The Remarkable Journey of Matthew Henson: From Humble Beginnings to the North Pole

Matthew Henson’s life is a testament to perseverance, courage, and determination. Born on August 8, 1866, in the small town of Nanjemoy, Maryland, Henson was one of the most significant explorers in American history. His remarkable contributions, especially to the race to the North Pole, have often been overshadowed by his white counterparts, but his story deserves recognition for its trailblazing spirit. 

Early Life and African Heritage 

 Matthew Henson was born to parents who were both of African descent. His father, a free Black man, left the family when Henson was still a toddler, and his mother died when he was about 11 years old. Left orphaned, Henson moved to Washington, D.C., where he was taken in by an aunt and uncle. In his early teens, he was able to find work as a cabin boy on merchant ships. His work as a seaman would soon expose him to a world of exploration, an opportunity that would change the course of his life. 

 Henson’s African heritage was an important part of his identity, though in the segregated America of his time, it often presented challenges. Despite these barriers, Henson’s skills and determination earned him respect in the world of Arctic exploration, where his talents as a navigator and his ability to adapt to harsh conditions would be his ticket to fame. 

  A Life at Sea and Introduction to Arctic Exploration

At the age of 18, Henson set off on a new adventure when he joined a ship heading to the Caribbean, learning navigation and the skills of a seaman along the way. He would continue his seafaring work for several years, traveling to ports around the world. It was on one of these trips that he encountered Robert E. Peary, a U.S. Navy engineer and explorer. Peary, who had begun his career in Arctic exploration, saw promise in Henson and hired him as a personal assistant for a trip to Greenland in 1887. 

 This was the beginning of Henson’s long association with Peary and his eventual rise to prominence in the exploration community. Over the next two decades, Henson traveled repeatedly to the Arctic, learning the skills of survival in the frozen wilderness. Peary, impressed by his resilience, made Henson an essential member of his exploration team. Henson was not only a trusted assistant, but also took on the role of a skilled navigator, and his work was crucial to the success of Peary’s expeditions. 

  Navigating the North Pole

The quest to reach the North Pole was one of the most ambitious and dangerous challenges of the early 20th century. For years, Peary and Henson, along with a team of Inuit guides, had been pushing northward, battling harsh conditions and treacherous terrain. The race to the pole was marked by failure and frustration, but Henson’s dedication never wavered. 

 In 1909, after many years of preparation and several expeditions, Peary, Henson, and their team of Inuit guides finally reached what they believed to be the North Pole. However, the controversy over who actually made it first has clouded the achievement. Both Peary and Henson claimed to have been the first men to reach the pole, but there were disputes over the exact coordinates and the legitimacy of their claim. Despite this, historians agree that Henson played a crucial role in the expedition and was indispensable to its success. He was the one who navigated and led the way, ensuring that they moved in the right direction despite the blizzards, icy conditions, and lack of landmarks. 

Legacy and Recognition

Although Henson was not widely recognized in his lifetime for his achievements, his contributions to the polar expeditions were finally acknowledged decades later. In 1937, he became one of the first Black members of the Explorers Club in New York. In 1954, after decades of living in relative obscurity, he was awarded a gold medal by the National Geographic Society in recognition of his role in reaching the North Pole. However, it wasn’t until long after his death in 1955 that Henson received the full recognition he deserved. 

In the years following his death, Henson's story began to capture the imagination of a new generation. His pioneering spirit and perseverance were finally celebrated as a key part of America's history of exploration. In 1988, his remains were reburied next to Robert Peary at Arlington National Cemetery, where he was finally honored as a hero of Arctic exploration. 

Today, Henson is remembered as one of the most accomplished explorers of the 20th century. Despite the racial prejudices he faced, his achievements have become an enduring symbol of resilience and excellence. Henson’s journey from an orphaned child of African descent to one of the most important figures in polar exploration serves as an inspiration to all who dare to dream beyond the boundaries imposed by society.

Edmond Albius: The Black Man That Revolutionized the Global Production of Vanilla

 

Edmond Albius (b. 1829 - d. 8/9/1880) 
(Image: circa 1863)

Many of us know and love vanilla, which is now grown to flavor an array of the foods we have come to love. There are little known historical facts about how vanilla became a common staple in many kitchen pantries and cupboards today. First, many do not know that vanilla is produced from the vanilla orchid, which has about 110 specie variations  within the orchid family. Yes, an orchid. The second little known fact about vanilla is that a Black man, Edmond Albius, taught European planters how to hand pollinate the orchid that made way for a global production of the vanilla bean. 

Arab traders knew the island of Réunion as Dina Morgabin, translated as the “Western Island”, an island located in the Indian Ocean near Madagascar. Around 1507, the Portuguese were the first Europeans to settle in the region. The Portuguese settlement was nominal. By 1642, the French began to occupy the island to house its convicts -- French mutineers expelled from Madagascar. By 1665, the French introduced the forced labor of enslaved Africans from the region to the island.  

Edmond Albius was born in 1829 and enslaved under the French occupation of Réunion. His mother had died during his birth and he would later give himself the surname Albius, adopted from the word alba "white" in reference to the vanilla orchid's color. When Edmond was born, slavery still existed in Réunion and would not be abolished until December 20, 1848. Edmond was taught basic botany by his French enslaver, Féréol Bellier Beaumont.

Flat-leaved vanilla orchid (Vanilla planifolia)

In the 1820s, the vanilla bean was brought to Réunion by the French colonists. The problem with growing vanilla in the region was that there were no insects to pollinate the vanilla orchid. At a very young age, Edmond was known as a young horticulturalist with profound knowledge on the cultivation of plants. In 1841, by the age of 12 years old, Edmond invented a quick hand pollination technique that involved the use of a thin blade of grass or stick coupled with a thumb gesture that lifts the rostellum that separates the female stigma from the male anther. This allowed for the manual pollination technique of smearing the sticky pollen from the anther to the stigma. 

