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Born in England, on August 15th, 1875, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was an Afro-British composer, conductor and political activist.
With numerous musicians on the British side of his family they recognized his innate ability and came together to support his music education, enrolling him in elite music school. Coleridge-Taylor’s musical talent was quickly recognized by the British musical elite.
His Sierra Leoneon 🇸🇱 father, a doctor who was unable to practice in England, was forced to move back to West Africa soon after he was born, but Coleridge-Taylor’s interest in his heritage and roots would continue to shape his personal and professional endeavors.
Coleridge-Taylor participated as the youngest delegate at the 1900 First Pan-African Conference held in London, and met leading Americans through this connections, including poet Paul Laurence Dunbar and scholar and activist W.E.B. Du Bois.
In 1902 a group of African-American music lovers formed the Coleridge-Taylor Society to perform and promote his music in America, and eventually brought Coleridge-Taylor over for three successful tours—in 1904, 1906, and 1910.
Look at that international Black excellence ✊🏾
Let me know in the comments— before you watched this video— had you heard of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor?
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🎥: Babatunde Hip Hopera
The feeling of getting to see your child fully realize their professional dreams is unmatched! 🙌🏾 🇧🇷
The story of young football player Endrick Felipe Moreira de Sousa, known as Endrick Felipe and his father Douglas de Sousa Silva Ramos is a great example of that.
Born on July 21, 2006, Endrick Felipe Moreira began playing football at the age of four, and his father used to share his football videos on YouTube in order to draw the attention of big wigs at the Brazilian sports clubs.
A natural-born talent, the young forward quickly got himself on the radar of the right clubs, but could not reach a deal as they were willing to offer a monthly allowance of only $25 to assist in the family’s move south.
It was at that stage, when Endrick was only 11, that rivals Palmeiras stepped up and sealed his signing.
Palmeiras was able to cover rent for the family to relocate, but there was the small matter of making money to cover daily expenses.
After getting his son to the practice ground, Douglas would rush to sell hot coffee at the Barra Funda Metro station in São Paulo.
Months later, someone from Palmeiras spotted him at the station and so he was offered a job at the club as a janitor.
From dribbling the ball in the streets of Valparaíso in Brazil to becoming the first player in Brazilian history to play in the Under-15, Under-17 and Under-20, all in the same year—16 year old Endrick is already being touted as the “next Pele” and “the most hyped since Neymar Junior.”
The hard work, patience and perseverance of Endrick’s mother and father paid off as he recently turned pro and became the youngest player ever to appear for Brazilian football team Palmeiras.
Endrick’s deal with Palmeira’s ends at age 18 when he’ll be old enough to join the European leagues (FIFA).
His contract is until June 2025, and contains a release clause worth €60 million. He’s already being scouted by Chelsea, Real Madrid and Man Utd.
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Lizzo covers the November issue of Vanity Fair
In conversation with Lisa Robinson, Lizzo discusses her views on a variety of topics, from women's rights to her classical music training to finding her voice within her own music.
Lizzo covers the November issue of
In conversation with Lisa Robinson, Lizzo discusses her views on a variety of topics, from women's rights to her classical music training to finding her voice within her own music.
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Thousands of people in the United States identify as Black-Indigenous or Afro-Indigenous. The histories of Black and Indigenous peoples in the US are interwoven yet the relationship is often ignored and rarely taught.
The Afro-Indigenous community often faces issues like colorism and the erasure of their identities.
Afro-Indigenous Activist Kara Roselle Smith educates her followers on both aspects of her identity as a member of the Chappaquiddick Wampanoag of the Wampanoag Nation, a people who are from an island now well known as Martha’s Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts.
Kara’s mom, Alma Gordon, is African-American and Indigenous, while Smith’s father is African-American. Kara’s mom, Alma, who had previously served as the tribal historian, started getting more involved in the tribe in the mid to early 2010s before starting her role as the Sonksq (the word for a woman sachem, or chief) of the Chappaquiddick tribe.
Editor’s note: This video first appeared on Kara’s TikTok in 2021, in October 2022 Kara shared that her mother Alma, lost her fight to a progressive neurodegenerative disorder called Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) on September 29th, 2022. May she rest in peace.
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Here’s a few facts you should know about 🇱🇸
Celebrated on October 4th every year Lesotho Independence Day is the day this southern African nation became a sovereign state from the British in 1966.
🎥: YouTube Hauwa Aguillard
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Today’s beautiful lesson is via From the soil of Son music, developed in the east of Cuba, as far back as the 1900s, from the smallest towns birthed a phenomenon that brought the world to life.
