If you study it close enough you will see the direct links to today’s ongoing war on Black America. This teacher says “we need some more Stonos for things to change”
A band of slaves march down the road, carrying banners that proclaim “Liberty!”. They shout out the same word. Led by an Angolan named Jemmy, the men and women continue to walk south, recruiting more slaves along the way. By the time they stop to rest for the night, their numbers will have approached one hundred. What exactly triggered the Stono Rebellion is not clear. Many slaves knew that small groups of runaways had made their way from South Carolina to Florida, where they had been given freedom and land. Looking to cause unrest within the English colonies, the Spanish had issued a proclamation stating that any slave who deserted to St Augustine would be given the same treatment. Certainly this influenced the potential rebels and made them willing to accept their situation. A fall epidemic had disrupted the colonial government in nearby Charlestown (Charleston), and word had just arrived that England and Spain were at war, raising hopes that the Spanish in St. Augustine would give a positive reception to slaves escaping from Carolina plantations. But what may have actually triggered the rebellion on September 9th was the soon-to-be-enacted Security Act. In mid-August, a Charlestown newspaper announced the Security Act. A response to the white’s fears of insurrection, the act required that all white men carry firearms to church on Sundays, a time when whites usually didn’t carry weapons and slaves were allowed to work for themselves. Anyone who didn’t comply with the new law by September 29 would be subjected to a fine. Whatever triggered the Rebellion, early on the morning of the 9th, a Sunday, about twenty slaves gathered near the Stono River in St. Paul’s Parish, less than twenty miles from Charlestown. The slaves went to a shop that sold firearms and ammunition, armed themselves, then killed the two shopkeepers who were manning the shop. From there the band walked to the house of a Mr. Godfrey, where they burned the house and killed Godfrey and his son and daughter. They headed south. It was not yet dawn when they reached Wallace’s Tavern. Because the innkeeper at the tavern was kind to his slaves, his life was spared. The white inhabitants of the next six or so houses they reach were not so lucky — all were killed. The slaves belonging to Thomas Rose successfully hid their master, but they were forced to join the rebellion. (They would later be rewarded. See Report re. Stono Rebellion Slave-Catchers.) Other slaves willingly joined the rebellion. By eleven in the morning, the group was about 50 strong. The few whites whom they now encountered were chased and killed, though one individual, Lieutenant Governor Bull, eluded the rebels and rode to spread the alarm. The slaves stopped in a large field late that afternoon, just before reaching the Edisto River. They had marched over ten miles and killed between twenty and twenty-five whites. Around four in the afternoon, somewhere between twenty and 100 whites had set out in armed pursuit. When they approached the rebels, the slaves fired two shots. The whites returned fire, bringing down fourteen of the slaves. By dusk, about thirty slaves were dead and at least thirty had escaped. Most were captured over the next month, then executed; the rest were captured over the following six months — all except one who remained a fugitive for three years. Uncomfortable with the increasing numbers of blacks for some time, the white colonists had been working on a Negro Act that would limit the privileges of slaves. This act was quickly finalized and approved after the Stono Rebellion. No longer would slaves be allowed to grow their own food, assemble in groups, earn their own money, or learn to read. Some of these restrictions had been in effect before the Negro Act, but had not been strictly enforced.
Designed using PBS Teachers Resource Bank. Link for further study and research: www.pbs.org/wgbh
Max Roach, whose pioneering bebop drumming was revered for its tenacity and musicality, died today in his sleep. He was 83. He was one of the revered musicians that provided rhythmic energy to the Black Power Movement of the 1960. He was a bebop/hard bop percussionist, drummer, and composer. He has worked with many of the greatest jazz musicians, including Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus and Sonny Rollins. He is widely considered to be one of the most important drummers in the history of jazz.
Amankwatia Baffour II [Dr. Asa Grant Hilliard III]
22 August 1933 – 12 August 2007
By Kwaku Person-Lynn, Ph.D.
