Really enjoyed this #BBCRadio4 #BookOfTheWeek episode of “The West - a new history of an old idea”
by Naoise MacSweeney. It was about #Njinga, Queen of Ndongo in #Angola who defied Portuguese imperialists; and about #PhyllisWheatley an #AfricanAmerican enslaved as a 7yo in West Africa, who at 18yo published a book of #poetry that challenged all ideas of Western (white) superiority and claims to a classical heritage.

#Slavery #West #USHistory #BlackHistory

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001m5pn?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

Ich hatte ursprünglich Respekt für die Besetzung, obwohl es sehr unwahrscheinlich ist, dass Kleopatra VII. eine Schwarze Mutter oder Großmutter
hatte. Dass die Produktion #Rassisten auf den Plan rief, verstärkte meinen Respekt. Davon ist nun nichts mehr übrig, es ging Netflix offensichtlich nur ums Geschäft. Was die Motive der Produzentin und Moderatorin Jada Pinkett Smith sind, kann ich nur vermuten.

Was mir leider entgangen war: Die erste Staffel ging tatsächlich um Königin #Njinga.

I skip most #biopics and #bioseries after a former neighbor's experience with his father's biopic (#TheButler is nearly all fictional).

I'm also avoiding most #royalty content, real and fictional, because that entire concept needs to be eradicated.

However, I finally decided to watch the #Netflix series, #AfricanQueens: #Njinga, and #AdesuwaOni is great in episode 1.

Interesting story; I wonder how much "artistic license" this team's taken with the known facts.

Bringing an early-modern African queen into the limelight

Yale art historian Cécile Fromont was an on-screen scholar, offering key insights, in “African Queens: Njinga,” Netflix’s docudrama about a 17th-century ruler.

https://news.yale.edu/2023/03/06/bringing-early-modern-african-queen-limelight

#yale #arthistory #QueenNjinga #netflix #Njinga