Ancestors
George Houser: US ally of African liberation struggles
An ally of a who’s who of revolutionaries like Patrice Lumumba, Amilcar Cabral, Oliver Tambo, and Kenneth Kaunda.
A homage to historian Terence Ranger
In Terence Ranger, politics and history, nationalism and scholarship, intersected in ways rarely seen. Zimbabwe and Africa, will forever be in his debt.
The Latin American Idol
How a Mexican show helped to construct a patchy and ill-defined “Latin American” identity.
Ali Mazrui and Me
A fateful meeting with Mazrui, the famed Kenyan historian and broadcaster.
The Historic Legacy of Ivor Wilks
A historian of Ghana, Ivor Wilks was crucial to the founding of African history as an academic discipline in the late 1950s and to its development over subsequent decades.
When Maya Angelou lived in Africa
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, a group of African Americans moved to Ghana and redefined their relationships to citizenship in the U.S. and their African identities.
The Komla Dumor I Knew
A contemporary of the late BBC journalist and newsreader remembers how their paths cross and Komla Dumor's lasting legacy.
Boss Player
The Newscaster Komla Dumor loved sports, basketball (he had skills), and, above all, the beautiful game. He especially loved his Ghana's Black Stars.
Zim Ngqawana
Zim Ngqawana (b. 1959), a prominent figure in the second generation of South African jazz musicians, passed away on Monday.
His father named him for Duke Ellington
Late jazz musician Duke Ngcukana, has been described as “a trumpet player extraordinaire," and "a fine person.”
Billy Bang
Bang, was a free jazz violinist and composer, whose music reflected on his involvement as an American conscript in the Vietnam War.
Against the Values of the Market
Johnny Issel, who has died at age 68, was a prominent activist for leftist social movements in 1980s South Africa.