Thomas Fuller 1710-1790

Was an African,shipped to America as a slave in 1724. He had remarkable powers,of calculation, and later in his life was discovered by antislavery campaigners who used him as a demonstration that blacks are not mentally 

inferior to whites.

The place of his birth appears to have been between present day Liberia and Benin.Known as negro Tom, he was described as a very black man he lived in Virginia after being brought to the United States as a slave.Later in life he was 

property of Elixabeth Coxe Alexandria.

He was known as the Virginia Calculator,was stolen from his native Africa at the age of  fourteen and sold to a planter. When Thomas was about seventy two gentlemen, from Pennsylvania,William & Samuel Coates, men of  probity and 

respectable powers in arithmetic sent for him and had their curiosity sufficiently 

gratified by the answers which he gave to the following questions: First,Upon being asked how many seconds there were in a year and a half,he answered in 

about two minutes, 47 304 000. Second: On being asked how many seconds a man has lived who is 70 years old, 17 days and 12 hours old, he answered in a minute 

and half 2 210 500 800. One of the gentlemen who employed himself  with his pen

in making these calculations told him he was wrong,and the sum was not so great as he said- upon which the old man hastily replied: stop,master, you fotget the leap year. On adding the amount of the seconds of the leap years the amount of the whole in both their sums agreed exactly.

Another question was asked and satisfactorily answered. Before two other gentlemen he gave the amount of nine figures multiplied by nine... Thomas 

died at the age of 80 years old, having never learned to read or write,in spite 

of his extraoridinary power of calculation.

He did not learn to calculate while in the United States.

Yaa Asantewaa (1800s-October 17,1921)

The Queen Mother of  Ejisu in the Ashanti Enpire - now part of modern day Ghana,appointed by her brother Nana Akwasi  Afrane Opese,the Edesuhene,or ruler,of Edwesu.In 1900 she led the Ashanti war known as the War of The Golden Stool,also known as the Yaa Asantewaa war,against British colonialism.

Born in Besease,in southern Ghana,Yaa was the older of two children.Her brother,Afrane Panin, became the chief of Edweso,a nearby community.After a childhood without incident,she cultivated crops on the land around Boankra.She entered a polygamous marriage with a man from Kumasi,with whom she had a daughter.

During her brother's reign she saw the Ashanti confederacy go through go through a series of events that threatened its future,including civil war from 1883-1888.When Yaa brother died in 1894,Yaa used her right as Queen Mother to nominate her own grandson as Ejisuhene.When the British exiled him to the Seychelles in 1896,along with the King Ashante Prempeh I and other members od the Ashante government,Yaa became regent of the Ejisu-juaben district.After the deporation of Prempehi I,British governor-general of the Gold Coast,Frederick Hodgson,demanded the Golden Stool,the symbol of the Ashante nation.This request led to a secret meeting of the remaining members of the Ashanti government at Kumasi,to discuss how secure the return of their king.There was a disagreement among those present on how to go about this.Yaa,who was present at this meeting,stood and addressed the members of the council with thse now-famous words.

Yaa was chosen by a number of regional AshantiKings to be the war-leader of the Ashanti fighting force.This is the first and only example for a woman to be given that role in the Ashanti history.The Ashanti history.The Ashanti-British "War of the Golden Stool" was led by Queen Mother Nana Asantewaa with an army 5,000.

Beginning in March 1900,the rebellion laid siege to the fort at Kumasi where the British had sought refuge.The fort stands today as the Kumasi Fort-and Military Museum.After several months,the Gold Coast governor eventually sent a force of 1,400 to quell the rebellion.During the fighting,Queen Yaa Asantewaa and fifteen of her closets advisers were captured,and they,too, were sent into exile to the Seychelles.The rebellion represented the final war in the Anglo-Asante series of wars that lasted throughout the 19th century.On January 1,1902 the British fully seized the land that the Asante army had been defending from them for almost a century,and the Asante empire was made a protectorate of the British crown.

Yaa died in exile in the Seychelles.Three years after her death,on December 27,1924,Prempeh I and the other remaining members of the exiled Asante court were allowed to return to Asante.Prempeh I mAde sure the remains of Yaa and the other exiled Asantes were returned for a proper royal burial.Yaa dream for an Asante free of British rule was realized on March 6,1957,when the Asante protectorate gained independence as part of Ghana.Ghana was the first African nation in Sub-Saharan to achieve this feat.

"Jomo-Kenyatta"(1894-August 22,1978)

Elected in 1963 and named president in 1964,Jomo was the first president of Kenya and is still today often referred to as mzee (the father of the nation).


He was born under the name Kamau to Kikuyu parents in the town of Gatundu,Kiambu district around 1894 (the exact date of his his birth is unknown).His parents died while he was young,and he then moved to Muthiga to live with his granddaddy.Where he enrolled in the Church of Scotland's Thogoto mission school,convertted to Christianity,and was baptized as Johnstone. 


Jomo left Thogoto in 1922 and became a clerk and watermeter reader with the Municipal Court of Nairobi.He became involved with the Kikuyu Central Association (KCA) IN 1925 and resigned from government post that same year.In 1928 Jomo became secretary general of the KCA and editor of its vernacular Kikuyu newspaper,muquithania (The Reconciler).


Appointed as an emissary to England by the KCA,made presentations to the Colonial Office in England in 1929 and 1930.He was sent to London a second time in 1931,where he stayed until 1946.While in Europe,Jomo studied anthropology at the London School of Economics,gave public lectures,wrote to newspapers,traveled across Europe and participated in the Pan-African Congress.In 1938 he wrote a book on the Kikuyu people entitled Facing Mount Kenya.It is thought that here changed his name from Johnstone to Jomo,as the publisher thought the name Jomo would attract a wider readership within England.


On his return to Kenya in 1946,Jomo became president of the Kenya African Union.(KAU).There was little evidence that he was involved,Kenya and ninety-seven other KAU leaders were arrested in 1952 and put on trial for the murder of chief Waruhiu Kungu and for managing the Mau Mau Rebellion.Jomo was sentenced to seven years and indefinite restriction thereafter.


Jomo was released in 1961 after national and international protests.He then joined KANU (Kenya African National Union) and soon became president.In the 1963 general elections which brought Kenya into independence,KANU won the majority of seats in the new national assembly and the following year(1964) Jomo was named president.Jomo urged reconcillation among the various Kenyan political factions and devised the national slogan,Harambbee ( literally "pull-together).


