Did you know Mansa Abubakari II, the mariner King of Mali ruled one of the largest and richest empires on earth covering nearly all of West Africa? With his ambitions to explore he gave up all his power and gold in 1311 to his brother Kankou Moussa to pursue knowledge and to discover more of the world. He left with 2000 boats loaded with men, women, livestock, food, and drinking water and made trades with indigenous people. He landed in America nearly 200 years before Christopher Columbus. And never claimed to discover it because of the indigenous people he met there. Respectful, and player-like. ✨
Black History 365 | #10 - Madam C.J. Walker
Did you know Madam CJ Walker was one of the first self-made American woman millionaires? She developed a formula that contained Sulphur and the Sulphur healed her scalp. When other women saw the results of her creation she went into business. She set her sights on expanding her market. She began “branding” herself…which is wild given the context. She went door to door with fliers, and business cards. She advertised in black newspapers using before and after photos and testimonials. She built a factory, a laboratory and a beauty school. She employed other women who would become sales agents. This is in the early 1900s! Get that bag!
Black History 365 | #28 - Black Hair
In America there have been hairstyles unique to Black people that are linked to history, slavery, texture, even more. Some white slave owners forced slaves to shave their head and keep a “tidy” appearance. In pre-colonial times hair was a symbol of a person’s identity like their tribe, social status, family background, etc. Natural black hair was banned in the military, workplace, and school. Black people in the 1940s-1960s started to chemically straighten their hair using lye. Lye is an alkali metal hydroxide originally used to “cure” foods. Which made them less bitter. Now there are chemical hair relaxers that can be lye free? Idk about women’s hair, I can’t tell em what to do. I prefer the natural whether it’s nappy, coiled, curly, wavy, even straight. I don’t discriminate. Fine is fine. But hey 🤷🏾♂️. Now, did you know in 2021 Synthetic Hair was getting bought by/imported to the US for a total of 2.02 Billion dollars? Right behind was Nigeria for a total of $410M, Ghana for $226M, South Africa ($192M). It was exported from China, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Germany, and Senegal. Now with Human Hair Hong Kong was up with $27M, Burma had $26.4M, India ($16.7M), Singapore ($8.69M), and China ($6.97M). It was getting imported by Indonesia, China, Austria, Burma, and Vietnam. Black women in the United States, along with women in continental Africa are the largest consumer group of this industry. Synthetic braids were the second most popular hairstyle among American black women in 2022. Hope more black people can cash in on this billion dollar industry and make some bread too.
Black History 365 | #29 - Tulsa Massacre
Have you heard of The Tulsa Massacre? It was a two-day-long white terrorist massacre fueled by white supremacy that took place between May 31st and June 1st, 1921, when mobs of white residents, some of whom had been appointed as deputies and armed by city government officials, attacked black residents and destroyed homes and businesses in the Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Known as Black Wall Street, it was one of the most prosperous African-American communities in the United States. The Tulsa Massacre is considered one of the worst incidents of racial violence in American history. Over 6,000 people were held at the Convention Hall and the Fairgrounds, some for as long as eight days. It took a whole day (24 hours) for the violence to cease. In the wake of the violence more than 800 people were treated for injuries and at the time they were saying 36 people died. Historians now believe as many as 300 people may have died. Quite the discrepancy. Public officials provided fire arms and ammunition to individuals that were murdering in this massacre. This all happened because on the morning of May 30th, 1921, a young black man was riding in the elevator with a white woman named Sarah Page. The stories of their interaction grew and grew within the surrounding white communities. What would happen to a successful black city today? Let's use today's Atlanta as an example. That's lowkey Wakanda in America ain't it? Lol sike nah. That’s extreme, but it has earned the title of being the Black Mecca, the US hub for black businesses. Now check out some background info on “Cop City" being built in Atlanta. Will there be a moment like the young black man in an elevator with Sarah Page to give reason to destroy the “Black Mecca”?…I don’t know. Let’s move on.
Hughes Van Ellis, died at age 102. His 109-year-old sister, Viola Fletcher and Lessie Benningfield Randle, 108, were the last three known survivors of the massacre. The trio have been locked in a yearslong legal battle with the city of Tulsa and other city officials in an effort to secure reparations for the destruction committed more than a century ago. In July of 2023, an Oklahoma judge dismissed their lawsuit, under the argument that the city should not be liable for historical damages.
Black History 365 | #30 - Maxwell Chikumbutso
Have you heard of Maxwell Sangulani Chikumbutso? He is a self-taught engineer from Zimbabwe who dropped out of school at 14 years old. He is known for having developed a green energy technology which, is revolutionary because it converts radio frequencies directly into clean and renewable energy. He’s been able to run TV’s without plugging them in and have electrical vehicles run off radio frequencies, being converted into clean renewable energy. He affirms that he could not patent his work because he was told that his discovery violates the laws of physics! It is alleged that there have been multiple attacks on his life, one of them being that he was poisoned. It is also alleged that this poisoning occurred because his inventions would take many giants in the area of energy, oil, etc. off the market. He was reported missing last month but dispelled those rumors 3 weeks ago using video to respond that he is alive and well…and working.