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...

 Today’s blog entry is culled from my Africana scrap album. This is about a series of poems that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote about slavery. I came across  an EBay list of an original copy of the poems in an Ebay auction several years ago. It was listed on EBay for $1, 900. Details of the book are as follows: Author: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Title of the Book: Poems On Slavery Publisher: John Owens Place of Publication: Cambridge Date: 1842 Longfellow was criticized for writing a series of poems s out Slavery. His response was that he felt it was a shame to deal with selling human beings. You can read the poems on slavery for free at Project Gutenberg <www.gutenberg.org> The 1842 poems on slavery includes: The Good Part: That Shall Not be taken Away The Quadroon Girl The  Slave in the Dismal Swamp; The Slave Singing at Midnight; The Warning; The Witnesses; To William E. Channing. You can also read the poems online at Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : a Maine Histor...

 This blog will explore traditional names in Ghana, West Africa. . Both the Akan-speaking peoples and some Ewe tribes have  similar naming patterns.  Traditionally among the Akans, names are assigned to children , depending on the day they were born, and their gender. Only male and female genders are recognized.  If the child is baptized as a Christian, he or she will be given a Christian name. Catholics usually add a confirmation name. Finally, the child will add the last or surname to the mix.. For example Kofi David Amoabeng. Or Kofi Samuel David AMOABENG, if the child has been confirmed as a Catholic.  With this protocol in mind, one can easily categorize traditional Akan names as follows: Day of Birth                                 Gender                                         ...

 Nana Amponsah: “ We call upon our ancestors  long gone-Awo Amma OboAtaa, Nana Kofi Asare, Nana Ampem Darkoh, Awo Abena Obiyaa, and Awo Adwoa Oforiwaa- to protect this child.” Audience: “Wie, wie, wie”   Nana Amponsah: “ Let him be strong and healthy and wise and wealthy. “ Audience: “ Wie, wie, wie “ Nana Amponsah: “ Let all  his enemies perish. Let all his enemies be ashamed. Let all his enemies suffer.” Audience: “ Wie, wie, wie “ Nana Amponsah: Grant him a long life of peace, prosperity, and plenty.” Audience: “ Wie, wie, wie “ After each utterance, Nana Amponsah poured the schnapps unto the floor slowly, methodically, spiritually, and reverently until the glass was completely empty. The audience  responded in unison with: “ Thank you, Nana Kofi Amponsah, for your gracious and eloquent prayer.”          Bibliography: For further information about Libation, please consult the following books. NEHUSI, Kimani SK:  Libation: An Afri...

 Below is an example of a libation, culled from my  complete, yet-to-published multicultural literary fiction, entitled THE DISTRICT COMMISSIONER. Set in colonial Gold Coast of West Africa, the novel spans the years from the 1940s to the post independent Ghana of the 1960s. The story chronicles the life of Kwame Nyame,  the protagonist ,from his scandalous birth and early life among illiterate  friends and family to his dream of earning a Ph.D.in the United States. I am seeking literary agent representation for this novel, as well as a second novel about slavery in progress, entitled: Back To The Ancestral Motherland. The context for the libation pertains to a family event. One of the characters, an erudite elderly leader and patriarch Nana Kofi Amponsah has been summoned to pour libation before performing an “ outdooring”  ceremony for a  child born in the family.  Filling a glass with imported schnapps, Nana Kofi Amponsah concluded the outdooring cer...