To this day, this hand-pollination technique of the vanilla orchid is used in nearly all vanilla production. After the successful introduction of the technique in Réunion, it was soon introduced to Madagascar by the French colonists. Madagascar remains one the world’s leading vanilla producers to this day, based on the hand-pollination technique of the vanilla orchid introduced by a Black man -- Edmond Albius. While it is said that there were petitions to the government of Réunion to provide Edmond some form of monetary compensation for his significant contribution to the economy, the petitions were ultimately unsuccessful. Edmond died in poverty in St. Suzanne, Réunion in1880. 

Carlos Alexander Cooks and the Development of Black Nationalism

It is likely that you have never heard of Carlos Alexander Cooks, though he has profoundly shaped the development of Black Nationalism in the U.S. Cooks was born in the Dominican Republic, Caribbean on 6/23/1913 to James Henry Cooks and Alice Cooks. His parents were originally from the neighboring island of St. Martin.

Descriptzto James Henry Cooks and Alice Cooks, who were originally from the neighboring island of St. Martin. His education took place mostly in Santo Domingo until moving to New York in 1929 where he went on to higher learning.

Cooks’ intellect was recognized from an early age. He attended the leadership school in the Voodoo Sacré Society. He became involved in the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), where both his father and uncle were among the many St. Martiners who were members of the organization led by Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr. 

Cooks went on join the Garvey Union and its Universal African Legion. Marcus Garvey played a central role in shaping Cooks’ political career. At age nineteen, Cooks was knighted by Garvey, becoming an official and active member of the UNIA. In the years between Garvey's death (1940) and the appearance of Malcolm X in Harlem (1954) Cooks was one of the most important Black nationalist figures in Harlem and the United States. In fact, after Marcus Garvey was deported, Carlos Cooks led the Advance Division of the UNIA. 

Black Nationalism from Garvey to Malcolm

On 6/23/1941, on his birthday, Cooks would found the African Nationalist Pioneer Movement (ANPM). Born out of Garvey's UNIA, Cooks envisioned the ANPM as "an educational, inspirational, instructive, constructive and expansive society... composed of people desirous of bringing about a progressive, dignified, cultural, fraternal and racial confraternity among the African peoples of the world.” On the streets of Harlem in the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s, the ANPM kept the spirit of the UNIA alive, capturing the political pulse of the Black Nationalist community.

In September 1941, months after Cooks founded the ANPM,  writer Jane Cooke Wright wrote the following in the New York Age newspaper: “The Honorable Carlos Cooks, an important character in the advance division of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, exemplifies the views of Marcus Garvey. He preaches the supremacy of the Blacks. This wishful thinking, he believes will someday come true. At present the white people in Europe are killing each other off and therefore the final battle will be between the whites and the Blacks on the sands of Africa.”

Cooks was committed to Black economic achievement. It is said that it was Cooks who coined the phrase “BUY BLACK” as an economic solution in African-American communities across the U.S. On 5/5/1966, Cooks died in Harlem New York at the age of 52. 

Edward Wilmot Blyden on Liberia

Edward Wilmot Blyden (b. 8/3/1832 - d. 2/7/1912)

On August 3,1832, Edward Wilmot Blyden was born in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Island, West Indies. He is considered by many historians as the father of Pan-Africanism. His writings and speeches are amongst the earliest works on the subject of Africans returning to the continent after the impact of the European Trans-Atlantic slave trade, even predating the influence of the late Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr..

Blyden was an educator, writer and diplomat who became very active in the United States and in West Africa. He is noted to be among the first three Africans admitted to Harvard Medical School. He would later become an active political figure in Liberia, the West African nation settled by free and freed Africans primarily from the Americas and West Indies.

When he married Sarah Yates, of the prominent Yates family of Liberia, he would be joining the prominent family of Beverly Page Yates, the Liberian vice-president from 1856-1860. The Blydens had three children. 

While in West Africa, Blyden also taught in Sierra Leone where he became an influential intellectual force. A frequent commentator on the political and historical actions of African nations to their global diaspora, Blyden spoke publicly on Ethiopia's win on November 16, 1875 at the Battle of Gundet against an Egypt led by colonial Arabs. Both Blyden and his contemporary, Martin Robinson Delany, praised the Gundet win as an African victory.

A Pan-African Perspective of the Battle of Gundet, Ethiopia

Below is one of the many public speeches by Edward Wilmot Blyden. Published July 27, 1857, this speech addresses some of the pressing issues facing the new settlers at Liberia -- many of whom were newly freed from the Americas. Blyden addressed the problem that arises when a populace is driven by a desire to be "rich", as seen by the conspicuous consumption patterns Blyden notes in the new inhabitants to Liberia. In this speech, Blyden also brings to the forefront of his listeners the economic perils ofdependence on the foreign aid of the United States.

* * * *

 Liberia as She is; and the Present Duty of her Citizens  

[An Independence Day address given at Monrovia, July 27, 1857     

African Repository, November 1857, pp. 328-32.] 

 What then…are the moral causes of the present evils in Liberia? …    … as a people we have been in too much haste to be rich. Relinquishing the pursuit of those attributes that would fit us for the faithful discharge of our peculiar duties as men, as Liberians, as an infant nation, we have used every possible measure to enhance our pecuniary importance; and in the precipitate efforts at wealth, we have not been careful as to what means we have employed. The desire to be rich, or to appear to be rich, pervades all classes. The love of money…has grown upon us to such a degree that all other avenues of distinction seem but trifling in comparison of those which lead to the acquisition of money.    To be rich seems with many “the chief end of man”.  Hence, no talents, no endowment of the mind, no skill or knowledge, no amount of education, is appreciated only so far as it will pay…. This fact has operated greatly in retarding the literary progress of our youth….  

CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION   

Another cause of our adversity may be seen in the unjustifiable extravagance in which we indulge; in that luxury of expenditure for houses, for dress, for furniture, for food, constantly made the reprehensible remark by thinking foreigners.  We are in dreadful error in regard to our country, if we suppose we are truly prosperous. Our prosperity is not real; it is false; it is fictitious.  The prosperity of a nation is real when the springs of the prosperity are contained within itself, in the hands of its citizens; when it depends for its existence upon its own resources; when it is independent.  But this is not the case in Liberia.  We are, as a nation, upheld by foreigners. We are entirely dependent upon foreigners for our schools, for churches, for preachers, for teachers.  Most of the talent of the country is in the employ and at the control of foreigners.  Those thus employed must ever hold their talents and their efforts subservient, not to what they conceive to be the interests of their country, but to the desires and direction of foreign employers…. What we wish to bring before our minds today is the humiliating fact, that nearly all the talent of Liberia—talent not in ordinary men, but in our principal men—is supported by foreign means and controlled by foreign influence.  And yet, in the face of these humbling realities, we boast of our civilization, of our prosperity, of our independence, and indulge in unjustifiable extravagance…    *     *     *    … the money lavished upon houses, which add nothing to  health and comfort; upon dress, which does not increase the dignity and beauty of personal appearance; the large sums laid out in expensive furniture, … the great amount consumed in the luxuries of the table would go a great way in keeping our streets clear of weeds, in felling the dense forests around us, in reclaiming the wilderness, in cultivating the soil, in civilizing our … brethren.    … Look at the numbers who … in order to advance to, or maintain this [extravagant] style of living, flock to the fostering arms and sheltering wings of these [foreign] societies.  Thus dis- honesty stalks abroad under the semblance of piety; and impiety assumes the appearance of religion for the sake of gain.  And … this extravagant manner of living…are made in the minds of many the standard of respectability…we attach more importance to display than to reality.  There is very little that is substantial about us…    *     *     *    …It is our duty to learn that there are other objects of infinitely greater importance than wealth in our rising country…A higher destiny is ours: our duty and privilege is the laying of the foundation of future empires in Africa…    … It is our duty to curtail our superfluous expenditures.  There should be retrenchment of our expenditures for splendid edifices….Let our surplus means be beneficially expended; let it be vested in the improvement of our country, in placing our prosperity upon a safer and more permanent foundation—in rendering ourselves independent…    … It is our duty to labor.  We dwell in a country rich in resources, which with little exertion can be called forth in sufficient variety and abundance to render us comfortable and independent. But there is a fatal lack of productive industry among us…. The commerce of the country has always been in such articles as our citizens have had no part in producing; hence we acquire wealth from this source without helping to create it.  We purchase the palm oil and camwood and ivory from the natives giving them in exchange articles of foreign production …. The prosperity arising from our commerce is almost as evanescent as that based on missionary appropriations.  Foreigners on the one hand, and the natives on the other, are our supporters.    *     *     *    … we must either abandon our state of utter dependency upon foreigners, by creating the means of supplying our own wants, or relinquish our profession of liberty as a nation.  A state of dependency is entirely incongruous with a state of liberty….    …The…rich and fertile soil…invites us to its cultivation. Nothing should be allowed to interfere between us and the soil…

Benjamin Banneker's 1791 Letter to Thomas Jefferson; Jefferson's Reply

First published in 1791, Benjamin Banneker's
almanacs were widely distributed publications.

Benjamin Banneker (b. 11/9/1731, Maryland – d. 10/9/1806) was an astronomer, mathematician, clockmaker, farmer, author of almanacs and one of the three city surveyors for Washington D.C. As a country, the U.S. was not quite 20 years old when Banneker was appointed city planner to the District of Columbia by U.S. President George Washington. Banneker's 1793 almanac contained what would be the earliest known policing plan for the new nation -- which had just won its freedom from Britain, titled "A Plan of Peace-office for the United States." Benjamin Banneker certainly had many successes and he did not allow the prosperity of his personal estate to dictate his politics.  An record of human rights activism in the British colonies and early nation could easily include his writings. A vocal anti-slavery activist, Banneker publicly deplored the treatment of Negroes in the United States of America, as illustrated in his letter to Thomas Jefferson -- penned August of 1791, nearly 10 years before Jefferson was elected to the U.S.  presidency.

BENJAMIN BANNEKER'S LETTER TO THOMAS JEFFERSON (August 1791)

I am fully sensible of that freedom, which I take with you in the present occasion, a liberty which seemed to me scarcely allowable, when I reflected on that distinguished and dignified station in which you stand, and the almost general prejudice and prepossession, which is so prevalent in world against those of my complexion.

I suppose it is truth too well attested . . . to need a proof here, that we are a race of beings, who have long labored under the abuse and censure of the world; that we have long been looked upon with an eye of contempt; and that we have long been considered rather as brutish than human, and scarcely capable of mental endowments.

Sir, I hope I may safely admit . . . that you are a man less inflexible in sentiments of this nature, than many others; that you are measurably friendly, and well disposed towards us; and that you are willing and ready to lend your aid and assistance to our relief, from those many distresses, and numerous calamities to which we are reduced.

. . . if this is founded in truth, I apprehend you will embrace every opportunity, to eradicate that train of absurd and false ideas and opinions, which so generally prevails with respect to us; and that your sentiments are concurrent with mine, which are, that one universal Father hath given being to us all; and that he hath not only made us all of one flesh, but that he hath also, without partiality, afforded us all the same sensations and endowed us all with the same faculties; and that however variable we may be in society or religion, however diversified in situation or color, we are all in the same family and stand in the same relation to him.

. . . if these are sentiments of which you are fully persuaded, I hope you cannot but acknowledge, that it is the indispensable duty of those, who maintain for themselves the rights of human nature, and who possess the obligations of Christianity, to extend their power and influence to the relief of every part of the human race, from whatever burden or oppression they may unjustly labor under . . .

