Famous Black-Americans of Igbo descent.

[Nsukka]

[DennisRodman97]

how know all these are igbo decent?

[Kwame]

^ I was going to ask the same question. Have any of these celebrities traced their ancestry back to Nigeria, or are you just assuming?

[sammyjay77]

Tupac and Denzel Igbo?.....I will be extremely happy if all these proves to be true

[Matthias Offodile]

Render proof!

[Nsukka]

MORE TO COME.


How do I know all of this. Humm, well my sister and wife and daughter stumbled along something very, very interesting. Soon I'll be posting up another thread displaying the loads of AA of Angolan ethnic descents. There's alot of those too.

[Nsukka]

This is a little piece written by an African-American I came across on the net, and it states pretty much the exact same points I've stated and fellow AA friends of mine have stated in regards to the Igbo/AA strong and obvious connection, in which has been historically proven as well.

More and more I'm coming across site in where African-Americans who have taken the time to think and study openly into the ancestral descent of we African-Americans, have come to the blatantly obvious and historically documentively proven conclusion of that we African-Americans are a vastly majority Igbo descended people by about at least a 60% margin.

With each passing year of indepth study into the descendency of the African-American people, evidence is consistently compiling revealing to the world that, the once long believed and pushed upon idea of that we were made up of a massive mix of ethnic groups with no one being of majority in any one region or plantation is a false tale, pushed widely to induce greater sense of lost cause, confusion of ones self and disconnection from their African roots.

In the deep south (Georgia, South Carolina) there were massive coastal plantations known as the Gullah Estates in which were maned by upwards of a 80-85% Igbo majority, and in the Chesapeake region of the nation, especially Virgina, the Igbo made up such a large portion of both the free and slave population of the region that it was nicknamed by the blacks in the area New Eboland (Igboland), as mentioned in an unrelated documentary published in the early 1800's. A book named "murder at Montpelier" tells of the true story behind the assassination of President James Adams grandfather by a group of his female Igbo slaves who poisoned him. Igbo's made up over 80% of his estate's population.

Thursday, June 29, 2006

our son has no king: who-do Igbo

peace

I'm gonna veer off direct hoodoo talk for a second to build a bit on what's inside the "beautiful, bubblin' pot" (thanks script priest) known as African-American culture.
I haven't invited too many Yoruba/Lukumi/Candomble heads into this space yet basically because I felt I needed to get this post out of the way first. It's a bit of a polemic, but it's been developed after many years of observation and informal research.

Many different peoples from many different parts of the Motherland came together in the United States to form the people we now call African-Americans. In the ongoing process of establishing and examinig our roots for purposes of self-determination and re-intergration the cultural and religious practices of certain extended family groups (aka tribes) have been forefronted and established themselves as the "norm" of "African" cultural practice in the States
In the area of religion the ATR's (African Traditional Religions) of the Yoruba, Fon, Kongo and Akan peoples have established themselves as the standard, with the Yoruba based religions being the "gold standard".
One thing all these peoples have in common is a hierarcheal political system based around a king (though it is my understanding that the Kongo system was much looser than the others). This co-incidentally (or not) coincided with the Western view of what an "evolved" political system should look like.
That these ATRs largely failed to esablish themselves in this country (with exception of Louisiana, where imports from Haiti brought Voodoo) has made it seem that African-Americans have somehow "lost" a part of their culture.
In the case of the "gold standard " Yoruba culture it's just not the case that the culture was "lost". The major forced exodus of the Yoruba populations out of Africa into the "New World" happened AFTER legal slave importation into the U.S. was banned so a widespread Yoruba diaspora was unable to estabish itself in the U.S.(note- I have been told a Yoruba community existed in Mobile, Ala.)
I contend that Bantu/Kongos (who were numerically the largest African group exported to America) did what they did elsewhere, which was align their practices with those of the culturally dominant groups (though I accept that it could be argued that alot of Bantu knowlegde DID dissappear- but the fact that Dr. Buzzard's bones have never been found tells me ALL the secrets weren't lost- they just stayed secret).
It should be mentioned that the ancestors themselves re-established Akan practices in the U.S.

