On the first of July this year the Netherlands are commemorating the 150th anniversary of the abolishment of slavery in their former colonies Suriname and their dependencies: the Dutch Antilles. The mayor of Amsterdam considered it a good time for a celebration. So he decided to think big and invited the US First Lady Michelle Obama, […]
Not today’s music break. No matter how big your star or fan-base is in Zimbabwe, Gabon or francophone Europe, if you intend to rap about slavery while eating an ice cream at Cape Town’s Waterfront, you’re making a fool of yourself. Or is there a reference to Signal Hill being a historic slave cemetery we […]
What is it with these “facelifts” that tend to uncover the dirty sinews of yesteryear? Back in Cape Town, South Africa, as the “Mother City” attempted to cover up all its dirty divisions in preparation for meeting the requirements of the FIFA overlords, out came slave burial sites. Now, in Rio, as the city begins a […]
I really like this series of photographs by University of Virginia African history and history of photography professor (and photographer), John Edwin Mason, on the Cape Town New Year’s Carnival, a series of marches, competitions and celebrations that incorporates Christmas Choirs, “Malay” Choirs and klopse (known to some participants as “Coons” or minstrels).