. . . I have long been convinced, that if your love . . . for those inestimable laws, which preserved to you the rights of human nature, was founded on sincerity, you could not but be solicitous, that every individual, of whatever rank or distinction, might with you equally enjoy the blessings thereof; neither could you rest satisfied short of the most active effusion of your exertions, in order to the promotion from any state of degradation, to which the unjustifiable cruelty and barbarism of men may have reduced them.

. . . I freely and cheerfully acknowledge, that I am of the African race, and that color which is natural to them of the deepest dye; and it is under a sense of the most profound gratitude to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, that I now confess to you that I am not under that state of tyrannical thraldom, and inhuman captivity, to which too many of my brethren are doomed, but that I have abundantly tasted of the fruition of those blessings, which proceed from that free and unequalled liberty with which you are favored; and which, I hope, you will willingly allow you have mercifully received, from the immediate hand of that Being, from whom proceedeth every good and perfect Gift.

 . . . suffer me to recall to your mind that time, in which the arms and tyranny of the British crown were exerted . . . in order to reduce you to a state of servitude: look back, I entreat you, on the variety of dangers to which you were exposed; reflect on that time, in which every human aid appeared unavailable, in which even hope and fortitude wore the aspect of inability to the conflict, and you cannot but be led to a serious and grateful sense of your miraculous and providential preservation; you cannot but acknowledge, that the present freedom and tranquility . . . is the peculiar blessing of Heaven.

This, Sir, was a time when you clearly saw into the injustice of a state of slavery, and in which you had just apprehensions of the horror of its condition. . . . your abhorrence thereof was so excited, that you publicly held forth this true and invaluable doctrine, which is worthy to be recorded and remembered in all succeeding ages: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, and that among these are, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.'

.  . . tender feelings for yourselves had engaged you thus to declare, you were then impressed with proper ideas of the great violation of liberty, and the free possession of those blessings, to which you were entitled by nature; but, Sir, how pitiable is it to reflect, that although you were so fully convinced of the benevolence of the Father of Mankind, and of his equal and impartial distribution of these rights and privileges, which he hath conferred upon them, that you should at the same time counteract his mercies, in detaining by fraud and violence so numerous a part of my brethren, under groaning captivity, and cruel oppression, that you should at the same time be found guilty of that most criminal act, which you professedly detested in others, with respect to yourselves.

. . . I suppose that your knowledge of the situation of my brethren, is too extensive to need a recital here; neither shall I presume to prescribe methods by which they may be relieved, otherwise than by recommending to you and all others, to wean yourselves from those narrow prejudices which you have imbibed with respect to them, and as Job proposed to his friends, 'put your soul in their souls' stead'; thus shall your hearts be enlarged with kindness and benevolence towards them; and thus shall you need neither the direction of myself or others, in what manner to proceed herein.

And now, Sir, although my sympathy and affection for my brethren hath caused my enlargement thus far, I ardently hope, that your candor and generosity will plead with you in my behalf, when I make known to you, that it was not originally my design; but having taken up my pen in order to direct to you, as a present, a copy of my Almanac, which I have calculated for the succeeding year, I was unexpectedly and unavoidably led thereto.

This calculation . . . is the product of my arduous study, in this most advanced stage of life; for having long had unbounded desires to become acquainted with the secrets of nature, I have had to gratify my curiosity herein through my own assiduous application to Astronomical Study, in which I need not recount to you the many difficulties and disadvantages which I have had to encounter.

And although I had almost declined to make my calculation for the ensuing year . . . yet finding myself under several engagements to Printers of this State, to whom I had communicated my design, on my return to my place of residence, I industriously applied myself thereto, which I hope I have accomplished with correctness and accuracy; a copy of which I have taken the liberty to direct to you, and which I humbly request you will favorably receive; . . . I choose to send it to you in manuscript . . . that thereby you might not only have an earlier inspection, but that you might also view it in my own hand writing.

JEFFERSON'S REPLY TO BANNEKER (August 30, 1791, Philadelphia)

Sir --

-- I thank you sincerely for your letter of the 19th instant, and for the Almanac it contained. Nobody wishes more than I do to see such proofs as you exhibit, that nature has given to our black brethren talents equal to those of the other colours of men, and that the appearance of a want of them is owing only to the degraded condition of their existence both in Africa and America. I can add with truth that no one wishes more ardently to see a good system commenced for raising the condition both of their body and mind to what it ought to be, as fast as the imbecility of their present existence, and other circumstances which cannot be neglected, will admit. I have take the liberty of sending your Almanac to Monsieur de Condorcet, Secretary of Society; because I considered it a document to which your whole colour had a right for their justification against the doubts which have been entertained of them.

I am, with great esteem, sir, your most obedient servant,

THO. JEFFERSON

Nehanda Charwe Nyakasikana: Early African Colonial Resistance in Zimbabwe and Southern Africa

In traditional Zimbabwean and South African culture, Nehanda Charwe Nyakasikana (c. 1840–1898) is known as a svikiro (spirit medium) and mhondoro (distinction category of royal ancestral spirit or "lion spirit"). The legacy of the Nehanda transcends national boundaries because her lore originates among the pre-colonial Shona-speaking people of ancient Great Zimbabwe --  known to include both the Shona-speaking people and Ndebele tribal family. A 1888 missionary map includes the name of the village Nehandas. 

When Nehanda Nyakasikana was born, she was considered to be the female incarnation of the great oracle Nehanda. Also referred to as "Mbuya Nehanda" and "Mbuya Charwe", she is commonly referred to as the grandmother of present day Zimbabwe -- among the early African resistance to European colonialism in the region. 

The earliest of European settlers began to migrate to the region from Britain during Nehanda Nyakasikana's rule. By 1894, the British imperialist had imposed what they termed the "hut tax" against the native populations consisting of both the Ndebele and Shona people. In addition to the "hut tax", the British began to impose forced relocation and forced labor camps. 

