom Organization. To satisfy a requirement that all political parties have an official logo, he chose a black panther, which later provided the inspiration for the Black Panthers (a different black activist organization founded in Oakland, California).At this stage in his life, Carmichael adhered to the philosophy of nonviolent resistance espoused by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In addition to moral opposition to violence, proponents of nonviolent resistance believed that the strategy would win public support for civil rights by drawing a sharp contrast—captured on nightly television—between the peacefulness of the protestors and the brutality of the police and hecklers opposing them. However, as time went on, Carmichael—like many young activists—became frustrated with the slow pace of progress and with having to endure repeated acts of violence and humiliation at the hands of white police officers without recourse.

By the time he was elected national chairman of SNCC in May 1966, Carmichael had largely lost faith in the theory of nonviolent resistance that he—and SNCC—had once held dear. As chairman, he turned SNCC in a sharply radical direction, making it clear that white members, once actively recruited, were no longer welcome. The defining moment of Carmichael's tenure as chairman—and perhaps of his life—came only weeks after he took over leadership of the organization. In June 1966, James Meredith, a civil rights activist who had been the first black student to attend the University of Mississippi, embarked on a solitary "Walk Against Fear" from Memphis, Tennessee to Jackson, Mississippi. About 20 miles into Mississippi, Meredith was shot and wounded too severely to continue. Carmichael decided that SNCC volunteers should carry on the march in his place, and upon reaching Greenwood, Mississippi, on June 16; an enraged Carmichael gave the address for which he would forever be best remembered. "We been saying 'freedom' for six years," he said. "What we are going to start saying now is 'Black Power.'"

The phrase "Black Power" quickly caught on as the rallying cry of a younger, more radical generation of civil rights activists. The term also resonated internationally, becoming a slogan of resistance to European imperialism in Africa. In his 1968 book, Black Power: The Politics of Liberation, Carmichael explained the meaning of black power: ''It is a call for black people in this country to unite, to recognize their heritage, to build a sense of community. It is a call for black people to define their own goals, to lead their own organizations. ''Black Power also represented Carmichael's break with King's doctrine of nonviolence and its end goal of racial integration. Instead, he associated the term with the doctrine of black separatism, articulated most prominently by Malcolm X. "When you talk of black power, you talk of building a movement that will smash everything Western civilization has created,'' Carmichael said in one speech. Unsurprisingly, the turn to black power proved controversial, evoking fear in many white Americans, even those previously sympathetic to the civil rights movement, and exacerbating fissures within the movement itself between older proponents of nonviolence and younger advocates of separatism. Martin Luther King called black power "an unfortunate choice of words."

In 1967, Carmichael took a transformative journey, traveling outside the United States to visit with revolutionary leaders in Cuba, North Vietnam, China and Guinea. Upon his return to the United States, he left SNCC and became prime minister of the more radical Black Panthers. He spent the next two years speaking around the country and writing essays on Black Nationalism, black separatism and, increasingly, pan-Africanism, which ultimately became Carmichael's life cause. In 1969, Carmichael quit the Black Panthers and left the United States to take up permanent residence in Conakry, Guinea, where he dedicated his life to the cause of pan-African unity. "America does not belong to the blacks," he said, explaining his departure from the country. Carmichael changed his name to Kwame Ture to honor both the president of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, and the president of Guinea, Sékou Touré. In 1968, Carmichael married Miriam Makeba, a South African singer. After they divorced, he later married a Guinean doctor named Marlyatou Barry. Although he made frequent trips back to the United States to advocate pan-Africanism as the only true path to liberation for black people worldwide, Carmichael maintained permanent residence in Guinea for the rest of his life.

Carmichael was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1985, and although it is unclear precisely what he meant, he said publicly that his cancer "was given to me by forces of American imperialism and others who conspired with them.'' He died on November 15, 1998, at the age of 57.An inspired orator, persuasive essayist, effective organizer and expansive thinker, Carmichael stands out as one of the preeminent figures of the American civil rights movement. His tireless spirit and radical outlook are perhaps best captured by the greeting with which he answered his telephone until his dying day: "Ready for the revolution!"

