First black head of a European state: Alessandro de Medici (Italy)

Another post of 'Black European nobility tucked away'. This time Italian Alessandro de Medici (1510 - 1537), first duke of Florence, and the first black head of a European state. His nickname was "il Moro" ("the Moor").

In an interesting PBS article the author Mario de Valdes y Cocom writes about Alessandro de Medici, and also about how his African ancestry was downplayed in an Exhibit: "Despite the many portraits of this 16th century Italian Renaissance figure, Alessandro de Medici's African heritage is rarely, if ever, mentioned.

Alessandro wielded great power as the first duke of Florence. He was the patron of some of the leading artists of the era and is one of the two Medici princes whose remains are buried in the famous tomb by Michaelangelo. The ethnic make up of this Medici Prince makes him the first black head of state in the modern western world.

Alessandro was born in 1510 to a black serving woman in the Medici household who, after her subsequent marriage to a muleteer, is simply referred to in existing documents as Simonetta da Collavechio. Historians today are convinced that Alessandro was fathered by the seventeen year old Cardinal Giulio de Medici who later became Pope Clement VII. Cardinal Giulio was the nephew of Lorenzo the Magnificent."

Read full story: The blurred Racial Line of Famous Families: Alessandro de Medici

The post 'Black European nobility tucked away', was about the research of Egmond Codfried. Although Alessandro de Medici was not mentioned in the post, he was part of the research. The goal of the research, according to Codfried, is to prove that Europe was never as 'white' as we have been taught. Black people were always in Europe, even among the European nobility.

Special thanks to Annalisa Butticci, who noticed that Alessandro de Medici was not mentioned in the story.

Black History: Black European nobility tucked away

Black nobility in Europe? According to black Dutch researcher Egmond Codfried and author of the book "Belle van Zuylen's forgotten grandmother" there was black nobility in Europe, but there history and images were later carefully tucked away. His claims are controversial, and of course not accepted by European historians and the man in the street.

Codfried has systematically studied hundreds of paintings of famous and less famous nobility. He regularly stumbled upon people who looked black or coloured, or although they were white, clearly had African facial features.

About his work he writes: “This study of historical sources and literature on black and coloured historic persons was inspired by the chance finding of a portrait of Maria Jacoba van Goor (portraited in the picture). We get a view of the problems and of the methods to identify these Europeans. This beautiful painting was also a reason to cast an afrocentric view at Belle van Zuylens life and her works, the biographies en the origin of her financial fortune. Through her coloured grandmother, the Dutch Belle van Zuylen (1740-1805) also known as Madame de Charrière, joins the rank of writers as the Russian Alexander Pushkin, the French Alexander Dumas and Colette, the Britons Elizabeth Barrett and her husband Robert Browning. As well as the German classic composer Ludwig von Beethoven and Queen Charlotte of Britain. These are Europeans of great merit, who had black forefathers. Also we find that Belle was a friend of Pierre Alexander Du Peyrou (1729-1794), a brown coloured and wealthy Surinam plantation owner in Swiss. He is renowned as a close friend, benefactor and publisher of the most famous philosopher of the Enlightenment, Jean Jaques Rousseau.

The reason why he studies nobility has to with the fact that nobility has left traces in the form of portraits and writings.

Some of his claims

Queen Charlotte Sophie of Mecklenburg Strelitz (1744-1818), Wife of George III

Described by others in her time as 'a true mulatto face' , ' brown' or ' yellow.' Her nose is to wide and her mouth shows the same fault.













Maurits Huygens (painted by Rembrandt in 1632) the older brother of Constantijn Huygens. Constantijn was one the most famous poets in the Golden Century.












The way black people were portraited

A painting of the French-Swiss painter Liotard (1702-1789) "Portrait of a young woman". Liotard is also considered coloured by Codfried.













A Moor by Juriaen of Streeck (1619-1673). Most people do not realize how many pictures exist of Moors in Europe. Why the love of Moors? Names, family crests, geographical indications, all references to the Moor, according to Codfried.

On the forum someone writes, that this is a picture of a servant.








As a response Codfried writes: "Part of the Moritzburg Treasure (Renaissance), , with a gold and silver cup in the form of a Moor's head, which was used at high nobilty marriages. Why Moor's head? The Moor was apparently in high regard."











