The campus wasn’t as busy as it usually was at this time of the year. It seemed even the air was still. It had been like that ever since those students got thrown out of the bowling alley Samuel Hampton thought to himself. He was sitting alone in his dorm room blankly staring out of his window, watching the dance of the occasional piece of paper that was helplessly caught in the grip of the cold winter wind. His solitude was broken by the sound of footsteps coming down the hall. His heart tightens up as the steps got closer. “I can’t believe I got myself into this mess”, he remarked to himself. “All I had to do was finish school and stay out of trouble.” The footsteps got close then passed his room and Samuel instantly relaxed. As he continued his gaze out of the window he realized that in his heart he really didn’t want to get involved. Maybe, he thought, if they come to the door I won’t answer. I will just stay quiet and pretend I am not here. At that moment he heard a voice in his head that reminded him of his father. “No matter what the consequence, you always do what is right for you and the people around you.” Deep in thought he almost didn’t hear the new sounds in the hall. He noticed them just in time to see the shadow of someone’s feet under the door, followed by the knock that filled Samuels’s heart with wrenching dread. With a heavy heart, and no hesitation, Samuel grabbed his coat and started for the door. As he reached for the door knob he said a quick prayer and promised his mother he would be careful. On the other side of the door he was greeted by Joseph Riley. Joseph was a large young man but he also carried an air about him that, together with his height, made him seem over twelve feet tall. He had the type of personality that would make even his worst enemy consider calling off the feud. Samuel couldn’t think of one reason why someone wouldn’t like him.
“So are you ready to go or what?” Joseph asked in his usual cheerful manner. More »
When I was a child way back before the on set of the plague of television, for entertainment we used to listen to our elders tell stories of our past. In our present day and time technology has become so great as to render the art of story telling dead in its original form. My grandfather was one of the greatest story tellers I had ever heard. One of my favorite stories he would tell is one about how my family came to be in this country. I am going to tell it as close as I can to the way I heard it, to try and preserve the tradition of story telling.
In the land of our ancestors in West Africa we were a people at war, a war not of our choosing but a war none the less. We were at odds with a neighboring tribe in the kingdom of Dahomey. During this war there were many lives lost on both sides. Many of our people became prisoners of war. Among the people that were held captive was a young warrior prince named Kazoola. He was sent to try and negotiate a truce between the warring parties. He was our greatest general and leader.
It was said of him that he would have rivaled the great Hannibal if they were to meet in battle. He studied in some of the greatest Universities in Spain. He was a master of three languages Latin, Spanish, and English. He also brought us many victories on the field of battle. The king of Dahomey was ruthless as well as smart. He knew that it would be just a matter of time before Kazoola would fight for his freedom. If he was able to do this he could become a threat to the king’s imperial power. The king being the smart man he was knew that he had to get rid of Kazoola. He didn’t want to kill him, he couldn’t afford for him to become a martyr, or give his subjects a reason to rise up against him.
Kazoola was famous across many lands including his own. The king received word that there was an American in the area that was interested in buying slaves at fifty U.S. dollars each. This was the kings chance to get rid of Kazoola once and for all, the king sent for the American. He showed up a day later, covered with the grime from an arduous over land march to where Kazoola and his kinsmen were being held.
The man that came before the king, to provide transportation for a man to steal the youth of our homeland went by the name of Captain Thomas Foster. He was a fair and honest man who didn’t believe in the practice of slavery, but couldn’t afford to turn down any job he was offered. He knew that the slave trade was coming to an end and wanted to secure a little money for him and his family. He was the captain of a cargo ship by the name of the Coltilda.
The Coltilda had been leased by William Myer. Now Mr. William Myer was a business man of the worst sort. He amassed a large fortune dealing in human tragedy and suffering. He was the largest importer of human beings on the Gulf of Mexico. One night Mr. Myer was out drinking with Robert Jefferson who owned a large plantation and bought his staff of forced laborers exclusively from William Myer. Robert was complaining about the price of slaves going up due to the fact that the United States Government banned the practice of importing Moors for the purpose of enslavement.
