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rahstory.bsky.social
Real African History
@rahstory.bsky.social
170 followers 520 following 89 posts
Our history is world history. World history is our history. Exploring the brave new world of the black past - Through stories that highlight positive interactions of people of color with the greater world.
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rahstory.bsky.social
Think we're overdo for a re-intro:

We share untaught stories of the black past, highlighting positive interactions of pocs with the greater world throughout history 🗃️🏺🍎.

Interests:
🌍Africa
🗺️World
🖌️Art
📜History
🏛️Culture
🗣️Language
🧞Folklore
🐉Mythology
🏫Education
🧬Genetics

#PromoSky
February 15, 2025 at 12:41 AM
Reposted by Real African History
youranoncentral.bsky.social
Mexico's president Sheinbaum signed a decree declaring February 14 as the Memorial day for General Vicente Guerrero, the first Afro-Mexican president, who is notable for abolishing slavery on September 15, 1829 which led to the US invasion of 1846 backing US occupiers that refused to comply.
A formal event featuring two individuals, one being Mexico's president Sheinbaum holding documents, with a backdrop celebrating 2025 as the Year of Indigenous Women in Mexico. A military figure Vicente Guerrero in a detailed red and gold uniform stands confidently, holding a horn, with a flag and mountainous backdrop.
February 14, 2025 at 7:17 PM
rahstory.bsky.social
"Swahili #culture is the product of the history of the coastal part of the African Great Lakes region, an area influenced by indigenous African, as well as Middle Eastern, Indian, Persian & other cultures."

Lesser extent: Southeast Asia, East Asia & Greco-Roman.
#Africa #EastAfrica #Photography
Black and white photo of a group of 3 women and 2 men. The women are dressed in elaborate headdresses, with some face jewelry and a bunch of beads around their hands. They also wear different luxurious shawls - shiny, with minimal details, and long dresses underneath. The men have on long floor length tunics, one is in an all white one, the other in a tan colored one. They carry what looks to be some sort of instrument (maybe). One wears a short rounded cap (white), the other a sort of turban (tan). Swahili girls. Back in the day it was common for Western photographers to take photos of Swahili people and then sell them on postcards, stamps and other stationary (Mostly without permission). See this link for more info: https://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/npr/614361414/seaglefestival.org Image: Sepia-like (tannish-yellowish photo quality) photo of two girls, leaning on a railing or wooden chair of some sort. The girl on the left looks at us, while the one on the right looks off to the left. Both wear stylish, decorative tunic dresses. The one on the right's is white with darker colored stylized plants. The one on the right is a dark color with white details, like flowers and vines perhaps. On the top right and bottom left there's a green stamp with the faces of men. At the very bottom, outside the frame of the photo, on the tan border reads: The two Arab Ladies. Zanzibar. 1913. A stylish young Kenyan woman holding her pet deer in Mombasa, Kenya (1909). African woman in a brown turban and long white dress. Swaths of white fabric draped over her (shawl, scarf). She holds a baby deer by its legs, looking at us. She's in a large, old doorway. Swahili Girls” Zanzibar, 1908". Two beautiful smiling girls with brown head wraps and long white clothing. The girl on the right leans her head against the other, draping her hands around both of the other girl's shoulders. The other girl has a large, almost leaf-shaped fan made out of straw (guess).
January 17, 2025 at 3:06 PM
rahstory.bsky.social
"Three Generationz is an Afro-Native group which preserves Native American & African song, dance, and storytelling. They hail from the Choctaw, Cherokee, Creek & Black Foot Nations."

🎧 Live at Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2nv...
#Blacksky #Nativesky
Three Generationz
YouTube video by SmithsonianNMAI
www.youtube.com
January 16, 2025 at 5:05 PM
rahstory.bsky.social
Yasuke, the black Samurai, featured in the children's novel Kuro-suke by Yoshio Kurusu in 1943.