PORTRAIT OF AN AFRICAN MAN January Mostaert (ca.1474-Haarlem Haarlem 1552/1553) Ca. 1520-1530. A unique 16th-century portrait

A painting of a black African in European clothing - with sword - portrayed as a Habsburg-Burgondian nobleman from that period. The self-conscious attitude, clothes and rich attributes demonstrate a successful assimilation of this man within the cultural norms of the European Renaissance. (Research lab Black is beautiful Dutch)

But, the research lab also writes, black Africans were in the 16th-century Europe rarely people of distinction. Most of them were imported as slaves in Spain and Portugal. A small number of them were released over the years, but most were employed as servant to their master. Only the Congo, which in the late 15th century was Christianized by the Portuguese, had a special status as a black kingdom of which the elite was educated in Portugal. Some Congolese made it as scholar, clerk, musician and jester quite far. Most remained employed in subordinate occupations. In the Netherlands, where the slave status was not recognized, negroes usually came along as servants of Spanish and Portuguese traders.


But why is it so important to show that black or coloured people were part of the European nobility? Codfried's motivation is to show that Europe was never as 'white' as we have been taught. Black people were always in Europe, even among the European nobility.

Looking at the portraits of those 16th and 17the century black people in Europe, I wonder what they would think of us now.

Some links

Pictures of nobility

Black nobility tucked away (Dutch) – an interesting article with pictures

Blue Blood Is Black Blood

Update: Also read: First black head of a European state: Alessandro de Medici (Italy)

Celebrate Black History Month UK 2009

October is the Black History month in the UK. It was first celebrated in 1987 as part of the African Jubilee Year, the period from August 1987 to July 1988 designated to mark the centenary of the birth of Marcus Josiah Garvey; the 150th anniversary of emancipation in the Caribbean and the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Organization of African Unity. But now it's an event that is celebrated throughout the UK.

London
Blacks have been in London since 1555, though the first real influx in Britain came in the late 18th century in flights from the 13 colonies during the American Revolution. Prominent black British figures include John Blacke, a trumpeter to kings Henry VII and VIII, who about 1507 became the first black mentioned in royal records; Sir Ira Aldridge, England's first recognized black actor, famous for his role as Othello; John Richard Archer, a leader in London's Pan Africanist Movement, also the country's first British-born councilor and mayor in the early 1900s; and Marianne Jean Baptiste, who in 1996 became the first black British woman nominated for an Academy Award.

Black History Month website

Black history month in London 2009

Celebrate Black History Month in Newham (london)

The film Skin – Starring Sophie Okonedo

The film Skin has finally made it to the Netherlands. Skin is of course the portrayal of the life of Sandra Laing, a dark skinned girl born to white (Afrikaan) parents in South Africa during the Apartheid era. With UK born actress Sophie Okonedo as Sandra Laing. In an interview Okonedo said that her upbringing was not too dissimilar to Laing’s. Okenedo is bi-racial Nigerian/Jewish.



Also read the interesting review of the film on shadow and act.







But now Amsterdam. On the blog of the film I read ‘Dutch Courage’. But why do you need courage to show this film? On shadow and act screenwriter and film critic Wendy Okoi-Obuli wrote:" You know who Okonedo is, right? Dirty Pretty Things, Hotel Rwanda, Aeon Flux, The Secret Life of Bees… as well as lots of TV and theatre roles under her belt. OK, so you may not like her entire body of work, you may not even like her acting style, but she’s an Oscar nominated actress; surely that’s enough to at least make her a bankable name, right? Not to most film distributors, it isn’t. “ Read the full story here



From September 11the till October 30th the film will be shown in Europen movie theatres. From October 30th it will be distributed in the US.



Skin’s official movie website



Interview with Sophie Okonedo





The Dutch data for your google agenda

Skin – The story of mixed 'outcast' Sandra Laing

Sandra Laing was a black baby born to white parents at the height of apartheid in South Africa. The hatred, rejection and heartache she suffered at the hands of the authorities, her teachers and her family sent shock waves across the world.

