Women of the African Diaspora Website Celebrates

Website for Black Women is about to unveil a new look for its anniversary.Rotterdam, NL/Stockholm, SWE October 29, 2008 – Women of the African Diaspora website is having a birthday complete with gifts for its readers. The website, which celebrates Black women, will unveil its new look and a new domain name on November 1, 2008.

“Women of the African Diaspora website is simply better than ever,” says Sandra Rafaela, Women of the African Diaspora’s co-founder and co-editor. “We are working very hard to create a website that provides information, inspiration and more for Black women around the world.”

Women of the African Diaspora website leverages the global reach of the Internet to share relevant news, event notices and showcase a wide range of talented Black women including authors, artists, musicians, entrepreneurs, and others. And with Black women living on virtually every continent, it certainly has a large market.

“Women of the African Diaspora’s website content is very compelling and shines a positive spotlight on Black women that main stream media far too often ignores,” says Adrianne George, Women of the African Diaspora‘s co-founder and co-editor. “The number of visitors to the site has increased each month over the past year, and our new look and new domain name make us the perfect choice for advertisers who want to reach the important market of Black women consumers. We’re lucky we picked up one of these expired domains.”

The year has been marked with highlights for the Women of the African Diaspora co-editors, with Ms. Rafaela’s Afro European Sisters Network blog (http://afroeuropeansistersnetwork.blogspot.com/) being awarded blogged’s “great” rating. Ms. George’s Black Women in Europe blog (http://blog.blackwomenineurope.com/) was a member of a credentialed blogging team at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Her blog also won the Helping Hand Award, a 2009 Black Web Award for Best European Website, and was a finalist for a 2008 Black Weblog award.

Within the next year, Ms. Rafaela and Ms. George have big goals for the website: to introduce new categories including a section showcasing photographers, increase the number of visitors, attract quality advertisers, and continue to fill every page of Women of the African Diaspora with inspiration and information for Black women.

“We’ve come so far in just one year,” explains George. “We haven’t just built a website, we’ve built a community with the Women of the African Diaspora Social Network. Rafaela explains, “We have really enjoyed meeting accomplished and positive Black women while providing them with a unique platform for exposure. We’re ready to take on year two.”

Anniversary gifts are provided by Creating Tomorrow, iPavilion, Marsha T. Jenkins, Lutishia Lovely, and Victoria Wells.

More information is available at http://womenoftheafricandiaspora.com/.

Contact: Sandra Rafaela
sandra(at)womenoftheafricandiaspora.com
Adrianne George
adrianne(at)womenoftheafricandiaspora.com

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Du Bois Lecture Series-Race & the New Europe

The W.E.B. Du Bois Lecture Series-Race and the New Europe: Black Europeans, at the Department of Languages, Literatures, & Cultures, College of Humanities & Fine Arts, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Remaining lectures:

Utz McKnight-Black Life in Sweden: Beyond Licorice and Chocolate http://www.as.ua.edu/…index.php, University of Alabama
November 13, 2008
4-5:30 p.m.
174-76 Campus Center, UMass Amherst

Dominic Thomas-Immigration and National Identity in the New Europe http://www.french.ucla.edu/…homas.htm, UCLA
February 5, 2009
4-5:30 p.m.
Campus Center room TBA, UMass Amherst

Kesha Fikes-Managing African Portugal http://anthropology.uchicago.edu/…kes.shtml, University of Chicago
March 5, 2009
Campus Center room TBA, UMass Amherst

Donald Carter-Blackness over Europe: Meditations on Migrancy, Culture and Belonging http://www.hamilton.edu/…culty.html, Hamilton College
April 6, 2009
Campus Center room TBA, UMass Amherst

BBC is looking at Africans in the Diaspora

The BBC’s African Perspective programme is investigating what life is like for some of an estimated 20 million Africans who live in the diaspora.

