Wantok Travel Blog

African American sculptor, teacher, and advocate for black artists Augusta Savage was born Augusta Christine Fell in Green Cove Springs, Florida on February 29, 1892.  After moving to Harlem in New York in 1921, Savage studied art at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art where she finished the four-year program in three years. She was recommended by Harlem librarian Sadie Peterson (later Delaney), for a commission of a bust of W.E.B. DuBois.  The sculpture was well received and she began sculpting busts of other African American leaders, including Marcus Garvey.

The music was called ragtime, and in late 19th and early 20th century America, it soared in popularity, leading to a dance craze in the country. By the late 1910s, the genre was evolving into what we know today as jazz. One of the most well-known musicians in both was James Reese Europe. He would become a pivotal figure in American music history, with some referring to him as the "King of Jazz," while one musician said about James, "He was our benefactor and inspiration. Even more, he was the Martin Luther King of music." -- To join our mailing list and subscribe: https://historicalsnapshots.substack.com To support us with a contribution: https://www.patreon.com/historicalsnapshots Sources: - Badger, Reid. A Life in Ragtime: A Biography of James Reese Europe. United Kingdom, Oxford University Press, USA, 2011. - "James Reese Europe, 1881-1919." Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200038842/ - Wikimedia Commons, Wikimedia Foundati...

Sterling Allen Brown was born in Washington, D.C., on May 1, 1901. He was educated at Dunbar High School and received a bachelor’s degree from Williams College and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He studied the work of Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot, but was more interested in the works of Amy Lowell, Edgar Lee Masters, Robert Frost, and Carl Sandburg.  In 1923, he earned a master’s degree from Harvard University and was employed as a teacher at the Virginia Seminary and College in Lynchburg until 1926. Three years later, Brown began teaching at Howard University and, in 1932, his first poetry collection, Southern Road (Harcourt, Brace), was published. Brown then published two critical studies, The Negro in American Fiction and Negro Poetry and Drama, both published by Associates in Negro Folk Education in 1937. He next edited The Negro Caravan (The Citadel Press, 1941), an anthology covering nearly two hundred years of African American poetry.  Brown’s poetry was influ...

Robert Henry Lawrence Jr., was the first African American selected to be an astronaut. He was also a test pilot and senior United States Air Force pilot with over 2,500 flight hours. Born in Chicago, Illinois on October 2, 1935, Robert Henry Lawrence Jr. graduated from Englewood High School in Chicago in the top 10 percent of his class. In 1956 he graduated from Bradley University with a B.A. in Chemistry. While in college he enlisted in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) and distinguished himself, receiving the commission of Second Lieutenant in the Air Force Reserve Program. In 1956 Lawrence completed flight training at Malden Air Force Base and was designated a U.S. Air Force pilot. Over the next decade Lawrence accrued over 2,500 hours of flight time with 2,000 of those hours in jets. By age 25, Lawrence had completed an Air Force assignment as an instructor pilot for German Air Force trainees. The Air Force later assigned Lawrence to flight test the recently d...

The Pamunkey nation are one of eleven Virginia Indian Tribes recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia. The historical tribe was part of the Powhatan paramountcy. A turn-of-the-century Powhatan family from Virginia poses for a portrait in non-Indian dress. Prior to World War II, Powhatans began a community in the Philadelphia-Camden area, maintaining their native identity in part through a close network of families.They frequently intermarried with Nanticokes of Delaware and members of other tribes. Courtesy ~ Pinterest

Moses Fleetwood Walker, often called Fleet, was the first African American to play major league baseball in the nineteenth century. Born October 7, 1857, in Mount Pleasant, Ohio, Walker was the fifth of six children born to parents, Dr. Moses W. Walker, a physician, and Caroline Walker, a midwife. Oberlin College admitted Walker for the fall 1878 semester. In 1881, he played in all five games of the new varsity baseball team at Oberlin. Before the end of the year, however, Walker left Oberlin to play baseball for the University of Michigan. In July 1882, Walker married Bella Taylor and the couple had three children. Fleetwood Walker was able to earn money as a catcher. He played individual games for the White Sewing Machine Company of Cleveland (August 1881), the New Castle (Pennsylvania) Neshannocks (1882), and with the Toledo Blue Stockings of the Northwestern League (1883). In August 1883, Adrian “Cap” Anson, manager of the Chicago (Illinois) White Stockings, stated his ...