Jomo established agencies that offered assistance to indigenous Kenyans,granted former settler farms to squatters an ex-Mau Mau members, abolished British colonial laws which allowed racial discrimination,and promoted educational reforms.He expanded presidential powers and his administration was marred by corruption accusations,his presidency is widely respected for its many accomplishments and for the stability and peace which Jomo ensured.


He died in Mombasa.Today Kenyans honor him with a national holiday.






 

"John Ezzidio" (1810-October 1872)

Was a freed slave from Nigeria who became a successful businessman and politician in Sierra Leone.Rescued from a slave ship headed for Brazil,he was apprenticed to a French shopkeeper and taught himself to read and write.John eventually rose to the position of may of Freetown and later became a member of the colonial governor's Legislative Council.John a nupe from is now Niger State,was kipnapped by slaves when he was young and brought to and area populated by the Yoruba.In 1827,he was sold to white slave traders,who put him on board a ship bound for Brazil.The was ship was intercepted by the Royal Navy,and John and the other 54 slaves who were were still alive were landed in Freetown,Sierra Leone in October 1827.John became the apprentice of a French shopkeeper named Beyaust named his apprentice "Isadore." The name was written down as "Ezzido," and eventually morphed into "Ezzidio." After the death of the Frenchman,He was hired by an English firm.John managed a European-owned shop and then used the money he saved to start his own trading firm.In 1841,John purchased property for $100.He visited England the next year,making import deals with companies based there;by importing directly,he eliminated the need for middle men.Goods that were sent to his George Street property,at a total value of between $300 & $400 per year,included clothing such as suits and boots,foodstuffs such as ham,cookies,tea,and fortified wines (port and sherry).In 1844,William Fergusson,Governor of Sierra Leone,appointed him to position of alderman,and in 1845 John became Mayor of Freetown.In 1862,Governor Samuel Wensley Blackhall spilt the Governor's Council into two parts,an Executive and a Legislative Council;the latter allowed representation from,among others,the colony's merchants.The Mercantile Association,in a vote consisting of twenty-four Africans,fourteen Europeans,and one Caribbean merchant,elected John to represent them on this body.While on the council,he was noted for his fairness and unobtrusiveness.John described himself as an "oracle"of the people;some people,meanwhile,nicknamed him "dancing bear"due to his energy.John joined the Wesleyan Church in 1835.He became a lay preacher in 1842 and also ran a Sunday school.John is recorded to have made the largest donation at an 1864 church celebration.In 1864,at his request,a white superintendent was sent to supervise the Wesleyan mission.This superintendent,Benjamin Trebaskis,was a Nonconformist,strongly sectarian,and opposed to the interdenominational cooperation John and others in the church had previously supported.Benjamin feuded with John over church policy until the latter's death in October 1872.

"Rev.John Chilembwe"(1871-February 3,1915)

The great hero and martyr of Malawi (formerly Nyasaland),is a person of

mythic proportions in his homeland because he was the first African with a sense of Malawian nationalism.After founding one of the earliest independent Christian denominations in Africa,he led a dramatic and violent uprising colonialism.
Around 1880,John became a pupil at the Church of Scotland mission in Blantyre,but he was converted by Joseph Booth,a British Baptist missionary,and became his assistant from 1892-1895.Joseph worked for a number of churches and had no denominational loyalty;he taught a radical equality that resonated with John's own sense of black pride.In 1897,Joseph took John to the United States,where a Baptist church sponsored him through Virginia Theological College.Here he seems to have come into contact with contemporary African-American thinking,especially that of Booker T.Washington.He returned to Nyasaland in 1900 as an ordained Baptist and founded the Providence Industrial Mission,which developed into seven schools.
John preach an orthodox Baptist faith along with a morality that opposed alcohol and emphasized the values of hard work,personal hygiene,and self-help.John seriously seemed to believe that European-style propriety and etiquette would bring respect and successful from whites.His schools emphasized modern methods of agriculture and by 1912 had 1,000 pupils,plus 800 in the adult section.
Events after 1912 disillusioned John.A famine in 1913 brought great hardship and starvation to many peasant farmers.Mozambican refugees flooded into Nyasaland,and John deeply resented the way they were exploited by white plantation owners.When World War 1 broke out the following year,Africans were conscripted into the British army,and John protested both from the pulpit and in the local press.The white landowners were infuriated by his nationalist appeal,and several of his schools were burned down.Added to personal problems of declining health,financial difficulities,and the death of a beloved daughter,John sense of betrayal deepened into fury.
In careful detail,John planned an attack on the worst of the area plantations,which was known for cruelty to its African Workers.Whether John through that his rebellion would spark a general uprising is difficult to determine,because he had no clear long-term goal.With 200 followers,he struck swiffly,and three plantations managers were killed.One of these a cousin of David Livingstone,was notorious for burning down tenant's chapels,whipping workers,and denying them their wages.His head was cut off and displayed on a pole in John's church.The rebels,scrupulously observed John's orders not to harm any women or children.
The Colonial response was immediate

"Queen Ranavalona III"{November 22,1861-May 23,1917}

Was the last. sovereign of the Kingdom of Madagascar.She ruled from July 30,1883-February

28,1897 in a reign marked by ongoing and untimely futile efforts to resist to colonial designs of the government of France.As a young woman,she was selected from among several Andriana qualified to succeed Queen Ravalona II upon his death.Like both preceding queens,Ravalona entered a political marriage with a member of the Hova elite named Rainilaiarivony,who in his role as Prime Minister of Madagascar,largely oversaw the day-to-day governance of the kingdom and managed its foreign affairs.She tried to stave off colonization by strengthening trade and diplomatic relations with the U.S. & Great Britain throughout her reign.French attacks on coastal port towns and an assault on the capital city of Antananarivo ultimately led to the capture of the royal palace in 1895,ending the sovereignty and political autonomy of the century-old kingdom.The newly installed French Colonial government promptly exiled Rainilaiarivony to Algiers,Ravalona and her court were initially permitted to remain as a symbolic figureheads.The outbreak of a popular resistance movement-the menalamba rebellion-and of anti-French political intrigues at court led the French to exile the queen to the island of Reunion in 1897.Rainilaiarivony died that same year and shortly thereafter Ranavola was relocated to a villa in Algiers,along with several m(embers of her family.The queen,her family and the servants accompanying here were provided an allowance and enjoyed a comfortable standard living of living including occasional trips to Paris for shopping and sightseeing.Despite Ranavolona's repeated requests she was never permitted to return to Madagascar.She died of an embolish at her villa in Algiers at the age of 55 her remains were buried in Algiers but were disinterred 21 years later and shipped to Madagascar,where they were placed within the tomb of Queen Rasoherina on the grounds of the Rova  of Antananrivo.