Source: http://www.biography.com/people/stokely-carmichael-9238629

Friday Feature

Some Caribbean Islands celebrate Emancipation day on the 1^st August. In the month of July in celebration of their emancipation from their colonial rulers, every week The Steve Biko Foundation will cover prominent activists that emerged from some of the Islands.

Walter Anthony Rodney- Guyana

Walter Anthony Rodney (23 March 1942 – 13 June 1980) was a prominent Guyanese historian, political activist and scholar, who was assassinated in Guyana in 1980.Born into a working-class family, Walter Rodney was a very bright student, attending Queen's College in the then British Guiana (now Guyana), where he became a champion debater and athlete, and then attending university on a scholarship at the University College of the West Indies (UCWI) in Jamaica, graduating in 1963 with a first-class degree in History, thereby winning the Faculty of Arts prize.

Rodney earned a PhD in African History in 1966 at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, England, at the age of 24. His dissertation, which focused on the slave trade on the Upper Guinea Coast, was published by the Oxford University Press in 1970 under the title A History of the Upper Guinea Coast 1545-1800 and was widely acclaimed for its originality in challenging the conventional wisdom on the topic.Rodney traveled widely and became very well known internationally as an activist, scholar and formidable orator. He taught at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania during the period 1966-67 and later in Jamaica at his alma mater UWI Mona. He was sharply critical of the middle class for its role in the post-independence Caribbean. He was also a strong critic of capitalism and argued for a socialist development template.

On 15 October 1968 the government of Jamaica, led by Prime Minister Hugh Shearer, declared Rodney persona non grata. The decision to ban him from ever returning to Jamaica because of his advocacy for the working poor in that country caused riots to break out, eventually claiming the lives of several people and causing millions of dollars in damages. These riots, which started on 16 October 1968, are now known as the “Rodney Riots”, and they triggered an increase in political awareness across the Caribbean, especially among the Afrocentric Rastafarian sector of Jamaica, documented in his book The Groundings with my Brothers (Bogle-L'Ouverture Publications, 1969).

In 1969, Rodney returned to the University of Dar es Salaam, where he served as a Professor of History until 1974.Rodney became a prominent Pan-Africanist, and was important in the Black Power movement in the Caribbean and North America. While living in Dar es Salaam he was influential in developing a new centre of African learning and discussion.In 1974 Rodney returned to Guyana from Tanzania. He was due to take up a position as a professor at the University of Guyana but the government prevented his appointment. He became increasingly active in politics, founding the Working People's Alliance, a party that provided the most effective and credible opposition to the PNC government. In 1979 he was arrested and charged with arson after two government offices were burned.On 13 June 1980, Walter Rodney was killed, at the age of thirty-eight, by a bomb in his car, a month after returning from the independence celebrations in Zimbabwe and during a period of intense political activism. He was survived by his wife, Pat, and three children. His brother, Donald Rodney, who was injured in the explosion, said that a sergeant in the Guyana Defence Force named Gregory Smith had given Walter the bomb that killed him. After the killing, Smith fled to French Guiana, where he died in 2002.

It was, and is still, widely believed - although not proved - that the assassination was set-up by then President Linden Forbes Burnham. Rodney's idea, that the various ethnic groups who were historically disenfranchised by the ruling colonial class should work together, was in conflict with Burnham's presidential opinions.In early 2015 a Commission of Inquiry (COI) was held during which a new witness, Holland Gregory Yearwood, came forward claiming to be a longstanding friend of Rodney and a former member of the WPA. He testified that Rodney might have had a hand in his own demise, having presented detonators to Yearwood weeks prior to the explosion asking for assistance in assembling a bomb.