CAIRO, KEMET (Egypt) – August 2007 – One of the giants in the academic world left us this past weekend in the most appropriate place it could happen, in Cairo, Kemet (Egypt), where he studied, wrote about, lectured, researched, conducted tour groups and redeemed his soul. He was attending the ASCAC (Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations) Conference, an organization he co-founded, and giving lectures to the Pastor Jeremiah Wright tour group. Early reports state that he passed due to complications of contracting malaria. More details are yet to come and funeral arrangements have not been made thus far. Those of us who knew Baba Baffour, and/or were familiar with him, knew him as one of the premier scholars/researchers/educators/authors this world has ever seen. He was supremely dedicated to the total liberation and education of Afrikan peoples specifically, but humanity in general. It was his efforts that primarily started the Curriculum of Inclusion Movement, balancing school curriculums by adding information and lessons on Afrikan people. He was an educational psychologist, but dedicated his life to improving teaching/learning methods for children, and educating Afrikan people about our history. Family was the highest point of his consciousness. In an interview I conducted with Baba Baffour, seeing parents as the first teachers, he stated, “What kids get from us most of the time are instructions: ‘do this,’ ‘don’t do that,’ ‘watch out for this,’ ‘watch out for that.’ That’s a monologue. What has to happen, if you want to activate the child’s intelligence, and release that intelligence, that child has to be invited to engage in questioning, in critique, all of those kinds of things. Parents have to organize their communication with children. All we have to do is remember to do it. We know how to do it, but we slip into some awfully bad habits. I’m not quite sure what the reasons are for those bad habits, but they are very prominent among our people. You know: ‘shut up,’ ‘be quiet,’ ‘sit down.’ That may give you control over the child’s behavior, but doesn’t give the child’s mind anything. The child has, if the mind is going to grow, it’s got to chew on something. It’s got to turn it over, try it out and not be directed from moment to moment. Nurturing that independent critical orientation is a part of what a parent has to do for a child.” In the land he loved so much, Baba Baffour wanted to go beyond just admiring our ancient past, where the foundation of civilization existed. Being pro-active he did the following. “Somewhere in the late sixties, mid sixties to late sixties, I became acquainted with people who enhanced my information about Afrika, especially classical Afrikan civilizations. I knew that at some point I had to do more work to share this information. I tried to figure out a way to do that, mainly through slide presentations and lectures and so forth. But it occurred to me, that it would be much more powerful to be able to examine concretely whatever is left of that civilization, where it is right now. The way to do that would be through a study tour. So my wife and I designed a study tour and tried to locate people who were really serious about study. We’re not interested in folk who want to collect ashtrays and float on the Nile and do all that. It’s a very hard working tour. We were up early and we go to bed late. We felt by being on the site, by visiting the museums, by visiting the monuments, by getting some sense of the space, geography, time perspective, that would help to make more real what this thing was in the past.” In his parting statement, which applies even today, he leaves us with, “Let me say the thing that’s of course on my mind. We require a massive mobilization of Afrikan people around the world. We need to see what the future looks like for us in the next thirty to forty years. We need to take a long view. In fact, we need to think about the next two hundred years. To be real conservative, where do we want Afrikan people to be in the world twenty years from now? If you get an answer to that question that’s anywhere near correct, it tells you what you got to do now to get ready for that. I’m concerned because we are not now doing what we need to do to get ready for the world I think we would like to have, if we thought about it. I just would really hope we begin to mobilize our thoughts and ultimately our resources toward creating a new future for Afrikan people. That we revise and revitalize the continent so we will be safe wherever we live, anywhere in the world. And for the young, there was an old Bible verse that my mother emphasized when I was growing up, I still live by it and think of it all the time. One of the few I can remember completely. It was II Timothy 2:15 which says, ‘Study to show yourself approved unto God, not unto man, a workman that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.’” Amankwatia Baffour II [Dr. Asa Grant Hilliard III] by Dr. Kwaku Person-Lynn
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“They take you back while propelling you forward ”
Some say Hip-Hop is dead and the culture needs to break away from corporate control. Others believe real Hip-Hop is in a cocoon, and that something stronger and more beautiful will emerge at the right time. Then there are those who have given up on it all together.
Well, there’s a buzz comin’ out of Baltimore about a new hip-hop / spoken-word duo that are changing peoples views across a wide range of ages and lifestyles. Precise Science: “Everybody’s Not Gonna Make It” is being heralded as the benchmark standard of the new evolution in conscious hip-hop. Can Hip-Hop be political but not preachy? Spiritual but not sappy? Educational, edgy, ecclectic – yet still pleasing to the ear, musically? Hip-Hop lives.
In a time of shock jock media hype, corrupted radio stations and notions of censoring lyrics, here comes an inspiring response in the form of a melodic journey through the hearts and minds of the Conscious Afrikan Collective.
Check these brothers out!