Ranavalona III,daughter of  Andriantismianatra and his wife Princess Raketaka,was born Princess Razafindrahety on November 22,1861,at Amparibe,a rural village in the district of   Manjakazafy  outside Antananarivo.Razafindrahety's lineage,as niece to Queen Ranavalona II
and    great-granddaughter of  King Andrianampoinimerina,qualified her to potentially inherit the throne of the Kingdom of  Madagascar.Her parents assigned the care of the infant Razafindrahety to a slave who    served   the family.

When she was old enough to attend  school,Razafindrahety was taken into the custody of her  aunt, Queen Ranavalona II,who ensured she began receiving a private    education from a London
Missionary Society (LMS) teacher.She was described as   an industrious and inquisitive child     with a strong love of   studying  the bible,learning and reading,and she developed affectionate relationships with her teachers.She continued  her  education throughout her adolescence   at   the
Congregational School of  Ambatonakanga,the Friends High School for Girls,and the LMS Girls'
Central School.She  was baptized  as a protestant at Ambohimanga on April 5,1874.Her teachers
consistently described her as ranking among their strongest students.

As a young woman,Razafindrahety narried Andriana (nobleman) named Ratrimo Razafindrahety
a premature widow.According to rumor,Prime Minister Rainilaiiarivony may have arranged Ratrimo poisoned for political reasons.The Aristocratic Revolution of  1863,which had been orchestrated by Rainilairivony's  older brother Prime Minister Rainivoninahitriniony,had replaced
the absolute rule   of the Andriana with a  constitutional  monarchy in which power was shared
between an   Andriana monarch and a (freeman) prime   minister.This arrangement was to be cemented   by a political marriage between the prime  minister and   a  ruling queen effectively selected by him.As Queen Ranavalona II  neared death and   the search for her successor began,
Rainilaiarivony may have had   Ratrimo deliberately poisoned so that Razafindrahety,the most eligible successor,would be free to marry the prime minister and succeed to the throne.

Ranavalona III was proclaimed queen upon the death of  her predecessor,Queen Ranavalona II,on July 13,1883,and moved into Tsrahafatra, a wooden house on the grounds of the royal Rova complex in Antananarivo.Her coronation took place in the Mahamasina neighborhood Antanarivo on November 22,1883, her 22nd  birthday,where she was given the title "Her Majesty
Ranavalona III by the grace of  God and  the will of the people,Queen of  Madagascar,and   Protectoress of   the laws of the  Nation.She   chose   to break with tradition by  supplementing   the    customary retinue of   soldiers  at  her ceremony with a group of 500 male and  400 female pupils  from the capital's best schools.The girls were dressed in white while  the boys wore soldiers'
uniforms and performed traditional  military drills with spears.Ranavalona was crowned  wearing a
white silk gown with a   red train featuring embroidery and gold embellishments.The queen was  
described in the American press in the following terms:"She is a little above the ordinary height and   has delicate features,her complexion is a little darker than most of her subjects.She appears
quite timid and she presides well at the solemn functions of    her court.

Like her two predecessors,Ranavalona concluded a political marriage with Prime Minister Rainilaiarivony.The young queen's role was largely ceremonial  as    nearly all important political
decisions continued  to be the much older and  more experienced prime minister.Ranavolana   was
frequently called upon (Kabary) to the public on behalf  of  Rainilairivony and would make appearances to inaugurate new public buildings,such as a hospital at Isoavinandriana and a girls'
school at  Ambodin'Andohalo.Throughout her reign,Ranavalona's aunt Ramisindrazana,acted  an
adviser and exercised considerable influence at court.Ranavalona's older sister,Rasendranoro,
whose son Rakatomena and daughter Razafinandriamanitra   lived with with their mama at the Rova,was also a close companion.An American journalist who visted her palace reported that
Ranavalona spent much of her leisure time flying kites or playing lotto,a parlor game,with her
relatives and other ladies at her court.She also enjoyed knitting,needlework and crocheting and would frequently bring her latest craft project to work on at cabinet meetings.She had a great love of fine garments and was the only Malagasy soverign to import the majorty of her clothing from Paris rather than London.

As sovereign of  Madagascar,

"Yaa-Asantewas"(1840-October 17 1921) (pronounced YAA A-san-TEE-WAA)

Was appointed queen mother of Ejisu in the Ashanti Empire-now part of modern day Ghana-by brother Akwasi Afrane Okpese,the Ejisuhene or "ruler of Ejisu." In 1990 she led the Ashanti known as the War of the Golden Stool against British Colonialism.During her brother's reign,Yaa saw the Ashante Confederacy go through a series of events that threatened its future,including civil war from 1883-1888.When Nana died in 1894,Yaa used her right as Queen Mother to nominate grandson as Ejisuhene.When the British exiled him in the Seychelles,in 1896,along with the King of Ashante Prempeh I and other members of the Ashante government, Yaa became regent of the Ejisu-Juaben District.After the deportation of Prempeh I,the British governor-general of the Gold Coast,Frederick Hodgson,demanded the Golden Stool,the symbol of the Ashante nation.This request led to a secret meeting of the remaining members of the Ashante government of Kumasi,to discuss how to secure the return of their king.There was a disagreement among those present on how to go about this Yaa,who was present at this meeting,stood and addressed the members of the council with these now-famous words:
"Now i see that some of your fear to go forward to fight for our King.If it [was] in the brave days of Osei Tutu,Okomfo Anokye,and Opoku Ware,chiefs would not sit down to see their king to be taken away without firing a shot.No European could have dared speak to chiefs of the Ashante in the way the governor spoke to you this morning.It is true that bravery of Ashante is no more?I cannot believe it.It cannot be! I must say this:If you,the men of Ashante,will not go forward,then we will.We, will.I shall call upon my fellow women.We will fight till the last of us falls in the batterfields."With this she took on leadership of the Ashante Uprising of 1900,gaining the support of some of the other Ashante nobility.Beginning in March 1900,the rebellion laid seige to the fort at Kumasi where the British had sought refuge.The fort stands today as the Kumasi Fort &Military Museum.After several months,the Gold Coast governor eventually set a force of 1,400 to quell the rebellion.During the course of this,Queen Yaa &15 of her closets advisers were captured and they were sent into exile to the Seychelles.The rebellion,represented the final war in the Anglo-Ashante series of wars that lasted throughout the 19 century.On January 1 1902,the British were finally able to accomplish what the Ashante army had denied them for almost a century,and the Ashante empire was made a protectorate of the British crown.Yaa died in exile in the Seychelles.Three years after her death,Prempeh I & other remining members of the exiled Ashante court were allowed to return to Ashante.Prempeh made sure the remains of Yaa &other exiled Ashantes were returned for a proper royal burial.Yaa's dream from an Ashante free of British rule was realized on March 6 1957,when the Ashante protectorate gained independence as part of Ghana,the first African nation in the Subsaharan Africa to achieve this feat.

