Amy Meyer

Living for Christ ✝️ hoping to make the world better through love, education and social justice ✊🏾💖🌻

[naomi @lachancenaomi27]

that's only 14 hours

[AFRICAN & BLACK HISTORY @AfricanArchives]

Thomas Sankara was a revolutionary African leader.

He drove out French imperialism from Burkina Faso and withdrew from IMF and made the country non-reliant on foreign aid.

He was assassinated in a coup led by his close ally, Blaise Compaoré supported by French imperialists

As far as African leadership goes, Thomas Sankara was cut from a different piece of cloth.

Here are some of his accomplishments, ONLY 4 YEARS in power (1983-87):

– He vaccinated 2.5 million children against meningitis, yellow fever and measles in a matter of weeks.
– He initiated a nation-wide literacy campaign, increasing the literacy rate from 13% in 1983 to 73% in 1987.
– He planted over 10 million trees to prevent desertification
– He built roads and a railway to tie the nation together, without foreign aid
– He appointed females to high governmental positions, encouraged them to work, recruited them into the military, and granted pregnancy leave during education.
– He outlawed female genital mutilation, forced marriages and polygamy in support of Women’s rights
– He sold off the government fleet of Mercedes cars and made the Renault 5 (the cheapest car sold in Burkina Faso at that time) the official service car of the ministers.
– He reduced the salaries of all public servants, including his own, and forbade the use of government chauffeurs and 1st class airline tickets.
– He redistributed land from the feudal landlords and gave it directly to the peasants. Wheat production rose in three years from 1700 kg per hectare to 3800 kg per hectare, making the country food self-sufficient.
– He opposed foreign aid, saying that “he who feeds you, controls you.”
– He spoke in forums like the Organization of African Unity against continued neo-colonialist penetration of Africa through Western trade and finance. • He called for a united front of African nations to repudiate their foreign debt. He argued that the poor and exploited did not have an obligation to repay money to the rich and exploiting
– In Ouagadougou, Sankara converted the army’s provisioning store into a state-owned supermarket open to everyone (the first supermarket in the country).
– He forced civil servants to pay one month’s salary to public projects.
– He refused to use the air conditioning in his office on the grounds that such luxury was not available to anyone but a handful of Burkinabes.
– As President, he lowered his salary to $450 a month and limited his possessions to a car, four bikes, three guitars, a fridge and a broken freezer.
– A motorcyclist himself, he formed an all-women motorcycle personal guard.
– He required public servants to wear a traditional tunic, woven from Burkinabe cotton and sewn by Burkinabe craftsmen. (The reason being to rely upon local industry and identity rather than foreign industry and identity)
– When asked why he didn’t want his portrait hung in public places, as was the norm for other African leaders, Sankara replied “There are seven million Thomas Sankaras.”
– An accomplished guitarist, he wrote the new national anthem himself

[AFRICAN & BLACK HISTORY @AfricanArchives]

On this day in 1940, Marcus Garvey, the father of the black nationalist and pan african movements, died.
"A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots." -Marcus Garvey

[Amy Meyer @AmyMeyer5]

And another day of another white woman’ words taken as gospel 🙄🙄

[chris evans @notcapnamerica]

He put his bag down to go throw something in the trash and was accused of stealing his own bag when he returned to it. It wasn’t until a white woman stepped in that the police believed him.

[PopCulture @notgwendalupe]

'the adventures of sharkboy & lavagirl' premiered 18 years ago today

[AFRICAN & BLACK HISTORY @AfricanArchives]

In June 1850 Captain Forbes, on board the Bonetta, arrived in Dahomey on a mission to negotiate the suppression of the slave trade. While there, he asked the King for the little girl as a present, whether for himself or on behalf of the Queen is not clear.

[AFRICAN & BLACK HISTORY @AfricanArchives]

While her family were killed in the war, as the daughter of an African chief, Sarah was kept in captivity as a state prisoner, either to be presented to an important visitor, or to be sacrificed at the death of a minister or official to become his attendant in the next world.

[AFRICAN & BLACK HISTORY @AfricanArchives]

Born in West Africa and of Yoruba descent, Sarah Forbes Bonetta was captured in 1848, at the age of five, during the Okeadon War.

King Gezo of Dahomy captured the city of Okeadon, sacrificing many inhabitants and leading the rest away into slavery.

[AFRICAN & BLACK HISTORY @AfricanArchives]

Lady Sarah Forbes Bonetta was orphaned in 1848 when her parents were killed in a slave-hunting war.
In 1850, she was taken to England & presented to Queen Victoria as a “gift”. She became the queen’s goddaughter & a celebrity known for her intelligence.

THREAD

[Women For Change @womenforchange5]

Xabisa was last seen at Canal Walk in Cape Town on 7 June 2023. Please retweet and help us to bring her home. #MissingPerson

[Hi, I'm Dr. Prii 👩🏽‍🔬👩🏽‍🎓🧳✈️ @Miss_Prii_xx]

Hey #TiniTwitter 🇸🇿
Stumbled on this hidden gem last week. Dolce Vita is located in Mantenga Craft & Lifestyle Centre - a bit further down the road.
The food was fan & the portions are generous.
Don't be deterred by the makeshift "fence", the restaurant is operational.

[AFRICAN & BLACK HISTORY @AfricanArchives]

You can support my history page/project here through donations/tips to keep up on: https://t.co/D0ZaB7YsCq

[AFRICAN & BLACK HISTORY @AfricanArchives]

Members of the 369th were issued French helmets and belts & attached to French regiments. The dramatic scenes drawn by Artist Canaan White accurately depict the "look" of these black heroes while dramatically depicting their valor & struggle.

[AFRICAN & BLACK HISTORY @AfricanArchives]

As the war ground on, the 369th would emerge as the unit that spent the longest time in combat and would become the most decorated combat unit in the field. But the mere appearance of the 369th was confusing beyond the fact that the unit was black.

[AFRICAN & BLACK HISTORY @AfricanArchives]

The 369th was told if a single complaint was lodged against the unit, the regiment would be disbanded and they would never get the change to fight overseas.

[AFRICAN & BLACK HISTORY @AfricanArchives]

They were ordered not to strike back in self defense and had to rely upon the conscience of fellow white soldiers to intervene when they were attacked.

[AFRICAN & BLACK HISTORY @AfricanArchives]

When they were shipped off to Spartanburg, SC, for basic training, they were verbally assaulted & often physically attacked by groups of white townsfolk who resented their presence there.

[AFRICAN & BLACK HISTORY @AfricanArchives]

When white units leaving New York for Europe embarked upon their ships mid great fanfare & marching bands, this was not the case for the Hellfighters, an issue that plagued them during their entire tour.
They even had to train with 2nd-hand uniforms & broomsticks as rifles.

[AFRICAN & BLACK HISTORY @AfricanArchives]

They fought so hard & with such tenacity that they were dubbed "The Harlem Hellfighters" by the German troops they faced.

It became the first American unit to be cited with the French Croix de Guerre. One medal of honor & many Distinguished Service Crosses.