This engraving depicts a scene from the Haitian Revolution (1791–1804), specifically titled "Revenge taken by the Black Army for the cruelties practiced on them by the French".

The image portrays members of the Black Army—a force of formerly enslaved people and free people of color—executing French officers by hanging.

The revolution was characterized by extreme violence on both sides.

This particular scene was a direct response to the atrocities committed by French forces under General Charles Leclerc and General Rochambeau, who attempted to restore slavery and French control over the colony then known as Saint-Domingue.

The artwork was created by Marcus Rainsford and published in 1805 in his book, An Historical Account of the Black Empire of Hayti.
Rainsford, a former British captain, documented the revolution's events and provided some of the earliest visual records of the conflict.

The image symbolizes the shift in power during the later stages of the revolution when the Black Army, led by figures like Jean-Jacques Dessalines, successfully repelled Napoleon Bonaparte's massive expeditionary force.

The revolution began in August 1791 as a mass uprising of enslaved people inspired by the ideals of the French Revolution.

It is widely regarded as the most successful slave rebellion in history, resulting in the permanent abolition of slavery and the establishment of Haiti as the world's first independent Black-led republic in 1804.

Did you know that Cuba had a policy to "Whiten" the African population? This is a very deep article that deals with 5 Countries that deliberately brought Europeans into their country to lighten the complexion of the people in many cases. Many of us don't know this aspect of history.

"After the trans-Atlantic slave trade was officially abolished toward the end of the 19th century, many whites felt threatened and feared free Blacks would become a menacing element in society. The elites spent a great dealing of time mulling over how best to solve the so-called Negro problem. A popular solution that emerged during this period was the ideology of racial whitening or “whitening"."

"Supporters of the “whitening” ideology believed that if a “superior” white population was encouraged to mix with an “inferior” Black population, Blacks would advance culturally, genetically or even disappear totally, within several generations. Some also believed that an influx of immigrants from Europe would be necessary to successfully carry out the process."

Although both ideologies were driven by racism and white supremacy, whitening was in contrast to some countries that opted for segregation rather than miscegenation, ultimately outlawing the mixing of the races. This, however, was just a different means to the same end as these nations also imported more Europeans while slaughtering and oppressing the Black population.

SOURCE:

https://atlantablackstar.com/2014/03/10/5-black-nations-that-imported-europeans-to-whiten-the-population/

#Africa #AfricanHistory #Cuba #Slavery #TheAHNShow #BlackHistoryMonth #BlackHistory

In 2008, legendary rapper Slick Rick quietly lost his right to remain in the United States.

Despite living in the U.S. since childhood and being a cornerstone of hip-hop culture, Slick Rick was ordered deported to the United Kingdom due to decades-old convictions stemming from a 1990 incident. The ruling stunned fans and artists alike. For years, one of rap’s most influential storytellers was barred from returning to the country where he built his legacy.

The deportation battle became a symbol of how U.S. immigration law treats non-citizens with criminal records — regardless of cultural impact, family ties, or rehabilitation. Support poured in from across hip-hop, with artists publicly backing Rick’s fight to come home.

Then, in January 2021, during the final hours of his presidency, Donald Trump issued a full presidential pardon to Slick Rick. The decision erased the conviction that triggered his removal and cleared the legal path for Rick to return to the United States.
After more than a decade in exile, Slick Rick was finally allowed back into the country he helped shape musically.

Build up a reputation: You’re a little crazy. Fighting you is not worth it.
Predictability invites attack.
A hint of madness raises the price. When people can’t model your response, they choose distance over conflict.

UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTHS ABOUT PEOPLE:

1. Most kindness hides an agenda.
2. Love fades when respect disappears.
3. Confidence is often a mask for anxiety.
4. People crave validation more than truth.
5. Attention is the purest form of currency.
6. The one who talks less controls the frame.
7. Silence during conflict is psychological dominance.
8. Those who need control secretly fear abandonment.
9. People remember how you made them feel, not what you said.

Creole languages can be categorized by their base language, such as French-based (e.g., Haitian Creole, Louisiana Creole), English-based (e.g., Jamaican Patois, Gullah), Portuguese-based (e.g., Papiamento, Cape Verdean Creole), and others that have a mixed or non-European base (e.g., Sango, Saramacca). They are found worldwide, with large concentrations in the Caribbean, Africa, and the Indian Ocean.
By base language

French-based: These languages developed from contact between French and other languages. Examples include Haitian Creole, Louisiana Creole, Mauritian Creole, and Dominican Creole French.

English-based: These are creoles where English is the primary base. Examples include Jamaican Patois, Guyanese Creole, Gullah (spoken in the southeastern U.S.), and Tok Pisin (in Papua New Guinea).

Portuguese-based: These languages have Portuguese as their main foundation. Papiamento (spoken in Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao) and Cape Verdean Creole are prominent examples.