It features a fictionalized account of Yasuke's life in #Japan under Nobunaga. It received the Japanese Association of Writers for Children Prize in 1969.
bsky.app/profile/rahs... #Blacksky #Books #Art
Images from the novel, Kuro-suke (くろ助 Kuro Suke) by Yoshio Kurusu. (Left Page, Cover) African man dressed as a stylized version of a Samurai, and holding a long sword. He wears wide green pants with blue stripes and white dots, a yellow shirt and ruffled white collar. (Right Page) A large winged roof peaks out from the right panel. Surrounded by stylized trees, clouds or smoke. Two men are in front of the structure with thin sticks - Perhaps gardeners or old men using walking canes.
January 15, 2025 at 11:17 PM
rahstory.bsky.social
The Yoruban Orisha (Spirit) Aja is the protectress of the forest and all living things that dwell in it. A herbal healer. But the more you seek her, the less likely you are to find her. Get lost in the forest and she'll find you. #Africa #Nigeria #Myths #Folklore #Nature #Forest
Life-size statue of a woman in a forest. Her body merges with the ground (almost like a sleeping pose). Green leaves foliage and moss covers her body. The statue has been here for such a long time that it looks like she is a part of the forest now (But she looks ageless). Congo Rainforest. Tall trees from one end of the frame to another. There is a dense mist that covers 25% of the picture. So we can't see the tops of some trees or the ground.
January 15, 2025 at 3:06 PM
rahstory.bsky.social
🎧 Concha Buika was born in Palma de Mallorca, #Spain. The daughter of parents from Equatorial Guinea.

Her music draws on influences from flamenco, Spanish copla, jazz, soul, African polyrhythm & the "rhythms of Gypsy neighbors she grew up with". www.youtube.com/watch?v=tANy...

#Blacksky #Music
Buika - Falsa Moneda (Videoclip oficial)
YouTube video by Buika
www.youtube.com
January 14, 2025 at 4:30 PM
rahstory.bsky.social
Braids from around the world:

📸 1: Tibetan women braid their hair 108 times - A sacred number in Buddhism.

📸 2: Tibetan (microbraids), Uyghur (Turkic ethnic group - They have braiding contests in China), Ethiopian, Native American, Maasai, Fulani, European (Medieval styles, etc), etc.

#Hair
Back of Tibetan lady (we can't see her face) with 108 microbraids. Similar to ones typically associated with African and African American hairstyles. Hair is tied with a lime green and red decorative scrunchie of some kind. Woman wears an Asian-style silk jacket with stylized plants. Collage of braids found around the world, in different cultures. Includes Asian - incl. Tibetan, Uyghur, Chinese, African - Maasai, Fulani and Ethiopian, Native American, and European - Medieval.
January 13, 2025 at 6:33 PM
rahstory.bsky.social
(1/2) In the south of Burkina Faso lies a small village called Tiébélé. It's home to the Kassena people; one of the oldest ethnic groups that settled in the region in the 15th century.

Tiébélé is known for their amazing traditional Gurunsi #architecture & decorated walls
#Africa #Art #Design #Homes
Gurunsi-style home in the village of Tiébélé, Burkina Faso. Black and white designs (Triangles, Stars, checkers, crosshatch, etc) painted on clay homes. #Africa #House Gurunsi-style home in the village of Tiébélé, Burkina Faso. Black designs (Triangles, Stars, checkers, crosshatch, etc) painted on brown-red earthen clay homes. #Decoration Gurunsi-style home in the village of Tiébélé, Burkina Faso. Large black and white checkered pattern over a clay home. Covers every inch of the structure. #Crafts
January 12, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Reposted by Real African History
ottomanhistory.bsky.social
■ Ottoman Naval Soldiers on the Deck of a Ship Under the Command of an Afro-Turk Officer, Istanbul, 1890s [Ottoman Empire Navy, Naval History, African, Black, 19th Century]
Ottoman Naval Soldiers with white uniform and red fez on the Deck of a Ship.
January 12, 2025 at 12:20 AM
rahstory.bsky.social
Extensive trade networks existed between the #ancient Mediterranean world & Africa:

(Left) King Aphilas of Axum, Ethiopia depicted on coinage found in ancient Berenike, Greece.