On the timesonline a story was published about her life, the racial implications of being stuck in the racial middle during the apartheid in South Africa, and about the movie Skin. "The story goes beyond race. It’s about a need to belong, a need to be loved and accepted. There’s a moment when her father lovingly puts skin-bleaching cream on her face to lighten her skin. It burns and he blows on it. Fabian (Producer and director of the film Skin) describes Laing as like a peach. “The skin easily bruises, but there is a hard core, a big stone of strength.

The one thing that haunts Laing is her relationship with her brothers. Neither of them speaks to her. When Adriaan was a baby she used to cradle him and feed him. “Leon told me that if Adriaan’s wife finds out that he has been talking to me she is going to divorce him.” Is it because Adriaan, himself quite dark-coloured, is ashamed of his even darker sister and the way it might interrupt his nice white life? “I don’t know what colour his children turned out to be. People say they are white. He must remember me, how close we were. Maybe he is scared of his wife.” Read the full story here.

In a book review bi-racial author Rebecca Walker wrote about laing's story. " Laing's story is similar to that of many who straddle racial designations that have more to do with social engineering than with actual differences among human beings. Shame, alienation from family members, memory loss and difficulty in sustaining a stable home are a few of the possible effects of belonging to more than one racial category. Ironically, Laing eventually seems to have found some peace with help from members of the same media that once took part in her objectification. Two journalists in particular helped to fit the pieces of Laing's life together, and as a result of their work to reunite Laing with her estranged mother, she finally felt unburdened. In a moving passage, one of those journalists, Judith Stone, tells of Laing dreaming that she was "laughing and laughing"; she felt "a new space open up in her heart."

The sad part is that one her parents has black roots, but ended up being a pro-white nationalist.

See more pictures here

See youtube video: Sandra Laing: A Spiritual Journey - South Africa

What is Afro-Europe? Who are the Afro-Europeans or black Europeans?

Some who read this blog may think what the hell this is all about. Are we trying to imitate the USA and their ‘racial’ interpretation of society? Or we trying to pigeonhole the black people of Europe in a new category? What gives us the right to bring together topics related to black people in Europe in one blog? Isn’t it racist to categorize black people in Europe as one group? Based on what? Skincolour? Culture?

The central question is what a Nigerian in Italy, an Angolan in Sweden, a Jamaican in the UK and a mixed race Congolese in France or Germany have in common. Europe is not even united so how would black people coming from different nations feel united within Europe? We don’t even have a common language. Below I will give my opinion on this issue.



500 years
What we have in common is the western and European experience, and the way we are categorized within Europe as a certain kind of people. Whether you are in France, Germany, Italy or any other European country, the majority white people of Europe perceive people of African ancestry in quite the same way. This categorization isn’t entrenched in the laws of European nations, but for centuries in the past it was. It isn’t something we can easily describe nor can we demonstrate it through clear facts and figures. However, through a history of relations between Europe and the darker peoples of the planet, the ‘black man’ has received a certain place. Although racial slavery has been abolished, and racist laws eradicated from law books, the concepts and ideas inherited from more than 5 centuries of African-European relationships are still there. Whatever the colour of our skin, we are part of this history.

An anomaly
Black people in Europe, whether with brown or black skin, whether born there or not, whether having a white parent or not, whether adopted or not, whether they speak the national language or not, whether integrated or not, ...are all perceived as a certain kind of foreigners. They are not supposed to be there. But in reality most black people in Europe have built their homes in Europe, have adopted European cultures as their own and are perfectly integrated. If not the first generation, then certainly their children.

This experience; being perceived as foreigners from a common continent (whether being really a foreigner or not), is central in the creation of our identity. Identity is based on the relationship you have with others. I do think that most Europeans of African ancestry, i.e culturally integrated black people, would prefer just to be seen as part of the country where they are living, fully accepted as members of that society. In reality it is not so. Even when they have actually forgotten the cultures and languages of their ancestors and only know the Western world as their world, they will still be seen as an anomaly within the Western world, even after generations. (It is important to note here that Italians who migrated to France, Belgians who migrated to Sweden, etc. are assimilated after one or two generations). However, after centuries of African-European relationship Europe influenced Africa, but the other way around is certainly just as true. The presence of black people in Europe is a logic consequence of the African-European history. Europe seems not to accept this logic.

