People, Locations, Episodes

Cyril of Alexandria, Emperor born

*The birth of Cyril of Alexandria is celebrated on this date in c. 376. He was a Black North African leader. Little is known about Cyril’s early life. He was born in Didouseya, Egypt, modern-day El-Mahalla El-Kubra. A few years after his birth, his maternal uncle Theophilus rose to the powerful position of Patriarch of […]

Queen Amanirenas, Military Leader born.

*On this date in 57 BCE, we affirm the birth of Queen Amanirenas.  She was a queen and military leader of the Kingdom of Kush from the end of the 1st Century BCE to the beginning of the 1st Century C.E. Biography Queen Amanirenas was born in Kush in present-day Sudan. This affluent city was the […]

Sundiata Keita, Mali Empire King born

This date celebrates the birth of an African King Sundiata Keita, also known as Mari Diata, in approximately 1210.

Keita was the founder and ruler of the Mali Empire in West Africa. Keita was the son of Nare Maghan, the ruler of Kangaba, a small state located on an offshoot of the upper Niger River. Sundiata left Kangaba, but the reason is unknown: he may have gone into voluntary exile to avoid a jealous half brother, or he may have been exiled by Sumanguru Kante, king of the Soso, who killed Keita’s father and took over his kingdom.

Mansa Musa, Mali Emperor born

*The birth of Mansa Musa is celebrated on this date in c. 1280. He was a Black African Mansa (emperor) and administrator. Mansa Musa was the ninth Mansa of the Mali Empire, an Islamic West African state. Mansa Musa’s name was Musa, the Mande word for “ruler” or “king.” Musa is known as Kanku Musa. In Mande tradition, […]

Ibn Battuta, North African Scholar born

*Ibn Battuta was born on this date in 1304. He was a North African Maghrebi traveler and scholar of Berber origin. Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Battutah, his full name, was born into a family of Islamic legal scholars in Tangier, Morocco.  Born during the reign of the Marinid dynasty. His family belonged to a Berber tribe known as the […]

Queen Philippa of Hainaut is born

*Philippa of Hainault was born on this date in 1310.  She was the first African Queen of England. Philippa was of Moorish ancestry, born in Valenciennes in the County of Hainaut in the Low Countries of northern France.  Her parents were William I, Count of Hainaut, and Joan of Valois, Countess of Hainaut, granddaughter of Philip III […]

Robben Island, South African Prison, a story

*Robben Island is affirmed on this date in 1448. Robben Island is a roughly oval landmass in Table Bay, 4.3 mi west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, north of Cape Town, South Africa. It is a former maximum-security prison used by Dutch and British colonizers during the apartheid regime. It takes its name from the […]

Christopher Columbus, Explorer born

*The birth of Christopher Columbus is estimated to be on this date in 1451.  He was a white-Italian explorer, navigator, and slave trader of African and indigenous people.  He was from the territory of the Republic of Genoa (now part of modern Italy).  His father was Domenico Colombo, a wool weaver who worked in Genoa […]

Vasco de Balboa, Explorer, and Slave Trader born

*The birth of Vasco Balboa is affirmed on this date in c. 1475. He was a Spanish explorer, slave trader, governor, and conquistador. Vasco Núñez de Balboa was born in Jerez de los Caballeros, Spain. He was a descendant of the Lord Mason of the Balboa castle on León and Galicia’s borders. His mother was […]

Juan Garrido, Conquistador, and Slave Owner born.

*The birth of Juan Garrido in 1487 is celebrated on this date. He was a Black African Spanish conquistador.

The Zulu Community, a story

*This date celebrates the Zulu nation. The Zulu are the largest ethnic group in South Africa, with a population of approximately 8 million.

Alessandro de Medici, Ruler born

The birth of Alessandro de Medici in 1510 is celebrated on this date. He was a Black Italian ruler during the 16th century.

Anthony Johnson, Indentured Servant Owner born

*The birth of Anthony Johnson is celebrated on this date in 1606. He was an African slave and farmer and one of the first Black property owners in colonial America. He was a tobacco farmer in Maryland and had his right to legally own a slave recognized by the Virginia courts. There is no information […]

Black History and American Police Brutality, a story

*Black history and American police brutality are affirmed on this date in 1619. The expendable pattern of Black lives intersecting with American law enforcement did not begin with Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Brionna Taylor, or George Floyd.  To understand the systemic racism embedded in American police forces, you must look back at the racial order in the United States […]

The Dahomey Amazon Women, a story

*The Dahomey Amazons are celebrated on this date in 1625.  Also called Mino, or Minon, “our mothers”, they were a Fon all-female military regiment of the Kingdom of Dahomey. Western observers and historians named them due to their similarity to the mythical Amazons of ancient Anatolia and the Black Sea. King Houegbadja, the third King of Dahomey, is […]