Mixed or non-European based: Some creoles are based on contact between multiple European languages or primarily non-European languages.

Sango: Based on the Ngbandi language in the Central African Republic.

Saramacca: Based on English but heavily influenced by Portuguese, spoken in Suriname.

Papiamentu: Though based on Portuguese, it has significant Spanish and Dutch influence.

By external history

Plantation creoles: Developed on plantations, such as many French-based creoles in the Caribbean.

Fort creoles: Developed around forts, often involving trade and administration.

Maroon creoles: Developed by communities of formerly enslaved people who escaped to form their own settlements.

Creolized pidgins: Languages that evolved from pidgins into more complex, stable languages.

By region

Caribbean: Haitian Creole, Jamaican Patois, Papiamento (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao), and various French-based creoles in the French West Indies are examples.

Africa: Nigerian Pidgin, Sango, and Kikongo-Kituba are spoken in various countries.

Indian Ocean: Mauritian Creole, Seychellois Creole, and Reunion Creole are spoken in this region.

Americas: Besides the Caribbean and Louisiana creoles, there are also Liberian Creole and Belizean Kriol.

Robert Downey Jr. photographed after being sentenced to 3 years in prison for possession of cocaine, heroin and a gun, 1999.

In 1999, actor Robert Downey Jr. appeared in court wearing an orange jumpsuit, his once-glamorous career in ruins. The photo captured the lowest point of a man once hailed as one of Hollywood’s most gifted talents. After a string of arrests for drug possession in the late 1990s, Downey was sentenced to three years in prison following multiple violations of his probation.

His descent mirrored a decade of personal chaos, addiction, relapses, and tabloid scrutiny that made him a cautionary tale about fame and self-destruction. But it wasn’t the end. After serving his sentence and struggling through recovery, Downey returned to acting in the early 2000s, rebuilding his reputation role by role.

Less than a decade after this photo, he would reemerge as Tony Stark in Iron Man (2008), launching the Marvel Cinematic Universe and one of the greatest career comebacks in Hollywood history.

Added Fact: In 2008, Time magazine named Robert Downey Jr. one of the 100 most influential people in the world — less than ten years after his release from prison.

Native American tribes who originally inhabited the Texas region, including the meaning of their names and their history.

1. Apache
• Meaning of the Name: Generally believed to derive from the Pueblo-Zuni word "Apachu," meaning "enemy." However, the Apache people call themselves "Inde," "Tinde," or "Tinneh," all meaning "the people."
• History and Culture:
• Originally from the north, they migrated to the American Southwest and Plains regions between the 12th and 16th centuries.
• They were nomadic hunter-gatherers, roaming vast territories to hunt buffalo and forage for food.
• After acquiring horses from the Spanish in the 17th century, they became a powerful mounted nation. The Lipan Apache were prominent in the Texas region.

2. Comanche
• Meaning of the Name: Derived from a Ute word meaning "anyone who wants to fight me all the time." The people refer to themselves as "Nʉmʉnʉʉ" (NUH-MUH-NUH), meaning "The People."
• History and Culture:
• Dominated the Southern Plains of Texas in the 18th and 19th centuries and were known as the "Lords of the Plains."
• They were originally part of the Shoshone tribe from Wyoming and moved south.
• They were exceptionally skilled at breeding and using horses, and their horseback fighting ability was unique and unmatched by other tribes of the time.
• Buffalo products were the core of their economy and way of life.

3. Kiowa
• Meaning of the Name: Derived from "Ka'I gwu" or "Ka'I gua" in their own language, meaning "principal people" or "leading people."
• History and Culture:
• Originally from western Montana, they migrated to the Yellowstone River and Black Hills, becoming skilled horsemen and buffalo hunters.
• They gradually moved south into the northern Texas and Oklahoma regions in the early 18th century.
• They were known for unique cultural practices like their Sun Dance ceremony.
• They had a prestigious warrior society known as the "Principal Dogs" or "Ten Bravest."

4. Jumano and Eastern Pueblos

Meaning of the Name: The term "Jumano" referred to at least three distinct groups in the Southwest and Southern Plains between 1500 and 1700. They were called "rayado" (striped or marked people) due to the distinctive horizontal striped patterns tattooed or painted on their faces.
• History and Culture:
• They were primarily buffalo hunters and traders, playing a crucial role as middlemen between the Spanish colonies and various Indigenous groups.
• Their main territory was in Central Texas, between the lower Pecos River and the Colorado River.
• "Eastern Pueblos" may refer to people living in villages like the "Humanas pueblos" in eastern New Mexico, with whom the Jumano were associated.