The military campaign to drive out the British was started by the Ndebele in May 1896. The African resistance is known as the Chimurenga War ("war of liberation"), also known as the Second Matabele War and the Matabele Rebellion. The Ndebele was joined by the Shona in October 1896. The unique element of the Chimurenga War was the leading roles played by three traditional spiritual leaders or mhondoro: Mukwati in Matabeleland, Kagubi in western Mashonaland, and Nehanda, the only woman, in Central and Northern Mashonaland. 

In 1897, Nehanda Nyakasikana was captured at the war's end and charged with the murder of a local commissioner, held by commentators as trumped up charges. Nevertheless, she was found guilty and hanged by authority of the (British) High Commissioner for South Africa, led then by Alfred Milner. The execution was endorsed by the (British) Imperial Secretary on March 28, 1898. The judge presiding over the execution was termed the "Hanging Judge" John Watermayer. Herbert Hayton Castens, Esq. served as "Public Prosecutor Sovereign with the British South Africa Company territories, who prosecutes for and on behalf of her majesty." The lore that arises from the public hanging includes accounts of difficulty killing Nehanda Nyakasikana, along with her resounding statement: "Mapfupa angu achamuka! (my bones will surely rise!)".

When the nationalist liberation movements of the 1960s and 1970s rose in Africa, Zimbabwe's local guerrilla factions were raising the spirit of Nehanda in their independence struggle. This included the likes of then young guerrilla factions under Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and Joshua Nkomo's Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU). Both ZANU and ZAPU were opposed to the then ruling United African National Council under leadership of Bishop Abel Muzorewa.

"If Nehanda were alive today," said Robert Mugabe in 1979, "there is no doubt she would be a member of the Patriotic Front." 

• Revolt in Southern Rhodesia, 1896-7: A Study in African Resistance, Terence O. Ranger, Heinemann, 1984. Available at Amazon.com. 
• The Struggle for Zimbabwe: The Chimurenga War, David Martin & Phyllis Johnson, Zimbabwe Publishing House, 1981. Available at Amazon.com. 

J. A. Rogers: Author, Journalist and Historical Illustrator

Photo of Joel Augustus Rogers aka J.A. Rogers (b. 9/6/1880 - d. 3/26/1966)

Joel Augustus Rogers was born September 6, 1880 in Negril, Jamaica and died on March 26, 1966 in New York City.  Rogers was a historian, journalist and author whose works made great contributions to the history of Africa and its diaspora. Of mixed-race parentage and one of eleven children, J.A. Roger's father was Samuel John Rogers, a school-teacher, minister and a plantation manager in Jamaica. Information about Roger's mother has been difficult to find.
 
What is known is that in 1906, after serving in the British Army at Port Royal, Jamaica, J.A. Rogers moved from Jamaica to Harlem, New York, where he would eventually reside during the majority of his adult life, living with his wife Helga M. Rogers. Rogers did make Black Chicago his home for a time, while working as a Pullman Porter and reporter.

In 1909, Rogers enrolled in the Chicago Art Institute. According to his biographer, Thabiti Asukile, he attended art classes there while supporting himself financially as a Pullman Porter, where he would work until 1919. As a result of his being able to travel widely within the United States as a Pullman Porter, Rogers was certainly able to access a wide variety of libraries that had developed in different cities across the country. A voracious bibliophile, Rogers compiled information about African history and began to write and self-publish his research findings.

"I found in Chicago a friend who introduced me to books in which I found the names of several great men of Negro ancestry past and present," states Rogers in his book World's Great Men of Color, Vol. 1. "In my spare time, and with no thought of writing a book, I began to collect some of these names. That was about 1911."

Early photo of J. A. Rogers.

Rogers first book was Superman to Man, privately published in 1917 and printed by the M.A. Donohue Co. In Superman to Man, Rogers used the classic literary technique of developing the central theme of a written work around a debate -- a tool frequently used by ancient historians. In the book, we see a Pullman Porter debate a white supremacist from the South regarding politics and religion. The ensuing debate served as a forum for Rogers to counter many of the stereotypes that prevailed at the time about race. Rogers' Pullman Porter argued that the concept of race, in fact, lacked scientific proof.

Rogers served as a foreign correspondent for a variety of African American newspapers, especially after he moved to Harlem in 1921. In addition to his published works for the Chicago Enterprise and Chicago Defender newspapers, Rogers wrote for the Pittsburgh Courier and served as sub-editor for the Daily Negro Times -- the latter published by Marcus Garvey. The editors of the Pittsburgh Courier sent Rogers as a correspondent to cover the coronation of Emperor Haile Selassie I in Ethiopia. Additionally, Rogers was noted as the only Black U.S. war correspondent during World War II. He would publish widely in publications such as the New York Amsterdam News, the Messenger Magazine, and others -- making him one of the leading Black journalist of his times.

Book published by J.A. Rogers -- 100 Amazing Facts About the Negro with Complete Proof

Rogers made great contribution to publishing and distributing little know African history facts through books and pamphlets such as 100 Amazing Facts About the Negro with Complete Proof and The Five Negro Presidents. His greatest interest was in exploring the concept of race that was developing into a themed possession among historians of European descent. In response, Rogers published the three-volume work Sex and Race between 1941 and 1944. From 1946 to 1947, Rogers published his pioneering work The World's Great Men of Color, printed in two volumes.

Copy of an illustrated work J.A. Rogers published in newspapers and in books. Many of his amazing facts were substantiated by subsequent writings on the topic. For example, read more about Scota of Egypt and the origins of the Scottish people at "The pharaoh's daughter who was the mother of all Scots," from The Scotsman publication.

