My Africana Blog

 In the West, especially in the USA,  Africa is always associated with bad things: famines severe droughts, pogroms, coup d’etas, dictatorships, authoritarianism, diseases , and even cannibalism. People always refer to Africa as the “ The Dark Continent” - thanks to Joseph Conrad. People  in the West hardly think that Africans live long and productive lives; that some of them are in fact SUPERCENTENARIANS. The Guinness Book Records, has never included any longevity records from Africa. To be fair, Wikipedia has a list of centenarians across the globe on their website, the list includes two Africans. Osman Nuhu Sharubutu of Ghana, a Moslem cleric is still alive at the age of 103 years. A Nigerian chartered accountant. a Mr Akintola Williams Is also listed . When Sister  Andre, a  French nun died   at the age of 118 this year, she was described   As the world’s SUPERCENTENARIAN. She was then  the longevity  record holder.  The dictionary d...

 This blog is about an outmoded custom in the village Kasa in Ghana. My grandmother told me about this strange custom.   In modern Ghana. and across the world, families usually post obituary notices in newspapers, in online websites  devoted to death culture. When my cousin Mrs Esther Akoto Boateng, affectionately referred to in our family as Auntie Serwaa passed at Abetifi- Kwahu, a few years ago, I received an ornate obituary brochure from the family at home.   My grandma told me of a peculiar custom. A little known custom or ancient practice about how to break the news of the death of a family member to a child in the family. Telling a child about the passing of a relative can be tricky and traumatic I guess we are probably thinking about the psychological effect of such a traumatic event in a traditional  African household. In the village, people believe that a dead family member can reck havoc to the psyche of a child. And so a simple way of announcing...

 Today’s blog has been culled from my Africana scrap album. It is  a short history of a school for Black children in the City of Paterson, New Jersey, which operated from 1855 to 1873. In January 1855, a colored school was established, Miss Eliza M. Hasted being the first Principal- a position she retained for nearly twenty years, or until the school was disbanded. The sessions were held for a few months in the Godwin Street ( colored) M.E. Church; then in the Goetschius schoolhouse in Division street, when the East Ward school vacated those premises. In September, 1857, it was removed to Clinton street schoolhouse. The location was so remote as to create much complaint from the parents of the children, and with good reason.  At length, in 1873, the Board of Education bought for $4,000, four lots in Godwin street, south side, between Washington and Bridge, for a new edifice. But December 27, 1872, the Board had voted that the colored children would attend the schools in t...