"Rodney's most influential book was his magnum opus, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, published in 1972. In it he described an Africa that had been consciously exploited by European imperialists, leading directly to the modern underdevelopment of most of the continent. The book became enormously influential as well as controversial: it was groundbreaking in that it was among the first to bring a new perspective to the question of underdevelopment in Africa. Rodney's analysis went far beyond the previously accepted approach in the study of Third World underdevelopment."Instead of being interested primarily in the inter-relations of African trade and politics, as many of us were at that time, Walter Rodney focused his attention on the agricultural basis of African communities, on the productive forces within them and on the processes of social differentiation. As a result, his research raised a whole set of fresh questions concerning the nature of African social institutions on the Upper Guinea coast in the sixteenth century and of the impact of the Atlantic slave trade. In doing so, he helped to open up a new dimension. Almost immediately he stimulated much further writing and research on West Africa, and he initiated a debate, which still continues and now extends across the whole range of African history.

Though Rodney lived with constant police harassment and frequent threats against his life he nonetheless managed to complete four books in the last year of his life: An academic work: A History of the Guyanese Working People, 1881-1905; A political call to action; People’s Power, No Dictator, and two children’s books: Kofi Baadu Out of Africa and Lakshmi Out of India 

Quotes by Walter Rodney

"....an overall view of ancient African civilisation and ancient African cultures is required to expunge the myths about the African past, which linger in the mind of Black people everywhere. This is the main revolutionary function of African History in our hemisphere." -Walter Rodney

"Every African has a responsibility to understand the system and work towards its overthrow." - Walter Rodney in How Europe Underdeveloped Africa

"If there is to be any proving of our humanity it must be by revolutionary means" - Walter Rodney in Groundings with my Brothers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Rodney

http://www.walterrodneyfoundation.org/biography/

Friday Feature

SIBONGILE SUSAN MKHABELA

Sibongile Susan Mkhabela is a former Student Leader, Executive member of the Soweto Students Representative Council (SSRC) and South African Students Movement (SASM) General Secretary – both the driving force behind the nation-wide June 16 1976 revolt. As a former student leader she played a critical role in the June 16 1976 uprisings. In September 1978, she was charged with 10 others for sedition under the Terrorism Act in what was known as the Soweto 11 trial and imprisoned to three years at the Krronstad prison in the Free State.  She was the only woman among the 11 student leaders arrested.

On her release in 1982, Sibongile spearheaded the formation of a Para-legal Advice Centres Association which offered free services to aggrieved un-unionised workers on public law related issues. While in jail, Mkhabela’s numerous applications to study were denied. As she came out, she was served with a banning order that restricted her from entering any place of education. She finally matriculated by correspondence in 1983. Thereafter, she formed and worked with a number of non-governmental organisations to help those in distress. But in 1989, she wanted to stop working and go to university. The youngest of her three children was two years old, but she felt she needed a degree. So, through the University of KwaZulu-Natal, she got an honours degree in Social Work. Over the years she has become A Joel L. Fleishman Civil Society Fellow at Duke University, North Carolina, USA, has several graduate diplomas, and has completed various management courses through the University Of Witwatersrand Business School.

Sibongile describes her youth as a time of mentorship, under great women like Ellen Kuzwayo. She recently won the Ellen Kuzwayo Council Award, recognising her outstanding contribution to higher education that went beyond the bounds of teaching and research. She has worked as a Programme Director of the Development Resource Centre, paving the way to the establishment of the South African Grant Association (SAGA). She served as UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) Consultant to help establish its presence in South Africa. She enlisted into the Office of the then Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, 1995-1999, as Director of Programmes, Projects and Coordinator of a legislative process leading to the establishment of the National Development Agency (NDA). She is currently at the helm of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, as the Chief Executive Officer. (Chairperson since 2006) She serves on the boards of a number of companies and is currently chair of Black Sash.

Sibongile Mkhabela is author of a book, Open Earth and Black Roses – a story of June 16 1976 published by Skotaville Press.

