The Southern Times

GENERAL

African, African-American Inventors You should know: Part 1

By Southern African News on 24th November 2014

Frederick McKinley Jones (1893-1961) was one of the most prolific Black inventors ever.  

Frederick Jones patented more than 60 inventions, however, he is best known for inventing an automatic refrigeration system for long-haul trucks in 1935 (a roof-mounted cooling device). Jones was the first person to invent a practical, mechanical refrigeration system for trucks and railroad cars, which eliminated the risk of food spoilage during long-distance shipping trips. 

The system was, in turn, adapted to a variety of other common carriers, including ships. Frederick Jones was issued the patent on July 12, 1940.

Sameera Moussa (1917-1952) was an Egyptian nuclear scientist who held a doctorate in atomic radiation and worked to make the medical use of nuclear technology affordable to all. 

She organised the Atomic Energy for Peace Conference and sponsored a call for setting an international conference under the banner “Atoms for Peace”.

Moussa believed in “Atoms for Peace” and said “I’ll make nuclear treatment as available and as cheap as Aspirin”. She worked hard for this purpose and throughout her intensive research, she came up with a historic equation that would help break the atoms of cheap metals such as copper, paving the way for a cheap nuclear bomb.

She organised the Atomic Energy for Peace Conference and sponsored a call for setting an international conference under the banner “Atom for Peace”, where many prominent scientists were invited. 

The conference made a number of recommendations for setting up a committee to protect against nuclear hazards, for which she strongly advocated. 

Moussa also volunteered to help treat cancer patients at various hospitals especially since her mother went through a fierce battle against this disease.

Seyi Oyesola is a Nigerian doctor, who co-invented “hospital in a box”.

Fed up with hospitals that were always short in supplies and prone to outages, Dr Oyesola co-invented hospital in a box, a mini hospital run with solar energy or off grid and completely mobile.

Physicist George Edward Alcorn, Jr (born 1940) is best known for his development of the imaging X-ray spectrometer. An X-ray spectrometer assists scientists in identifying a material by producing an X-ray spectrum of it, allowing it to be examined visually. 

This is especially advantageous when the material is not able to be broken down physically. 

Alcorn patented his “method for fabricating an imaging X-ray spectrometer” in 1984. He was cited for his method’s innovative use of the thermomigration of aluminum. For this achievement he was recognized with the NASA/GSFC (Goddard Space Flight Center) Inventor of the Year Award.

Gebisa Ejeta (born 1950) is an Ethiopian plant breeder, geneticist and Professor at Purdue University. In 2009, he won the World Food Prize for his major contributions in the production of sorghum.

During primary school, Ejeta planned to study engineering when he reached college age, but his mother convinced him he could do more working in agriculture. 

With aid from Oklahoma State University, he attended an agriculture and technical secondary school in Oromia-Ethiopia and also studied at what is now Haramaya University. 

The university and the US Agency for International Development helped him earn a doctorate from Purdue.

Working in Sudan during the early 1980s, Ejeta developed Africa’s first commercial hybrid variety of sorghum tolerant to drought. 

Later, with a Purdue University colleague in Indiana, he discovered the chemical basis of the relationship between the deadly parasitic weed striga and sorghum, and was able to produce sorghum varieties resistant to both drought and striga.

On 2011 President Barack Obama appointed Gebisa Ejeta as Member, Board for International Food and Agricultural Development

King Ibrahim Mbouombouo Njoya (1860–1933) was 17th in a long dynasty of kings that ruled over Bamum and its people in western Cameroon dating back to the 14th century. He succeeded his father Nsangu (hn-SAH-hn-goo), and ruled from 1886 or 1887 until his death in 1933, when he was succeeded by his son, Seidou Njimoluh Njoya. He ruled from the ancient walled city of Fumban.

Ibrahim Njoya is credited with developing the Bamum script, a syllabic system for writing in the Bamum language. 

Prior to his reign at the end of the 19th century, the long history of the Bamum people was preserved primarily through oral transmission from one generation to the next in the manner of the African Griot tradition.

Recognizing the inherent danger of important historical facts being omitted or corrupted, he set out to establish a means of written recording of Bamum history. When his work was completed, his alphabet, called, A-ka-u-ku, contained 73 signs.

Njoya is also credited with having invented a hand-powered mill for grinding corn.

