Eight African Intellectuals Everyone Should Know!

J.A.Rogers / Arturo Schomburg

John Henrik Clarke / Yusef Ben-Jochannan / Chancellor Williams

Cheikh Anta Diop

Ivan Van Sertima / Runoko Rashidi

Yesterday I posted a promotional bulletin for this at myspace.com internet community bulletin board with a provocative question: "Are you proud of your African roots?".
Once opened, the bulletin presented a flash slideshow with the above photos while asking the question: "Do you know who these men are? If you don't, you need to read my blog".

Being an artist means wanting to provoke people to feel or think. I knew full well that the majority of the people who would see this bulletin would have no idea who these great thinkers were. That is my point, why would you know these intellectual minds of the 20th century?
They are not hip-hop music stars or athletic stars. These men are African historians whose contributions to the intellect of the African Diaspora are obscured by the lesser contributions of pseudo intellectual media stars.
In the coming days I would like to further elucidate their contributions.

Listen to: The Teachers by Rasheed Ali & Rain People
From the CD: 'Thunder in the Jungle'