In drawing attention to seeds and their appropriation by planters, the story symbolizes a transfer of knowledge from enslaved African to white owner. In this case, not only is the child the instructor of the man, the slave is the tutor of the master, and the black (person) the teacher of the white (person).
In Shadow of Slavery: Africa’s Botanical Legacy in the Atlantic World
History as defined by John Henrik Clarke is a “clock that people use to tell their political and cultural time of day. It is also a compass that people use to find themselves on the map of human g ...
I have always felt that time could be an ally or a foe in a people’s struggle for freedom. It is easy to look at the past, look at the oppression and destruction of African societies and say it h ...
African Cultural Calendar is similar to the calendars our ancestors, who built societies along the Nile Valley from Axum to Kemet, created. The same calendars were also used across our homeland in ...
The African Cultural Calendar (Africalendar) combines both our history and the purpose of a calendar to tell our people’s story in time. A year in the Africalendar is a journey through our history from the Nile Valley to the diaspora. The months in the Africalendar represent our history from the beginning to the current time. The first month is called Kemet. Kemet is from our beginning; it is one of the first great societies our ancestors built. The year in the Africalendar ends with a renewal period called Kwanzaa. With the African Cultural Calendar, we journey through our history and cultures as time flows from Kemet to Kwanzaa.
The africalendar starts from almost at the beginning of the people’s history. The first month in the afriyear is Kemet. The word Kemet means black. It is the name that Africans in ancient Egypt called themselves and their country. Egypt has been called “the light of the world” and Kemet is the light that starts the year. The history of Kemet is the history of civilization and it is an achievement of the people. Our history cannot properly be written without starting with Kemet. Our people from the Ashantis to the Zulus place their origin in the Nile valley, where Kemet flourished. Kemet reflects the beginning and that is the reason that the africalendar begins each year with the month Kemet.