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Dec 11 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
In 1880, former Confederate general, Grand Dragon of the KKK & U.S Senator John Tyler Morgan reached an agreement with King Leopold of Belgium to get the U.S to recognize Leopold's claim in Congo. In return Leopold would allow the U.S to ship African-Americans to Congo.
As Leopold was looking for funding for his colonization of Congo, many banks were wary of financing his enterprise because Belgium didn't have any significant international trade agreements & export markets unlike its European rivals France & England.
Leopold reached out to American Ambassador to Belgium Henry Shelton Sanford to lobby the U.S congress for support & a trade agreement, as America was seen as the most lucrative market of the time. Sanford was able to convince several American industries to back Leopold...
but was unsuccessful in getting official U.S recognition for Leopold's Congo. He was then approached by Senator Morgan, who told Sanford he would personally get president Chester Arthur to recognize Leopold's claim if Leopold would allow America to send Black Americans to Congo
Leopold agreed & in December of 1883, President Chester Arthur announced America's recognition of the Congo Free State in his annual address to congress. The international African society was formed to oversee America's interests in Congo.
While the International African Society was negotiating land in Congo for the repatriation of Black Americans, King Leopold's atrocities in Congo were brought to public attention by African American historian George Washington Williams.
After the revelations, America sought to distance itself from King Leopold & the Congo, & Senator John Tyler Morgan was forced to abandon his plan to ship Black Americans to Congo
Make sure to read George Washington William's open letter to King Leopold. One of the most fascinating & heart-wrenching pieces of history you'll ever read

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Great House Profile picture
Dec 11
Interestingly, famous British-American explorer Henry Morton Stanley, who was later hired by king Leopold to lobby American businessmen tp invest in Congo, was also the guy who made up the Tarzan story. Stanley was a global celebrity in the 1800s for is exploits in Africa Image
Henry Morton Stanley was the first European to reach the interior of Congo. He lived & explored the heart of Africa for several years. He later wrote several books about Africans & his exploits in Central Africa which made him one of the most famous people in Europe & America
Many of his stories about Africa were outlandish, but they were nonetheless believed by the western masses, who knew very little about Africa. One such story was about his encounter with a white blond hair blue eyed tribe at the foothill of the Rwenzori mountains in Congo.
Read 6 tweets
Great House Profile picture
Dec 6
Try explaining to someone that the Empire of Ghana was actually in Mauritania & not in Ghana, the Kingdom of Benin was in Nigeria & not in Benin, Kingdom of Kongo was mostly in Angola, historical Ethiopia was modern day Sudan & historical Sudan was actually West Africa.
Even in the Bible, Kushite Pharaoh Taharqa is referred to as the King of Ethiopia
Sudan was the Arabic name for the Mali Empire, which was actually called Manden Kurufaba. The Ghana Empire was actually called Wagadou & Ghana was the King's title
Read 6 tweets
Great House Profile picture
Dec 5
America created a unique system in which slave labor wasn't only a means of production, but enslaved people themselves were also the finished product. Incentivizing slave holders to produce as many slaves as humanly possible. And they did....
The average enslaved woman in the U.S birthed 10 children ( the births were recorded as livestock). For comparison, the average enslaved woman in the Caribbean & Brazil died before age 30 & with no children, with just 1 in 5 having any children.
Between 1807 (When the importation of slaves from Africa was outlawed) & 1865 ( end of American Civil War), Virginia alone exported an average of 20,000 slaves a month to the American south. Exceeding the number of slaves exported from any African state in a single year.
Read 5 tweets
Great House Profile picture
Dec 5
Throughout the course of Slavery, over 10 million Black people were enslaved in America. Less than 5% came from Africa. America deliberately created a slave industry that is unparalleled in human history.
This always gets lost in the conversation about Slavery which has been reduced to "Africans sold Africans". America did not buy 10 million slaves from Africa. I believe the has to be proper accountability for that.
This why is disingenuous when people say "every culture in history had Slavery ". I masks the true scale of what America did, for which there has yet to be a reckoning
Read 5 tweets
Great House Profile picture
Nov 6
Debates on the involvement of Jews in the slave trade usually vary between "Jews were the architects & masterminds of the slave trade" & "Jews were not involved & only marginally participated in the slave trade". Both arguments are wrong. The truth lies somewhere in the middle
When most people think of Slavery, they think of cotton fields in the American south. But the Transatlantic Slave Trade was driven primarily by sugar. Which is why sugar plantations in the fertile tropical regions received the bulk of enslaved Africans, with Brazil at forefront
As Jewish historian Seymour B Liebman writes in his 1982 book New World Jewry 1493 - 1825, "In its early years, Brazil was built by Negro slaves and the acumen, hardwork and calculating perseverance of the Jews".

But first some background....
Read 27 tweets
Great House Profile picture
Nov 6
Where there Jews in Precolonial West Africa?

Yes. The Tarikh al Fattash (History of Songhai) mentions a Jewish kingdom in Tindirma, Mali in 1402 known as Bani Israel. According to the Tarikh al Fattash, they had a dynasty of 7 kings before the reign of Askia Mohammad of Songhai
In 1492 Songhai Emperor Askia Mohammad ordered all the Jews in Songhai to convert to Islam or leave. Most of them converted to Islam.
Do Black Americans or any other Black population descend from those Jews? HELL NO.

What happened to the Jews of Mali & Songhai?

They converted to Islam & were absorbed by the native population.
Read 5 tweets

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