Europe’s relationship with the other, (whether Africans or people from the ‘Orient’) and the way it has described the other, has been the vehicle in the creation of a European and Western identity. Unfortunately black people do not fit into that identity. We could fight for being acknowledged as part of the European identity. But this means a total reconsideration of what being European means. When we look at the social and political reality of today's Europe there is an urge to defend and protect an essentialist view of Europe as 'white and pure'. Therefore today, black people in Europe are creating a new concept of self within the Western world, i.e. Afro-Europe.

America
Besides that there is the influence of the American media in Europe. Europeans, whether black or white, consume a lot of American media and are influenced by it. Whether you’re French, Swedish, Italian, … we all watch Hollywood movies, we all enjoy the same soaps and series. We all listen to Jazz, Hip Hop, Rock, Grunge, Metal, Soul, Reggae, House .... Our pop culture is impregnated with American pop culture (Predominantly from the USA but actually also from the Caribbean and Latin America). We are all, white and black, part of the Western world. This has a direct influence to how black people within Europe are creating an identity, and how they have been categorized within Europe.

Being ‘black’ is being Western
Black people in Europe do not really have common cultural roots, but second generations feel more related to Western black culture as it is expressed in the Americas than through the culture of their parents. Black people in the Western world have very different roots and backgrounds but have a common experience. Their black identity only makes sense within a Western world dominated by white European culture.

In fact it’s because they have become part of white European culture that they are now ‘black people’ and not Yoruba, Bakongo or Banyarundi, to name just some of the many African peoples living in Africa. This is why, according to me, the European people of African ancestry are becoming black Europeans, Afro-Europeans (or Afropeans as some label us). This is why, according to me, today there is a blog called Afro-Europe, informing the world about the African presence within Europe's culture and society.

Slavery Remembrance Day 23 August 2009

The International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition

Since 1998, UNESCO has been reminding the international community of the importance of commemorating 23 August, International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. This date not only commemorates the historic night in 1791 when the slaves of Santo Domingo rose up to break their chains and launch the insurrection that eventually led to the Haitian revolution, it also serves to pay tribute to all those who worked collectively and individually to trigger the irreversible process of the abolition of the slave trade and slavery throughout the world. This commitment and the strategies of action used that were conducted to fight the inhumane system of slavery were to have a considerable impact on the human rights movement.

Beyond the act of commemoration, this international Day aims at eliciting reflection on a tragic past that may be distant but whose repercussions continue to fuel injustice and exclusion today. This reflection on the barbarity our society is capable of unleashing with a clear conscience is all the more necessary, salutary even, as millions of men, women and children still today suffer the horrors of new forms of slavery. This is how the remembrance of past tragedies serves to enlighten us about present-day tragedies of exploitation and dehumanization.

Message from Mr Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO

Slavery Remembrance Day Festival in the International Slavery museum in Liverpool 21 to 23 August 2009 .

DIANE NASH HEADLINES SLAVERY REMEMBRANCE DAY FESTIVAL 21 – 23 August 2009. US Civil Rights activist Diane Nash launches a weekend of entertaining and thought-provoking events with a free memorial lecture on Friday 21 August 2009 at 1800 hrs, Liverpool Town Hall. See more information here

The bird in the picture is called Sankofa: This is a mythical bird that flies forwards while looking backwards with an egg (symbolising the future) in its mouth. Sankofa teaches us that we must go back to our roots in order to move forward.

See more mythical West-African Adinkra symbols here

See also a very interesting short documentary about Ghana's Cape Coast Castle here

Happy 36th Birthday Hip-Hop!

Yesterday, 36 years ago, Hip-Hop was born on 1520 Sedgwick Ave. and Cedar Park USA. But the music and the culture also made its way to Europe. Happy birthday Hip-Hop!


via: Shadow And Act.

The Netherlands returns King’s Head to Ghana.

The head of king Badu Bonsu II is officially back in Ghana. The Dutch minister of Foreign Afffairs, Maxime Verhagen, Ghanaian representative in The Netherlands Odoi-Anim and Ghanaian traditional leader Etsin Kofi II signed on 23 July in The Hague a declaration that eventually makes the head’s handover a fact. The great-great-grandson of Badu Bonsu II was also present.