The common thread in Roger's research was his unending aim to counter white supremacist propaganda that prevailed in segregated communities across the United States against people of African descent.The works of Rogers only became assigned reading in the most independently-developed, university curriculum of African-centered history professors -- and even then, after Rogers had passed away. The noted historian Dr. John Henrik Clarke states that Rogers "looked at the history of people of African origin, and showed how their history is an inseparable part of the history of mankind." His works have enlightened many people interested in uncovering the suppressed histories of African people. His legacy continues through the great volume of works he has left behind.

J.A. Rogers Works, Chronological by Publication Date:

•     From "Superman" to Man. Chicago: J. A. Rogers, 1917. —novel.
•     As Nature Leads: An Informal Discussion of the Reason Why Negro and Caucasian are Mixing in Spite of Opposition. Chicago: M. A. Donahue & Co, 1919. —novel.
•     The Approaching Storm and Bow it May be Averted: An Open Letter to Congress Chicago: National Equal Rights League, Chicago Branch: 1920.
•     "Music and Poetry — The Noblest Arts," Music and Poetry, vol. 1, no. 1 (January 1921).
•     "The Thrilling Story of The Maroons," serialized in The Negro World, March–April 1922.
•     "The West Indies: Their Political, Social, and Economic Condition," serialized in The Messenger (Volume 4, Number 9, September 1922).
•     Blood Money (Novel) serialized in New York Amsterdam News, April 1923.
•     "The Ku Klux Klan A Menace or A Promise," serialized in The Messenger (Volume 5, Number 3, March 1923).
•     "Jazz at Home" The Survey Graphic Harlem, vol. 6, no. 6 (March 1925).
•     "What Are We, Negroes or Americans?" The Messenger, vol. 8, no. 8 (August 1926).
•     Book Review, Jazz, by Paul Whiteman." Opportunity: The Journal of Negro Life (Volume 4, Number 48, December 1926).
•     "The Negro's Experience of Christianity and Islam," Review of Nations, Geneva (January–March 1928)
•     "The American Occupation of Haiti: Its Moral and Economic Benefit," by Dantes Bellegarde. (Translator). Opportunity: Journal of Negro Life (Volume 8, Number 1, January 1930).
•     "The Negro in Europe," The American Mercury (May 1930).
•     "The Negro in European History," Opportunity: Journal of Negro Life (Volume 8, Number 6, June 1930).
•     World's Greatest Men of African Descent. New York: J. A. Rogers Publications, 1931.
•     "The Americans in Ethiopia," under the pseudonym Jerrold Robbins, in American Mercury (May 1933).
•     "Enrique Diaz," in Opportunity: Journal of Negro Life, vol. 11, no. 6 (June 1933).
•     100 Amazing facts about the Negro with Complete Proof. A Short Cut to the World History of the Negro. New York: J. A. Rogers Publications, 1934.
•     World's Greatest Men and Women of African Descent. New York: J. A. Rogers Publications, 1935.
•     "Italy Over Abyssinia," The Crisis, Volume 42, Number 2, February 1935.
•     The Real Facts About Ethiopia. New York: J.A Rogers, 1936.
•     "When I Was In Europe," Interracial Review: A journal for Christian Democracy, October 1938.
•     "Hitler and the Negro," Interracial Review: A Journal for Christian Democracy, April 1940.
•     "The Suppression of Negro History," The Crisis, vol. 47, no. 5 (May 1940).
•     Your History: From the Beginning of Time to the Present. Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh Courier Publishing Co, 1940.
•     An Appeal From Pioneer Negroes of the World, Inc: An Open Letter to His Holiness Pope Pius XII. New York: J. A. Rogers, 1940.
•     Sex and Race: Negro-Caucasian Mixing in All Ages and All Lands, Volume I: The Old World. New York: J. A. Rogers, 1941.
•     Sex and Race: A History of White, Negro, and Indian Miscegenation in the Two Americas, Volume II: The New World. New York: J. A. Rogers, 1942.
•     Sex and Race, Volume III: Why White and Black Mix in Spite of Opposition. New York: J. A. Rogers, 1944.
•     World's Great Men of Color, Volume I: Asia and Africa, and Historical Figures Before Christ, Including Aesop, Hannibal, Cleopatra, Zenobia, Askia the Great, and Many Others. New York : J. A. Rogers, 1946.
•     World's Great Men of Color, Volume II: Europe, South and Central America, the West Indies, and the United States, Including Alessandro de' Medici, Alexandre Dumas, Dom Pedro II, Marcus Garvey, and Many Others (New York: J. A. Rogers, 1947).
•     "Jim Crow Hunt," The Crisis (November 1951).
•     Nature Knows No Color Line: Research into the Negro Ancestry in the White Race. (New York: J. A. Rogers, 1952).
•     Facts About the Negro. (Drawings by A. S. Milai) (booklet) (Pittsburgh: Lincoln Park Studios, 1960).
•     Africa's Gift to America: The Afro-American in the Making and Saving of the United States. With New Supplement Africa and its Potentialities. (New York: J. A. Rogers, 1961).
•     She Walks in Beauty. Los Angeles: Western Publishers, 1963. —novel
•     "Civil War Centennial: Myth and Reality," Freedomways, vol. 3, no.1 (Winter 1963).
•     The Five Negro presidents: According to What White People Said They Were. New York: J. A. Rogers, 1965.

(Publication Chronology courtesy of Wikipedia)

42 Laws of Maat Under Kemet Law

Maat was the rule of law and moral justice among the ancient Kemet people, and the divine cosmological order within their mythology, astronomy, and astrophysical studies.

Kemet is the name the native African people of the country now known as Egypt called themselves in their surviving writings. Many scholars refer to the people as "kmt" or Kemet. The surviving artifacts of the Kemet viziers and scribes evidence that Kemet rule of law was “Maat,” contained at least in part in observing the 42 Laws of Maat.