His grandson, Ibrahim Mbombo Njoya, a present-day Sultan in Cameroon and the latest ruler in the Bamoun Dynasty, has established a school in the palace built by his grandfather, in which schoolchildren are once again learning the Bamum script developed by Ibrahim Njoya.  –  listverse.com/Wikipedia

Kenyon.edu

History of Black Education

In short, white universities felt no special mission, as centers of American culture, to incorporate the former American slaves into that culture.

-Allen Ballard, The Education of Black Folk

To better understand the status of blacks in education between the years 1950-1975, one must have an understanding of the historical events shaping that status. An understanding of social political status of Black Americans is needed.

Ever since the days of slavery, constraining black education was used as a method to quell black agency and fears of slave rebellions. This denial only intensified Black people's desire for education. After emancipation, black education was relegated to poorly funded segregated schools.

During this period, two leaders emerged with conflicting philosophies regarding Black education, W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington.     



Segregated school in the South

History of Black Higher Education

In higher education, several Black institutions were formed under the auspices of the Freedman's Bureau and the American Missionary Association, to help create black clerics and provide a Christian education for the Black "heathens." 

Simultaneously, Southern black institutions, segregated schools that largely depended on white philanthropy to exist, focused on industrial education that would prepare blacks for subservient roles in society. These institutions were in most cases, academically inferior to white institutions. The first Black American student graduated from Bowdoin College in 1890. Black students did not begin to enter predominately white schools in significant numbers until the 1960s.

-Education of Blacks in Ohio

Although from the mid to the late 1800s, Ohio had more colleges that any other state in America, the acceptance and enrollment of black students was relatively small. With the notable exception of Oberlin College (1833), which was open to black students as early as 1835, only two years after it open, Ohio's campuses were overwhelming white institutions with scarce Black students representation. Like Kenyon, these schools. Perhaps the establishment of Wilberforce University (1856) in Southern Ohio may have contributed to this.

Education in the 1950s

Before the beginning of the large-scale entry of Black students into white universities in 1965-66, the academic world itself scarcely noticed Blacks.

-Allen Ballard, The Education of Black Folk

While some universities would require federal urging to open their enrollment to black students, these were primarily larger state universities. Many private colleges never explicitly forbade blacks, but practiced a de facto segregation. Before the black enrollment boom of the late 1960s, some schools, such as Kenyon, began to investigate the possibilities of recruiting qualified black students. There were sparse scatterings of solitary black students beginning to integrate all white campuses. Contributing factors included the Great Migration, the economic gains of World War II, military desegregation, and the Brown v. Board of education case. These all brought hope to black Americans regarding their children's education.

Education in the 1960s
The university fancied itself free of racism and imbued with the belief that it is the man, not the color, that counts. But self-perception is often fatally in conflict with the perception of others. The white American university, as viewed by Blacks, was white and racist.

-Allen Ballard, The Education of Black Folk

The 1960s was a time of great turmoil and social unrest in America and in the Black community. At this time, more blacks began to attend predominately white institutions at an increasing rate. 

Moreover, toward the end of the decade, more blacks were choosing to attend predominately white institutions than were choosing to attend historically black colleges and universities. 

Sociologist Jacqueline Fleming discovered that while black students chose white institutions because of better academic reputations, financial aid, and academic resources superior to those at black colleges, the presence of racism or an environment that is hostile impedes these benefits for blacks. Fleming's studies show that black students tend to perform better and exhibit more personal growth at historically black institutions.

Many believe that the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. prompted not only an increase in campus black political activity, but also an increase in administrative responsiveness to black student demands. The demands of these activists typically included more black students, increased black faculty, and the establishment of black studies programs. Kenyon was no exception.

The Southern Times

OPINION

Are Africans and African Americans One People?

By Staff Reporter on 8th July 2016

By Tatenda Gwaambuka

African Americans should learn about our wars of liberation as we should also learn about slavery so we appreciate that none of us had it easy.

African-Americans have been depicted as our long lost brothers and sisters in some circles and we love to believe the hype. Stories of Oprah Winfrey being from the Kpelle Tribe in Liberia and Whoopi Goldberg from an ethnic group in Guinea-Bissau excite us.

However, does tracing roots to an African Tribe make African-Americans part of us? Do they want to be part of us? Whoopi Goldberg for one seems uninterested as she recently made headlines for saying she was simply “American” and not even African American. The whole dynamic is a complex balancing act.