So who is this seemingly invisible dominant African cultural group?, I've always been struck by the fact that jazz developed and evolved in the US and nowhere else in the African diaspora. My inital intuition was that it had to do with with a particular set of people that were sent to and flourished in the US and not elsewhere.
After reading some anarchist theory I realized that jazz reflected a very similar thought process to what the anarchists aspired to. Which got me to thinking there must have cultural precedent, probably going back to Africa, for the egalitarian structure of dixieland, bebop, free jazz, etc.
Which led to research on which set of people actually came to the US. I used to tell my friends that it seemed everyone who didnt want to be ruled in Africa got sent to the States.
I started to feel I was on the right track when I found information on the warlords in Senegambia (who were Muslim) who would capture and sell the people who wouldn't accept their rulership and those who wouldnt convert to Islam to the British.
The people who the Wolof warlords conquered lived in what the anthropologists called stateless societies.
They didnt have kings or large-scale overarching external political structures.
Everything was decieded locally and everyone who was considered free had a say.
While researching my Sea Island roots I found the same political structure existed among the Mende, Temne, etc. Now we're getting somewhere.
Then I found the book "The Igbo Of Southeast Nigeria". It sat on my shelf for awhile before i deceided to read it. All I can say is every A-A interested in the culture of the US needs to read that book.
If you dont see the thought processes of yourself or someone you know well (for better or worse) reflected in that book I'll be shocked.
I'd go so far as to say in my opinion the Igbo culture holds the place in the US that the Yoruba culture holds in Brazil, Trinidad, and Cuba.
The Bight of Biafra was the largest exporter of slaves in the late 1700's early 1800's.
Legal inportation of slaves ended in the US in 1807.
(As an aside I recently read a book about Denmark Vesey and his aborted rebellion in Charleston.He had 5000 soldiers (I believe) broken up into thre sections Gullah (led by Gullah Jack) mainland and Igbo.)

Anyway, there is a saying "the Igbo have no kings."

What does this have to do with hoodoo (or roots as my Granma would say)?
With no king your personal relationship to God and his fractal manifestation in you,
your Chi as the Igbo say,
becomes the most important one for the community as well as yourself.
The power of God, in his mercy and his judgement falls directly on your's and the community's heads. The lack of a king means each individual is his own king, with the powers and responsibilities inherent in that role.
What the ancestors and world gives you is yours to use and innovate with as you see fit if you can get ancestral and community sanction.
God himself will judge you (as Tupac knew). It also means imo that it's each individual's responsiblity to create and maintain the community with the power God gave them and each individual's responsibilty to police, adjust and when necessary heal themselves and the community with the assistance of the ancestors, their Chi, and God.
Each person is their own fractal diety to the extent that they can manifest that power within themselves.
From this perspective there is no one to bow to but the Highest.

one

[Nsukka]

On T.D. Jakes' roots

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T.D._Jakes

The film actor Forest Whitacker also has Igbo roots (father) and Ghanaian roots (mother). Perhaps his two ancestors met in the slave ship and shined their congos. Grin

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment...view-headlines
---------------------------------------------------------------

The historical roots of the flying Africans legend can be traced back to the spring of 1803, when a group of Igbo slaves arrived in Savannah after enduring the nightmare of the Middle Passage. The Igbo (from what is now the nation of Nigeria, in central West Africa) were renowned throughout the American South for being fiercely independent and unwilling to tolerate the humiliations of chattel slavery. The Igbo who became known as the flying Africans were purchased at the slave market in Savannah by agents working on behalf of John Couper and Thomas Spalding. Loaded aboard a small vessel, the Igbo were confined below deck for the trip down the coast to St. Simons. During the course of the journey, however, the Igbo rose up in rebellion against the white agents, who jumped overboard and were drowned.

http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/n....jsp?id=h-2895

High yellow, occasionally simply yellow (dialect: yaller, yeller), is a term for very light-skinned African-Americans and is a reference to the golden yellow skin tone of some mixed-race people. The term was in common use in the United States at the end of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century, and appears in many popular songs of the era, such as "The Yellow Rose of Texas".