William bragged to his friend that he could still get slaves into the country. Not believing this, Robert told William that he would give him two hundred dollars for each Moor he got over to the States. William agreed thus setting in motion the events that would change the face of two continents forever. This is what led Captain Foster to be in Dahomey buying human cargo. Kazoola was asleep in his cell when the king entered. When Kazoola noticed that he was in the room he barley moved a muscle.
The king told him personally that he had been sold into slavery. This came as a relief to Kazoola because he thought it was going to be the day that he was to be executed. All of our people including Kazoola were gathered into the prison square were they were shackled to each other and led out of the compound. It was a dreadful march to the shore. Those that couldn’t keep up were put to the sword.
This went on for the three days it took to reach were the ship was docked. Walking up the gang plank to the top deck of the Coltilda Kazoola caught his first glimpse of the ships captain. Kazoola sized up the ship and its crew, trying to assess the situation. Wanting to know how long they would be at the dock. He wanted to know if he could get him and his people off of the ship before it set sail. Kazoola looked up to see the flag of what country he would be going to if he couldn’t get his people off this vessel.
The captain waited for all of the chattel property to be brought aboard before he directed his crew to place them below decks. On the way past Captain Foster noticed Kazoola. He noticed how he didn’t walk like the rest of the enslaved people. This on walked with his head up he also seemed to be aware of what was going on around him like this wasn’t his first time seeing a ship of this size.
Captain Foster looked into Kazoola eyes and saw the eyes of a man plotting. It could be murder or it could be escape Foster knew he didn’t want to find out so he told his crew to keep an eye on him. Kazoola just smiled upon hearing this. When he got below some people noticed who it was and it sent a surge of energy through crowd, it was as if a cool breeze of hope blew through touching everyone. As Captain Foster sat in his cabin waiting for the rest of the supplies to be loaded he felt uneasy about this trip. He didn’t know why, he had made the trip enough that he had every moment committed to memory; he also had an experienced crew. He decided not to take any chances he would leave as soon as possible.
The first half of the trip went off without any problems. Kazoola was also pleased about the trip, just the fact that none of his kinsmen died, knowing that these trips usually resulted in the deaths of a lot of people. When on the deck for the daily exercise Kazoola noticed on the horizon a large storm brewing. After a few hours the storm was on them. The waves were the largest Captain Foster had ever seen. Below decks the captive people prayed and cried softly.
No one trapped in the belly of the ship had any idea of what was going on, they had never been in a storm at sea. It was pitch black and all they could hear were the waves pounding the hull of the ship and the voices of the crew between the roars of thunder. All aboard was horrified at the thought of the Coltilda going down. The storm raged as if god himself was mad at the captain and crew of the Coltilda for stealing a people from their land. For twelve straight hours the storm went on. At one point it got so bad Captain Foster ordered for the slaves to be unchained from each other so they would have a chance to save themselves if the ship went down. A few moments after they were unchained one of Kazoola’s cousins just couldn’t take it he ran up the stairs leading to the top deck were he was washed over board with members of the Coltilda crew.
When the storm finally broke and the sun came up Captain Foster looked over the Coltilda to see how bad the damage was. It was a sight that he didn’t want to see. The sail was torn into shreds. During the chaos of the storm the smaller sail was thrown over board along with other essential supplies because the crew was afraid the ship was going to sink. With no sail and half of the rations on the sea floor Captain Foster didn’t know how he was going to complete the final leg of his trip to violate the basic human rights of others.
After the Coltilda drifted on the waves unable to propel its self there started to be talk amongst the crew of a mutiny, because the ships crew wanted throw the hostages overboard to lighten the load and try to ride the currents to land. Captain Foster refused this because he would not sacrifice the lives of the captive people when even in doing so wouldn’t guarantee their survival, it would only guarantee that they wouldn’t get paid.
Upon hearing the talk going around the ship Kazoola knew he had to do something if he and his people were to live. To get a sense of the mood of the crew Foster was walking the ship. He was really trying to make sure there were no secret meetings going on. When he got to the cargo hold he heard a sound that he had never heard before. It was the sound of the English language coming from a man who was thought to be ignorant. Foster was amazed at how well Kazoola spoke English. Kazoola explained to Foster who had no idea about the plot against him.
