The Imbalu festival of Uganda where male circumcision is performed in public

It is merrymaking every two years in the Bugisu or Gisu region in eastern Uganda as they celebrate Imbalu, a circumcision ritual that initiates boys into men. Usually held around August, thousands of people, foreign and local, flock to Mutoto cultural ground in eastern Uganda, outside the town of Mbale to watch young Ugandan men get their foreskins sliced in public.

Full-length police bodycam footage of George Floyd’s death now released to public [Watch]

Police camera video of George Floyd’s arrest and his chilling final moments has now been made public. The video, about an hour in length, comes from the body cameras of former officers Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng.

Massive explosion shakes Lebanon's capital Beirut (videos)

A massive explosion erupted in Lebanon's capital Beirut on Tuesday, August 4. The afternoon blast shook several parts of the capital with Local Red Cross reporting hundreds of injured and widespread damage.

Ibrahim Njoya, the African king who created his own writing system that was destroyed by the French

King Ibrahim Njoya was between the years 1860 to 1933, the 17th ruler of Bamum, a large ethnic group located within what is now western Cameroon.Before his reign at the end of the 19 century, the history of the Bamum people was preserved primarily through oral transmission from one generation to the other.Out of fear that important historical facts of the Bamum could be erased or corrupted, Njoya introduced an alphabet that could be used to write down the history of his people.

Sara Gómez, a Cuban filmmaker who was banned for exposing failed promises to Afro-Cubans

Sara Gómez born November 8, 1942, was a Cuban filmmaker, who by 31 had passed but she left behind a rich body of work. During the early years of the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art & Industry (ICAIC), she was one of only two black filmmakers in attendance. She was also the institute’s first and for her lifetime, Cuba’s only woman director. As a revolutionary filmmaker, Gómez focused not only on wider social inequalities that Afro-Cubans were subjected to but specifically “the socio-economic annihilation of Black women in a post-revolutionary Cuba.

Four ancient African languages – older than English spoken till this day.

By some counts, there are more than 3,000 African languages although most linguists on the continent and other places believe the number goes just a little beyond 2,000. All the same, linguistic evolution on the continent has been taking place for over 5,000 years. Some of the languages that were used by the ancestors of old are no more spoken. 

“It’s long overdue” – Afrobeats music gets UK singles chart

Afrobeats is a musical movement that is taking the world by storm. It should, however, not be confused with Afrobeat which was pioneered by Fela Kuti in the late 1960s where he and his drummer Tony Allen began a movement that fused jazz, funk, and Ghanaian high-life with traditional Yoruba music and ‘woke’ lyrics.

A look at Boubou, Senegal’s loose-fitting garment worn by both sexes

The Senegalese fascination with boubou the long, colorful, loose-fitting garment – worn by both sexes in parts of Africa is well-founded. After all, the word “boubou” comes from the Wolof mbubbe Wolof being the principal African language of Senegal. It underlines the Senegalese assertion that the cloth has always been Senegalese. The boubou is fit for purpose thanks to its multiplicity of contradictory uses and meanings. It can connote sexiness or modesty.

After almost four years in prison, Keeda Haynes is running to be TN’s first black woman in Congress

In life, sometimes one must experience certain hardships to be a better advocate for those in similar situations. That is the story of Keeda Haynes who spent almost four years in prison for a crime she says she did not commit, to becoming a public defender who is now running for Congress in Tennessee. Should Haynes win the seat against the incumbent Re, Jim Cooper who has been running the show in Congress for the Democratic seat for almost two decades, she will be the first Black woman Tennessee will send to Congress.

Patricia Cowings: the woman helping astronauts combat space sickness

NASA psychophysiologist, Dr. Patricia Cowings, was the first American woman to be trained as a scientist-astronaut. She designed a program to help astronauts combat space sickness. Also, Cowings helps astronauts better adapt to space by studying the effects of gravity on human physiology and performance. In 1979, she was an alternate for a space flight. Cowings never made it to space but she has spent her 34-year career at NASA making life better for those who go there.