"Oliver Reginald Tambo" (October 27,1917-April 23.1993)

He was born in the village of Kantolo.His mother,Julia,was the third wife of Mzimeni Tambo,son of a farmer and assistant salesman at a local trading store.Oliver parents were traditionalist,they saw the importance of western education,and he was sent to school.As he grew older,he developed a desire to leave home and gain wider experience and he enrolled at the missionary school at flagstiff,called Holy Cross.Mzimeni could not afford his fees,Oliver displayed such enthusiasm a sponsorship for him for him through two English sisters.One of his oldest brothers,who was working as a migrant laborer in Natal,also sent a part of his wages to cover any additional costs.After five years at Holy Cross he was accepted at St.Peter's,a well known school for black children in Johannesburg.For the time he was exposed to youngest of other traditional African cultures,as well as to institutionalized segregation and white racism.When he was 16,Oliver was orphaned when both of his parents died away within a year of each other.During this time Oliver,achieved an excellent pass,which resulted in the Eastern Cape assembly of chiefs,the Bhunga,him a bursary to further his education at Fort Hare University.He initially decided to study medicine,at the time no university medical school would accept black students.He chose a course in the sciences,and three years later he graduated with a B.S. degree in mathematics and physics.After his election as chairperson of the Students'Representative Council of his residence,the Anglican Beda Hall he organized a student protest and was expelled from Fort Hare.Oliver went back to his home in Kantolo to look for employment in order to support the younger members of his family and was offered a position as Master in Mathematics at his alma mater,St Peter's.At that time Johannesburg was an exciting melting pot of cultures for young,upcoming Africans and Oliver soon became involved with Walter Sisulu,Anton Lembede,Jordan Ngubane,and Nelson Mandela,a fellow student from Fort Hare.The group regularly visited the house of Dr.Xuma,a medical doctor who was also the President of the African National Congress(ANC).Here they formulated a plan to revive the ANC and make it more accessible to ordinary people.In 1944,the ANC Youth League (ANCYL),as well as the Women's League,were established.Anton Lembede was elected chairman of the new ANCYL,with Oliver as its secretary and Walter as its treasurer.In 1948,the National Party came into power and suddenly a number discriminatory laws were were put into place.In order to challenge these laws,Oliver decided to study law through correspondence and in 1952,he joined the law practice of Nelson Mandela,where together they assisted Africans in their struggle against apartheid.In 1953,Oliver was appointed as the ANC National Secretary in place of Walter,who had been banned by the government as a result the Defiance Campaign.During 1955,Oliver became engaged to Adelaide Tskukudu,a Youth League activist and nurse employed at Baragwanath Hospital,and they were married in December 1956;the couple had three children.In the aftermath of the Sharpeville Massacre,Oliver went on a "Mission in Exile" to gain international support for the South African liberation movement.Oliver emerged as one of the foremost advocates of women's rights within the movement.During the 1980,Oliver,as the president of the ANC,was increasingly recognized by the Organization for African Unity as a head of state exile.He also promoted Nelson Mandela as a symbol of worldwide political freedom and resistance to racial intolerance.Oliver led the group that formulated the Harare Declaration and because of the grueling schedule he was subjected to,his health began deteriorating resulting in a stroke in 1982.Disregarding the advice of his medical advisers,Oliver did not ease his efforts,and in 1989,after the presentation of the Harare Declaration,he collapsed and suffered a severe stroke.While he recuperated,Nelson Mandela and other political prisioners were released.In December 1990,Oliver returned home and attended the first ANC Congress to be held inside South Africa since it was banned.Nelson was elected president of the ANC and Oliver its national chairman.The remaining three years of his life,Oliver spent at his sister's house in Kantolo,the home he had longed for during all his long years in exile.In the early hours of the morning of April 23,Oliver suffered a massive & fatal stroke.He was honored with a state funeral.

"Ayuba Suleiman Diallo (1701-1773)