Ellen Otzen visits Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, to see how the 45,000 Africans there have adapted to their chilly Nordic home:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/…687491.stm

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Closer to the Dream – Obama event in France

LAST CHANCE to sign up for next Harvard Club event – screening of “Closer to the Dream” film on Barack Obama HLS ‘91

REMINDER

RSVP today for this coming Monday’s screening of "Closer to the Dream", a new documentary film about Harvard graduate (HLS ’91) and US Presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Kindly note the request below to RSVP to cgardner@xoli.com.

"Closer to the Dream"
by Hervé Cohen and Guetty Felin

a new documentary film about Harvard graduate (HLS ’91)
& US Presidential candidate Barack Obama

– light refreshments to follow –

Date & Time: Monday, October 27th, beginning at 7:30pm

Place: American University, 31 avenue Bosquet, 75007 Paris, in the "Grand Salon", 2ème étage

Price: Members* & their guests: 10 € / Non-members: 15 € (*Dues-paying Harvard Club of France members)

About the film: Captivated by a new spirit of hope in America, Franco-American filmmakers Guetty Felin and Hervé Cohen leave their home in Paris to plunge into the heart of the Obama movement in "Closer to the Dream". Journeying from state to state during the Democratic primaries, they unearth the personal, compelling stories of an array of politically inspired citizens on the ground. As the film unfolds, their personal stories allow us to see Obama’s historical candidacy through the eyes of ordinary Americans.

Please note that the event will be held in an informal, classroom setting at American University. "Closer to the Dream" is an independent documentary film. The opinions expressed in it are solely those of the individuals filmed and of the filmmakers. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the Harvard Club of France.

Please note that the film will be screened in its English-language version.

To sign up for the event, please RSVP today by sending an email today to Carole Gardner at cgardner@xoli.com.

Harvard Club of France

For more information, visit:
http://clubs.harvard.edu/…/hcfrance/

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Are you an African American going home Nov 4th?

Tags

2008 US Presidential election, Black expats, theroot.com

Hejsan from Sweden,

Rose-Anne is writing an article for www.theroot.com about African Americans going home for the election.

If you know of any please contact her!

The deadline is the 28th:

clermontroseanne@yahoo.com

Adrianne

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Election Night Live Coverage with Black Women in Europe

Tags

2008 US Presidential elections, Barack Obama, Black Women in Europe

Black Women in Europe will be blogging “live” in Stockholm on election night.

We will be at the Democrats Abroads dinner and election watch event at the Scandic Anglais Hotel at 10pmCET. There will be Swedish/American celebrities and Swedish TV4 is convering the event.

Then at 4.30amCET we will go to the American Embassy/American Chamber of Commerce breakfast at the Hilton Slussen.

Join us with your thoughts and observations!

Click Here

Meet Me In St. Louis

The population of St. Louis, Missouri is estimated to be just above three hundred fifty thousand.  Well over a hundred thousand people turned out to see Senator Barack Obama yesterday.  That’s a ratio of almost one out of three city residents.  This was Mr. Obama’s largest stateside rally to date.  And what’s even more remarkable is that Missouri is one of the more conservative of states.  The fact that Mr. Obama can get such a massive welcome here of all places is a true turn of political events.

With each and every passing day I’m realizing more and more just how massive the Obama phenomenon is becoming.  However, I have to admit to some reservation to any thought that this political race is in the bag.

I’m the guy that thought George Bush would never become president.  As governor, the way he screwed Texas over with his tax, environmental, justice, and other policies would be more than enough to prove he’s unfit to run the country.  And Al Gore was riding President Bill Clinton’s coattails and popularity.  Yeah there was that Lewinsky thing going on.  Mr. Gore wanted to distance himself from his mentor and, at the same time, probably took the presidency for granted.  My jaw dropped like a smart bomb over Baghdad when Mr. Bush got enough votes to give the Supreme Court the ability to decide the election in his favor.

This didn’t happen once.  My jaw did a double take when in 2004 Mr. Bush earned enough votes to put into question the results in Ohio so he could get some other Republican bureaucrat to anoint him the winner of the election.  If Mr. Obama is going to win, people will need to turn out in his favor in ubber droves.

