BAVUAL, The African Heritage Magazine

Taking its name from the Swahili word for powerful, BAVUAL documents the African experience from the begining of recorded history to the present. Each issue features essays, historical profiles, and interviews which tell the story of 680 centuries of Afrocentric progress, and how these stories relate to today’s world.

BAVUAL, The African Heritage Magazine

MY TAKE THE DRIFT • From the Editor and Publisher

Caribbean Blacks Built the Panama Canal

Why We Continue to Celebrate Emancipation Day • The First Juneteenth

ISAAC WRIGHT, VINDICATED EX-CON • Triumph in Adversity

African Masters of Statecraft • Blessed Are the Peacemakers

The Decade of the African Woman • Despite the Obstacles, Still She Rises

A Shared Heritage • 13 women who impressed us enough to believe that they embody the spirit of their foresisters and represent the future

Those Who Came Before • Real-life women who set the table for things to come

Is “Wokeness” Helping or Hurting?

Two Contrasting Views

BARBADOS Storied Island in the Sun • The island of Barbados has a diverse cultural history that is influenced by the Caribbean, Britain and West Africa. Celebrated for its highly anticipated Barbados Food and Rum Festival and notable citizens such as Rihanna, who was appointed an official ambassador for culture and youth in 2018, Barbados is a well-known island in the southeastern Caribbean Sea. Although its people are free today and live in an independent parliamentary republic, this beautiful nation has a long history of slavery and colonial brutality.

Why We Fall For SCAMS • Have you ever received a robocall that sounded suspicious? Has someone asked you to load money onto a gift card and send it to them? If so, you are not alone. Scammers around the world are learning how to gain your trust in order to take what you have. Unfortunately, black people lose money to these criminals more than any other group and are more likely to get ripped off by phone scammers and government imposters. The institutional racism that has existed throughout America’s history has created such a huge wealth gap that various con artists and pyramid-scheme promoters can sell the hope of economic prosperity to people who have long been shut out of systems that favor whites. As a result, the possibility of being scammed is something that many black Americans face on a daily basis.

Charles Ponzi and David Hampton, Legendary Fraudsters

Sister Kerry Washington Rising • The New Face of Activism in Hollywood

PAST, MEET PRESENT • The Afrocentric Experience in Cartoons

Jacob Lawrence • Bright and Shining Son of the Harlem Renaissance

BLACK WOMEN • Women of color have made great strides in all fields throughout history. Test your knowledge of their achievements.

Black Female Execs Lead the Way for Others to the C-Suite • Ursula Burns (see her profile in The Next 10 Years, page 39), Thasunda Brown Duckett, Rosalind Brewer and Mary Winston are names that you should know. These are the few African American women who have been on the Fortune 500 list as chief executive officers (CEOs) at their companies. With this number being so low, the lack of representation of black women in Fortune 500 companies has often been discussed.

The Moors

Notable Moors and Their Descendants

Black Heads of State and Government* • 53, or 27%, of the Earth’s 195 recognized countries are led by a black person TOTAL: 90 MEN: 80 WOMEN: 10 (noted in teal)

Flowers in Spring • Recognizing Greatness in Any Endeavor

Mothers of Black Boys Don’t Exhale

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