(Right) Roman Wine Amphora, possibly similar to ones identified at Adulis in Eritrea.
#History #Greece #Africa
Gold coin with face of King Aphilas depicted on one side and a series of markings or writing on the other. Roman amphora (container for wine. Like a vase). Tan with black figures (Long-bearded Greek men taming an octopus) and abstract details.
January 11, 2025 at 4:38 PM
rahstory.bsky.social
Magyarab: Hungarian Nubians living along the Nile in #Egypt & Sudan, prob since 16th century.

According to legend, Christian Hungarians fighting for Ottoman Empire in southern Egypt remained & married local Nubian women.

Members of the World Federation of Hungarians since 1992.

#Blacksky #Europe
Dark-skinned Magyrarab senior woman. With burnished brown-copper skin. Deep wrinkles line her face and around her deep set eyes. She also has dark brown lips which are noticeable darker than the rest of her face - Most likely from age. Group of Magyrarab people. Sepia-toned or black and white photo of family and/or friends. Tan-skinned. One man wears a head scarf and long white white tunic. The others are wearing various clothes (seems to be non-traditional). There are 2 smaller kids, one lady holds a baby, 3 men and 4 women. All smiling warmly at the camera or each other. Tan to brown-skinned man with warn brown eyes, black hair beginning to grey ever-so-slightly. Thick and dark eyebrows and a small moustache framing his face.
January 10, 2025 at 11:47 PM
rahstory.bsky.social
Depiction of Black Knights. Circa 14th to 16th centuries. Location: Europe (Various). Most of these are depicting Saint Maurice:

bsky.app/profile/rahs...

#Medieval #Europe #MedievalHistory #Saint #Knight #Knights #History #BlackHistory #BlackSky #Education
Elaborate illustration of black knight. Possibly Saint Maurice. He was silver armor with gold details. Carries a large golden sword in one hand and a flag with a sort of black phoenix (-dragon hybrid) on the other. Looks like a cross between the Albanian flag and the Targaryen sigil from Game of Thrones. He also wears a large hat of some sort on his head. Black knight with golden halo. He wears oversized silver armor and a red velvet-esque skirt (with gold details) that trails down the sides, from the waist to knees. He carries a heavy, peach or gold-colored flag in one hand, black sword with golden details on handle end. Black knight, probably Saint Maurice in a bright colored, festive painting. He wears silver armor with what seems to be (angel?) wings cascading from out of the sleeves. In one hand a flag with a black or brown phoenix-like creature on tan background. In his other hand a shield with the same sigil. Behind him are men of European (white) appearance with the same silver armor, holding spears. They are all framed by a large archway - Light brown, as if carved in wood. There is a sort of hanging wreath of leaves with blue, red and purple decorations at the top of the archway. Black knight with what looks to be more modest commoner's clothing. Looks less like armor, more like a brown tunic. On those of the clothes, a red cape with gold detail on the edges. Gold armored "knee pads". A red had with gold details on the edge. He holds a spear in one hand (with a trailing red and white flag) and a shield with that is red on one side, white on the other, with a cross of both colors appearing in the middle.
January 10, 2025 at 3:06 AM
rahstory.bsky.social
"Mami Wata is a water-spirit, sometimes mermaid figure, found throughout [West & C. Africa, & the Americas]. In Dutch Guiana, Africans worshipped her by falling into a trance-like state. Native Americans of the colony adopted Water Mama & merged her with their own water spirits."
#Folklore #Healing
Her exact origins are unclear, but it seems Mami Wata first came into existence during the Transatlantic slave trade. She's regarded as "foreign", which may be linked to the journey of Africans to unknown lands by water. She was as feared as she was admired. Over the years inspirations ranging from "The Sirens, Isis, Cleopatra, the Mona Lisa, Shiva, the Virgin Mary, Lady Godiva" and others have been incorporated into her lore. IMAGE: Black African woman with thick, long hair holds a serpent, which twists around her neck and hands. Another serpent crawls up her body. She wears bright yellow skirt, and red vest over a grey and white shirt. Yellow-gold circular pendants and one half moon-shaped (might be a necklace) dangle at chest level. #Myth #Latinsky #Blacksky #Nativesky #Lore #Spirituality #Legend
January 9, 2025 at 8:04 PM
rahstory.bsky.social
(1/2) One thing I learned from running this page over the years is there's still an overwhelming need for some to copyright the world in their image.