Kazoola knew that the only way for his people to survive was to help the crew survive. Kazoola also told Foster that he had the means to help fix the sail. Before Foster accepted the offer of help he asked why he would help them. Kazoola told him “if you don’t survive we don’t survive.” Captain Foster pondered the proposal for a minute and then walked off.
He went top side and called the crew for a meeting. In the meeting he assigned certain tasks to members of the crew. The assignments were for some of them to arm themselves as they would be on guard duty and others would bring the sail down to the deck. As the crew broke to take care of their assignments, Captain Foster called a few of his most trusted men back to follow him into the cargo hold. When he got below decks he told Kazoola, “I hope you can fix it because if you cant I told the men they could lighten the load.” Kazoola went to the top deck with a few of the women from his tribe. Kazoola wasn’t worried one bit he knew the quality of his tribes seamstresses.
Once on deck he noticed that some of the crew was missing, they must have died during the storm he also saw the look on the crew’s faces. It was the look of men ready to give up on life. In his mind Kazoola knew that when the sail was fixed and the ship was back on course he could win favor with some of the crew for saving their lives. Kazoola thought to himself while the women worked. He was hoping that there wouldn’t be any blood shed during his escape, if only he could win over the whole crew.
He laughed to himself for having such a foolish thought because he knew that these men were working and wanted to get paid for their work. At that moment Kazoola was torn from his thoughts by a crewmen cursing at one of the seamstresses. Kazoola immediately rushed to her defense. In doing so he caught the attention of the other guards who rushed behind him.
Before Kazoola could get a word out he received a blow to the back of the head that without hesitation knocked him out cold. When he came to he was back below deck once again chained to his kinsmen. He could tell by the motion of the ship that they were back underway which despite his headache gave him a feeling of comfort. Just knowing that his tribe was going to make it to land meant he still had more time to free them.
The Coltilda had been damaged in a major storm and was low on supplies, Captain Foster knows that he must make port and take on fresh supplies before heading into the Gulf of Mexico with his precious cargo, so he made a command decision to make a stop in Jamaica. When they reached Jamaica Captain Foster and a few of his crew took a row boat ashore to get supplies.
While in town Captain Foster got word that the authorities were on the lookout for the Coltilda. They got word of the type of cargo she was brining in. Foster knew this was a quick way to go straight to jail if they were to get caught, but he needed the money and so did his crew. Back on board the Coltilda Captain Foster decided to go for it, he was a knowledgeable enough navigator to find an obscure route to Mobile Bay.
Kazoola knew after reaching their final destination a move had to be made he would not go into enslavement quietly. When they reached Mobile Bay Foster sent his first mate ashore to retrieve William Myer and Robert Jefferson. Once aboard Captain Foster led them down into the cargo hold where they went through and counted each person. After receiving his money William told Captain foster to run the Coltilda aground and burn it. Back on the top deck Captain Foster paid his crew and issued his last orders for the crew of the Coltilda.
After running the ship on to a sandbar the captain watched the last crewmen depart the ship and began to make his final rounds. When he got to the cargo hold Kazoola reached out and grabbed him and looked at him straight into his eyes and told him. “I helped you to save the lives of your crew now help me save the lives of my people.” Kazoola slowly raised his arms to show Foster his chains. Captain Foster without a word dropped the keys and walked off. Kazoola unchained himself and passed the keys so that everyone else could free themselves. Kazoola ran top side because he knew he had to stop them from lighting the boat on fire. He ran through the ship as fast as he could, looking for any sign of a fire being started.
The Moors that freed themselves started to make their way to the top deck. Looking around they saw for the first time the lights of the city of Mobile Alabama. Kazoola made his way through the crowd that was forming on deck to the captains’ quarters. He opened the door and sitting behind the desk drinking was Captain Foster. Kazoola closed the door behind him and walked over to the desk Foster was sitting at. Foster looked up at him and said “you know I have to burn the ship.” Kazoola told him that he understood he was just doing his job but, there was one last thing he needed from Foster.
For the rest of the night Kazoola and Captain Foster ferried the Moors on shore until everyone was safely on shore. Kazoola and Captain Foster stood on the beach in the dark and shared a hand shake Foster got back into the row boat and rowed towards the Coltilda while Kazoola joined his kinsmen on the beach without saying a word. They never saw each other again. Kazoola and his people found an area outside of Mobile to live in peace. It wouldn’t be until seven years after the Civil War that Kazoola’s settlement would be recognized for decades to come as Africatown.