Recognized for his activism, he was a special guest on the Committee of Science and Technology at the Sixth Pan-African Congress held at Tanzania in 1974. As a social scientist, he sought an all-encompassing social theory for Black people and formulated the concept of mentacide. To paraphrase, he defined mentacide as “the planned and systematic destruction of a group’s mentality aimed at the destruction of the group.” Thus, Black folk alienated from their culture and history eventually lose their sense of purpose and direction, the symptoms of mentacide. Well aware of the implications of technical advances such as behavior modification and genetic engineering, he presented science as a tool serving greater ends (such as controlling the outcasts of white society), neither objective nor neutral. Being an uncompromising critic of Western society, he wrote the following on the relation of religion to prejudice from “The Psychopathic Racial Personality” in the Fall 1974 issue of Black Books Bulletin: Because of their lack of ethical or moral development, there is no conflict between the white’s religion and racial oppression. The white race had historically oppressed, exploited, and killed black people, all in the name of their god Jesus Christ and with the sanction of their churches. For example, it is generally overlooked that the Ku Klux Klan is primarily a religious organization. Also, blacks should never forget the Pope [Pius XI] blessing the Italian planes and pilots on their way to bombing Ethiopian men, women, and children who only had spears to defend themselves…Get Audio CD from House of Nubian
The Psychopathic Racial Personality and Other Essays by Bobby E. Wright Ph.D. (44 pages)
Published by Haki R. Madhubuti (Third World Press) 1984
Haki Madhubuti describes esteemed ancestor Dr. Bobby Wright as one of the few Black people who dared to ask the penetrating questions and demand answers and corrective actions to the racial situation in the United States and the world.” In these essays, psychologist Dr. Bobby Wright coins the term “mentacide” which he defines as the “deliberate and systematic destruction of a group’s minds with the ultimate objective being the extirpation of the group.” “Mentacide,” says Dr. Wright, is a worldwide phenomena being implemented against the entire Black race. “Therefore,” he says, “Blacks in Africa will begin to manifest the behavior of Blacks in the United States. Dr. Wright “was a thorn in the brain of Black men and women posing as leaders.” And his last words were a warning to his friends and associates, “Watch the leadership, especially those proclaiming their God-given answer to the problems of Black people.” “Dr. Bobby E. Wright was a “Black” psychologist, so labeled not just because he was both Black and a psychologist, but because he used his education, training, intellectual knowledge and skills always in the best interest of Black people all over the world.” Just as Brother Haki considered it an honor to publish Dr. Wright, it was an honor for me to read and review this thought provoking work. Dr. Wright poignantly begins the title essay, The Psychopathic Racial Personality, with the following narrative; “In a bullfight, after being brutalized while making innumerable charges at the movement of a cape, there comes a time when the bull finally turns and faces his adversary with the only movement being his heaving bloody sides. It is believed that for the first time he really sees the matador. This final confrontation is known as “the moment of truth.” For the bull, this moment comes too late.” According to Dr. Wright, the experience of Black people all over the world presents an analogous situation. For hundreds of years, our European (white) matadors have been holding up the capes of democracy, capitalism, Marxism, religion and education and for hundreds of years we have been charging at the movement of these “capes.” Like the bull, we too are suffering from near fatal wounds and “indeed have arrived at our “moment of truth.” Sisters and brothers, it is time for us to look at the matador and Dr. Wright tries to sharpen our vision. He defines a psychopath as “an individual who is constantly in conflict with other persons or groups. He is unable to experience guilt, he is completely selfish and callous, and he has a total disregard for the rights of others.” Dr. Wright says Black leaders are reluctant to measure psychopathic traits of the White race in their dealings with Blacks when there is a threat involved. “For example”, says Dr. Wright, “everywhere one finds Whites and Blacks in close proximity to each other, Whites are in control, whether it is Chicago or Zimbabwe.” And our leaders rarely question this “extraordinary universal phenomenon” which Dr. Wright says “defies every known statistical law of probability.” He also analyzes some of our so-called intellectual leaders and comments that, “Black intellectual enlightenment does not always lead to genuine insight and it can be very damaging to the intellect as reflected by the behavior and attitudes of many eminent Black scientists.” As a result of the confusion, Dr. Wright concludes that Blacks have become disoriented and the result is various inadequate and dangerous behavioral patterns. “Some have become catatonic and do not move at all but wait for divine intervention; others place their faith and energies in charismatic guides who are just as lost as they.” Dr. Wright tells us that the answer to Blacks’ problems can be found in the works and lives of people like Chaka, Martin Delany, Marcus Garvey, H. Rap Brown, Malcolm X, Chancellor Williams and others. For they all looked at the matador or psychopath for what he was and is and moved against him.” The “other essays”, deal with Black Suicide, Educating the Black Child and The Black Child: A Destiny in Jeopardy. These excellent essays reinforce the notions discussed in the title essay. Dr. Wright quotes the African proverb that warns the traveler of life, “if you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” He says a social theory determines the destiny of a people by establishing guidelines of life and Blacks should therefore develop a “Black Social Theory.” He warns, however, the ultimate achievement of a Black social theory would be the recreation of Black culture and that is a very difficult task. Professor Jacob Carruthers, who reviewed the book said, “brainwashed Blacks who are awestruck by European theory and theorists cannot accomplish this task……and Bobby Wright’s concepts of the ‘psychopathic racial personality’ and ‘mentacide’ are major contributions to this culture recreation process.” Since its publication in 1984, The Psychopathic Racial Personality has proved to be a revolutionary, groundbreaking work on race relations. It is one of the works that should be read by serious minded Africans everywhere who are dedicated and committed to rebuilding the African world order.
