Ibo-ny and Ivory: The Inharmonious British/Ibo Relations "Traditions are the guideposts driven deep in our subconscious minds. The most powerful ones are those we can't even describe and aren't even aware of..." Ellen Goodman's survey of tradition's persuasiveness could not be...

Slaves, maroons, ex-slaves and their early descendants exchanged stories and recalled life in Africa and during the Middle Passage. Their reminiscences were passed on to children and grandchildren. This oral history which was unrecorded occurred in an informal atmosphere, usually on evenings and dur...

The colonies prospered from transatlantic commerce during the eighteenth century. There was a greater abundance in goods in involving an enlarged market along with lower prices offered. As a result of the economic improvement and higher standards of living, common people were able to enjoy the goods...

Liberia is a fascinating country located in western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean. The terrain is mostly flat land with a few low mountains in the northeast. The climate is very remarkable being tropical with dry winters and rainy summers. Liberia appealed as an interesting country to m...

From as early as the mid 16th century Africans were being involuntarily taken to colonial America to provide labour as slaves as what came to be known as the 'slave trade'. It is believed that by 1775, the time of the American Revolution that slaves made up 1/5 of the American population,...

Dr. Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States might be better titled A Proletarian's History of the United States. In the first three chapters Zinn looks at not only the history of the conquerors, rulers, and leaders; but also the history of the enslaved, the oppresse...

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot; Jimmy Crack Corn; Frankie and Johnny; String of Pearls; Blue Moon; Jingle Bell Rock; and Dirty Pop: none of these songs would be here today without influence from African-American culture. Some people have a hard time listening to "black music," meaning Jazz, B...

When you think of the African slave trade, do you realize that over 10 million people were removed from that continent in less than 500 years? Some scholars believe it may be as large a number as 20 million.1 I would like to pose a few questions and attempt to answer them in this collection of...

Thomas Jefferson on Slavery “We Hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness—“(Jefferson). These words are argu...

'Although fictional, Toni Morrison's Beloved is a work of Historical remembering' Discuss. Beloved is not an easy book to read. It is beautiful, frightening, surprising and enlightening. It tells a story of pain and suffering that is difficult to comprehend because we know of its ...

The history of slavery in the Americas normally covers the situation of the blacks in North America. However, recently there have been increasing numbers of historical studies conducted about Africans in Latin America, specifically Mexico. Blacks were present as slaves of the Spaniards as early as t...

A former slave during the antebellum era, Lewis Clarke, said, "How would you like to see your sisters, and your wives, and your daughter, completely, teetotally, and altogether, in the power of the master. – You can picture to yourselves a little, how you would feel; but oh, if I could te...

There are many spectacles of the world that share as illustrations of the hardship of mankind. The experiences and misfortunes of people lay the pathway for those who follow their example. One of the accounts describing such experiences is the book, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaud...

The year 1607 marked an important event in English history. Jamestown, the first colony in America, was set up on an inland peninsula of Chesapeake Bay by English people. Later, the Pilgrims' Mayflower reached by accident to a place called Massachusetts Bay, and settled in the town called Plymouth;...

Roles and Choices of Women Throughout history, women have been forced into a subservient role, forced to abandon their own self-interest for the interest of men. Confined to the private sector of social life, women have had two choices, to follow the path of marriage or the path of serving their g...