5. Coahuilteco and Carrizo Tribes
• Meaning of the Name:
• Coahuilteco: Not an original name for a single tribe, but an umbrella term created by Mexican linguists to group many bands and clans speaking various dialects in Northern Mexico and South Texas.
• Carrizo: A Spanish word meaning "reed," applied to many Coahuiltecan groups along the Rio Grande. (For example, the Comecrudo tribe, whose Spanish name means "eats raw meat," was also called Carrizo).
• History and Culture:
• They were nomadic hunter-gatherers who lived along the Rio Grande and throughout South Texas.
• They established villages near rivers and water sources.
• Due to disease and conflict with European settlers, their population was decimated. Many sought refuge in Spanish missions, where they adopted European farming techniques.

6. Karankawa
• Meaning of the Name: Generally believed to mean "dog-lovers" or "dog-raisers" in their own language, as they were known to keep dogs described as a fox-like or coyote-like breed.
• History and Culture:
• A coastal people who lived along the Texas Coast from Galveston Island to south of Corpus Christi.
• Their encounter with the Spanish explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in 1528 marks the earliest recorded contact between Europeans and the First Peoples of Texas.
• They were nomadic, using dugout canoes to travel the shallow coastal waterways.
• They were known for tattooing their bodies.

7. Tonkawa
• Meaning of the Name: Comes from the Waco language, meaning "they all stay together." They called themselves "Titska Watitch," which means "the most human of people."
• History and Culture:
• A nomadic hunting tribe originally from eastern and central Texas and Oklahoma, hunting buffalo, deer, and other game.
• They lived in about 20 independent wandering bands.
• Historically, they were often at war with neighboring tribes like the Apache and Comanche.
• They faced forced relocations and population decline due to violence in the 19th century.

8. Bidai
• Meaning of the Name: A Caddo word for "brushwood," named after the local geography along Bedias Creek where they lived. They referred to themselves as "Quasmigdo."
• History and Culture:
• Settled in East Texas, between the Brazos and Neches Rivers.
• Some historical records suggest they may be one of the oldest tribes in Texas.
• They practiced agriculture (maize), hunting (bison, deer), and fishing.
• They were allied with Caddo and Atakapan tribes.

9. Caddo
• Meaning of the Name: Derived from the French abbreviation of "Kadohadacho," a Caddo word meaning "real chief" or "real Caddo."
• History and Culture:
• A confederacy of about 25 affiliated groups centered around the Red River in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma.
• They were sedentary agriculturalists, focusing on farming.
• They developed complex social and political systems, centered around the construction and use of earthen temple and burial mounds.
• Their leadership hierarchy included the xinesi (spiritual leader), caddi (principal headman), and canahas (subordinate headmen). The name of the state, Texas, comes from the Caddo word taysha, meaning "friend" or "ally."

10. Wichita
• Meaning of the Name: The origin is unknown, but they called themselves "Kitikiti'sh," meaning "the people" or "the preeminent people." French traders called them "Pani Piqué" (Tattooed Pawnee), referring to their distinctive tattoos.
• History and Culture:
• A confederacy of subtribes (including Taovaya, Tawakoni, Waco, and Kichai) who mainly lived in Northern Texas and South-Central Kansas.
• They combined agriculture (corn, beans) with hunting (buffalo, deer).
• They lived in distinctive conical, haystack-shaped houses made of grass and matting.
• Their society was matrilocal (married couples lived with the wife's family) and matrilineal (descent was traced through the mother's line).

11. Tawakoni & Kitsai
• Tawakoni:
• Meaning of the Name: Believed to mean "river bend among red sand hills." The French also referred to them as "Three Canes."
• History: A Caddoan tribe and member of the Wichita Confederacy, they settled along the Brazos and Trinity Rivers in Texas in the 18th century. They shared similar agricultural and housing methods with the Wichita.
• Kitsai:
• A subtribe of the Wichita Confederacy. Notably, the Kitsai were the only group within the Wichita Confederacy to speak a distinct Caddoan language.

Note : Most descendants of these historic Texas tribes were forcibly relocated to reservations, primarily in Oklahoma, during the 19th century. However, as noted in the follow-up, three federally recognized tribes and numerous descendants of the original tribes continue to reside in Texas today.

Big Ed – The Assassin

On September 1, 1998, No Limit soldier Big Ed released his debut album The Assassin under Master P’s legendary No Limit Records.

Part of the golden era of the tank, the album featured appearances from Master P, Snoop Dogg, Silkk the Shocker, C-Murder, Mia X, and more — showcasing the full No Limit roster’s strength at the time. With its gritty Southern beats, military-inspired production, and raw street energy, The Assassin stood as one of the many projects that kept No Limit dominating the late ’90s charts.

While Big Ed didn’t achieve the mainstream fame of some of his labelmates, The Assassin remains a true piece of No Limit history, reflecting the label’s relentless output and influence.