Sources: www.nelsonmandelachildrenshospital.org

www.safm.co.za/sabc/home/safm/features/details?id=aad9d152-2f7f-46b3-bc6b-bddcf9b72743&title=Heroines%20of%20our%20struggle,%20Sibongile%20Mkhabela

Friday Feature

MUHAMMAD ALI " THE GREATEST"

"People don't realize what they had till it's gone. Like President Kennedy, there was no one like him, the Beatles, and my man Elvis Presley. I was the Elvis of boxing." 

Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American Olympic and professional boxer and activist, widely regarded as one of the most significant and celebrated sports figures of the 20th century. From early in his career, Ali was known as an inspiring, controversial and polarizing figure both inside and outside the ring.

Clay was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, and began training as a boxer when he was 12 years old. Cassius Clay Sr. gifted his son a new red-and-white Schwinn in 1954, which was promptly stolen. The 12-year-old, 89-pound Cassius Clay vowed “I'm gonna whup whoever stole my bike!” A policeman, Joe Martin, told young Cassius Clay that he better learn how to fight before he challenged anyone. After 6 months of training with Joe Martin, Cassius won his debut match in a three-round decision. Young Cassius Clay dedicated himself to boxing and training with an unmatched fervor. According to Joe Martin, Clay set himself apart by two things: He was “sassy,” and he outworked all the other boys.

Shortly after his high school graduation, 18 year-old Cassius Clay began his journey towards greatness at the 1960 Rome Olympics. His expansive personality and larger-than-life spirit earned him the nickname “The Mayor of Olympic Village.” The future 3-time Heavyweight World Champion nearly missed the trip to Rome due to his fear of airplane travel; he insisted on bringing a parachute on the plane with him. On September 5, 1960, “The Greatest” proved his dominance in the Light Heavyweight Boxing Division by beating Zigzy Pietrzykowski of Poland, capturing the Olympic Gold Medal. Muhammad Ali participated in the light-heavyweight class Golden Gloves tournament for novices in 1956. It took him three years, but finally in 1959, Ali was named Golden Gloves Champion and earned the Amateur Athletic Union’s national title in the light-heavyweight division.

At 22, he won the WBC and WBA heavyweight championships from Sonny Liston in an upset in 1964. Shortly after that, Clay decided to join the black Muslim group the Nation of Islam. He announced his conversion  and changed his "slave" name to Ali, and gave a message of racial pride for African Americans and resistance to white domination during the 1960s Civil Rights Movement.  In 1966, two years after winning the heavyweight title, Ali further antagonized the government by refusing to enter the Vietnam War draft. He was stripped of his championship titles, passport, and boxing licenses. He lost an initial court battle and was facing a 5-year prison term. Muhammad Ali was the first national figure to speak out against the war in Vietnam. During his 3 ½ year layoff, Ali earned a living speaking at colleges. He successfully appealed in the U.S. Supreme Court, which overturned his conviction in 1971. By that time, he had not fought for nearly four years—losing a period of peak performance as an athlete. Ali's actions as a conscientious objector to the war made him an icon for the larger counterculture generation.

Ali remains the only three-time lineal world heavyweight champion; he won the title in 1964, 1974, and 1978. Between February 25, 1964, and September 19, 1964, Ali reigned as the undisputed heavyweight champion. He is the only boxer to be named The Ring magazine Fighter of the Year five times. He was named Sportsman of the Century by Sports Illustrated and the Sports Personality of the Century by the BBC. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he was involved in several historic boxing matches. Notable among these were the "Fight of the Century", "Super Fight II" and the "Thrilla in Manila" versus his rival Joe Frazier, the first Liston fight, and "The Rumble in the Jungle" versus George Foreman.

At a time when most fighters let their managers do the talking, Ali, inspired by professional wrestler "Gorgeous George" Wagner, thrived in—and indeed craved—the spotlight, where he was often provocative and outlandish.  In 1984, Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and publicly announced that he had the disease, a degenerative neurological condition attributed to brain injuries caused by his boxing career. Following his diagnosis, he created and continued to raise funds for the Muhammad Ali Parkinson’s Center in Phoenix, Arizona. 