To believe the best & most innovative things, civilizations and cultures only came from people who look like them.

POCs are not exempt from this.
January 9, 2025 at 3:37 PM
rahstory.bsky.social
South Africa's Cape Floral Region is considered one of the most biodiverse floral regions on earth.

Though it only covers about 0.5% of the continent, it's home to over 20% of Africa's floral species.

Shown: Namaqualand - An arid region of #Namibia & #SouthAfrica.

#Nature #Flowers #Biodiversity
The Cape Floral Region is designated a #UNESCO World Heritage site. Shown: (Looks like a) Gemsbok - Antelope with black and white markings on its face, tab body and long black antlers. It's looking at the viewer in a field of vibrant purple, orange, white and yellow flowers. With spots of green bushes peaking here and there. In the foreground: A pink flower, not fully open yet. Around it, tiny purple flowers on green stems. There's also a few pink and green flowers of a different species in the background and also some large yellow-green leaves peaking from the right side of the frame. King Protea, the national flower of South Africa. It's a medium-sized flower with large pink, pointed petals circling a white center with yellow filaments (?).
January 7, 2025 at 10:49 PM
rahstory.bsky.social
"The Sub-Saharan Haplogroup L is also found in West Asia at low to moderate frequencies, most notably in Yemen where frequencies as high as 60% have been reported [mostly in Hadramawt, a city in the South of the country]."

Full album: www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...
#Africa #MiddleEast #Blacksky
Afro-Yemenese woman in a traditional gown. Random colorful stringy frills of red, green and yellow frame her face. She wears wears silver bracelets and has a small bundle of what looks like wheat in her hand. Handsome Afro-Yemenese man smiling. He wears a red and white headscarf wrapped around his head. He has loose texturized curls and facial hair going down one side of the face and up the other. His skin is a burnished chocolate-copper. White teeth. Afro-Yemenese man with texturized afro hair, light brown skin tone, dark and full eyebrows. He looks straight into the camera.
January 7, 2025 at 3:07 PM
rahstory.bsky.social
(1 of 2) 2 African American singers & musicians covering Irish & Scottish songs:

🎧 Nina Simone's "Black Is The Color of My True Love's Hair" (Believed to be an old Scottish song. But better known from the American Appalachians). www.youtube.com/watch?v=cA5D...