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Rap music has had a profound impact on theAfrican American community in the United States. Its greatest significance, to my mind, derives from the fact that it has fostered a profound nationalism in the youth of Black America. Arguably, hip-hop has become a conduit for African American culture to a greater extent than even jazz. Where the latter could, though its polyrhythmic syncopations, embrace both the nuances and jagged edges of the collective Black experience, it could not self-consciously energize the nationalist ethos in quite the way the more lyrically focused hip-hop does. To present these jagged edges, jazz, or be-hop, needed the uncompromising lyric of the poet. Also, poets, with their jagged edges intact, still required the talking drum of instrumentation to fully capture the Black ethos of struggle, resistance, righteousness, exploitation, and creativity in Black America. Hip-hop fused the two—poetry and jazz—in such a way as to render itself the most conductive source of the current of African American culture…Read More and Listen
RBG Street Scholars Think Tank’s Purpose: This Educational Program and Research Project is Dedicated to Further Building the Hip Hop–Black Liberation Movement Connection by Integrating Conscious Digital Edutainment with A Scholarly Self Directed Learning Environment.
In two masterful lectures contained within the pages of this modest text, Dr. Wilson challenges the all too pervasive assumption and false perception that the “New World Order” is somehow ordained -that if Afrikan people are to progress, they have no other Alter-native but to remain colonized by White Western Inte-rests, This of course is patently false. Dr Wilson de-bunks this myth with an insightful analysis of the Legacy of Marcus Garvey and the proven validity of Afrikan Centered Consciousness as necessary. Please listen to his audio lectures intently and then view/ study the videos in the context of his pearls of wisdom.Areas covered in the book and audio include:
Are Black and White Children the same?
Are there any significant differences in the mental and physical growth and development of Black and White Children?
Are such leisure time activities as the playing of certain games, watching T.V., going to the movies, listening to the radio, hazardous to the mental health of Black Children?
Why do Black Children generally score lower than White Children on I.Q. tests?
Is the Black Child merely a White Child who “happens” to be “painted” Black?
What effects does race awareness have on the mental and personality development of Black Children?
Is the use of Black English a sign of mental inferiority?
Do Black parents socialize their children to be inferior to White Children?
Why have integrated schools and busing failed so many Black Children?
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RBG SSTT and African Centered Collaborative Networked Learning (ACCNL)
The various integrated curricula that comprise the college represent learning assets which are delivered via electronic dialogue between us (self-directed co-learners and expert tutors / facilitators of Afrikan descent). We all share a common purpose, depend upon each other and are accountable to each other for the collectives and the school’s academic success. We are an interactive groups in which everyone actively communicates and negotiates higher learning activities with one another within a contextual framework facilitated by online tutors / experts / elders and ancestors. The entire school is about us, by us and for us–Afrikan Peoples Development / socially, politically, economically, educationally and morally.
A HOT FEATURE OF THE COMMUNIVERSITY:
RBG’s Forum is one of over fifty integrated forums at Assata’s Forums.
Membership is Free and these are the “Full Version Themes” you get to choice from.
