Sylviane Anna Diouf

I will talk about and sign Dreams of Africa in Alabama on Wednesday October 5, at 6pm at the Schomburg Center,
515 Malcolm X Blvd., New York.
Hope to see you there!

Four and a half centuries ago, in 1555, Amath Diegui Fall was born in Futa Toro the Fulani/Tukulor region of northern Senegal, the cradle of Islam in Senegambia and beyond. His mother was Djegui Ba, his father Pathe Fall, a descendant of the damel (king) of Kayor. Amath, called Amar in Kayor, was an erudite , devout Muslim who became known as (more…)

On July 8, 149 years ago, 110 young people disembarked from the slave ship Clotilda. It may appear paradoxical, but at a time when there seems to be too few around, I truly believe that they and other victims of the slave trade and slavery are role models for all ages. Our pain and revolt at the sheer horror of what they endured, and at the poisonous legacy of the slave trade and slavery that need to be addressed and redressed, should not overshadow their accomplishments. (more…)

On July 31, 1761 the French ship L'Utile left Madagascar for Mauritius with 150 sailors on board and about 100 illegally transported African captives. A week later the ship went under. The Africans were shut down in the holds and several died, but a wave cracked open the hull and 88 escaped. Along with 120 sailors, they (more…)

Dreams of Africa in Alabama relates the last episode of the illegal slave trade to the US. Here's another striking example of the introduction of young Africans, more than three decades after the interdiction.

NEW NEGROES. The New Orleans papers, twelve or twenty days ago, gave an (more…)

A simple and beautiful love story from slavery times. Robert Solomon's father had been brought to the South during the illegal slave trade. Solomon spoke his father's language and since he was born in 1864 and may have lived into the 1950s this is another example of African Americans speaking an African language less than 50 years ago, just as was the case with some of the children of the Clotilda Africans.

"My father was African.... My mother was a Cherokee Indian. Her name was Alice Gamage. I was born in 1864... [M]y father stole my mother one night. He couldn't understand them and he was afraid of her people.... When I got up any size I (more…)

On March 25, the United Nations commemorated the second International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Slave Trade. A series of events was held from the 24 to the 26 at the UN headquarters in New York. The theme was “Breaking the Silence, Beating the Drum.”

The words that defined the commemoration and (more…)