The Goddess Maat as the Cosmological Origin of Kemet Rule of Law

Heliopolis-era creation stories from the Kemet people report that in the beginning Atum emerged from the Isfet (chaos) of Nu (primordial waters). Atum created the god Shu (personification of air/cool dryness) and goddess Tefnut (personification of moisture) from Nu. Shu is depicted in the Kemet iconography as an ostrich feather.

Under Kemet cosmology, Maat is designed to avert chaos (Isfet) and maintain truth (Maat). The symbol for truth, justice, balance, and order is the Goddess Maat. The iconography for Maat in the hieroglyphs depict the single ostrich feather (Shu), worn atop Goddess Maat’s head.

During the reign of Pharaoh Menes, around 2925 B.C.E., after the unification of upper and lower Kemet, archaeological finds evidence administration of the 42 Laws of Maat among the Kemet people as deduced from Kemet coffin texts or funerary papyri dating from this period.

The Duat, the Hall of Two Truths, and the Weighing the Ka (Heart)

Photo: Plate 3 of the Papyrus of Ani. 42 Laws of Maat, or 42 Negative Confessions, or 42 Admonition to Goddess Maat

The duat (underworld as the place for judgment) is where the popular Kemet funerary scene of the Hall of Two Truths is depicted in the various versions of the “Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Papyrus of Ani,” edited by E.A. Wallis Budge. A closer interpretation of the title from the Kemet language is said to be “Book of Coming Forth by Day.” The Budge translation was a funerary text written for the "coming forth" of Kemet scribe Ani.

In Chapter 30B of The Papyrus of Ani entitled “Chapter for Not Letting Ani’s Heart Create Opposition Against Him, in the Gods’ Domain,” we see the deceased scribe standing before his own heart/soul (ka) on the scale of Maat. On the opposite scale is the Goddess Maat’s feather of truth (Shu). The head of the Goddess Maat is depicted atop the scales of justice. Thoth, also known by other names such as Tehuti, stands holding a tablet and a writing tool to record the results from the scales. The ibis-headed Thoth is the patron saint of Maat scribes and priests.

Petitioner Announces the 42 Divine Principles of the Maat

In Chapter 125 of The Papyrus of Ani, we find the petitioner led by Anubis into duat and pronouncing his/her 42 affirmative declarations, listed below from Budge’s public domain translation of the 42 Divine Principles of Maat:

1. I have not committed sin.
2. I have not committed robbery with violence.
3. I have not stolen.
4. I have not slain men or women.
5. I have not stolen food.
6. I have not swindled offerings.
7. I have not stolen from God/Goddess.
8. I have not told lies.
9. I have not carried away food.
10. I have not cursed.
11. I have not closed my ears to truth.
12. I have not committed adultery.
13. I have not made anyone cry.
14. I have not felt sorrow without reason.
15. I have not assaulted anyone.
16. I am not deceitful.
17. I have not stolen anyone’s land.
18. I have not been an eavesdropper.
19. I have not falsely accused anyone.
20. I have not been angry without reason.
21. I have not seduced anyone’s wife.
22. I have not polluted myself.
23. I have not terrorized anyone.
24. I have not disobeyed the Law.
25. I have not been exclusively angry.
26. I have not cursed God/Goddess.
27. I have not behaved with violence.
28. I have not caused disruption of peace.
29. I have not acted hastily or without thought.
30. I have not overstepped my boundaries of concern.
31. I have not exaggerated my words when speaking.
32. I have not worked evil.
33. I have not used evil thoughts, words or deeds.
34. I have not polluted the water.
35. I have not spoken angrily or arrogantly.
36. I have not cursed anyone in thought, word or deeds.
37. I have not placed myself on a pedestal.
38. I have not stolen what belongs to God/Goddess.
39. I have not stolen from or disrespected the deceased.
40. I have not taken food from a child.
41. I have not acted with insolence.
42. I have not destroyed property belonging to God/Goddess.

After the petitioner’s testimony containing the 42 affirmative declarations, the weighing of the ka for truth, and the reading of the scales, it is said that the doer of Maat is administered Maat. If the petitioner is deemed by the Goddess Maat to be in substantial compliance with the 42 Laws of Maat the petitioner passes from duat to the Field of Reeds (Arus) where Osiris sits as the final gatekeeper.

- by Vanessa Cross

References:

• "Maat the Moral Ideal in Ancient Egypt," by Maulana Karenga (Sankore Publisher, 2006).
• "The Book of the Dead," edited by E.A. Wallis Budge (Gramercy Publisher, 1995).
• “Maxims of Good Discourse” writings of the notable Kemet vizier and scribe Ptah-Hotep (accounting of some procedural laws under Maat).

A Brief Timeline of the Ancient History of Africa to the "Scramble for Africa"

Map of Africa, c. 1812.