(once you join you can change themes anytime you like from the bottom left of any page)
Our Professors are Our Scholars…cultural workers, raptivist, revolutionaries and grassroots communty folk; including the likes of DPZ and Family, UNO The Prophet, Paris, KRS-1, PE/Chuck D, Dr. Mutulu Shakur, Mumia Abu Jamal, Dr. Amiri Baraka, Bro. J of X-Klan, Dr. John Henrik Clarke, Dr. Khallid Abdul Muhammad, Dr. Martin Luther Jr., Minister Malcolm X, Kwame Toure/formerly Stokely Carmichael, Dr. Amos Wilson, Dr Leonard Jeffries, Dr. Na’im Akbar, Dr Ben, Dr Asa Hilliard, Dr. John Jackson, Dr. Chancellor Williams, Dr. Mulana Karenga, Dr. Oba T’ Shaka, Rev. Khandi Paasewe, Dr. Molefi Asante and many, many more…Click here for a kol test drive
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RBG Street Scholars Think Tank Multi Media e-Journal
Nine refreshingly honest, well documented and cogent multimedia chapters of Black history, culture, politics, social science and education; covering the 1960s up to the present.
"Destine to become a gold standard in Afrikan Centered Web 2.0 Education."
A band of slaves march down the road, carrying banners that proclaim “Liberty!”. They shout out the same word. Led by an Angolan named Jemmy, the men and women continue to walk south, recruiting more slaves along the way. By the time they stop to rest for the night, their numbers will have approached one hundred. What exactly triggered the Stono Rebellion is not clear. Many slaves knew that small groups of runaways had made their way from South Carolina to Florida, where they had been given freedom and land. Looking to cause unrest within the English colonies, the Spanish had issued a proclamation stating that any slave who deserted to St Augustine would be given the same treatment. Certainly this influenced the potential rebels and made them willing to accept their situation. A fall epidemic had disrupted the colonial government in nearby Charlestown (Charleston), and word had just arrived that England and Spain were at war, raising hopes that the Spanish in St. Augustine would give a positive reception to slaves escaping from Carolina plantations. But what may have actually triggered the rebellion on September 9th was the soon-to-be-enacted Security Act. In mid-August, a Charlestown newspaper announced the Security Act. A response to the white’s fears of insurrection, the act required that all white men carry firearms to church on Sundays, a time when whites usually didn’t carry weapons and slaves were allowed to work for themselves. Anyone who didn’t comply with the new law by September 29 would be subjected to a fine. Whatever triggered the Rebellion, early on the morning of the 9th, a Sunday, about twenty slaves gathered near the Stono River in St. Paul’s Parish, less than twenty miles from Charlestown. The slaves went to a shop that sold firearms and ammunition, armed themselves, then killed the two shopkeepers who were manning the shop. From there the band walked to the house of a Mr. Godfrey, where they burned the house and killed Godfrey and his son and daughter. They headed south. It was not yet dawn when they reached Wallace’s Tavern. Because the innkeeper at the tavern was kind to his slaves, his life was spared. The white inhabitants of the next six or so houses they reach were not so lucky — all were killed. The slaves belonging to Thomas Rose successfully hid their master, but they were forced to join the rebellion. (They would later be rewarded. See Report re. Stono Rebellion Slave-Catchers.) Other slaves willingly joined the rebellion. By eleven in the morning, the group was about 50 strong. The few whites whom they now encountered were chased and killed, though one individual, Lieutenant Governor Bull, eluded the rebels and rode to spread the alarm. The slaves stopped in a large field late that afternoon, just before reaching the Edisto River. They had marched over ten miles and killed between twenty and twenty-five whites. Around four in the afternoon, somewhere between twenty and 100 whites had set out in armed pursuit. When they approached the rebels, the slaves fired two shots. The whites returned fire, bringing down fourteen of the slaves. By dusk, about thirty slaves were dead and at least thirty had escaped. Most were captured over the next month, then executed; the rest were captured over the following six months — all except one who remained a fugitive for three years. Uncomfortable with the increasing numbers of blacks for some time, the white colonists had been working on a Negro Act that would limit the privileges of slaves. This act was quickly finalized and approved after the Stono Rebellion. No longer would slaves be allowed to grow their own food, assemble in groups, earn their own money, or learn to read. Some of these restrictions had been in effect before the Negro Act, but had not been strictly enforced.
In two masterful lectures contained within the pages of this modest text, Dr. Wilson 
