The Gantt Report
Every month is Black History Month for people like me. However, many African-Americans believe they can only honor and celebrate when their modern-day masters give them permission to do so.
So, around this time of year The Gantt Report likes to share information about Great Black Men. There are great Black women too but female columnists like Andrea Giggetts and others can do their part to educate African-American females about the contributions made by women.
This year’s Great Black Men include a variety of men from the past and present including the following that you may or may not know as men of color:
AESOP – Also known as Lokman, Aesop was a Negro slave and the wisest man of the East. He was used as an authority by Prophet Mohammed in the Koran and his influence on Western thought is profound. Plato, Socrates, Shakespeare, La Fontaine and many other so-called great thinkers found inspiration in Aesop’s words of wisdom.
CHAKA ZULU – Some have called Chaka the world’s greatest despot because no conqueror was as hard and unfeeling as he was. Chaka had the heart of a tiger and his savagery was very devastating because it was combined with the military skill of Ceasar and Napoleon, the organizing genius of Alexander the Great, the discipline of Lycurgus, the inflexibility of Bismark and the powerful and destructive force of Attila. Chaka only suffered one minor military defeat.
BENEDICT THE MOOR – Benedict was the most honored saint of the Negroes and also the Christian Indians of Brazil and Peru. Several churches were erected in his honor including a church in New York City. In 1807 Benedict the Moor was canonized by Pope Pius VII. Benedict’s ambition was to reach the heights of patience, gentleness and Christian love. Historians say Benedict was so Holy that wild wolves were afraid to touch him.
TOUSSAINT L’OUVERTURE – L’Ouverture burst on the scene when slavery was at its worse in Haiti. About 40,000 whites lived in luxury in Haiti while 450,000 Blacks lived as slaves that worked to make Haiti the richest of many French colonies. On October 30, 1791 Toussaint L’Ouverture helped to lead a revolt. Even though he was too humane to approve the slaughter of women and children other Blacks in Haiti arose and simultaneously set fire to thousands of sugar cane fields and butchered white men as they fled from their burning mansions. Napoleon hated L’Ouverture but Toussaint and his small army beat the feared Napoleon like a drum! The United States owes Haiti a great debt because events led by L’Ouverture broke the power of France in the New World and hastened the sale of the Louisiana territory or, in other words, half of what is now the United States, for a penny ante sum.
I could go on and on for five or ten columns but I’ll just give you some more names that you can look up or search for yourself.
Other great Black men of color include Hatshepsut, Thotmes III, Moshesh, Tippoo Tib, Khama, St. Maurice of Aganaum, John VI of Portugal, Alexandre Dumas, Kwame Nkrumah, Sekou Toure, Amilcar Cabral, Patrice Lumumba, Jomo Kenyatta, Denmark Vessey and many, many, many more!
Enjoy your Black History life and don’t limit the study of Great Black Men and Women to 28 days each year.