"High" derives from the fact that these individuals are so light skinned, they often pass for white. Many high yellows are as light skinned as Europeans, and even lighter than some Europeans. Their specific skin hue is generally not caused by albinism, contrary to popular belief, but theorized to be caused by a level of a mixture with Europeans and chance inheritance of melanin-production regulating genes from the white ancestors.

The roots of the word Redbone originate in Jamaica where they used the word ‘Red Ibo’ to describe certain fair-skinned people who lived in the harbour areas. Merchant seamen, sailors’ cargo ships and so on bring foreigners who slept with local women and had many mixed race children in these areas. The term ‘Red Ibo’ was used (it is no longer in common use) to describe fairer than average Jamaicans. The term came into use because originally among the slaves taken to Jamaica there were a good number of Igbo’s who were comapratively lighter among dark skinned Igbo. They exist to this day in Africa. Igbo are the lightest population of the Bantu populations, in fact, the term for Whites was Oyibo, which comes from Onye Igbo, Which means "Like an Igbo."

Many use the term "redbone" for African Americans with medium toned skin, adopting the term from the Caribbean. The term also come to identify two separate ethnic classes, one of mixed African, European and Native American ancestry and the other usage is to designate some groups of Native Americans. This still seems to cause controversy and confusion among people. The first ethnic group who were called "Redbones" were groups of multi-ethnic families with similar or the same English surnames who were labeled as Free Persons of Color, Mulatto or Indian by early American census takers. The term was used for these mixed race multi-ethnic groups of families in Louisiana, South Carolina, Mississippi and East Texas.

One crucial part that the information left out was that, do to the fact of that the majority of the Africans brought to the US were Igbo, thus the African-American black population was/is majorly an Igbo population, the term Redbone rather fluidly transgressed into the society as in the early 1800's some Jamaican slaves began being taken to the US to help fuel the rapidly growing Cotton plantations of the Deep south, in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas and Texas, and in in the process passed on some of their unique slangs.



MORE TO COME:

[Abidrovia]

It seems like you just posted pictures of every single light skinned African American and assumed they are Igbo. Over 80% of Americans have some kind of white ancestry. Remember that most African Americans, on average, are between 10-25% European ancestry, so that could be causing the lightness.

[MBA-Congo]

Originally Posted by Abidrovia

It seems like you just posted pictures of every single light skinned African American and assumed they are Igbo. Over 80% of Americans have some kind of white ancestry. Remember that most African Americans, on average, are between 10-25% European ancestry, so that could be causing the lightness.

Why is it hard for people to understand the term naturally light. Naturally light people exist all throughout Africa. African have a deeper range in complexion than any people on this earth. Look at the KhoiSan in South Africa who are pale. Some place like in North Africa and the Horn you can easily see the intermixing not through complexion but other noticeable features like waist hips lips and eyes. So lightness isn't caused by whiteness in Africa it's a reccesive trait.

But I am excited that more African Americans are finding their root and place of origin.

[popa1980]

Ridiculous thread.

[DennisRodman97]

Nsukka u are becoming a joke on ssc. Cmon dude dont u have a job or something on ur hand....

[Xusein]

Where's Michael Jackson?

(Janet was on the list).

[9jagurl]

Originally Posted by Abidrovia

It seems like you just posted pictures of every single light skinned African American and assumed they are Igbo. Over 80% of Americans have some kind of white ancestry. Remember that most African Americans, on average, are between 10-25% European ancestry, so that could be causing the lightness.

Igbos are known for being lightskin (not all of them are lightskin) but they do have a high significant individuals that are. In Nigeria, igbos, fulani and Calabar are known for being lightskin, so i agree with MBA-congo statement being lightskin has nothing to do with white.

@ poster, this is a ridiculous statement.
Do you have prove?
Stop making ridiculuos claim.

