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African soldiers, who fought for France during the Second World War, were killed by the French army on 1st December 1944, in Thiaroye, Senegal.  France owed money to African soldiers who fought for them during the Second World War, called "Tirailleurs", meaning riflemen. Several thousand of them were imprisoned by the Nazis on French soil, in the occupied zone, in prison camps called "frontstalags". Some of them managed to escape and joined the 'Resistance' but most remained in captivity for four years.

At the end of the war, camps were liberated and African soldiers wanted to go home. On 5th November 1944, more than 1,600 embarked on a British ship, the "Circassia" in Morlaix, Brittany, heading for Senegal. They will be demobilized there, in Thiaroye camp, before returning to their homes. A quarter of the money owed to African soldiers should have been paid on boarding and the rest on arrival but it never happened and the soldiers refused to leave the camp until the French army settled their debts. It came to an end with their brutal massacre, when the French army decided to kill all the African soldiers in the camp, on 1st December 1944, as they continued standing their ground.

Since, many historians have looked into it and questioned reports of the massacre. The late illustrious filmmaker "Ousmane Sembene" produced a film in 1988 called "Camp de Thiaroye" documenting the events leading up to the Thiaroye massacre, as well as the massacre itself. See the trailer below.

More recently, one of the most renowned French actor, Omar Sy, who came to fame with the French movie "the Untouchables" in 2011, has once again paired up with French film director, Mathieu Vadepied, to release the movie "Tirailleurs", named "Father and Soldier" in English. Omar Sy's father is Senegalese. Continue reading on, to watch the trailer.

This movie resonates with the movie documenting the plea of Algerian soldiers to receive adequate compensation and soldiers pensions for their time serving the French Army during the second world war, up to this date. See trailer below.

Join Afruika Bantu Saturday School on Wednesday 28th December 2022 to celebrate Kwanzaa in style

SAVE THE DATE

Afruika Bantu Saturday School Community Kwanzaa

UJIMA
Collective Work and
Responsibility

KWANZAA is an Afrikan Family Cultural Celebrations - especially
for the children.  Based around 7 life-saving principles.

PROGRAM

Libation
●
Cultural performances
●
Dynamic youth and child participation and performances
●
Drumming workshops for children
●
Afrikan market - education and Cultural stalls.
●
Food and refreshments.

  Come early to avoid disappointment.
Wednesday 28th December 2022
4pm to 8pm
ST MARTIN'S COMMUNITY CENTRE
Abbots Park, Upper Tulse Hill, SW2 3QB

Recommended donations on entry  - £5
under 20 FREE
Info / stalls : 07903 012 757 Email:
Abssgb17@gmail.com

Click below for more info on Afruika Bantu Saturday School

Using rare cinematic, photographic and sound archives, Crossing Voices recounts the exemplary adventure of Somankidi Coura, an agricultural cooperative created in Mali in 1977 by western African immigrant workers living in workers’ residences in France.
 

The story of this improbable, utopic return to the homeland follows a winding path that travels through ecological challenges, neo-colonialism, and conflicts on the African continent from the 1970s to the present day.

Watch it at Genesis Cinema on Wednesday 30th November 2022 from 8.50pm.

Join the discussion with director Raphaël Grisey on Wednesday 30/11 from 8pm (free), followed by the screening of CROSSING VOICES at 8.50pm.

At the end of the war, Smythe helped organise the return of West Indian RAF men from leave on the Empire Windrush. He later became a practising barrister, married his Grenadian sweetheart, Violet Wells Bain and moved back to Freetown where he had an illustrious career and was appointed as Solicitor General of the newly independent nation of the Republic of Sierra Leone in 1961.

Nanny, connue sous le nom de Queen Nanny était une dirigeante marron et une femme Obeah en Jamaïque à la fin du 17ème et au début du 18ème siècle. Les Marrons étaient des africains, forcés à travailler comme esclaves dans les Amériques, qui s'étaient échappés et qui ont formé des colonies indépendantes, s'organisant politiquement entre eux. Nanny était, elle-même, une africaine forcée à travailler comme esclave mais qui s' était évadée. Il a été largement admis que Nanny était originaire de la tribu Ashanti de l’actuel Ghana. Nanny et ses quatre frères (qui sont tous devenus des dirigeants marrons) apres avoir tous été vendus en esclavage, se sont échappés de leurs plantations vers les montagnes et les jungles qui constituent encore une grande partie de la Jamaïque. Nanny et un de ses frères, Quao, ont fondé un village dans les Blue Mountains, du côté Est (ou Windward) de la Jamaïque, qui est devenu connu sous le nom de Nanny Town.

Nanny a été décrite comme une pratiquante d’Obeah, un terme utilisé dans les Caraïbes pour décrire la magie populaire et la religion basée sur les influences ouest-africaines. Nanny Town, placée comme elle l’était dans les montagnes, loin des colonies européennes, était difficile à attaquer et a prospéré. Nanny a limité ses attaques contre les plantations et les colonies européennes et a préféré cultiver et commercer pacifiquement avec ses voisins. Elle a cependant fait de nombreux raids réussis pour libérer les esclaves détenus dans les plantations et il a été largement admis que ses efforts ont contribué à l’évasion de près de 1 000 esclaves au cours de sa vie.

