"It is important to establish that before the more familiar trans-Atlantic slave trade, there was another external African slave trade from the East African coast. The African diaspora to India reflects one aspect of Dr. Carter Woodson's interest in the history of African peoples throughout the world. Woodson initiated Negro History Week, which later became Black History Month."
| A quote from Howard Johnson, acting director of Black American Studies at UD, in Jerry Rhodes' UD Daily article "African diaspora to India focus of Feb. 26 lecture"
posted in articles on February 22, 2004 11:30 PM | t (0)
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Wish I'd heard the talk. I've traveled in Gujarat, the northernmost state on the western coast of India and possibly its region with the longest-standing contact with oceangoing traders. I'd heard stories about a group of untouchables in some far corner of Gujarat who have recognizably African features and whose folk music contains African elements. I've always wanted to know more.
The slave trade went the other way, too. See Amitav Ghosh's astonishing In an Antique Land which, among other things, is the biography of an Indian slave in 12th-century North Africa.
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