[Nsukka]

I'll post more illustration on this issue at another time. I've been pretty busy for the past few days. Stay tuned, the information I'll post is worth reading if you're truly interested in this type of stuff, and if you aren't.. then bother reading it because it'll just bore you. Many obscure, in depth studies have been done on this issue for various reasons.

[DennisRodman97]

man whats the point of this thread....lame!!!

[Khalfani]

Originally Posted by Abidrovia

It seems like you just posted pictures of every single light skinned African American and assumed they are Igbo. Over 80% of Americans have some kind of white ancestry. Remember that most African Americans, on average, are between 10-25% European ancestry, so that could be causing the lightness.

That's malarkey, there is NO proof that a whopping 80% of AA's have even REMOTELY that amount European ancestry. Most African-Americans look just like the ones on the Continent.

That mass slave rape of Africans is a complete joke, yes it did happen, but not on the scale that historians like to portray it as.

[Abidrovia]

Okay, I'm an African American and I have a White Great-Grandmother (not from slavery days but from an interracial marriage). It is actually very common for black Americans to have a white or Native American ancestor close ancestor like me.

MANY female slaves were raped by their masters. If a Man has total control over a woman then there will most likely be some kind of sexual contact involved, especially if there is a female slave and male slave owner. Slaves were often sold for sex, also. Another reason for white men to rape black female slaves is to have a mulatto baby. Mulatto females had a higher value than fully black slaves, back then, so many slave owners would rape a slave just to sell their child and make a lot of money.

Most pure West Africans (where the Slaves were taken from) are very dark brown or extremely black in color. While African Americans can be almost any color. We have extremely dark ones and also extremely light ones and there are many caramel skinned ones.

(Less than 15% of slaves were taken from the Niger Delta region, where most Igbo's reside;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_slave_trade

(Scroll down to "slave Market Regions and Participation".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRcex9NEJZE

[MBA-Congo]

Originally Posted by Abidrovia

Okay, I'm an African American and I have a White Great-Grandmother (not from slavery days but from an interracial marriage). It is actually very common for black Americans to have a white or Native American ancestor close ancestor like me.

MANY female slaves were raped by their masters. If a Man has total control over a woman then there will most likely be some kind of sexual contact involved, especially if there is a female slave and male slave owner. Slaves were often sold for sex, also. Another reason for white men to rape black female slaves is to have a mulatto baby. Mulatto females had a higher value than fully black slaves, back then, so many slave owners would rape a slave just to sell their child and make a lot of money.

Most pure West Africans (where the Slaves were taken from) are very dark brown or extremely black in color. While African Americans can be almost any color. We have extremely dark ones and also extremely light ones and there are many caramel skinned ones.

(Less than 15% of slaves were taken from the Niger Delta region, where most Igbo's reside;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_slave_trade

(Scroll down to "slave Market Regions and Participation".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRcex9NEJZE

naturally light it's not an impossibilty. I always found it funny how people in the state used to say my mother isn't my mother because she is extremely light, or she isn't African she too light. I started to question it until I met my Grandfather in Kisangani and that issue has been laid to rest.

One issue I still have is that since puberty I have been jealous of my own "DICK" it is extremely black, unblemished one smooth tubular tone while the rest of me is a shade of dark brown with a few childhood blemishes from chicken pox, I which I had that jet black complexion that the little me between my legs got.

the light and dark issue is the stupidest thing I witnessed in Schools in America. Africa has a shade of complexion of it own that surpasses any in the world. What makes you think naturally light Africans don't exist.

[African Lion]

Why is this tread necessary. We all know that American blacks are "pan African" and come from all over Africa. You mean to tell me all of Nick Cannons ancestors come from Igbo country. Come one, After a few generations the numbers are vast

2 parents
4 grandparents
8 Ggr
16 GGgr
32 GGGgr
64 GGGGgr ETC.

A lot of American Blacks are mixed because of the awful tragedy of interracial slavery but they still dont look all that different from people on the continent. Most African Americans would not get a second glance in African countries. Africa is filled with people that very in complexions.