Footsteps articles from September 1999

Footsteps archives from September 1999

Where Does History Begin for You?(African Americans from Mali)(Brief Article)
September 1, 1999... The question is a good one because it makes us think. Should we look only at our own personal history that began the day we were born? Or, should we include events in our family history that may take us back a few generations? Or, do we try...

THE BIRTH OF Mali.(Brief Article)
September 1, 1999... Known as the Lion of Mali, Sundiata founded the empire of Mali. Sundiata became king when he defeated Sumanguru, the warrior king of the neighboring Sosso people. Sumanguru was, by all accounts, a ruthless man who was both hated and feared....

Making Sense OF HISTORY.(Brief Article)
September 1, 1999... The life of Martin Luther King, Jr., would make little sense to anyone who did not know about the brutal enslavement of African people on United States soil. Likewise, the long imprisonment of Nelson Mandela would make little sense to anyone...

Mansa Musa THE GOLDEN KING.(Brief Article)
September 1, 1999... This king is the greatest of the Muslim kings of the Sudan. He rules the most extensive territory, has the largest army, is the bravest, richest, the most fortunate, the most victorious over his enemies, and the best able to distribute...

Traditions at Ancient Mali's Royal Court.(Brief Article)
September 1, 1999... The royal court of the Malian kings was a sight to behold. Ibn Battuta describes a visit to the royal court of Mansa Sulayman, Mansa Musa's successor. On certain days the sultan holds audiences in the palace yard, where there is...

THE GREAT Pilgrimage TO Mecca.(Brief Article)
September 1, 1999... As a devoted follower of Islam, Mansa Musa was determined to make a pilgrimage, or hajj, to Mecca. The hajj is one of the five main obligations all Muslims are expected to perform. In year 1324, Mansa Musa set out for Mecca, When he returned...

Visit TO Cairo.(Mansa Musa )(Brief Article)
September 1, 1999... On the eve of his pilgrimage to Mecca, Mansa Musa called five of his most trusted elders to the palace. He ordered them to make plans for his trip and to include a stop in Cairo, Egypt. The journey, however, was to take no longer than 12...

The Catalan Atlas.(Brief Article)
September 1, 1999... The mapmaker Abraham Cresques included many details about the trade routes, cities, and kingdoms of North Africa in his drawing of the area for the Catalan Atlas. Cresques himself was a native of the Spanish island of Majorca in the...

Hidden Pictures.(Brief Article)
September 1, 1999... In 1324, Mansa Musa made a 3,500-mile pilgrimage from Niani in Mali to Mecca in Arabia. It is said that Mansa Musa was joined by as many as 50,000 people and 80 to 100 camels, each carrying 100 pounds of gold dust. Hundreds of other camels...

"Highways" for Trade and Ideas.(Brief Article)
September 1, 1999... After Mansa Musa returned from Mecca, trade along the "highways" branching out from Mali and crisscrossing the Sahara Desert grew. So, too, did the wealth of Musa, his merchants, and the empire. Campsites along the highways became market...

Worth Its Weight In Gold.(Brief Article)
September 1, 1999... Today merchants around the world use standard exchange-rate charts to establish the value of their goods in another country where a different money system is used. In Mansa Musa's time, however, such charts had not yet been developed....

Bullion AND Beauty.(Africans and the Renaissance of the Mediterranean)(Brief Article)
September 1, 1999... AFRICA IN THE MEDITERRANEAN RENAISSANCE Africa has never been an isolated continent. Throughout history, Africa has been a vital link in the exchange of goods, peoples, and ideas along several of the world's great trade networks. These...

THE Sundiata Epic HISTORY OR FOLK TALE?(Brief Article)
September 1, 1999... Tradition says that there are many secrets about Sundiata's life, and only a few people are allowed to know them all. There are several details, however, that are found in every version. Here are a few of them: The story begins with...

African Kingdoms.(Middle Ages )(Brief Article)
September 1, 1999... DURING THE MIDDLE AGES Africa is a continent of immense distances, with great variety in its landscape and its climate. Many of the bustling trading centers of ancient Mali lay on the Niger River some 4,000 miles from the East African...

The Metropolitan Museum of Art.(African galleries)(Brief Article)
September 1, 1999... The African galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City include some of the most spectacular sculptures from the region known today as Mali. These works include wood sculpture made by the Bamana peoples in southwestern Mali...

National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian.(Brief Article)
September 1, 1999... The National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian Institution celebrates the rich visual traditions and extraordinarily diverse cultures of Africa. Mali is well represented in the permanent collection and the photographic archives. A...

Stories of the Sahel.(Brief Article)
September 1, 1999... In 1986, Ellen Sarkisian visited projects supported by Oxfam America in Mali, some 13 years after a terrible drought had devastated the Sahel region of the country. These stories are based on her interview with a young person named Bilal and...

YOUR PAGES.(Poem)
September 1, 1999... A Camel Caravan Lauren Remus Monteith Elementary School Grosse Pointe, Michigan [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Malians Claudia Vieira Roosevelt Junior High School New Bedford, Massachusetts [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Shields...

BOOKS.(Africa and the Mali Empire - brief descriptions)(Brief Article)(Bibliography)
September 1, 1999... Across Africa and Arabia by Irene M. Franck and David M. Brownstone (Facts On File, 1991) clearly and concisely explains the travel and trade routes across the Sahara, the Nile, and to Mecca. Africans in America: The Spread of People and...

RESOURCES.(Brief Article)(Evaluation)
September 1, 1999... The Outreach Program, African Studies Center, Boston University, provides resource materials, including a map with a curriculum guide on "How Big Is Africa?" for schools, the media, museums, and community groups and churches. Its library...

CD-ROM.(Microsoft Encarta Africana)(Brief Article)(Evaluation)
September 1, 1999... Microsoft Encarta Africana (Microsoft, 1998) is a comprehensive encyclopedia of black history and culture. This challenging and informative resource includes a timeline from four million B.C. to the present, footage from documentary series on...

COBBLESTONE RESOURCES.(Brief Article)
September 1, 1999... The Mali (February 1997) issue of FACES includes articles about a Niger River journey from Mopti to Timbuktu, mining and trading salt bars, and the Dogon people. Mansa Musa: African King of Gold includes fascinating descriptions of life...

PLACES TO VISIT.(African art - US museums)(Brief Article)
September 1, 1999... The Metropolitan Museum of Art -- The Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas 1000 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10028 212-879-5500 www.metmuseum.org The Museum for African Art 593 Broadway New York, NY 10012 212-966-1313...

How We Know What We Know.(Brief Article)
September 1, 1999... There are no written accounts by contemporary historians about the rise of Mali. Scholars today are not sure why this is so. It may be that such records have not yet been found, or perhaps they were destroyed in the wars that followed Mansa...