Ayuba came from a prominent Fulbe family of Muslim religious leaders.His grandfather had founded the town of Bundu,and he grew up with Samba Geladio Diegui the heir (kamalenku) to the kingdom of Futatoro.Mandingoes.In 1730,Ayuba became a victim of ever-growing slave exploitation of the Senegambia region.Ayuba and his interpreter Loumein Yoas (also known "Lahamin Joy,"Lahmin Jay,""Lamine Ndiaye," "Loumein Ybai,"and "Lamine Jay") were near the Gambia River to trade slaves and paper.While visiting some friends on their return trip,Ayuba and Yoas were captured by invading Mandingoes.The invaders shaved their heads to make them appear as war captives,and threrby supposedly legitimately enslavable,as opposed to their actual condition of people captured in a kidnapping raid for the specific purpose of selling slaves for financial profit.The two men were sold to factors of the Royal African Company.Ayuba subsequently convinced English Captain Pike of his high social status,and explained his father was capable of paying ransom.Pike granted Ayuba leave to find someone to send word to Ayuba's family.Since the messenger did not return in time,at the behest of Captain Henry Hunt,Pike's superior,Ayuba and Loumein were sent across the Atlantic to Annapolis,Maryland,where he was delivered to another factor,Vachell Denton.Ayuba was then purchased by Mr Tolsey of Kent Island,Maryland.Ayuba was initially put to work in the Tobacco fields;after being found unsuitable for such work,he was placed in charge of the cattle.While in captivity,he used to go into the woods to pray.After being humiliated by a child while praying,Ayuba ran away and was captured and imprisoned at the Kent County courthouse.It was there he was discovered by a lawyer,Thomas Bluett,traveling through on business.Thomas was impressed by Ayuba's ability to write in Arabic.When another African spoke Wolof, a language of a neighboring African ethnic group,was able to translate for him,it was then discovered that he had aristocratic blood.Encouraged by the circumstances,Mr Tolseyallowed Ayuba to write a letter in Arabic to Africa.Eventually,the letter reached the office of James Oglethorpe,Director of the Royal African Company.After having the letter authenticated by John Gagnier,the Laudian Chair of the Arabic at Oxford,James purchased Ayuba for 45 dollars.According to his own account,John was moved with sentiment upon hearing the suffering Ayuba had endured.John purchased Ayuba and sent him to the London office of the Royal African Company in London.Thomas and Ayuba traveled to England in 1773.During the journey Ayuba learned to communicate in English.Emotionally swayed his letters claimed him to be,James was not conscientious to leave instructions with the London office of RAC concerning what to do with Ayuba upon his arrival in late April 1733.Captain Henry Hunt (or perhaps his brother,William Hunt),one of the original factors in charge of Ayuba's enslavement,arranged for lodging in a country province.Yet Henry was planing to sell him to traders who claimed they would deliverd him home.Ayuba,fearing yet more trickery,contacted Thomas and other men whom he met en route to London.Thomas arranged for Ayuba's stay in Hertfordshire.The RAC following John orders,made in part through persistent request from interested men in London,subsequently paid all all the expenses and purchases price of the bond for for Ayuba.Ayuba beseeched Thomas once again,explaining that none of this secured he would not be enslaved once again.According to Thomas,all the honorable men involved had promised they would not sell Ayuba into slavery,supposedly Ayuba was not under and threat,Thomas and other sympathizers paid "fifty-nine pounds,six shillings,and eleven pence half-penny"simply to ease Ayuba's anxiety.Englishmen in London and surroundings provinces who had met Ayuba collected money so that his "freedom in form,"an official document seal made and sealed by the RAC.Thomas explained,"Job mind being now perfectly easy,"he could fraternize with London's elite,obtaining many gifts and new friendships,while also being of service to Hans Sloane through his newly acquired ability to translate Arabic into English.Ayuba was in the company of many other prominent people,including the royal family and the Duke and Duchess of Montague.In July 1734,he returned to Gambia and later returned to his homeland.His father had died,and one of his wives presuming that Ayuba had perished,had remarried.His homeland was ravaged by war,but being prosperous individual,he was able to regain his old lifestyle.Ayuba faced later hardships,In June 1736,he was imprisoned or held as a parolee by the French.He have been targeted by the French because of his alliances with the British.He was held perhaps for a year by the French,when Ayuba's local countrymen,rather than British,secured his release.Her later sent letters to the London RAC to visit London, but this request was denied.His death was recorded in the minutes of the Spalding Gentleman's Society.

"Empress Zewditu"(April 29,1876-April 2,1930)