De son vivant, Nanny Town et les Windward Maroons ont prospéré et se sont multipliés, ce qui était un véritable embarassement pour l’administration coloniale britannique, menacée par les succès des Marrons. Les propriétaires de plantations qui perdaient des esclaves, du matériel et des récoltes brûlés par les marrons exigèrent que les autorités coloniales agissent. Des milices, composées de l’armée régulière britannique et de mercenaires, parcourèrent les jungles jamaïcaines. Le capitaine William Cuffee, connu sous le nom de capitaine Sambo, aurait tué Nanny en 1733 lors de l’une des nombreuses batailles. Après la mort de Nanny, de nombreux Marrons Windward traversèrent l’île pour se rendre du côté occidental (Leeward) de la Jamaïque, peu habité. Nanny Town fut finalement capturée par les Britanniques et détruite en 1734. La guerre, elle-même, dura de 1720 jusqu’à ce qu’une trêve soit déclarée en 1739 ; Cudjoe, l’un des frères de Nanny et un leader pendant la guerre des Marrons, fut la force motrice derrière le traité.

La vie et les réalisations de Nanny ont été reconnues par le gouvernement de la Jamaïque et elle a été honorée en tant qu'héroïne nationale et a reçu le titre de « Right Excellent ». Actuellement, il y a sept héros nationaux reconnus et Nanny est la seule femme. Un portrait moderne de Nanny, basé sur sa description, apparaît sur le billet jamaïcain de 500 dollars en circulation en Jamaïque (voir dans la gallerie d'images ci-dessous).

Source : https://www.blackpast.org/

The Africa Centre, in partnership with * English Heritage, is inviting you to a free event on Saturday 15th October from 12 to 6pm in their recently opened new home where you will be able to watch 'Painting our Past' exhibition in their gallery and hear the artists talk.

The address is 66 Great Suffolk St, London SE1 0BL (Nearest underground - Southwark).

* English Heritage has commissioned a series of portraits depicting six historic figures from the African diaspora whose stories have contributed to England’s rich history. Each artist has been supported by their curators and historians to creatively portray their subject. Learn more about the commissioned artists and their subjects in the video below.

In the Black Fantastic is an exhibition of 11 contemporary artists from the African diaspora, who draw on science fiction, myth and Afrofuturism to question our knowledge of the world.

Encompassing painting, photography, video, sculpture and mixed-media installations, the exhibition creates immersive aesthetic experiences that bring the viewer into a new environment somewhere between the real world and a multiplicity of imagined ones.

In the Black Fantastic is curated by Ekow Eshun and features the artists Nick Cave, Sedrick Chisom, Ellen Gallagher, Hew Locke, Wangechi Mutu, Rashaad Newsome, Chris Ofili, Tabita Rezaire, Cauleen Smith, Lina Iris Viktor and Kara Walker.

Click on the link below to watch an intro of Ekow Eshun's curated virtual tour of the exhibition.

Nearly 10 years after the first festival "Graff Effect" initiated by Laurenson Djihouessi in 2013, came the "heritage wall - le mur du patrimoine" which, since 2021, displays graffitis of about forty graffiti artists from Africa and the West, aiming to tell the story of the Kingdom of Dahomey, modern Benin under the theme: "Benin, heritage and potentials".This artistic marvel, of almost one kilometer long and of total area of more than 2000 m2, is the longest graffiti wall in Africa, and the 3rd worldwide after Dubai and Brazil. The wall is located in the heart of Cotonou and is one of Benin's new cultural attractions, as are the 26 royal statues of King Ghezo, restored by the Quai Branly Museum in Paris, now on display in the Cotonou Presidential Palace.These treasures had been looted in 1892 by French colonial troops in the palace of Abomey, capital of the Kingdom of Dahomey (see below 3 statues from the collection).

This exhibition explores the history of transatlantic slavery through its connections with the Bank of England and the wider City of London. It is taking place at Bank of England Museum, Bartholomew Lane, EC2R 8AH.

For over 300 years, the slave trade tore more than 12 million African people from their homes and families. In this exhibition, we reflect on how the wealth created through transatlantic slavery shaped the development of Britain.

The exhibition is open Monday to Friday 10am – 5pm, with late openings until 8pm every third Thursday of the month. There are also free luncthime tour led by curators. Tours take place at 12pm and last approximately 20 minutes. They are free and no booking is necessary, the next upcoming date being Thursday 25th August at 12pm.

Please arrive 10mns early to avoid queues as you enter the museum.

The exhibition will be on until 28 April 2023. Entry is free and there is no need to book ahead.

See Vlog Link below for a filmed experience of the exhibition and a visitor's perspective.

Aline Sitoé Diatta (c1920 – 1944) was an anti-colonial resistance figure and community leader in the Casamance region, in actual Senegal. Married to Thomas Diatta, a dockworker at the Port of Senegal, she was one of the women in Francophone Africa who led anti-colonial campaigns during the period of the Second World War following a divine vision in 1941, which called upon her to struggle against the French colonial forces. When the French seized half of the region’s rice harvest to support the war effort, Aline Sitoé Diatta began her campaign alongside other market women. She encouraged the population to civil disobedience, to stop paying taxes, and to reject calls to replace rice cultivation with the growing monoculture of arachide (peanuts). Aline Sitoé Diatta also called for reinstatement of better working conditions and rights to religious worship. She was perceived as having supernatural powers, in particular the ability to bring rain to the parched land. The French forces made several attempts on her life. She was arrested on 8 May 1943 and deported to Gambia and then Mali, where she died a year later in prison, out of harsh treatments and malnourishment.

Aline Sitoé Diatta remains a national heroine figure in Senegal. Since the 1980s, her story has been recuperated in different ways and for different purposes, in connection with the separatist movement in the Casamance region (Toliver-Diallo). The main ferry from Casamance to the capital Dakar is named after her, as well as the women’s university halls of residence at the Université Cheikh Anta Diop.