The pressure put on black-Americans is immense; to be just the right amount of African while being American enough to be respected in their home-country. For Africans, the choice is easier; we simply have to be African because that’s all we can and should be.

African Booty Scratchers and the Akata?

Africans and African Americans seem to be on opposite ends of the divide of class. Some Africans who have been to the United States of America feel the most hateful racial slurs have come from fellow blacks. One of the most notorious of these is “African Booty Scratcher”.

In Bound: Africans v African Americans, a motion picture produced by Peres Owino, Actor Isaiah Washington of Grey’s Anatomy says, “There will be two people of colour in a class. One African and one African-American.

And they will not look at each other.” Another interviewee then adds, “I was called an African Booty Scratcher I don’t even know how many times…Typically, the darker you are the more you get called it.”

Instead of just taking such slurs at face-value, we need to understand where they come from. How do blacks end up hating each other? Tampa poet, James Tokley says, “A lot of us (African Americans) do harbour a lot of hostility toward Africans. Many Africans have no idea what our ancestors endured during slavery.”

The answer is therefore the shaky ground on which the United States is built. Slavery is the foundation on which the great edifice that the USA is was built upon and black-Americans feel they deserve apologies not just from the whites but their black brothers who “sold their ancestors off.”

Worse still, blacks who later came to America were known to have better relations with whites as a result of previous encounters with missionaries in Africa.

This made them relate with the white man on a more cordial level than the black-American who had been subjected to years of institutionalised torture which remains even to this day. Looking from the outside, this was a betrayal.

However, where African-Americans use their own slurs to hurl at Africans, Africans have their own to retort. Some call the black-Americans “Akata” which is a wandering cat. Luvvie Ajayi says, “That word epitomizes the terrible stereotypes that Africans have about African Americans. But many young Africans don’t know what it MEANS.”

The Role of Education

Luvvie Ajayi is a Nigerian and her understanding of the misunderstandings between the two groups stems from the inherent flaws in our education.

Her views are that Africans do not know about the black American’s struggle for legitimacy and equality in America to which she even says, “I didn’t know a thing about African Americans being slaves when I was growing up. I thought everyone had a maid and driver like I did.”

It might be a fact of most African countries that blacks no longer know the struggle of simply being labelled black. In America, they still have the Black Lives Matter movement to assert their rights in an environment that keeps reminding them that they are not at par with other races.

Some Africans do not know this and the way they connect with African Americans is telling. “Much of the tension between Africans and African Americans exists because we don’t talk enough about our uncomfortable relationship,” Ajayi says.

Where Africans are successful in the United States of America, we feel it is the black American’s fault that he is not equally successful. We call the black American an Akata, a wild animal with no cause. Unknowingly, we play right into the hands of the conventional mainstream media.

A synergy of African and African American voices is too hard to conquer and mainstream media seeks to highlight the differences in background over blood so as to divide and conquer.

African Americans are taught that Africa is nothing more than a primitive backward jungle from where they came while Africans believe African Americans to be a very violent people who always have guns.

Kofi Glover, a Ghanaian political science Professor at the University of South Florida makes an eternally factual conclusion on the matter, saying, “A shared complexion does not equal a shared culture, nor does it automatically lead to friendships. Whether we like it or not, Africans and African-Americans have two different and very distinct cultures.”

Though this is true, we have a shared background of repression and disputed legitimacy. This should count for something! African Americans should learn about our wars of liberation as we should also learn about slavery so we appreciate that none of us had it easy. – African Exponent

Business Insider

'Shark Tank' investor Daymond John explains how his mom helped FUBU become a $350 million company

• Richard Feloni
   
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• May 10, 2015, 2:01 PM
 
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"Shark Tank" investor Daymond John and his mom work out of their house in FUBU's infancy.Daymond John

When Daymond John was in his early 20s, his mother said to him, "Listen, you're going to have to figure out what you're doing the rest of your life, one way or another."

Growing up in Hollis, Queens, as the only child of a single mom, John had wanted to run his own business since grade school, and he was inspired by his mom's advice that a day job would never make him rich, but dedication to his own venture could.

So he told her one day in 1992 that he wanted to build an apparel company for young men called FUBU. She taught him how to sew, and he started making and selling hats. After seeing how passionate her son was about the project, she mortgaged her home to raise $100,000 in funding and turned half of her house into a factory, working alongside John when she could.

