African King Apologizes for Africa’s Role in Slavery

It is a painful part of our past that often goes unspoken. When exploring the trans-Atlantic slave trade, it is rare to discuss the role of Africans in the selling and trading of other Africans. Recently, Kpoto-Zounme Hakpon III, the king of Porto-Novo, a province of the West African country of Benin visited Hobson City, AL. Hakpon was the guest of a local family, the Cunninghams, of whom he is distantly related.Read More

Portuguese Colonization of the Americas

Portugal was the leading country in the European exploration of the world in the 15th century. The Treaty of Tordesillas divided the Earth, outside Europe, in 1494 into Spanish (Castilian) and Portuguese global territorial hemispheres for exclusive conquest and colonization. Portugal colonized parts of South America (mostly Brazil), but also some failed attempts to colonize North America in present day Canada.

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How Black Free Labor was exploited with Prisons even after slavery ended/strong

Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II was originally a book by Douglas A. Blackmon that tells the story of how black men and women were placed back into slavery conditions through the convict lease system used by state and local governments, white farmers, and corporations after the Civil War. The book highlights the little known fact that slavery did not in fact end with the Civil War; it simply morphed into a different form. [..]

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The African Diaspora in the Indian Ocean World

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African Independence Month

The case for an African Independence Month begins with the Berlin Conference in 1884. European countries started partitioning Africa until around 1905; by which time all the lands and resources of the continent were completely divided and colonized. More specifically, the countries were Belgium, Germany, Italy, England, Portugal and France. At that time, England and France benefited the most, and they also had colonies in Asia. Collectively, the labor and raw resources were the keys to the European countries' industrial development.

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