Was Empress of Ethiopia from 1916-1930.The first woman head of an internationally recognized state of Africa in the 19th and 20th centuries,she was noted opposing the reforms Tafari Makonnen (later Emperor Haile Selassie  I) and for her strong religious devotion.Baptised as Askala Maryam ("Askal of Mary,"a type of flower),using the name given name of Zewditu (known erroneously as Judith in English),the future Empress was the eldest daughter of the then Negus (or King) Menelik of Shewa,the future emperor Menelek II  of  Ethiopia.Her mother,Weyziro (Lady)Abechi,was a noblewoman of Wollo and a brief companion of Menelek.Her mother had separated from Menelik when Zewditu was very young,and the future empress was raised by her father and his consort Baffana.Negus Menelik later married Taytu Betu he had no children with this wife.Menelik had three acknowledged children:Zewditu herself herself,a son Asfaw Wossen who died in infancy,and another daughter Shewa Regga,the mother of Lij Iyasu,Menelik's eventually heir.The emperor remained close to Zewditu,who also had good relations with her stepmother Empress Taytu,and was part of her father's household for most of her life.In 1886, ten-year-old was married to Ras Araya Selassie Yohannes,and heir of Emperor Yohannes IV,The marriage was political,having been arrange when Menelik agreed to submit to Yohanne's rule.Yohannes and Menelik eventually fell into conflict again,however with Menelik launching a rebellion against Yohanne's rule.Zewditu marriage was childless,being young doing her marriage although her husband had fathered a son by another woman.When Araya Selassie died in 1888 she left Menelik and returned to her father's court in Shewa.Despite the hostility between Menelik and Yohannes,Zewditu managed throughout the conflict to maintain good relations with both.She had two further marriages,both brief,before marrying Ras Gugsa Welle.Gugsa was the nephew of Empress Taytu,Zewditu's stepmother.She had already been on good terms with Taytu,but the establishment of a direct tie between the two helped cement the relationship.Unlike her prior marriages,Zewditu's marriage to Gugsa is through to have been happy.Upon the death of Emperor Yohannis IV at the Battle of Metemma against the Mahdist of the Sudan,Negus Menelek of Shewa assumed power and become Emperor in 1889.This restored the direct male succession of the dynasty,as Emperor Yohannes's claim to the throne was through a female link to the line.As the daughter of Menelek II,Zewditu would be the last monarch in direct agnatic descent from the Solomonic dynastic.Her successor Halie Selassie was also linked in the female line.In 1913,Menelik,died and Lij lyasu,the son of Zewditu half-sister Shewa-Regga,who had been publicly declared heir apparent in 1909,took the throne.Lyasu considered a potential threat to his rule,and exiled her and her husband to the countryside.Due to fears of instability that might be caused,the cabinet of ministers decided not to publicly proclaim the death of Meneik II.As a result,Lyasu was never officially proclaimed as Emperor Lyasu V.Both Menelik's death and Lyasu's de-facto accession were widely disliked by the nobility for his unstable behavior,and the church held him in suspicion for his alleged Muslim sympathies.After a troubled few years,Lyasu was removed from power.Zewditu to the capital,and on September 27 1916,the Council of State and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church officially announced the death of Emperor Menelik II and deposed Lyasu in favour of Zewditu's official title was "Queen of Kings"a modification title "King of Kings."Initially,she was not permitted to exercise power herself.Instead her cousin Ras Tafari Makonnen was appointed regent,and her father's old loyal general Fitawrari Hapte Giorgis Dinagde was made commander in chief of the army.Ras Tafari was also made heir apparent to Zewditu-none of Zewditu's children had survived to adulthood in 1928,after an attempt to remove Ras Tafari Makonnen from power failed,the Empress was compelled to crown her cousin Negus.While the conservative Ethiopian aristocracy was generally supportive of Zewditu,it was less enthusiastic about many of her relatives.Her stepmother and the aunt of her husband,Dowager Eempress Taytu Betul had withdrawn from the capital after Menelik's death,but was still distrusted somewhat due to the evident favorism she had practiced during the reign of her late husband.In an attempt to limit her influence,the aristocracy arranged for nephew(Zewditu's husband Ras Gugsa Welle) to be appointed to a remote governorship,removing him from court.This move,while intended as a strike against Taytu rather than against Zewditu,is believed to have upset Zewditu considerably.She also suffered guilt for taking the throne from Lij Lyasu,who her father had wanted to succeed him while- she believed that lyasu's overthrow was necessary,she had admired her father greatly,and was unhappy at having to disobey his wishes.Her separation from her husband and her guilt about Lyasu's overthrow combined to make Zewditu not particularly happy as empress.Interestingly,even though he had had treated her adominably,she held much personal affection for nephew Lyasu,and is said to have wept bitterly,for him when told that she was being Empress as her nephew had been excommunicated for apostasy.Increasingly,the Empress retreated from state responsibility into a world of fasting and prayer,as the progressive elements that surrounded the heir,Tafari Makonnen gained in strength and influence at court.The early period of Zewditu's reign was marked by a war against Lij Lyasu,who had escaped captivity.Backed by his father,Negus Mikael of Wollo,a powerful northern leader,Lyasu attempted to regain the throne.The two failed to effectively coordinate their efforts and after some initial victories Lyasu's father was defeated and captured at the Battle of Segale.Negus was paraded through the streets of Addis Ababa of Ethiopian tradition.She had the strong backing of the church in this belief.Slowly Zewditu began to withdraw from active politics leaving more and more power to Tafari.Under Tafari's direction,Ethiopia entered the League of Nations,and abolished slavery.Zewditu busied herself with religious activities,such as the construction of a number of  significant churches.In 1928,there was a small conservative uprising against Tafari's reform,it was unsuccessful.Empress was compelled to grant Tafari,who now controlled most of the Ethiopian government,the title of King (Negus).While Negus Tafari remained under the nominal rule of Zewditu (who was still Negeste Negest,Queen of Kings or Empress),Tafari was now effectively the ruler of Ethiopia.A number of attempts were made to displace him,they were all unsuccessful.In 1930,Zewditu's husband Ras Gugsa Welle led a rebellion against Negus Tafari in Begemder,hoping to end the regency in spite of his wife's repeated pleas and orders to desist,but was defeated killed in battle by the modernised Ethiopian army at the Battle of Anchem on March 31 1930.On April 2,1930,two two days after Ras Gugsa Welle was killed in battle,Empress Zewditu died.It is now known that she suffered from diabetes,and was seriously ill with typhoid,it is universally agreed that this was the cause of her death.According to some histories,Zewditu died of shock and grief at hearing of her husband's death,others accounts contradict this,claiming that she was not informed of the battles's outcome before her sudden death.Some diplomatic sources in Addis Ababa reported at the time the fever stricken Empress was immersed in a large container of fridgidly cold holy water to cure her of her illness,that her body went into shock and she died shortly thereafter.The timing of her death immediately after news of the outcome of the battle reached Addis Ababa has caused considerable speculation as to her cause of death.Some particularly conservative critics of her successor,Emperor Haile Selassie,allege that once the rebellion had been decisively defeated,he or his supporters felt safe in poisoning Zewditu.She was succeeded on the throne by Negus Tafari,who took the name Emperor Halie Selassie.

"Hebert Macauley"{November 14,1864-May 7,1946}

Early African Independence advocate,was born in Lagos,Nigeria.His father was the founder and first principal of the Church Missionary Society Grammar School in Largos,and his mother was a daughter of the Reverend Samuel Ajayi Crowther,the first registered student of West Africa's oldest University,Fourah Bay College.Herbert started his tertiary education at Fourah Bay College,which the British established in 1827 to train talented English speaking West Africans to serve the colonial government in various administrative positions.In 1890,obtained a scholarship to study in Plymouth England,England where he qualified as a land surveyor and a civil engineer.Upon his graduation in 1893,he returned to Nigeria where the colonial government appointment him surveyor of crown lands for the colony of Lagos.In1898,he resigned from his position and established a private civil engineering company in Lagos,Nigeria.During the 1920s,a period in Nigerian history associated with the beginning of political agitation for self-rule,Herbert became a leading figure in the first generation of Nigerian Nationalists.In 1921,he passionately led protests in Lagos over water rates,land issues,and mishandling of the railroad finances.In 1922,he helped a Lagos chief in his legal battle with the colonial government who had forcefully taken some of of his land for government purposes.The highest court in England heard the case and returned the land to the chief.This victory inspired Herbert to establish in 1923 Nigeria's first political party,the Nigerian National Democratic Party whose members were the first to sit in the Legislative Council.The Nigerian National Democratic Party dominated Nigerian politics throughout the 1920s until the 1930s.In 1934,the NNDP lost its dominant position to newly organized student groups such as the Nigerian Youth Movement to form the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons,NCNC.The NCNC led by Herbert was not a political party,it was a nationalist organization designed to advocate for an independent Nigeria.He did not live to see the attainment of independence in 1960.He died in Lagos.

