Johannes Leo Africanus and the Recorded Legacy of Timbuktu

Title page of A Geographical Historie of Africa byJohannes Leo Africanus (1600)Johannes Leo Africanus (c. 1494 - 1554) was a Moorish diplomat, traveler, historian, and writer best known for his book Description of Africa (Descrittione dell’Africa) which described North African geography, including the famed city of Timbuktu (Timbuctoo) in Mali, West Africa.In about 1494, Leo Africanus was born in Granada, a city at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains in Spain. This was a major city on the Spanish (Iberian) peninsula. It had been conquered by the Moors of Africa for nearly 800 years. After Leo Africanus' birth,...

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George Washington Carver: Scientist and Inventor

Picture of George Washington Carver (1864-1943)taken by Frances Benjamin Johnston in 1906“I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.” ~ George Washington CarverThe peanut butter packaged and sold by such American brands as Skippy was invented by George Washington Carver. In U.S. society, George Washington Carver is the first person of record to make oil out of the peanut. This is the same peanut oil that can be found on many grocery store shelves today. While many people know about these innovations, they do not know that Carver created from the peanut, pecan,...

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Black Cowboys in America

Black cowboy with horse (cir. 1890), Western History/Genealogy Department, Denver Public LibraryThe black cowboy redefined the perception of what it means to be an American-born cowboy. For the black cowboy, being a cowboy became more of a way of independent family farm living that centered around family, outdoors cooking (lots of smoke outs and bar-b-ques on these farms), and maintaining a stable of horses alongside other farm raised animals. Actor Steven Williams with Madison "Nat Love" Walker at a Single Action Shooting Society meetingSome years back in Chicago, I was privileged to watch a traveling black rodeo show and was invited...

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