In the end Kazoola got his wish of freedom for his people without blood shed. Kazoola always wished he could go back to the place of his birth but, he knew his place was here with his tribe in his new homeland.
By Xerxes Cudjoe El
In my lifetime I’ve been called a lot of names such as Negro, Black, Colored, Afro-American, and African-American. None of these are correct. Before I realized who I was I answered to these titles at some point in time, well maybe not “colored” but certainly the rest. My path started when I found out the job of Governments. Governments are in power to protect the birthrights of the people which are determined by where you come from in the Human Family. The Human Family, called “Nations” occupies different parts of the Earth using the names that have been provided for us like Ireland, France and Algeria. The Human Families are identified by nationalities and not by shades or colors i.e., black or brown. There is not, nor ever was, a nation of people attached to the Human Family bearing the names such as Negro, Black, or Colored.
So what is my nationality? What are my birthrights? I started to go back in history and find out who I was. U.S history books all refer to me and people like me as Black, Negro, or Colored, but this can not be true because like I said, there are no Nations with these names. U.S history made these brand names retroactive. These are not only untrue but misleading. These names were coined by the Colonists. These tags describe the Chattel property of the Colonists. Chattel is defined in Blacks law dictionary as personal property animate or inanimate. These tags are not proper nouns (person, place, or things) but adjectives which are descriptive terms. They separate the people who take them as real from the Human Family. As for Afro-American and African-American, these cannot refer to me either.
There is no nation on the planet named Afro and in dealing with the tag African-American; Africa is not a nation but a continent. After finding this out I was even more confused than when I first started my search. If I’m not one of those tags, then who am I? I tried talking to other people but all they could tell me is what they had been told, which is: we are defined by tags. So I started doing research. In doing this research I found that prior to the development of European history, meaning the medieval period, most of the known world was inhabited by a people known as the Moors. This nation of people started on the continent of Africa. They conquered land on mainland Europe as far north as Germany and France. They lasted in Europe from 750-1492 AD when they were finally pushed off the mainland of what is now known as Spain.
Most people that were brought over to this country as slaves came from the Northwestern coast of Africa. Knowing this I looked into the slave trade and found that most people came from what is now Morocco, Algeria, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Guinea, Sierra Leone and a few other nations which in ancient times made up the MOORISH NATION. All the names of these African countries I have just mentioned are the European names for these countries and do not apply to the true nationality of these people. Armed with this new information I am able to proclaim loud and proud, I am a Moorish National. So I ask, “Who are you?”
As most of you already know rapper Lil Wayne is due to start a year-long prison term later this month. He will be serving his time in a New York correctional facility.
Lil Wayne mentioned in a recent interview that he views this situation as if, everything is meant to be, and he realizes that it’s an experience that he must need to have if God’s putting him through it.
I think I can honestly say that this is the first time that I have ever heard anyone say that they were looking forward to going to jail. I am surprised that the judge didn’t send him upstate for a mental evaluation.
It has been said that Lil Wayne’s performance at the Grammy Awards was his last performance as a free man. Many industry experts are wondering what type of effect will this situation have on his music career if any.
I attempted several times to make this post from the iPhone yesterday but…. It didn’t happen! So here it goes today and again I apologize about not posting this on time.
As promised here are 7 more truly amazing facts about the black (Moorish) culture that your history teacher will never teach you.
Well that’s it for today’s Amazing Facts About The Black Culture I hope you have enjoyed it and have found it informative. I will be back tomorrow with 7 more facts.
I am going to release 7 amazing facts that most people do not know about the black culture throughout what is known as black history month. The facts are based on statistics taken from the book, “100 Amazing Facts About The Negro With Complete Proof”, by J. A. Rogers.
A. Rogers devoted over fifty years of his life to his research. He had not only looked
at world history but also at the history of people of African origin, and had shown how their history is inseparable part of the history of mankind.
7 Amazing Facts That Will Shock You
Keep in mind that at the time this book was written that the Moorish people were referred to as Negro, just like today they are referred to as African Americans.
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