Aqua Fortis

The head was at the ministry of Foreign Affairs but was only public for guests from Ghana. Badu Bonsu II killed in 1838 two Dutch emissaries at the Gold Coast and was consequently hanged en decapitated. The head was kept and brought to the Netherlands. There it was put into aqua fortis to be preserved. According to Radio Voice of Africa this was for several people in Ghana a sensitive issue.

When the Ghanaian president Kufuor visited the Netherlands last year the issue was brought to the attention. ‘Everywhere in the world people give much importance to the way there forefathers are buried. In a way that cherishes their soul. We have to be able to say goodbye to those we honored when alive. We have to know that our forefathers can rest in peace’ said minister Verhagen at the ceremony.

The minister went on, "King Badu Bonsu II lived when the Dutch were controlling the trade posts of the Cold Coast. After his dead he became a symbol of these turbulent times. Our common past includes also the disgraceful slave trade, in which our traders were involved and which they sustained. We do not ignore this shared heritage.”

Attention
In Ghana there was a lot of attention for this event. According to Radio Voice of Africa the handover ceremnoy had ben broadcasted live.

Notting Hill Carnival in London: the struggle of a community

The Notting Hill Carnival is now a showcase of London’s multicultural society, but in 1976 the Carnival turned into a race riot. See the interesting post of the history of black British people in West London, on the French blog Caraïbes et z'Antilles

In about two weeks, the streets of Notting Hill in West London, will be flooded for two days by more than one million people who come to attend the second largest street parade in the world after that of Rio de Janeiro. The Notting Hill Carnival is so immense popular that it allows the British government today to extol the virtues of its model of integration.

But its success was not obvious if you look at the early years of the Notting Hill Carnival. In the summer of 1976 racial tensions between the police and the Caribbean community sparked a riot after the arrest of two black men. The riot turned Notting hill into a battlefield.

In the compelling documentary 'The Long Hot Summer of 1976' the build up to the riot and the clash with police is told through interviews and visuals. Among the interviewed are black British filmmaker Don letts, singer Eddy Amoo and many others.

Official website Notting Hill Carnival
Read: Remembering the Notting Hill riot

The Long Hot Summer of 1976 - 1


The Long Hot Summer of 1976 - 2

Dutch commemoration of the abolition of slavery in Amsterdam

On July 1, 2009, the Dutch institute for slavery history, NiNsee, will organise for the eighth consecutive year the National Memorial of the Dutch Slavery Past. On July 1, 1863 slavery was abolished in the former Dutch colonies of Suriname and Netherlands Antilles. Thus ended a period of more than 200 years of slavery in the colonies. This part of Keti Koti (broken chains) includes the formal commemoration at the monument in the Oosterpark in Amsterdam.

This memorial has now developed into a ceremony with speeches by ministers on behalf of the government, the mayor of Amsterdam, representatives of the Ghanaian, Surinamese, Antillean and Aruban governments. The ceremony will begin at 10:45 to 12:30, from 14:30 to 18:30 there will be live performances

Keti Koti program Amsterdam (Dutch)

French black soldiers excluded in ‘whites only’ liberation of Paris

Remember the old world war II pictures of the liberation of Paris in 1944, and troops marching on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées Paris? There were no black soldiers there. They should have marched in Paris, but papers unearthed by the BBC reveal that British and American commanders ensured that the liberation of Paris on 25 August 1944 was seen as a "whites only" victory.

It’s the story Tirailleurs Senegalais (Senegalees Riflemen). The BBC's Document programme has seen evidence that black colonial soldiers - who made up around two-thirds of Free French forces - were deliberately removed from the unit that led the Allied advance into the French capital.

By the time France fell in June 1940, 17,000 of its black, mainly Tirailleurs Senegalais lay dead. Many of them were simply shot where they stood soon after surrendering to German troops who often regarded them as sub-human savages.

Their chance for revenge came in August 1944 as Allied troops prepared to retake Paris. But despite their overwhelming numbers, they were not to get it.

The leader of the Free French forces, Charles de Gaulle, made it clear that he wanted his Frenchmen to lead the liberation of Paris.