#Music #Blacksky #Scotland
Nina Simone - Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair (Audio)
YouTube video by NinaSimoneVEVO
www.youtube.com
January 6, 2025 at 8:00 PM
rahstory.bsky.social
Naming conventions in African American communities are so much more diverse than traditionally believed. Some examples: Irish & Scottish (Breanna, Tay), Hawaiian (Keona), Latin (Maurice), Urdu/Hindi (Tanisha), Swahili (Ayana, Nia), Slavic (Tatiana), Arabic (Aaliyah), etc #Names #Language #Languages
"Black sounding" names and their surprising history
YouTube video by Say It Loud
www.youtube.com
January 4, 2025 at 3:50 PM
rahstory.bsky.social
The Yoruba have one of the highest rates of twinning in the world, at 45–50 twin sets (or 90–100 twins) per 1k live births. This is possibly due to high consumption of a specific type of yam containing a natural phytoestrogen which may stimulate the ovaries to release an egg from each side
#Birth
*The Yoruba people are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. Yoruban Beliefs About Twins: Ibeji is the name of an Orisha (spirit) representing a pair of twins in the Yoruba religion. In the diasporic Yoruba spirituality of Latin America, Ibeji are syncretized with Saints Cosmas and Damian. In Yoruba culture and spirituality, twins are believed to be magical, and are granted protection by the Orisha Shango. If one twin should die, it represents bad fortune for the parents and the society to which they belong. The parents therefore commission a babalawo to carve a wooden Ibeji to represent the deceased twin, and the parents take care of the figure as if it were a real person. Image: old-ish photo (in color) of an African woman holding two Ibeji (twin) statues in her hand. She's got gorgeous brown skin, dark diagonal eyebrows (seems to be penciled in, the remaining arch is super light). She's wearing a multi-colored, multi-patterned red, orange, black and white wrap around her body. She's standing, and there's a baby that's peaking out from behind her, looking at the figures in her hand (He's wrapped in the garment that's around her). Her hair is in a traditional style. She has a series of 4-5 of twists, interlocking with each other, maybe 2" from her head. It's a work of art
December 30, 2024 at 5:53 PM
rahstory.bsky.social
(1/3) While this is a heartbreaking story, I was...disappointed by the author's stance that #DNA testing is impossible for black & latino individuals. Or inherently toxic. I've been part of several #genealogy groups geared towards people of color in the past...

www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/wh...
My Whole Life, I Embraced My Latina Identity. Then I Took A DNA Test That Changed Everything.
"Genealogy was a fun brain game for those with European ancestry. For nearly everyone else, it was a painful awakening to lost stories, erased histories and generations of trauma. "
www.yahoo.com
December 29, 2024 at 5:21 PM
rahstory.bsky.social
(1/2) Controversial opinion, but I'd love for every student to get an ancestral DNA test, as part of #history #education. Esp. people of African descent. So many of us have been taught that we have no history, our history is slavery or we're all effectively the same...
December 27, 2024 at 2:51 PM
rahstory.bsky.social
The Afro-Peruvian Museum (Zaña-Chiclayo, Peru) rescues, preserves, documents and educates the public on the history of people of African descent in Peru.

More info for visitors: www.limaeasy.com/lima-guide/l...

#Africa #Peru #Blacksky #Latinsky
Group of Peruvian men and women holding various instruments, including guitars and drums of African origin. Hanging Sign: Museo Afro Peruano. Various monochromatic images of people of African descent on the wall behind (A woman with a basket on her head, etc). Black and white photo. Men and women of various indigenous, African or multihyphenate backgrounds dressed for a Peru Ancestral festival. 3 women of African descent at the front, in ruffled dresses and straw hats. Lots of smiling, happy faces. More black and white photos from the museum. Including local Peruvian stars, activists, etc.
December 26, 2024 at 6:27 PM
rahstory.bsky.social
You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them. ~Ray Bradbury
#Quotes #RayBradbury
December 20, 2024 at 4:53 PM
rahstory.bsky.social
(1 of 2) #African + #Asian Texans of Robertson County: "Farmers in Robertson County made sharecropping contracts with [Chinese men], seeking to replace freed slaves. They worked long, hard hours. And when employers broke their contracts..

Read More: www.instagram.com/p/BUqNk_VFs0I/

#Texas
Vintage wedding photo of Chinese man and African (American) woman. She's sitting on a chair in a short white gown with a head covering that trails to the ground. She has a bouquet in her lap. Beside her, a man in a tuxedo. He holds his hands behind his back. Backdrop looks to be a decadent room of some sort. Old jacquard curtains hang in the background.
December 20, 2024 at 2:32 PM