Junkanoo: Hidden Treasure of the Bahamas

As the cool breeze sweeps the crowd, friendly rivalry accelerates among supporters, and anticipation peaks at the sound of the drums. While the Junkanoo groups rush down Bay Street in downtown Nassau, they entice their supporters with a short call-and-response. Roots Junkanoo Group calls out, “Roots! There it is!” while the Valley Boys Junkanoo Group shouts, “Who are we? The Valley!”

Some see the fancy costumes, hear the melodious music and share in the hype of the crowds but do not grasp the true meaning of Junkanoo. “For me it goes beyond the parade and the competition; that is the gift wrapping,” said Arlene Ferguson, educator and head of EduCulture, an educational and cultural consultancy group. “The real gift is a tradition passed on by our ancestors which reflects the strength and spirit of the people of The Bahamas.”
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Henry Louis Gates Explores Why Many Dominicans Deny Their African Heritage (VIDEO)

The latest piece of his PBS documentary series -- “Black in Latin America” -- explores the African racial identity in Latin American countries. Gates visits Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, Peru, Dominican Republic and Haiti probing into the cultural influence on racial classification in the Caribbean and Latin America.

In the episode “Haiti and the Dominican Republic: An Island Divided,” Gates speaks with Juan Rodriguez from the Dominican Ministry of Culture about a clear aversion within the country to self-identification as black.

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African American Entrepreneurship: The View from the 1910 Census

The 1910 Census was the first to include a question on employment status (employer, own account, or employee) and is thus the first nationwide survey to include information about both business ownership and race. Researcher Margaret Levenstein documents these findings in her study “African American Entrepreneurship: The View from the 1910 Census“

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Pan-Africanism: In Search Of A New Africa

The ‘Middle Passage’ or the New World is the most visible evidence of slave trade and its resultant dislocation of Africa. That made the venue of the conference even more significant in finding a panacea to the continent’s, and its displaced people’s, multitude of problems [issues plaguing Africans] at home and those in the islands of the Caribbean, the Amazon forests of South America and other enclaves elsewhere in Europe.Read More