American General Frederick Morgan Allied High Command agreed, but only on one condition: De Gaulle's division must not contain any black soldiers.

Because the French couldn’t form an all white division, they filled the gaps with soldiers from parts of North Africa and the Middle East.

Leopold Sedar Senghor, who in 1960 became the first President of independent Senegal, had served in the Tirailleurs Senegalais and was a POW during WWII. He wrote the poem "Slam par Manu", which is cited in video below



The Tirailleurs Senegalais also occupied the German Rhineland after World war I. Their mixed German children, known as the Rhineland children, fell victim to the Nazi regime.

The story of the Tirailleurs Senegalais is a constant reminder that black history is everywhere.

Paris liberation made 'whites only'
The tirailleursafricains blog

German street renamed after poetess May Ayim

A Berlin street is renamed after the internationally renowned Afro-German poetess, educationist and inhabitant of Kreuzberg, May Ayim (1960-1996). Ayim fought against ongoing racism in Germany and was active in the women’s movement, she continously highlighted Germany’s forgotten colonial past. “This renaming also challenges people to deal with the close connection between colonialism and racism”, says Luise Steinwachs of Tanzania Network (TNW). “The renaming of Gröbenufer into May-Ayim-Ufer will not make the topic of colonialism disappear from the map”, emphasizes Joshua Kwesi Aikins from the Black organisation ISD, “but rather it provides a change of perspective in remembrance.”

Read the full story on Der Schwarze blog: Berlin-Kreuzberg, re-naming of street in May-Ayim-Ufer

French commemoration of the abolition of slavery on May 10 2009

In France 'la marche de la Mémoire' (the march of memory) will take place in Marseille on May 10th around 13:30.

The march is organised by PACA, an association for the collective memory of slavery. PACA is an association which brings individuals and corporations together seeking to convey the history of slave trade, slavery and its abolition.

France is the first major Western country to officially commemorate its slavery abolition. President Chirac set the day of May 10th for commemorating the memory of slavery and its abolition.

France also became the first major Western country to adopt legislation recognizing the slave trade as a "crime against humanity" when the French Parliament passed the Taubira Act on 10 May 2001. The law was named afther the French politician Christiane Taubira.

On 4 February 1794, the First Republic (Convention) voted for the abolition of slavery in all French colonies. The abolition decree stated that "the Convention declares the slavery of the Blacks abolished in all the colonies; consequently, all men, irrespective of colour, living in the colonies are French citizens and will enjoy all the rights provided by the Constitution."

Official website of the French ‘Comité pour la Mémoire de l’Esclavage’

Being black in Germany

Being black in Germany. If you always wanted to know what it’s like being a black German person living in Germany, then this is a video you must see. In the video writer and cross-cultural scholar Nguvi Kahiha explains the full spectrum of the black diaspora in Germany. He looks at the historical influx of blacks, which started over 400 years ago and shifts focus to the current Afro-German culture and past African-American presence in Germany, which includes W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington and Colin Powell. Nguvi Kahiha has a black African father and a white German mother

Some quotes:

“You are German or you are not. And since your black your not German anyway.”

“Afro-German are German born blacks with one parent African-American or African decent and another parent German decent. And blacks who have both black parent but are born into the German culture.”

“Historically, Afro-German where socially and culturally disconnected from the German society.”

Watch: Being Black in Germany

Black History Month in Europe?

Why do black communities in Europe celebrate Black History Month? For one, it's an African-American thing. And two, European black communities are to divers to call them 'a black community'. Black history is often the history of the country of origin. There is no shared black history, yet.

Not everyone is happy with the Black History Month. In a forum discussion about, ‘do real Africans celebrate black history month’, the answers ranged from “I am not black but African” to “we are all black” . And actor Morgan Freeman feels BHM should be cancelled at once. In an in interview he called it 'ridiculous'.

But Black History Month in Europe is celebrated because it's necessary. An overview.

UK

In the UK black History Month is celebrated in October. In 2008 the current issues where HIV and positive role models. The Britons also opened (in 2008) with a magnificent publication, ‘The Official Guide to Black History Month’. A publication which highlights black history in the UK. BHM is celebrated in many cities.

