The centuries of forced invasions upon the lands of Africa had many dire consequences,
among the least discussed yet one of the most heinous acts committed was the sheer
magnitude of written history that was completely ravaged by a multitude of colonisers.
Africans invented writing, so it stands to reason that many of our teachings, our history
and achievements would have been documented in some written text — precolonial
Africa had several institutions of higher learning such as the Sankoré University and
library in Timbuktu which boasted up to 700 000 manuscripts.
Africans had established a culture of writing and reading and even philosophy long before
having any contact with the western or even the eastern worlds. I want to rekindle that
love for books and for reading with this page because reading has many benefits, namely,
gaining knowledge on topics and improving focus, reading can also boost communication
skills and expands vocabulary. Reading to children in particular also has myriad benefits,
it helps them perform better at school and improves memory and comprehension skills…
there really are no limits to the advantages that arise from reading. Storytelling is a
learning and teaching tool and remains a big part of our culture, and we need to
disseminate our stories far and wide to ensure that there is no further erasure of African
written and intellectual history. This page will profile new books by African authors,
academic journals that should be of interest to a Pan Africanist, newspaper articles that
piqued my curiosity as well as some of the source material I rely on when writing.
In our efforts to make education fashionable we must not lose focus on the importance of
reading. If we are to liberate ourselves as Africans it is essential that we increase our
literacy levels, it is also crucial that we read to children especially during those formative
years to help cultivate a habit of reading — about 30 minutes a day should suffice. Let us
read everything we can find about Africa, her people, her history, her contributions to
society. Chancellor Williams spoke of the second great emancipation in the 1960s, its
time we picked up the baton and layed proper foundations for the third great awakening
— BLACK UNITY.