365 days of Black History

WHO DOESN'T wish that the appreciation and acknowledgement of black history was a natural part of every day life and school curriculums?

Indeed this is one of the biggest criticisms of Black History Month, which has been celebrated every October since 1987.

Leeds resident Marvina Babs-Apata is aiming to put black history on the calendar for a full year through her non-profit organisation, Angel of Youths (AOY).

AOY works with young people and adults to promote cross-cultural education, community empowerment and cultural pride while tapping into their passions, building their skills and linking participants to a network of service providers and mentors across Leeds.

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Ceremony honors African ancestors who resisted enslavement

Afrocentricity International held their Third Annual Tudituvuluka Ceremony recently. The yearly tradition draws members and others from the community to honor their African ancestors who resisted slavery and colonization. The spiritual ceremony was held at the MKA Institute, 5535 Germantown Ave. on Sept. 14 from 2 to 4 p.m., Arlene Edmonds reports for The Philadelphia Tribune.

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“Great Recession” wiped out half of Black Americas wealth

Sure things are tough. And the sad reality is they’re going to get a lot tougher. Particularly if you happen to be a Black person living in America. The thing about economic numbers is they lag years behind the actual reality. So while many of you have been suffering for the past several years, i.e. lost your home, car repo’d, laid off from your job and basically tumbled out of the middle class, the economic data has not been available to validate your dilemma.

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Historic Black 50th and 100th anniversaries: Civil rights, Malcolm and Garvey

July 2014 marked the 50th anniversary of the signing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. This event was perhaps the most significant achievement and benchmark of the civil rights movement that had been so ably led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and others from 1955-1966. July 2014 also marked the 50th anniversary of Malcolm X’s attendance at the 2nd annual summit of the Organization of African Unity (OAU). It was at this summit in Cairo, Egypt, the Malcolm submitted his famous memorandum to the African heads-of-states that declared ‘African problem are our problems and our problems are African problems’.

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The Queen Of Calypso Returns To Toronto For The Small World Music Festival!

McArtha Lewis, aka Calypso Rose, was born in the small island of Tobago in the West Indies. She started singing at the age of 15, and over 50 years later she is the reigning Queen of Calypso. In a world where men dominate, she was able to stand out through her strong personality and her stage charisma. Calypso Rose has received more honors and medals that any other living Calypsonian. In 1966, she wrote “Fire in Meh Wire”, which has become one of the international anthems of Calypso, translated into eight languages. In 1977, she was the first woman to win the crown of Calypso Monarch (originally called Calypso King re-named Calypso Monarch after her win). From there, there was no stopping this energetic and powerful woman, who has taken Calypso all over the world and has shared the stage with some of the biggest international stars, Miriam Makeba, Tito Puente, Mahalia Jackson, Michael Jackson, Roberta Flack, Bob Marley among others.


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