Royal Blue

 As a Ghanaian, observing different cultures and ways of life. Photography has served as a tool for recording the everyday activity of the culture.   

[topmodelcentral]

Kyla Coleman 

~ America (24) ~

[madeofwhitebone]

There is no imperfection

the concept goes against our very existence

[catharinethegreat]

[portraitsofafrica]

[sunbookie]

Beautiful.

[sunbookie]

[sunbookie]

[sunbookie]

Nubian Kings.

[sunbookie]

[2samuel1427]

[iwoulddie4-poetry]

“But to find out the truth about how dreams die, one should never take the word of the dreamer”

~ Toni Morrison “The bluest eye”

The classic lit/ dark academia book club discord link has been sent out! If you are still interested in joining at this time, please message me so that we can get you that link! “The bluest eye” by Toni Morrison is our first book of interest atm.

[seeselfblack]

R.I.P. Pioneer Black Ballerina Raven Wilkinson…

Raven Wilkinson was the first African-American to join a manor international company when she signed with Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in 1955.

The dance world is mourning the loss of pioneer Ballerina Raven Wilkinson.

A New York native who fell in love with ballet at the age of 5, Wilkinson is credited with being one of the first African-American women to dance for a major ballet company. She began studying at the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in 1955 when she was just 20 years old. According to PBS, Wilkinson eventually left the prestigious dance theater after six years, during many of which she was subject to continued racial discrimination.

I didn’t want to put the company in danger, but I also never wanted to deny who I was,” she told Point Magazine in 2014. “If someone questioned me directly, I couldn’t say, ‘No, I’m not black.’ Some of the other dancers suggested that I say I was Spanish. But that’s like telling the world there’s something wrong with what you are.”Wilkinson’s talent and unparalleled poise as a dancer ultimately landed her at the Dutch National Ballet, before she later joined the New York City Opera in 1974. Fellow history-making ballerina Misty Copeland cited her as a lifelong mentor.“She experienced a lot more severe, life-threatening racism than other minorities experienced in the ballet world at this point,” Copeland said of Wilkinson in a 2014 interview with NPR.Wilkinson just recently celebrated her 83rd birthday in early November. News of her passing was first shared by Slipped Disc. Additional details on her death have not yet been released. 

Read full interview over at essence.com 

[seeselfblack]

Remembering Prima Dona Raven Wilkerson…

[josiahkelevra]

[micdotcom]

Watch: Black boys’ tribute to Muhammad Ali is the type of empowerment we need to see.

[peach-molasses]

Yesssss

[elsinore-snores]

some really beautiful african architecture because honestly this site is so western-centric

mako

unknown

cameroon

burkina faso

mali

Ndebele

burkina faso

please add more if you can!

[ayeshapoptropica]

these are SO BEAUTIFUL

[musinvenusian]

MALI IS MY FAVORITE. I LOVE THE COLORS 😍😍😍😍😍

[misshoneywheeler]

The rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, Ethiopia

The Great Temple of Ramesses II at Abu Simbel, Egypt

The Nubian Pyramids at Meroe, Sudan

Stone Town, Zanzibar, Tanzania

Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Alexandria, Egypt, a commemoration of the destroyed Library at Alexandria

Bosjes Chapel, South Africa

The Gando School by Diébédo Francis Kéré, Gando, Burkina Faso

The Dyeji Building, Luanda, Angola

[aafrikan]

[kemetic-dreams]

For centuries Western scholarship, and the African scholars seduced by this body of knowledge, have not been interested in African “religions” per se, but what was worse, African scholars began not to study indigenous African spirituality on its own terms but through European eyes and intellectual categories. Okot p'Bitek, who is best known for Song of Lawino, was one of the first African scholars to call attention to this situation and argue African scholars need not “Hellenize” African spiritual practices and ideas and that what we have come to think as “African religions” are European versions in African disguise. This publication, along with a new introduction by Ghanaian philosopher Kwasi Wiredu, reintroduces a classic work to a new generation, especially for those with an interest in African spiritual cultures and in need of “decolonizing” them so that they be studied, appreciated, and engaged on their own cultural and historic terms.