“He will be remembered as an amazing scientist, engineer, professor, and mentor.” Those were the words of the National Society of Black Physicists (NSP) when it announced the death of its member Dr. George R. Carruthers, who passed away December 26 at a Washington hospital. A staunch supporter of the organization, “Carruthers is considered the inventor of the ultraviolet camera/spectrograph. …

Her life inspired many historians and storytellers. English playwright William Shakespeare wrote the famous play “Antony and Cleopatra” based on her life. Cleopatra was born to a royal family around 69 B.C. After her father King Ptolemy XII died, she and her brother ascended to the throne. She was 18 years old during this time. Their relationship became strained after …

The dream of a united Africa started way before the formulation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1963 following an intervention by the King of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie I in Addis Ababa. In the early 1960s, when independence was sweeping throughout the colonized continent, liberation fighters and independence heroes were loosely speaking about a united Africa that will …

Makobo Modjadji, known as Makobo Modjadji VI, The Rain Queen, was born in 1978 and died in 2005. In the line of rain queens for the Balobedu tribe, she was the sixth. Modjadji, or Queen of the Rain is the ancestral queen of the Balobedu people of the Limpopo Province of South Africa. The succession to the Rain Queen role …

Evidently, the story of one of the Yoruba kingdom’s first princesses, Moremi Ajasoro, is fascinating and points to the significant role women have played and continue to play in the unity of African kingdoms and nation-states. In the first kingdom of the Yoruba people, Ile-Ife, Moremi Ajasoro, popularly named Moremi, is regarded by all accounts to have been a highly …

The Dahomey Kingdom — present-day Benin — During the 18th and 19th centuries, it was one of the most powerful kingdoms in Africa. The nation had one of Africa’s biggest armies at the time, including the powerful Dahomey Amazons. It also had extensive foreign trade with different European nations. A robust economy, as well as a highly functioning political structure. …

Robert Gabriel Mugabe was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. “Lion of Africa” President Robert Mugabe had always been in love with African culture and heritage neglecting foreign cultures. A group photo of African presidents adorning Indian attires at the 2015 India-Africa …

Radio France Internationale French MPs have approved the return of looted historical artefacts to Benin and Senegal, completing the legislative process needed to give back the objects. Benin will receive 26 artefacts taken from the Palace of Behanzin in the late 19th century, including a royal throne, which are currently exhibited at the Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac museum in Paris. Senegal …

The Ovambo people are a Bantu ethnic group native to Southern Africa, mainly present Namibia. They are the largest known ethnic group in Namibia, accounting to about half of the population. They are also found in the province of Cunene in southern Angola, where they are more commonly known to as ‘Ambo.’ The Ovambo are made up of a number …

Betul Taytu c. 1851 to 11 February 1918), reigning from 1889 to 1913, was the Empress of the Ethiopian Empire. She was the third wife of Ethiopia’s Emperor Menelik II and founded Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. Because of her contributions, Ethiopia remained uncolonized country in the world. Italy had already colonized neighboring Eritrea and most of Somalia, …