Piye ruled between 744–714 BCE from his seat in Namata located in modern-day Sudan. He took over Egypt following the rulers’ squabbles and division. His conquest came complete when the leader of Herakleopolis, a region in upper Egypt, sought his help when he was invaded by Hermopolis and Sais regions. Piye assembled an army and invaded middle and lower Egypt, in one of the campaigns for which he has been lauded over time. Piye, who worshipped the god Amun, considered his battles a holy war and had specific rituals in preparation for the war that included his soldiers cleansing themselves before battle. When he died, he was buried at el-Kurru near Jebel Barkal

Persiapan keberangkatan ke Belanda oleh Bapa Papoea Van Echoud dan Nikolas Jouwe Oktober 1949 hadiri Konferensi Meja Bundar.

Tribal Combs of Papua New Guinea, Melanesia Oceania These combs was used in #kemet and it is still being used today across Africa.  Our history, our heritage.  #mightyafricanhistory

Afar, Amharic Adal, Arabic Danakil (singular; now pejorative), a people of the Horn of Africa who speak Afar (also known as ’Afar Af), a language of the Eastern Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. They live in northeastern Ethiopia, southeastern Eritrea, and Djibouti, where, with the Issas, they are the dominant people. It is thought that the Afar were the first of the present inhabitants of Ethiopia to elaborate their pastoral life into full-scale nomadism, descending from the highlands of southeast Ethiopia and migrating to the stony desert area of Danakil, the name sometimes used by Arabs to identify them but which is now considered to be offensive. The Afar Triangle is one of the earth's hottest and driest spots. where temperatures in the naked plains frequently soar above 50 degrees centigrade, exacerbated by the fierce blowing of the Gara, which translates as Fire Wind. Much of their territory is desert and salt flats, cut by great cracks from the sun's h...

Today's page takes a look at the publisher and editor-in-chief of the oldest Black newspaper published in Cincinnati, Ohio: Wendell P. Dabney. Establishing a newspaper was but one entry on a long list of accomplishments for Dabney, who was first and foremost an advocate for his people, using all of his superior talents to that end. Wendell Phillips Dabney was born on Nov. 4, 1865, seven months after the end of the Civil War, to former slaves John and Elizabeth Dabney. Young Wendell Dabney would learn about entrepreneurialism early from his father, who used his skill as a cook to start a successful catering business. Dabney was a good student who loved to read. He was also a hard worker, selling newspapers and helping his father during the summer months. The boy loved music and was a talented guitar player. His first charge for equal rights began in high school when, in 1883, he led a protest against a segregated graduation, resulting in the first integrated graduation c...

Edmond Albius was born a slave in 1829, in St. Suzanne, on the island Réunion. His mother died during childbirth, and he never knew his father. In his youth he was sent to work for Botanist Fereol Bellier-Beaumont. The vanilla plant was flourishing in Mexico, and by the late 18th century, a few plants were sent to Paris, London, Europe and Asia, in hopes of producing the bean in other areas. Although the vine would grow and flower, it would not produce any beans. French colonists brought vanilla beans to Réunion around 1820. Beaumont had been teaching young Edmond how to tend to the various plants on his estate. He taught him how to hand-pollinate a watermelon plant. Beaumont had previously planted vanilla beans, and had just one vine growing for over twenty years, but was also unable to produce any beans on the vine. Young Edmond began to study the plant and made a discovery. He carefully probed the plant and found the part of the flower that produced the pollen. Edmond th...

#DidYouKnow In February 1912, Captain Charles Young was featured on the front cover of The Crisis magazine? The February 1912 issue of The Crisis was a public announcement that Captain Young accepted duties to serve as the Military Attaché in Liberia. Young took over the duties of Captain Benjamin O. Davis Sr., who had gotten ill while serving in Liberia. Young had mentored Davis while serving in the Ninth Cavalry. From 1912-1915, Young served as the Military Attaché in Liberia. Young was responsible for reconstructing the Liberian Frontier Force. He also created maps and helped build roads in Liberia that are still being used today. The Crisis Magazine was a popular magazine in the early 1900s and was created by W.E.B. Du Bois in 1910. His goal was to "set forth those facts and arguments which show the danger of race prejudice, particularly as manifested today toward colored people.” In 1894, Captain Young became friends with Du Bois while they both taught at Wilberfo...