Six years later the company was an international sensation that brought in $350 million in revenue.

John recently sat down with his mom, who goes by Ms. John — or as her son now prefers, "Shark Momma John" — for a video produced by the Understood foundation for learning disabilities (John is dyslexic).

"We did it, and I believed in you because I saw how excited you were about being an entrepreneur, about making your own money, about making your own product," Ms. John told Daymond.

Today, John is in charge of a diverse investment portfolio under his company Shark Branding, which includes many companies he has invested in through the hit show "Shark Tank."

He told Business Insider last fall that his mother gave him his favorite piece of business advice: "Money is a great slave but a horrible master," she told him.

"I think that in the earlier days, when I was a 'wantrepreneur,' I was really doing things because I thought what I wanted was to be rich. For the most part, those businesses failed, and then later when I started doing something casually because I loved it, that business burst," he said, referring to FUBU.

In FUBU's infancy, Ms. John moved out of her house so that her son and three business partners he added could have more room to create apparel to meet increasing demand.

She was confident that Daymond had finally found what he wanted to do with his life.

"Any parent would have been so happy just to see their child so excited," Ms. John said.

You can watch the full interview below:

SEE ALSO: Meet the 13-year-old CEO who built a $200,000 business and is mentored by Daymond John

Daily Sun

NATIONAL

Yesterday

SFISO HAD SAID HIS GOODBYES

   

By  Bongani Mthimunye And Sifiso JimtaWednesday, December 07, 2016 11:47

Sibusiso Mabhena is still shocked by the death of his friend, Sfiso.Photo by Bongani Mthimunye  ~ 

TWO weeks before his sudden death due to reported kidney failure, gospel musician Sfiso Ncwane had – unbeknown to him – already begun saying his goodbyes.

After telling his audience that he was not feeling well, the gospel crooner still blessed congregants at an all-night prayer session in Emalahleni, Mpumalanga, giving what is described as his most vivid performance of 10 of his best songs.

His long-time friend Sibusiso Mabhena (31), of Tweefontein, near Kwamhlanga in Mpumalanga, said he was with Sfiso that day.

“I’ve been friends with Sfiso since 2001, but never before have I seen him perform as passionately as he did that night.

“I accompanied him to the car, but he returned to the stage and sang one song after another, leaving the crowd begging for more.

“When he left the stage, he promised congregants that he would return to the city of coal with his family to worship with them.”

• Meanwhile, condolences continued to pour in for Sfiso following his death at Life Fourways Hospital, in northern Joburg.

Ncwane rose to stardom after the release of his album Baba Ngiyavuma.

President Jacob Zuma expressed deep sadness and extended his heartfelt condolences on Monday, saying the country had lost a star. “May his soul rest in peace,” Zuma said.

The EFF also sent their “revolutionary condolences” to the family, friends and all South Africans touched by his music.

Dennis Bloem, Cope spokesman, said they were saddened by the singer’s death.

Family spokesman, Sipho Makhabane, said there will be two memorial services, one in Joburg, with the venue to be confirmed, and another at the Ethekwini Community Church tomorrow at 11am.

The funeral service will take place at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Saturday at 9am.

Global Post Media

     Mawaza Police said that they arrested 48-year-old Evelyne Ndlovu, after using an ax to kill her husband, 56-year-old Rhodes Maphosa, because he refused to have sex with her, Worldwide Weird News reports

According to the police investigation, Ndlovu began arguing with Maphosa in the afternoon when he refused her sexual advances.

After several hours of arguing, Ndlovu went to sleep in the bedroom while Maphosa fell asleep on a couch in the kitchen. Around 2:00 a.m., Ndlovu woke up, took an ax and attacked her sleeping husband.

Maphosa died at the scene as a result of his injuries.

At first, Ndlovu told neighbors that an intruder was responsible for her husband’s death, but when police arrived to questioned her, she fled from the scene.

After two weeks, police managed to track her down and arrested her on charges of murder. Ndlovu was brought before the Bulawayo Magistrate’s Court, where she was released on bail.

SOURCE: http://globalpostmedianiz.blogspot.co.za/2015/01/graphic-photos-african-woman-axes-her.html

ANC Today

RADICAL ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN IS KEY IN CURBING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN & CHILDREN

Posted on 25th November 2016 by Staff Reporter Posted in Viewpoints.