"Pan-Africa Congresses {1900-1945}

Pan-Africanist ideas emerged in the late nineteenth century in response to European colonization and exploitation of the African continent.Pan Africanist philosophy held that slavery and colonialism depended on and encouraged negative,unfounded categorizations of the race,culture,and values of African people.These destructive beliefs in turn gave birth to intensified forms of racism,the likes of which Pan-Africanism sought to eliminate.As a broader political concept,Pan-Africanism's roots lie in the collective experiences of African descendants in the New World.Africa assumed greater significance for some blacks in the new world for two primary reasons.First,the increasing futility of their campaign for racial equality in the United States led some African Americans to demand voluntary repatriation to Africa.Next,for the first time the term Africans,which had often been used by racists as a derogatory description,became a source of pride for early nationalists.Hence,through the conscious elevation of their African identity black activists in America and the rest of the world began to reclaim the rights previously denied by  Western societies.In 1897,Henry Sylvester-Williams,a West Indian Barrister,formed the African Association in London to encourage Pan-African unity;especially throughout the British colonies.Sylvester -Williams,who had links with West African dignitaries,believed that Africans and those of African descent living in the Diaspora needed a forum to address their common problems.In 1900 Sylvester organized the first Pan-African meeting in collaboration with several black leaders representing various countries of the Africa Diaspora. For the first time,Pan-Africa opponents of colonialism and racism gathered for an international meeting.The conference,held in London,attracted global attention,placing the word "Pan-African"in the lexicon of international affairs and making it part of the standard vocabulary of black intellectuals.The initial meeting featured thirty delegates,mainly,from England and the West Indies,but attracted only a few Africans and African Americans.Among them was black America's leading intellectual,W.E.D. Du Bois,who was to become the torchbearer of subsequent Pan-African conferences,or congresses as they later came to be called.Conference participants read papers on a variety of topics,including the social,political,and economic conditions of black in the Diaspora;the importance of independent nations governed by people of African descent,such as Ethiopia,Haiti,and Liberia;the legacy of slavery and and European imperialism;the role of Africa in world history;and the impact of Christianity on the African continent.Perhaps even greater significance was the formation of two committees.One group,chaired by Du Bois,drafted and address"To the Nations of the World,"demanding moderate reforms for colonial Africa.The address implored the United States and the imperial European nations to "acknowledge and protect the rights of people of African descent"and to respect the integrity and independence of the "the free Negro States of Abyssinia,Liberia,Haiti, etc."The address,signed by committee chairman W.E.D. Du Bois as well as its president Bishop Alexander Walters,its vice president Henry B. Brown,and its general secretary Sylvester-Williams,and sent to Queen Victoria of England.The second committee planned for the formation of a permanent Pan-African association in London with branches overseas.Despite these ambitious plans,the appeals of conference participants made little or no impression on the European imperial powers who controlled the political and economic destiny of Africa.It was not until after World War 1,that W.E.B. Du Bois revived the Pan African congresses.Following the war,European and American politicians gathered for a peace conference in Versailles,France W.E.B. Du Bois,who attended the conference as a special representative of the NAACP,appealed to appealed to President Woodrow Wilson.In a letter to President Wilson,he urged the American government to initiate comprehensive study of the treatment of black soldiers.W.E.B. expressed hope that the peace treaty would address "the future of Africa"and grant self-determination to the colonized peoples.President Wilson subsequently released a fourteen Point memorandum,which suggested the formation a League of Nations and called for" an absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims,based on the principle that the interests of the population must have equal weight with the equitable claims of the government."Historians have questioned the impact of W.E.B. request had on President Wilson Fourteen point memorandum,it was apparent that the loudliest  voice on behalf of oppressed blacks in the New World and colonized Africa belonged to the participants of the Pan-Africa Congress.Galvanized by the gathering of world leaders and the discussions of colonial Africa's future, W.E.B. future,proposed the formation of a  Pan-African Congress.In 1919, as the Versailles Peace treaty deliberations ran their course Du Bois, with support of Blaise Diagne, a member of the French Parliament from the West Africa colony of Senegal,and funding from African American civil rights and fraternal organizations such as the  NAACP,the Elks,and the masons,convened a Pan-African Congress in Paris.The Congress,attended by approximately sixty representatives from sixteens nations,protectorates,and colonies,it was more "pan" than African since most of the delegates had little if any first-hand knowledge of the Africa Continent.Prominent American attendees included black members of the NAACP such as John Hope,president of Morehouse College,and Addie W.Hunton,who had served with black troops in France under the auspices of the YMCA,as well  as white NAACP members,such as Columbia University professor Joel Spingarn,the socialist muckraking author Charles Edward Russell.Among the other delegates from the United States were Roscoe Simmons,a well-known black orator;Rayford W.Logan by foreign nations;to abolish slavery and capital punishment of colonial subjects who worked on the plantations of European colonial powers in Africa,especially in the Belgian Congo;and to insist on colonial peoples'right to education.The gathering stressed the need for further congress meetings and suggested the creations of an international quarterly, the Black Review,which was to be published in several languages."While congress attendees insisted that African natives should be allowed eventually to participate in their government,they did not demand African self-determination.Despite the moderate nature of the demands,the European and American powers,represented at the  Versailles Peace Conference remained noncommittal.The Pan-Africa Congress met in two separate sessions in London and Lisbon.Noted European intellectuals such as H.G. Wells and Harold Laski attended the London session.Several members previous meetings participated in the deliberations that addressed the conditions of the Africa Diaspora as well as the global exploitation of black workers.While some scholars argue that the 1921 and 1923 congresses were effective only in keeping alive the idea of an oppressed people trying to abolish the yoke of discrimination,other claim that the international gatherings laid the foundation for the struggle that ultimately led to the political emancipation of the African continent.Delegates reconvened for a fifth Pan-Africa Congress in New York in 1927.The Congress featured 208 delegates from twenty-two American States and ten foreign countries.Africa,however,was representative only sparsely by delegates from the Gold Coast,Sierra-Leone,Liberia,and Nigeria.The small number of African delegates was due in part to travel restrictions that the British and French colonial powers imposed on those interests in attending the congress,in an effort to inhibit further Pan-African gatherings.Most of the delegates were black Americans and many of them were women.The Congress was primarily financed by Addie W.Hunton and the Women's International League for peace and Freedom,an interracial organization that had been founded in 1919 by opponents of World War 1.Similar to previous Pan-African congresses,participants discussed the status and conditions of black people throughout the world.The financial crisis induced by the Great Depression and the military exigency generated by World War 2 necessitated the suspension of the Pan-Africa Congress for a period of eighteen years.In 1945,the organized movement was revived in Manchester,England.It is unclear whether W.E.B. George Padmore,West Indian,Marxist,provided the initiative for this meeting.Recognizing W.E.B. historic contribution to the Pan-Africa movement,delegates named him president of the 1945 congress.The Manchester meeting marked a turning point in the history of the gatherings.For the first time representatives of political parties from Africa and the West indies attended the meetings.The conservative credo of forum gave way to radical social,political,and economic demands.Congress participants unequivocally demanded an end to colonialism in Africa and urged colonial subjects to use strikes and boycotts to end the contient's social,economic,and political exploitation by colonial powers.While previous congresses had been controlled largely by black middle-class British and American intellectuals who had emphasized amelioration of colonial conditions,the Manchester meeting was dominated by delegates from Africa and Africans working or studying in Britain.The new leadership attracted the support of workers,trade unionists,and a growing radical sector of the African student population.With fewer African American participants,delegates consisted mainly of an emerging crop of African intellectual and political leaders,who soon won fame,notoriety,and power in their various colonized countries.The final declaration of the 1945 congress urged colonial and subject people of the world to unite and assert their rights to reject those seeking to control their destines.Congress participants encouraged  colonized African to elect their own governments,arguing that the gain of political power for colonial and subject people was a necessary perquisite for complete social, economic,and political emancipation.This politically assertive stance was supported by a new generation of African Americans activists such as the actor and singer Paul Robeson,the minister and politician Adam Clayton Powell,and the educator and political activists William A. Hunton Jr.who took and increasing interest in Africa.While the Pan- Africa congresses lacked financial and political power,they to increase international awareness of racism and colonialism and laid the foundation for the political independence of African nations.African leaders such as Kwane Nkhrumah og Ghana,Nnamdi Azikiweof Nigeria and Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya were among several attendees of congresses who subsequently led their countries to political independence.In May 1963,the influence of these men helped galvanize the formation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU),an association of independent African states and nationalists groups.