R.L. BURNSIDE (1926-2005) was a charismatic singer and guitarist, in the deepest Mississippi Hill Country tradition.  He learned and was greatly influenced by Fred McDowell, and also played in the style of John Lee Hooker. A lot happened in his 78 years. He was first recorded in 1967 by George Mitchell, and went on to make several records for various European labels.  Later in his life, in the 1990s, he was crossover hit with his recordings on the Fat Possum label, with his own band and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. A farmer, fisherman, and family man, he had many children, several of which played music. I met him in the early 1990s, he was very kind, and funny, known for his toasts and jokes as well as his hypnotic, trance-inducing style. WORLD'S #1 SOURCE of new Nationals and more: www.catfishkeith.com/national-guitars/ Photo thanks to Time Zone.

#funfactsfromabook Gitu wa Kahengeri started his working life, in the early 40s, as a telephone operator, first in Ruiru and later in Makuyu, Muranga.  Then, only white settlers owned telephones.  Gitu’s job therefore, involved connecting these white folks who needed to talk to each other over the phone. These mzungu chaps were quite impatient, entitled and rude. Often, they would racially insult the poor African phone operators, for not getting connected, fast enough, to the other end; despite the fact that the subscriber on the other end was engaged. The telephone exchange where Gitu worked, in Makuyu, was housed in a shop run by an Indian trader, who was equally quite rude to Africans. Matters came to a head one day, when a mzungu complained that Gitu did not connect his call fast enough.  The Indian guy grabbed Gitu’s collar and tried pushing him around. Gitu had had enough of the mistreatment by the Indian fellow: he grabbed a bakora, that was lying aroun...

A pioneer in the world of African American music education, Harriet Gibbs Marshall was born in Victoria, British Columbia on February 18, 1868, to Mifflin Wistar Gibbs and Maria Ann (Alexander) Gibbs. In 1869, her family moved to Oberlin, Ohio. Marshall began her study of music at the age of nine and continued the pursuit at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where she studied piano, pipe organ, and voice culture. Graduating in 1889, she was the first African American to complete the program and earn a Mus.B. degree, which at the time was Oberlin’s equivalent of a Bachelor of Music degree. Marshall trained in Europe after graduating and, in 1890, returned to the United States to found a music conservatory at the Eckstein-Norton University, an industrial school in Cane Springs, Kentucky At the beginning of the 20th century, Marshall held the position of supervisor for the District of Columbia’s African American public schools, Divisions X-XIII, and served as the divisions’ d...

A commentary by Hon. Don Pomb Polye, CMG, MBA, MP  Let me first send my LOVE and POSITIVE ENERGY to all PNGeans. My sincere GOOD WILL and UNCONDITIONAL LOVE to the present Prime Minister , Hon James Marape, Former Prime Ministers, those Aspirants for the Position Of Prime Minister, Ministers and those aspirants to become Ministers and all other citizens. I state the following points HUMBLY for one's logical assessment.  1. I am of the firm opinion that politics and the competition for political power and rivalry for leadership have DISSIPATED much of the country's energy, resourcefulness, and wisdom.  Political powerplay has eaten into education, health, power, water, businesses, family, tribes, enthinicity, and common sense! Politics has displaced common logic in PNG. The CONSEQUENCE, I have seen, in my opinion, is HATE , HATE, HATE,and more HATE in PNG, which has engulfed a better part of PNG's populace's mindset! That hate to me has created poverty and...

McTell was from Thomson, Georgia and had a stunning and fluid approach, with a clear tenor voice, singing and playing blues, rags and gospel songs on the 12 String guitar.  Starting in 1927, he made records for a half dozen labels, under the names Blind Sammie, Georgia Bill, Hot Shot Willie, Blind Willie, Barrelhouse Sammy, Pig & Whistle Red, Blind Doogie, Red Hot Willie Glaze, Red Hot Willie, and Eddie McTier, but no matter the name everybody recognized Blind Willie McTell's distinctive style.  His most well known song is "Stateboro Blues." He made a pile of rags like "Georgia Rag" and "Wabash Rag," and haunting bottleneck songs such as "Cross The River of Jordan."  He recorded and performed into the 1950s but never lived to be "rediscovered." WORLD'S #1 SOURCE of new Nationals, Scheerhorns and Fairbanks: www.catfishkeith.com/national-guitars/ Photo thanks to Past Blues.