The seeds of African influenced the style of call and response, music, and dance styles of Rumba, Mambo, Bolero, and Conga, watered by jazz, the Spanish guitar, under the power of the African drum. Even though laws banned and suppressed African-styled music, still grew through pesticides of politics.
Add the sunshine of the horn, the cowbell… all in the garden of the 1960s New York nightlife where Cuban pioneers alongside Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Panamanians, Colombians, and Venezuelans birthed what we know and love today as Salsa.
From the heart of Afro-Cuba to be celebrated, loved, and danced to by everybody.
This beautiful video is courtesy of and .j.smileyofficial
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These color picnics are so creative! Loving this family edition out of South Africa 🇿🇦What color are you repping and what dish are you bringing? ❤️💙💜💛💚🤎🧡🎥: across social media for African films, culture, education and more!
What is this film called?
Give us your ideas in the comments 👇🏾
📸: 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks | Spike Lee
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Airing on The Africa Channel, “SA INC” is a series that celebrates and highlights innovation and acheivement in South Africa 🇿🇦
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Are you ready for Rihanna at the Superbowl? Over the weekend, the pop icon and new mommy announced that she will be taking center stage during the half-time show for Superbowl LVII in 2023.
What song are you ready to see her perform?
Let us know in the comments!
: “Trapped in Amber,” is a window into the life of one of the greatest guitarists of all time.
Despite his mainstream career only spanning four years, he is one of the most celebrated musicians of the 20th century. With exclusive interviews from some of the people lucky enough to work alongside Jimi, take a look at how the legendary guitarist lived his life in the high powered world of 60’s Rock ‘n’ Roll.�
Airing this Saturday on The Africa Channel.
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Happy Independence Day Mali 🇲🇱
Here are some facts you should know!
1. Mali is the biggest country in West Africa, roughly twice the size of Texas, the second largest state in America.
2. The official language of Mali is French but about 80% of people in Mali speak Bambara and numerous other African languages.
🎥: @/thereal.deee
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Searching for a mid-week escape?
Take a tour of the Republic Bar 🇬🇭
Each episode of “TOP” takes us to the hot spots in an African country, while diving into its history and thriving industries today. When you can’t actually hop on a plane, this show is the perfect way to explore.
Watch it now on The Africa Channel.
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Meet Princess Isis Lang, the 20 year-old musical theater major and the creator of “Cardinal Divas,” University of Southern California’s first-ever majorette team.
Lang was a majorette at her Chicago high school and didn’t want to let go of dance when she left home for college.
Majorettes are an important part of HBCU culture. Beginning in the 1960s, high schools and colleges began integrating the young women into their marching bands.
In pop-culture, A Different World and Spike Lee’s School Daze showed examples of HBCU majorette culture, with Beyoncé’s “HOMECOMING” concert paying tribute to the Southern youthful dance tradition.
A clip of the Cardinals debut performance has garnered over 3 million views on Twitter, sparking the debate on wether certain cultural experiences should be shared outside of HBCU campuses.
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Hollywood loves the women warriors from the fictional Wakanda, guarded by the Dora Milaje who were inspired by the real women whose story is depicted in Viola Davis’s which premieres this weekend and is about the Agoji warriors or Mino as they’re called in their language and dubbed “Dahomey Amazons” by the French in the 18th century.
Dahomey’s famous women soldiers were the elite troops in the kingdom’s army, in what is now the Republic of Benin🇧🇯
Founded in the early seventeenth century, the Kingdom of Dahomey began to spread from the city of Abomey during the reign of King Houegbadja (1645-1685), known as the third King King of Dahomey.
King Houegbadja, succeeded in imposing his authority on the region’s various clans and chiefdoms. He introduced Dahomey’s major operational principles – a military kingdom, always victorious, disciplined and based on centralized political authority.
One of the most powerful kingdoms in West Africa, as the kingdom continued to expand, one of the following rulers, King Ghezo (1818-1858) decided to increase the size of his female army in order to offset the loss of male soldiers who were captured and enslaved by the Dahomey’s rivals, the more powerful Oyo Empire.
This is where the Dahomey women hunters rose in the military ranks to become fighters. They went through intense training. One of their goals, often expressed in their songs, was to outshine men in every respect. Becoming a Mino was an avenue for many women to obtain what they didn’t have previously: wealth, status, and influence.
The Dahomey participated in the TAST, trading prisoners, which it captured during wars and raids or exacted from tributaries. The trade was so profitable that Dahomey amassed considerable wealth within a few decades and consolidated its status as a regional military and political power.
In the nineteenth century, as slavery was being abolished, Europe began the race to colonize Africa. Their goal was to seize the African countries’ immense natural resources.
There were two Franco-Dahomean wars, which the Mino fought fiercely and which ended in 1894 with France taking over.
🎥: .dee
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