Never Taught In School

The last Queen Rwanda - Rosalie Gicanda (1931-1994).She married King Mutara Rudahigwa in 1942. She was kidnapped and murdered in 1994 during the Rwandan Genocide. Rosalie was a living symbol of the Tutsi and signified the beginning of mass killing of Tutis and Twain the Butare area.

vintage photo of two imazighen women from Meknes Morocco - circa 1972

Berbers have many legends based on the exploits of Muslim leaders known as marabouts. The marabouts resisted the religious Crusaders and the French colonizers of North Africa. They are believed to have had baraka, a blessing or divine grace, that allowed them to perform miracles. The burial sites of marabouts are destinations of pilgrimages, and many Berbers regard marabouts as saints.

Other Berbers believe in spiritual beings called jinn. Jinn are said to take on the forms of animals. To ward off these spirits, Berber Muslims wear a charm, known as an amulet, with verses from the Quran printed on it, as protection. They also wear the “hand of Fatima,” a charm in the shape of the right hand, to protect against the evil eye.

Often, women in the countryside believe in (and might practice) sihr, a type of witchcraft primarily involving the use of potions. A potion might make someone fall in love or it might invoke a curse as revenge.



Image: .barbey
Source: encyclopedia.com

Image: "outside looking in" -Albama, 1956 - Gordon Parks.

"I can ride in first-class cars on the railroads and in the streets,” wrote journalist T. McCants Stewart. “I can stop in and drink a glass of soda and be more politely waited upon than in some parts of New England.” Perhaps Stewart’s comments don’t seem newsworthy. Consider that he was reporting from South Carolina in 1885 and he was black.


Stewart had decided to tour the South because he feared for freedmen’s liberties. In 1868, with Amendment XIV, the Constitution had finally given black men full citizenship and promised them equal protection under the law. Blacks voted, won elected office, and served on juries. However, 10 years later, federal troops withdrew from the South, returning it to local white rule. And now, the Republican Party, champion of Reconstruction and freedmen’s rights, had fallen from national power. Would black people’s rights survive? .

True, many rural blacks lived under a sharecropping system little better than slavery. But Stewart noted many signs of change. He saw a black policeman arrest a white criminal. He saw whites casually talk with black strangers. “The morning light is breaking,” he told his readers.
Stewart was wrong. Over the next 20 years, blacks would lose almost all they had gained. Worse, denial of their rights and freedoms would be made legal by a series of racist statutes, the Jim Crow laws. .
Source: A brief History of Jim Crow. .

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Palenqueras are brightly coloured fruit sellers, originating from San Basilio de Palenque, a village south of Cartagena in Colombia.

Palenquero or palenque (Palenquero: Lengua) is a Spanish-based creole language spoken in Colombia. Palenquero is the only Spanish-based creole in Latin America, if Papiamento (which is often considered to be Portuguese-based) is excluded. The ethnic group which speaks this creole consisted of 7,470 people in 2005. It is primarily spoken in the village of San Basilo de Palenque which is southeast of Cartagena, and in some neighbourhoods of Barranquilla.

The village was formed by escaped slaves (Maroons) and sometimes Native Americans around 1604 under the leadership of Benkos Biojo.These slaves ran from Cartagena, building their own communities to the south.

Since many slaves had not been subjected to a lot of contact with people of European descent, the palenqueros spoke Creole languages constructed from the Spanish language and their own African ones.he speakers kept this language secret from outsiders on purpose. This language is a powerful identity marker for the speakers. It is a way for people to differentiate themselves from non-speakers.
exisitinsouthamerica @ San Basilio De Palenque

Two Ghanaian women in Kente cloth robes circa 1950's. taken by .
Kente or Nwentom, is a silk/cotton blend cloth worn by nearly every ethnic group in Ghana.
The word "kente" means basket, and comes from the Akan dialect of Ashanti.
Traditionally it was worn by the king & royal family at occasions of great importance. In more modern times, the use has become more wide spread, often worn by ordinary Ghanaians at weddings, for example.

According to legend: "two farmers, Krugu Amoaya and Watah Kraban, from the village of Bonwire, came across a spider, Ananse, spinning a web. Amazed by the web’s beauty, the farmers returned to their homes eager to try and recreate the web. They wove a cloth first from white, and then black and white, fibers from a raffia tree. They then presented their cloth to the Ashanti Asantehene, or king, Nana Osei Tutu (who reigned from 1701 to 1717). Some of the symbolic meanings of the colours:

black: maturation, intensified spiritual energy

blue: peacefulness, harmony and love

green: vegetation, planting, harvesting, growth, spiritual renewal

gold: royalty, wealth, high status, glory, spiritual purity

grey: healing and cleansing rituals; associated with ash

maroon: the color of mother earth; associated with healing

pink: assoc. with the female essence of life; a mild, gentle aspect of red

purple: assoc. with feminine aspects of life; usually worn by women

red: political and spiritual moods; bloodshed; sacrificial rites and death.

silver: serenity, purity, joy; associated with the moon

white: purification, sanctification rites and festive occasions

yellow: preciousness, royalty, wealth, fertility, beauty

sources:ultimatehistoryproject.com & nowness.com

Agé, a Fon deity, dates as far back as the Dahomey Empire. As the son of the creator goddess Mawu-Lisa, Agé was given the power and responsibility to protect and guide hunters during days and nights in the wilderness. He often refilled his energy and power from his mother and is believed to take the form of a young man in a hunters apparel guiding hunters.
During the days of wars and battles, Agé was called upon to protect and give strength to the warriors, leading them on which paths to take. Agé is honoured by sacrificing fleshy parts of the game caught by hunters.