"The Nigerian Youth Movement {1934-1951}

J.C. Vaughan,Ernest Ikoli H.O. Davies,and Samuel Akinsanya founded the Nigerian Youth Movement (NYM) In 1934.Based in Lagos,the NYM was the first Nigerian natonalist organization to promote politics outside of the capital.Futhermore,the NYM was also the first organization to stress national unity over racial divisions,notably between the Igbo and Yoruba ethnic groups.In 1934 the colonial government Yaba Higher College in order to train more Nigerian technicians.The College suffered for being a native Nigerin institution,having no affiliation with any british university.According to the educated elite at the time,any college based in Africa was inherently inferior.Additionally Yaba offered no courses on either public administration or economics,which were prerequisites for colonial administrative positions.The Lagos Youth Movement,renamed the NYM in 1936,was created in protest of these inherenty educational opportunities.The NYM would outline  its now fundamental mission in its 1938 Nigerian Youth Charter.According the chareter,the primary aim of the NYM was the development of a united nation out of  conglomeration of peoples who inhabited Nigeria,and the promotion of complete understanding along with a sense of common nationalism among different elements in the country.Politically the NYM sought to increase the native Nigerian participation in civil service and government with the ultimate goal of self-government.The NYM established branches in urban areas throughout Nigeria in an attempt to promote inter-tribal cooperation.he two most influential leaders of the early years of the NYM were H.O. Davies,one of the founders,and Nnamdi Azikiwe.H.O. had lived abroad for several years and studied economics.Nnamdi had studied at Lincoln University (B.A. and M.A. in Political Science),the University of Pennsylvania (M.A. and M.Sc.in Anthropology),and Cololumbia University (certificate in Journalism) all in the United States.In addition to English Nnamdi spoke Hausa,Igbo and Yoruba,the three major languages of Nigeria.Founded on the basis of equal racial participation,the demise,of the NYM eventually came from a combination of ethnics tension and political inflighting.Personal conflicts between Nnamdi,an Igbo nationalists,and the other members of the NYM,which as a whole was an increasingly Yoruba organization,were perceived by many to be signs of growing ethnic tensions.Eventually Nnamdi would leave the organization in protest to what believed were discriminatory policies against him and the Igbos.From then on the NYM was mainly a Yoruba organization that had evolved into the type of ethnically-based party it was founded to prevent.In April 1951 the NYM was absorbed by two other two other Yoruba political parties and ceased to be a force in Nigerian politics.

"Aba Women's Riot" (November-December 1929)

The "riots"or the war led by women in the provinces of Calabar and Owerri in southeastern Nigeria in November and December of 1929 became known as the "Aba women's rioys of 1929.Thousands of Igbo women organized a massive revolt against the policies imposed by British colonial administrators in southeastern Nigeria,touching off the most serious challenge to British rule in the history of the colony.The "Women's War"took moths for the government to suppress and become a historic example of feminist and anti-colonial protest.The roots of the riots evolved from January 1,1914,when the Nigerian colonial governor,Lord Lugard,instituted the system of indirect rule in SoutherNigeria.Under this plan British administrators would rule locally through "warrant chiefs,"essentially igbo individuals appointed by the governor.Traditionally Igbo chiefs had been elected.Within a few years the appointed warrant chiefs became increasingly oppressive.They seized property,imposed draconian local regulations,and began imprisoning anyone who openly criticized them.Much of the anger was directed against the warrant chiefs,most Nigerians knew the source of their power,British colonial administrators.Colonial administrators added to the local sense of grievance when they announced plans to impose special taxes on the Igbo market women.These women were responsible for supplying the food to the growing urban populations in Calabar,Owerri,and other Nigerian cities.They feared the taxes would drive drive many of the market women out of business and seriously disrupt the supply of food and non-perishable goods available to the populace.In November of 1929,thousands of Igbo women congregated at the Native Administration centers in Calabar and Owerri as well as smaller towns to protest both the warrant chiefs and the taxes on the market women.Using the traditional practice of censoring men through all night song and dance ridicule (often called "sitting on a man"),the women chanted and danced,and in some locations forced warrant chiefs to resign their positions.The women also attacked European owned stores and Barclays Bank and broke into prisons and released prisoners.They also attacked Native Courts run by colonial offcials,buring many of them to the ground.Colonial Police and troops were called in.They fired into the crowds that had gathered at Calabar and Owerri,killing more than 50 women and eounding over 50 others.During the month "war"at least 25,000 Igbo women were involved in protest against British offcials.