I saw bits and pieces of the Democratic National Convention and the standing room only crowd in a stadium that can seat upwards of eighty five thousand people while the Republican National Convention was held in a fifteen thousand seat arena that had plenty of seats left.  Yet, I’m supposed to believe that shortly after both conventions were done, with Sarah Palin at his side, Senator John McCain was leading in the polls.

I was watching the Daly Show when Jon Stewart was talking about the bias of a FOX News article where the reporter was in a fast food restaurant asking people if they planned to vote for Mr. Obama or Mr. McCain.  Nobody raised their hand for Mr. McCain.  Practically everybody raised their hand for Mr. Obama.  The reporter actually turned to the camera and said that the unofficial poll was too close to call.  These people are going to try and play this horse race close to the wire to the very end.  It is going to take an overwhelming tsunami of voter turn out to put this presidential race to rest for people who truly want to see this country go in a new direction.

It would be hard for a conservative bureaucrat in Missouri to see a rally of a hundred thousand people showing up at a rally for Mr. Obama and think that he or she can manipulate the system in a fashion that would make the contest more questionable.  A thousand voters might be able to be dismissed through some database of addresses or through some form of intimidation that might make people believe that they will be jeopardizing their eligibility for a government sponsored program.

But when you have such a surprisingly large number of people turning out to have their voice added to the rest of the throngs that came out to help represent the support for Mr. Obama as well as their opposition to what Mr. McCain represents.

It was fitting that this new chapter in the presidential race happened under the Gateway Arch at the Jefferson Memorial.  I’ve always recognized the Gateway Arch as a symbol of the future.  The location was where Lewis and Clarke embarked on their exploration of the Louisiana Purchase.  It’s one of those places very symbolic as a turning point in America’s history.

Mr. Obama shows up in the Republican’s backyard and has his largest rally to date in the country.  More and more people are stepping forward and saying that change will not be denied.  The past eight years may have taught us something about our responsibility to the future and our duty to step forward for what we feel is our best hope.  After this, I’m feeling better about our chance for change than I’ve ever felt during this entire campaign.

Events for Black History Month in the UK

October is Black History month in the UK. This year I have not posted any event notices as I have been focused on the 2008 US Presidential election when not brining you the profiles of accomplished Black Women in Europe.

Here is a roundup of events you may not know about that are yet to come that celebrate Black History in the UK:

Petrie Museum – Black Civilizations of the Nile Valley
Young Black British filmmaker Louis Buckley presents his new film on ancient Sudan,archaeology and Black heritage.
Thursday 23 October, 6 – 8pm

Crossing the Line + Black History and Culture Exhibition
The play “Crossing the Line” is an extension of the bicentenary commemoration focusing on the legacy of slavery. It highlights the phenomenon of modern slavery. It depicts the trafficking of children and women from impoverished countries to the UK in a moving tale of conflict and childhood innocence.
Saturday 25th October 1-6 p.m.
Walworth Methodist Church, Walworth, London SE5 0EN
Contact: 020 725 6655 or 07956 964 179

UK’s Most Wanted
On Sunday 26th October, 2008, UK’s Most Wanted presents its Black History programme. Zhana (http://www.black-success.com)/, author of Black Success Stories, will be speaking on The Importance of our African Cultural Heritage.
Programme includes spoken word, music and an art exhibition.
Time: 4:00-8:00 p.m.
Place: Redstar, 319 Camberwell Road, Camberwell Green, London SE5 0HQ
Cost: £7 or free with a leaflet.

When We Ruled: Angelina Osborne and Robin Walker in Conversation
Renowned historian Robin Walker, author of When We Ruled and Roots of Black History, discusses Egypt’s place in the ancient and medieval history of Africa with writer Angelina Osborne, author of Equiano’s Daughter.
Location: G06, Sir Ambrose Fleming Lecture Theatre, Roberts Building
Thursday 30 October, 6 – 8pm

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