African Beauty

I didn't do anything in regards to a project for Black History Month last year (2011) so here goes!

Today I was a little bored, something I never am because I always have something to do, so I created a task for myself and here are the results.

I call it African Beauty in the form of Still Life Photography

Below you will find several photos along with several facts in connection with Black History, Africa and the West Indies.

LEARN, ENJOY AND SHARE!!!

The Caribbean is called the West Indies because Christopher Columbus sailed westwards in search of new land for Spain to rule over. When he finally found land, he thought he was West of south East Asia that was also known as the Indies. This was regardless of the fact that all the inhabitants were not Indian, but he wasn’t yet aware of that.

Most West Indians/Caribbean’s descend from an African or Indian background, creating an interesting group/ races.

Slavery was abolished in 1834 after many Africans and Indians were ill treated, overcrowded on ships and forced to work in poor conditions.

There are volcanoes on several Caribbean islands for example Dominica, Guadeloupe, Montserrat, Nevis and St Vincent. This is why there are boiling Sulphur Springs which provide evidence of previously active volcanoes. Some people live near volcanoes and are able to tell when they are about to erupt because smoke comes from the crater before the Lava flows down.

African statue

Earthquakes are popular in the West Indies i.e. Jamaica, Haiti and other islands. Hurricanes also occur almost annually, especially when the weather is hot and tropical. Hurricanes are given either male or female names and go in alphabetic order i.e Gilbert that struck in September 1988.

Perfectly Captured Beauty

Black people were prohibited from having an education or any type of vocational training. This forced them to remain in labour work – factories, industrial work and agriculture.

Benjamin Banneker was born in Maryland, America and was the first person/ Scientist to construct and make a striking clock.

Lewis Hardy Latimer was the first to invent an electric lamp and a carbon filament for light bulbs in 1881-1882. He was also the only African American member of the Thomas Edison engineering laboratory.

African Still Life Photography

Granville T Woods created a telegraph that allowed for communication that provided safety and efficiency.

Madam C J Walker began the creation of hair care appliances and hair/ beauty products. From this she became a fortunate and generous patron of many black charities.

Garrett Augustus Morgan invented the gas mask in 1914 that would in turn save millions of lives/ soldiers throughout the wars. He was so remarkable that he also invented automatic traffic signals saying STOP and GO. He surely saved lives!

Still life photography

Frederick McKinley Jones created movie projectors, and the first automated refrigerator system for long haul trucks.

David Crosthwait invented/designed the heating system used in the Radio City Music Hall in New York.

Miss Patricia Bath invented the Laserphaco Probe for the treatment of cataracts in the eye.

Mark Dean invented/ developed the ISA bus - a device that allowed computer components to communicate with each other in a faster manner. This made personal computers fast and more efficient for the first time. I couldn’t imagine sitting at the computer trying to do one things for 6+ hours. He also led the team in the creation of the first one-gigahertz computer processor chip. 

I hope you enjoyed those and if there are any facts that you were unaware of and find fascinating, dont be afraid to share the link.

Love Always and Happy New Year

Kayisha