Tag: <span>African history</span>

“Hotel Rwanda” is a 2004 film about a Hutu hotel manager who wheels and deals to hide 1000 Tutsi at a luxury hotel in the midst of the 1994 Rwandan conflict. Being the manager of the luxurious Hôtel des Mille Collines (Co-lean) in Kigali, Rwanda afforded Paul Rusesabagina and his wife and children a comfortable life. His position and the ability to access various luxuries and resources helped create connections with various local and international big-shots. Those connections combined with Paul’s hustle and quick thinking would prove vitally important after the Hutu military began a genocidal attack on the Tutsi ethnic group.

Movie Reviews

“Dancing in the Glory of Monsters” by Jason Stearns attempts to explain the causes of the Congo Wars and the events that unfolded once the fighting began. Unlike in other wars, there is no single individual or group to fully blame for the conflict because there were so many different parties involved from within the country and surrounding nations. The conflict received relatively little coverage in other parts of the world due in part to its complexity. The media likes simple stories with obvious headlines and this conflict provided everything but that.

Book Reviews

“Africa’s Great Civilizations” is a 2017 PBS miniseries hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr. which charts the rise and fall of various African empires. The six episodes span the dawn of mankind through the early 20th century. It provides an overview of how culture, trade, war, and the battle for resources affected the development of individual African societies, the continent, and the world.

Movie Reviews

If you’re interested in learning about the computer scientist who developed the network and theory that set a record for calculations per second and contributed to the creation of the internet, then my Philip Emeagwali Black History Facts profile is for you.

Black History Profile

“King Leopold’s Ghost” by Adam Hochschild is the story of how King Leopold II of Belgium used violence and coercion to gain control of the Congo. In this review, I discuss how on a larger scale the book also provides a perspective on how various European powers carved up Africa for their own gain.

Book Reviews