Germany

In Germany BHM is celebrated in February. It’s organised in several cities. One of the cities is Hamburg, where was initiated twelve years ago by an African-American. In Hamburg BHM is more a black cultural event, with topics ranging from Zimbabwe to Afro-German diversity.

The German government has also launched a BHM program.


Netherlands

Although it has been organised occasionally, the Netherlands has no BHM tradition. In 2008 the association of students of African heritage organised the black history month for the first time. For 2009 the theme is ‘ Pride’. For the two meeting there is ancient black history from Egypt and Ethiopia, and The role of Black Intellectuals in the New World Order.

France

Black communities in France don't celebrate Black History Month, ‘Mois de l’Histoire Noire’, yet.

Meet the Afro-Turks

Afro-Turks are Turkish people who are the descendants of slaves from Africa. They where brought into Turkey during the Ottoman Empire or Turkish Empire (1299–1923) . Afro-Turkish writer Mustafa Olpak (56) gives the "Afro-Turks" a voice. "I am the first person who dares to say that my grandparents were slaves" In his book Olpak discusses how his African grandfather was purchased as a household slave by an Turkish family, and later moved to Istanbul after the Turkish Revolution in 1922.

Mustafa Olpak is the initiator of the African Organization for Solidarity and Cooperation, the organization has succeeded in organizing the old sacrificial feast of Afro-Turks, the Dana Bayrami, revitalization . That party had its peak between 1880 and 1920

Gülay Kayacan, who works for the History Foundation, an institute that researches and publishes articles on Turkish history, says that some of the Afro-Turks are descendents of slaves who used to work on farms or in houses. Slaves working in agriculture were concentrated in areas where cotton production was high. It is for this reason that most Afro-Turks today live on the Aegean coast and some in the Mediterranean region.

“Some 10,000 slaves, black and white, were brought into the Ottoman Empire every year. During the constitutional monarchy period (1876-1878), slavery was abolished and former slaves settled in areas where they used to work. Some of them were even given land by the government,” Kayacan says.

Some famous Afro-Turks

Hadi Türkmen, the former Turkish football federation manager






Tuğçe Güder a Turkish model who was chosen as the Best Model of the World - an international annual competition - in 2005

Read:
Afro-Turk

Danny Glover's film 'The Revolution' will go on!

Danny Glover wants to make a film about the Haitian rebel leader Toussaint L’Ouverture, but he had trouble financing the film. Despite the set-backs, Glover confirmed that Toussaint is going ahead – and filming will begin this month

In an interview Glover said he was angry with Hollywood for refusing to put money behind the film. He said: ‘Producers told me: “it’s a great project but where are the white heroes?'

The film already has a glittering cast-list including Angela Bassett and Wesley Snipes. Don Cheadle plays Toussaint himself, while British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor and rapper Mos Def also features
Read:
The Revolution Will Be Televised
WILL DANNY GLOVER'S TOUSSAINT FILM EVER HAPPEN?
louverture films

The first black news anchors in Europe

When Harry Roselmack started reading the news for a big televison station in France it seemed the face of Europe was changing. But since Obama’s victory black Europe is nail biting over its progress over the years. Although Black European news anchors are the visible sign of progress, some stories of the first black news readers show that change doesn’t come easy.

France

Harry Roselmack became the first black news anchor on France's TF1 2007, the largest privately owned television station in Europe. But his appointment was only temporarily, he was a just a sit in news anchor Patrick Poivre d'Arvor who to long six-week vacation. Roselmack’s appointment had everything to do with the France riots in 2005. He saw himself as a kind of beneficiary of that unrest. Roselmack was born in France, but is from Martinique descent.

But why did it took black France so long to get there? In an interview Roselmack sketches the French black society before he became news anchor: "Before 2000, two Black people would cross the street and not speak to each other, because we didn't see ourselves as Black, but French." To those who might not have felt this way before, skin color now seems to make a difference

Audrey Pulvar is the first black news anchor in France. She worked for Antilles television in Martinique before she was hired in 2004 to become the first Black presenter of the main evening news on a national French TV station. The difference with Roselmack is that he anchored the news for a far more bigger audience.