In 2005, Ali received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush. He also opened the Muhammad Ali Center in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, that same year. Despite the progression of Parkinson's and the onset of spinal stenosis, Ali remained active in public life. He was on hand to celebrate the inauguration of the first African-American president in January 2009, when Barack Obama was sworn into office. Soon after the inauguration, Ali received the President's Award from the NAACP for his public service efforts.

In early 2015, Ali was hospitalized for a severe urinary tract infection after having battled pneumonia. He was hospitalized again in early June 2016 for what was reportedly a respiratory issue. The revered athlete passed away on the evening of June 3, 2016, at a Phoenix, Arizona facility.Ali was survived by his fourth wife, Yolanda, whom he had been married to since 1986. The couple had one son, Asaad, and Ali had several children from previous relationships, including daughter Laila Ali, who followed in his footsteps by becoming a champion boxer.

Sources: http://muhammadali.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ali

http://www.biography.com/people/muhammad-ali-9181165

Friday Feature

Murphy Morobe

In commemoration of the June 16^th 1976 Uprisings, we will feature activists that were part of the South African Students Movement (SASM). SASM came to national prominence when its members organised the boycotts against Bantu Education, and especially against the imposition of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction, which resulted in the June 1976 uprising.

Murphy Morobe was born on 2 October 1956 in Soweto. When he was young he spent a lot of time with his uncle, a Minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and moved around with the family. He began school in Ermelo, but in 1996 returned to his parents in Soweto. He completed Primary School in Soweto and went on to Orlando North Secondary School and Isaacson High School. In high school he became increasingly interested in politics and history, and he began to read up on them at libraries.

In 1972 he joined the South African Student’s Movement (SASM) because he saw unity and community development as important. He was also starting to think about doing something against the education system and apartheid as a whole. The group was very influenced by Black Consciousness ideology, and also organised cultural activities. In 1973 many members of the committee were detained, and it became quite weak. In 1974 he helped with the reorganisation of SASM, and was elected treasurer. In 1976 SASM was to play an important role in the Soweto Uprising, and it was the first time that Morobe took part in a demonstration. In August 1976 the Soweto Students' Representative Council (SSRC) was formed and Morobe became deputy Chairman. The group played a role in organising campaigns and protests, and almost all Soweto schools were involved in the SSRC.

In December 1976 Morobe was arrested for the first time. He was moved around from prison to prison, kept in solitary confinement, asked to testify against the ANC, tried for conspiracy to commit sedition and eventually sent to Robben Island. He was released only in May 1982, and by this time had completed thee matriculation subjects. After his release, Morobe returned to politics and joined the Congress of South African Students (COSAS) and served on the Executive of the Soweto Youth Congress. He also became involved with the General and Allied Worker’s Union, and it was through this that he participated in the formation of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in 1983.

Morobe became very active in the UDF during the 1980s, and served on the Executive. From October to December 1984 Morobe was again detained. During 1984 Morobe left the county to approach the British government and the United Nations for help, and in 1985 he went to the USA, Britain, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Denmark. In 1985 he was elected to the Transvaal Regional Executive of the UDF, and took over Lekota’s work when he was detained. In 1986 he was again detained from January to March.

In 1994 Morobe became the Chairperson and CEO of the Financial and Fiscal Commission in South Africa. He was part of the Council on Higher Education (CHE), which was established as part of the Higher Education Act of South Africa. He left this post in 1999. He is also the current Chairman of the South African National Parks Board (SANP) and the International Fundraising Consortium, an organisation that provides grants to the non-governmental sector. Morobe has also been appointed as Director on the board of Old Mutual South Africa, and has filled the role of Chairman of Ernst & Young South Africa.

Source: http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/murphy-morobe