	A BRIEF TIMELINE OF THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF AFRICA TO THE “SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA”
c. 3150 B.C.	Ancient tradition states that the first pharaoh (king) of Kemet (kmt, translation: “black land”, nka Ancient Egypt) was Pharaoh Menes, honored with having unified Upper and Lower Kemet into a single kingdom. The pharaoh of Dynasty I would begin a series of dynasties that ruled Kemet for the next three millennium. In Pliny's account, Menes was credited with being the inventor of writing in Kemet. The New Kingdom of Kemet (c. 1550-1070 B.C.) began with the Eighteenth Dynasty, marking the rise of Egypt as an international power that expanded during its greatest extension to an empire into the southern, northern and western regions of continental Africa and as far east as the region now called India. Notable Pharaohs of this era include Hatshepsut, Thutmose III, Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti, Tutankhamun and Ramesses II. The last native ruled dynasty is said to have been the Thirtieth Dynasty, after which the kingdom fell into the hands of Persian rulers c. 343 B.C., defeating Pharaoh Nectanebo II. Later the Ottomans, of Arab descent, came to rule this part of the Nile Valley.
c. 1200 B.C.	Kingdom of Kush was an ancient African dynasty situated on the confluences of the Blue Nile, White Nile and River Atbara in what is now the Republic of Sudan. Established after the Bronze Age collapse (c. 1206 to 1150), it was centered at Napata in its early phase. After king Kashta ("the Kushite") invaded Egypt in the 8th century BC, the Kushite kings ruled as Pharaohs of the Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt for a century, until they were expelled by Psamtik I in 656 BC. In early Greek geography, the Meroitic kingdom, with its imperial capital at Meroe, was known as Ethiopia. The Kushite kingdom with its capital at Meroe persisted until the 4th century C.E., when it weakened and disintegrated due to internal rebellion. The Kushite capital was eventually captured and destroyed by the kingdom of Axum.
c. 100 C.E.	Kingdom of Aksum (aka as the Axum, Aksumite Kingdom, Abyssinia and Ethiopia), encompassed the national regions now known as Ethiopia and Eritrea. Its dominion included rule over the declining Kingdom of Kush and over the Kingdom of Himyarite in the region now known as Yemen, which then included Saba (Sheba) from c. 25 B.C., Qataban from c. 200 C.E., and Hadramaut from c. 300 C.E. The kingdom existed from approximately 100 C.E. to 940 C.E. Great traders, the Aksumites minted their own currency and was named by Mani (216–276 C.E.) as one of the four great powers of his time along with Persia, Rome, and China. Aksum became the first major empire to convert to Christianity.
c. 400 C.E.	The name Nubia is derived from the Noba people, nomads who settled in the Nile valley region in the 4th century, after the collapse of the Kingdom of Kush. In the ancient commentary, however, Nubia, Kush and Ethiopia (Greek: Aithiopia) are frequently used to describe the same people. For example, while Kemet conquered Nubian lands during various times in history, the Nubians are also noted as having conquered Kemet under its 25th Dynasty. The ancient Nubian language in written form uses a modified Coptic script that was mostly used in religious texts dating from the 8th and 15th centuries C.E.. It is now preserved in at least a hundred pages of ancient documents, including the famous The Martyrdom of Saint Menas. There were a number of small Nubian kingdoms throughout the Middle Ages, the last of which collapsed in 1504, when Nubia became divided between The Arab Republic of Egypt and the Sennar sultanate resulting in the Arabization of much of the Nubian population. Nubia was again brought under Ottoman Egypt in the 19th century, and within Anglo-Egyptian Sudan from 1899 to 1956.
c. 400 C.E.	Kingdom of Ghana, also called the Wagadou, founded in western region of Africa. The wealth of the kingdom includes commentaries of domesticated animals adorned with gold collars and included the domestication of camels before the Arabs.  The old kingdom is not located in the same region as the current Ghana nation. It included the western region of the current nation of Mali and the southeastern section of the current nation of Mauritania and emcompassed Mande-speaking people. Gold, ivory, and salt were traded to Europe and the Middle East. Abū ʿAbdallāh Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī (Arabic: عَبْدَالله مُحَمَّد بِن مُوسَى اَلْخْوَارِزْمِي‎), the Persian mathematician, astronomer and geographer writing from Baghdad c. 800 C.E. documented the legend of the Ghana dynasties.
c. 600 C.E.	The Great Zimbabwe complex was built in stone in the Kingdom of Zimbabwe, marking the rise of the Shona (Translation: dzimba dza mabwe or "great stone houses") civilization and evidencing the great Bantu expansion. The archaeological ruins known as "Great Zimbabwe" have been radiocarbon dated to approximately 600 C.E. The Kingdom of Zimbabwe controlled the ivory and gold trade from the interior to the southeastern coast of Africa. Asian and Arabic goods could be found in abundance in the kingdom.
c. 1230 C.E.	The Mali Empire (aka Mandingo Empire or Manden Kurufaba) major tribal group was the Mandinka and was founded by Sundiata Keita and gained international fame from its ruler Mansa Musa I. The empire formed on the upper Niger River, and reached the height of power in the 14th century with the center of its scholarship and trade in the ancient cities of Djenné and Timbuktu. The pages above are from Timbuktu Manuscripts written in Sudani script (a Semetic script) from the Mali Empire showing established knowledge of astronomy and mathematics. Today there are close to a million of these manuscripts found in Timbuktu alone.
c. 1402 C.E.	Ethiopian embassy was established in Venice.
c. 1460	The Songhai (aka Songhay) are thought to have settled at Gao as early as 800 C.E., but did not establish it as the capital until the 11th century, during the reign of Dia Kossoi. Sulaiman-Mar gained independence and hegemony over Gao c. 1340, and became the forbear of Sunni Ali, the first emperor of Songhai, reigning from c. 1464-1493. Sulaiman-Mar is often credited with wresting power away from the Mali Empire at a time of internal succession disputes. The Songhai Empire would eventually supplanted the Mali Empire. The Songhai Empire would collapse in 1591 in great part due to what is described as the Moroccan invasion.
1497	Vasco da Gama rounds the Cape of Good Hope
1505-1821	The Funj empire in Sudan.
1517	Ottomans take Cairo
1626	First French settle in Senegal and Madagascar
1628-29	War between Mozambique and Portugal, with Mozambique becoming a Portuguese protectorate
1820	Egypt conquers Sudan. British settlers arrive in Cape Colony.
1822	Liberia is established by freed Africans from America.
1824-31	First Anglo-Ashanti War.
1830-47	French conquest of Algeria.
1834-35	British defeat the Xhosa.
1849	Livingstone's first journey in Africa
1850-78	Nine Xhosa wars in South Africa.
1868	British annexes Lesotho
1869	Suez Canal opens
1879	Ango-Zulu War
c. 1880	“Scramble for Africa” begins Note: There were many great kingdoms and empires that rose on the African continent, such as the great civilizations developed by the Moor and the Berber, the Ndongo Kingdom in the central west Africa; the absence on this time-line is a product of the need for brevity only.