Africans: Tracing your root

1. Establish functional literate communities in Africa to bridge the gap between poverty and prosperity
Tracing your Root
Africa's Road Map to Freedom
Anthony Claret
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2. Tracing Your Root
Africa's Road Map to Freedom
A people without the knowledge of
their past history, origin and culture
is like a tree without roots.
Marcus Garvey
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3. Table of Content
1. Africa Overview
2. Africa before Colonization
3. Superior Race Propaganda
4. African Slavery
5. Africa after Colonization
6. Grave Mistake of our forefathers
7. Nation building – Our Task
8. Reverse Engineering
9. Civic Movement Youth Engagement)
10. Conclusion
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4. Who Should Tell The Story of Africa?
All people need to learn about their past and
need to be able to participate in the creation of
their own legacy. In the past, the story of Africa
has been told and defined by others and these
'others' have been considered authorities on the
subject. The representation of African events and
characters by non-Africans has led, in many
instances, to the creation of a negative portrayal
of Africa.
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5. Africa -Land of Contrast
What does Africa mean to you?
 The continent of Africa means many
different things to people in Africa and
around the world.
 To some people it is the home they love.
 To others it is a mysterious, far off land
that they know little about.
 To Europeans it is a poverty stricken,
war torn, disease inflicted continent
which happen to be blessed with a large,
diverse land with beautiful landscape
and Natural Resources meant to explore.
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6. Basic Facts About Africa
 53 independent countries
 732 million people
 More than 800 ethnic groups
 Hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth, was 136.4
degrees F., in Libya in 1922
 The Nile is the world’s longest river at a distance of 4,145
miles long
 Second largest of the Earth’s continents
 Africa has an area of 11,668,598.7 square miles
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7. Africa before Colonization
 Key Terms
• Domesticate- to adapt wild plants and animals and breed
them for human use
• Civilization- a society that has cities, a central government,
and social classes and usually has writing, art, and
architecture
• Migrate- to move from one place to settle in another
• Ethnic group- a group of people who share the same
ancestors, culture, language, or religion.
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8. African Civilizations
• Egyptians began farming along the Nile
about 5000 B.C.
• Ancient Egypt was ruled by Pharaohs and
Queens
• Hieroglyphs- picture writing symbols
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9. What skills did Africans need
to survive?
 Survival Instinct
 Food
 Water
 Shelter
 Hunting & Gathering
 Africans were hunters, farmers
and gathers
 They would hunt for wild game
 They would gather fruits and
other eatable herbs & plants
Farming in Africa probably began in North Africa
•Domesticating plants and animals allowed People to have better control in their
food supply
•People to settle in one place
• people to store surplus items
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10.  Until the 18th century the image of Africans was
generally positive.
 They were farmers and cattle-breeders; they had
industries, arts and crafts, governments and commerce.
 In addition, Africans had immunities to Old World
diseases. They were better laborers and they had
nowhere to escape to once transplanted to the New
World. The colonists themselves came to believe that
they could not survive without Africans.
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11. African encounter with the West (1)
 Africa had traded with Europeans through
merchants in North Africa for centuries.
 The first traders to sail down the West African
coast were the Portuguese in the 15th century.
 Later the Dutch, British, French and
Scandinavians followed.
 They were mainly interested in precious items
such as gold, ivory and spices, particularly
pepper.
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12. African encounter with the West (2)
 The Portuguese traders sailed south around the Cape of Good Hope and
then north along the eastern coast of Africa
 They liked what they saw and came back later with three ships to seize the
riches
 The Portuguese ruled for over 100 years
 The English, French, & The Dutch all followed the Portuguese and set up
settlements
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13. The Atlantic Slave trade
 Slavery was a common part of African society
long before the Europeans came to their
continent
 The Europeans had established colonies in the
Americas and in the Caribbean.
 Slaves in Africa could usually win their freedom
after working for a few years
 Europeans rarely released their slaves
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14. Competition between Europeans
 The race to colonize Africa led to the 1884
conference in Berlin, Germany
 They set rules for which countries could claim
African land
 They created African Map without African
participation
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15. European Conquest of Africa
 Key Terms
 Cape of Good Hope- the point of land at the
southern tip of Africa
 Plantation- a large farm where cash crops are
grown
 Colonize- to settle an area and take control of its
government
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16. A New Social Identity (1)
 Toward the end of the eighteenth century, the
image of Africans began to change dramatically.
 The major catalyst for this transformation
 Antislavery movement that expanded and
strengthened
 The Kings and African chief refusal and resistance
resources exploitation
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17. A New Social Identity (2)
 As a consequence Colonist forces found it necessary
to develop new arguments for defending the
institution.
 Focusing on physical differences, they turned to the
notion of the natural inferiority of Africans and thus
their God-given suitability for slavery.
 Such arguments became more frequent and strident
from the end of the eighteenth century on, and the
characterizations of Africans became more negative.
In order to achieve their goal
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18. A New Social Identity (3)
 By limiting perpetual servitude to Africans and their
descendants, colonists were proclaiming that blacks
would forever be at the bottom of the social hierarchy.
 They began to teach Africans that their color, hairstyle
and every thing that made them African is inferior
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19. Africa after Colonization
Most African countries had been under
European rule for a very long time, therefore
they had no real understanding of how to run
a government.
 New leaders were not prepared to govern
 Governments were very unstable
 Some military leaders took control by force
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20.  Grave Mistake of our leaders
 Fought for independence with a vision
 Diverted attention to trivialities, power play, embezzlement, corruption
 Thought they have reach their destination
 Forgot that being independent is the beginning of the journey
 Nation building – Our Task
 Our Generation must find the road and connect back to our forefathers vision
 Reverse Engineering – must re-orientate ourselves and our brothers
 Mental emancipation
 Through creating project, workshop, seminars, education
 Civic Movement Youth Engagement)
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21. Change your opinions, keep to your
principles; change your leaves, keep
intact your roots.
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