Freddy Shabaka
Hi Everyone... I'm pretty new to the blogging world and I'm looking forward to networking with other black bloggers around the world. My blog at www.shabakasounds.blogspot.com is focused on edutainment. I take songs and discuss the lyrics and issues revolving around the song. As a singer/songwriter, I decided to start off with my own material taken from my CD called "The Black Loyalists". My first few blog posts will be about a story that I'm not just personally connected to, but I feel has fallen between the cracks of black history. It is the story of the Black Loyalists...those blacks that chose to seek their freedom by fighting for the British during the American Revolutionary war. As we all know, the British lost, and these Blacks were evacuated to Nova Scotia in Canada. Nearly 2,000 of them made their way to Africa and founded Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone which is where I'm from. This was the first "back to Africa movement". In the process of researching their story and their leader Thomas Peters, I found out that my good friend and graphic designer Adrian Fraser, is a descendant of Thomas Peters (got the family tree from his mom before she died), and that my great grandmother's grandfather, appears to have married Thomas Peters' wife when he died. Peters died within 6 months of arriving in Freetown. You can read more about this story on my blog. One thing I do find interesting is that most African American historians appear to have overlooked this story. I wonder why? There have been a few books that have been published recently, "Rough Crossings" by Simon Schama and published by Harper Collins, "Epic Journeys of Freedom" by Cassandra Pybus an Australian Professor, and "Liberty's Exiles" by Maya Jasanoff, a Harvard Professor published by Knopf. All of these books have been written by white authors, however, they are very well written and I would recommend them. My goal is to create awareness of these people who sacrificed so much, and whose blood still flows in our veins. I always picture those days when our people were sitting around a campfire, trying to figure out how to get free. One of the main questions during the Revolutionary War was "Should I fight for the Americans or should I fight for the British". Even though in some cases brother fought against brother, there was no malice, as all they were fighting for was their freedom.
Loading ...