But for Pulvar the beginning was not easy. When she first came to France in 2000, looking for a TV job, she was told point-blank that "the French public is not ready" for a nonwhite face to present the news. Even more junior on-camera jobs were off limits; "I already have a black and I don't need another one," one television executive told her. In the interview Pulvar stated: "I had to prove myself continually, more than any White in a similar situation." Pulvar was born in Martinique.

United Kingdom

Barbara Blake Hannah was the first black news Anchor on British TV in 1968. Her TV presence was short, but her story reveals much of the working climate in those days. About her experience she wrote: ‘After nine months my contract was terminated and I was told that the producers were under pressure from viewers who called in daily to say, "Get that n****r off our screens." My producer tried to break it to me gently, but it still hurt, especially when I was replaced by an Australian girl.’ Blake was born in Jamaica.


Trevor McDonald became the first male black news anchor in the UK on ITN. He began reporting in 1973, and in 1989 he became one of the presenters of News at 5.40 on ITV. He ended his career in 2008. McDonald won more awards than any other British broadcaster, and was knighted to Sir in 1999. McDonald is born in Trinidad.

Moira Stuart was the second black British female newsreader in the UK. Since 1981, she has presented virtually every news bulletin the BBC devised. She was voted Best Newscaster of the Year in 1988 by the TV and Radio Industries Club Awards. In 2007 she quitted after it became clear that her age was becoming a problem. Steward was born in London to African-Caribbean parents.

Netherlands

Noraly Beyer is seen as the first black news anchor in the Netherlands. For 23 years from 1985 to 2008 she presented the news for the NOS, the Dutch BBC. Beyer is a strong advocate of black presence in the media and theatre. Beyer was born on the Dutch Antilles to Surinam parents.

Eugenie Herlaar is officially the first black newsreader in the Netherlands. Herlaar was a news reporter from 1965 to 1969. In 1975 she became the first black anchorwoman in the Netherlands to present the evening news. And she also was the first female on the news. In an interview Herlaar says that she never was aware of the fact that she was the first non-white presenting the news. Herlaar presented the news only in 1975, the year that the former colony Suriname became independent. Herlaar was born on the Dutch Antilles.

Germany

Germany has no black new anchors, but it does have a ‘minority’ anchor. In 2007 Dunya Hayali became the first 'minority' co-anchorwoman for Germany's prime time news program 'Heute-journal'. Haili has Iraqi parents. Hayali's appointment came after the so-called ‘integration summit’ which was chaired by the German leader Angela Merkel. Merkel wanted to avoid the ethnic friction experienced in Britain and France.

Black television journalists in Germany are rare. About one of the journalists The Times wrote a revealing story: 'The most high-profile black journalist in television – virtually the only one in front of a camera – is Cherno Jobatey, a half-Ghanian presenter of the ZDF breakfast programme. For years he wore white trainers under his suit so that viewers could refer to him as the “reporter in gym shoes” rather than the “black reporter”. Now he has taken to wearing leather shoes – a sign of growing social acceptance.'

The first!

The first black European news anchor is Eugenie Herlaar from the Netherlands. But the three old news veterans Trevor McDonald, Moira Stuart and Noraly Beyer who stopped reading the news where the most visible news readers.

Read:
The news from Paris: there are only three TV anchors who are 'coloring' the French airwaves
For French Blacks, a Face on TV News Is Only a Start
It wasn't Trevor or Moira - I was the first black British TV presenter
Newsreader leads way for minorities (Germany)

(This post was updated on 11/9/2010, Barbara Blake Hannah was added as the first black news Anchor on British TV)

Remembering Afro-German poet May Ayim

May Ayim (3 May 1960 in Hamburg — 9 August 1996 in Berlin) original name Sylvia Opitz was an Afro-German poet, educator, and activist. She studied Psychology and Education and wrote the book Showing Our Colors, Afro-German Women Speak Out. At this time she also co-founded the Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland (Initiative of Black People in Germany). After spending sometime without sleep or proper meals preparing for Black History Month in 1996, she suffered a mental and physical collapse. She was 36 when she met her death after jumping from the thirteenth floor of a Berlin building.
The documentary Hope in My Heart: The May Ayim Story