MEOKGO MATUBA

 Annually the African National Congress Women’s League (ANCWL) and the ANC-led government, through the Department of Women, run a successful campaign in pursuit of curbing violence on women and children as espoused in the fundamental principles of the movement of a non-violent, non-sexist and a prosperous South Africa.

Since 1998, South Africa embarks on the 16 Days campaign against violence on women and children that commences today, the 25th of November and ends on the10th of December.

The 16 Days of Activism against gender based violence, which marks the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of violence against women, is the Human Rights Day. This period also includes Universal Children’s Day and World AIDS Day respectively. The campaign, therefore, remains an essential tool in creating awareness on the negative impacts of violence on women and children.

The ANCWL has noted that violence against women and children is still rife in South Africa.  This violence against women takes different forms, namely; physical violence in the form of domestic violence, terrible violent crimes such as murder, robbery, rape and assault in the survivor’s homes and in society and the rape culture in institutions of higher learning and schools against young women and girl children.

While the ANC-run government works tirelessly to eradicate inequality and poverty, we note that the terrible brunt on our democracy is the violence of poverty, starvation, humiliation and degradation, especially against women and children. Poverty, inequality and unemployment are conditions under which violence thrives.

According to the 2015/2016 crime statistics released the by Minister of Police, Comrade Nkosinathi Nhleko, earlier in the year, there is a decline in violent crimes but for us, one incident of crime is one too many. The victims of violence are human beings and at the most violence directly and indirectly affects women and children more than it does men.  For instance, violent crimes such as murder destabilises families since children are left as orphans with lifelong psychological scars.  Again, the majority of sexual offenses perpetrators are men than women.

As much as the ANCWL appreciates the gradual decrease in crime against women & children, it is our firm belief that more needs to be done in relation to sex crimes, which includes sexual assault and rape. On sexual violence, statistics indicates that Gauteng had 9510 cases, KZN 8947, Eastern Cape 8797, Western Cape 7130, Limpopo 4369, North-West 4164, Free-State 3928, Mpumalanga 3331 and Northern Cape 1719. In total there were 51895 reported cases. These are not just numbers but there are human being and especially vulnerable women and children behind each and every number.

When we take into consideration the fact that statistics are not an accurate reflection on the number of sexual violent instances because it is only based on reported cases and it is common knowledge that there are survivors who do not report rape and assault cases due to various reasons ranging from safety, economic reasons etc. we, in the ANCWL remain concerned because crime statistics tell us that while we conduct successful campaigns yearly, we need to intensify the fight in curbing the culture of violence against women and children.

As the ANCWL launched the campaign this week, the aim is to mobilise society into acknowledging that violence against women and children is not a government or a criminal justice system problem, but a societal problem, and that failure to view it as such, results in all efforts failing to eradicate this scourge in our communities.

Violence against women and children is one of the most egregious and persistent violations of human rights, affecting victims across race, gender and age. This societal ill is a symptom of gender inequalities which are pervasive socially, in politics and in the economic mainstream. Women perform 66% of the work worldwide and produce 60% of its food, yet they earn 10% of the income and own 1% world’s property.

The ANCWL is adamant that radical economic transformation of women will curb violence against women and children. Gender gaps in the economic mainstream need to be tackled with vigour and the urgency it deserves as economically disempowered women are vulnerable to gender based violence.  Women need to be economically empowered to gain their confidence and independence respectively.

As a country we need to focus our energies on strategies for empowering women economically to afford them greater autonomy in securing livelihoods through traditional employment and self-employment.  Women empowerment has proven to yield great results in families and society at large.

Women cannot stand in the side-lines and watch the gains of our democracy regress. We, being in majority in country’s population, will continue to take up our role to influence, mobilise and fight for economic emancipation of women thus curbing violent crimes against women and children. We must move together towards a violence free South Africa.

The ANCWL calls on men, young men and boys, in all their formations and in society at large to join the fight against violence on women and children. While the campaign is marked for only 16 days, the deeply entrenched scourge dictates that everyday becomes a day to make progress our fight to emancipate, first and foremost women economically and thereby curbing gender based violence perpetuated mainly by inequality and poverty.

It is the responsibility of all members of our society to ensure that the rights of women are respected as equal citizens. That responsibility cannot be relegated to women alone.

CDE MEOKGO MATUBA IS THE SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE ANCWL