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Katherine Johnson’s mathematical calculations helped guide some of America’s most important early space missions while she confronted the racial and gender barriers faced by Black women in twentieth-century America.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
| Battle of Kirina | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Sosso | Mandinka | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Sumanguru Kanté | Sundiata Keita | ||||||||
The Battle of Kirina, also known as the Battle of Krina or siege of Karina (c. 1235), was a confrontation between Sosso king Sumanguru Kanté and Mandinka prince Sundiata Keita. Sundiata Keita's forces roundly defeated those of Sumanguru Kanté, guaranteeing the pre-eminence of Keita's new Mali Empire over West Africa.[1]
By the late twelfth century, the formerly dominant Ghana Empire had collapsed, following internal strife and political intervention of the Almoravids in the eleventh century. A number of smaller neighboring states rushed to fill the power void, including the Sosso people of the Kaniaga kingdom, and the Mandinka people of the Upper Niger. Under the leadership of Soumaro Kanté, the Sosso seized Koumbi Saleh, former capital of the Ghana Empire, and expanded outward, conquering the Mandinka among others.
The exiled Mandinka prince Sundiata Keita organized a coalition of smaller kingdoms to oppose the growing power of the Sosso. The opposing armies met in the Koulikoro Region of what is now Mali in about 1235. Sundiata Keita's forces were victorious, and marched on to raze Sosso. The date is often cited as the beginning of the Mali Empire, which would control most of West Africa for the next two centuries.
The story of the battle is retold in the Epic of Sundiata, widely considered Mali's national epic. In it, Sumanguru Kanté is an evil sorcerer-king who oppresses the Mandinka people; however, when Sundiata discovers that his sacred animal is the rooster, he is able to wound Sumanguru Kanté with an arrow tipped by a cock's spur. The Sosso king then flees the field, disappearing into the Koulikoro mountains. A version of this story was recounted by Maximilien Quenum in his Légendes africaines.[2]
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The Battle of Kirina, also known as the Battle of Krina or siege of Karina (c. 1235), was a confrontation between Sosso king Sumanguru Kanté and Mandinka prince Sundiata Keita. Sundiata Keita's forces roundly defeated those of Sumanguru Kanté, guaranteeing the pre-eminence of Keita's new Mali Empire over West Africa.
The Twelve Doors of Mali were the possessions of the Mansa (emperor) of the medieval Mali Empire which was established in c. 1235 following The Battle of Kirina. These lands were either allied to or conquered by Sundiata Keita (the first Emperor of Imperial Mali) on his campaign to free the Mandinka heartland from the Sosso kingdom of Kaniaga.
Soumaoro Kanté (also known as Sumaworo Kanté or Sumanguru Kanté) was a 13th-century king of the Sosso people. Seizing Koumbi Saleh, the capital of the recently defunct Ghana Empire, Soumaoro Kanté proceeded to conquer several neighboring states, including the Mandinka people in what is now Mali. However, the Mandinka prince Sundiata Keita built a coalition of smaller kingdoms to oppose him at the Battle of Kirina (c. 1235.), defeating the Sosso and leaving Sundiata's new Mali Empire dominant in the region. Whether or not any of the deeds attributed to him actually happened as such, or even whether Kante existed at all, is debated by historians. Traditional oral histories provide a wide variety of information, some of which is contradictory and much that is obviously mythical.
Kangaba is a town, commune, and seat of the Kangaba Cercle in the Koulikoro Region of south-western Mali. Kangaba is believed to have been founded in 1050 by Mandinka tribesmen and was a vassal state of the Ghana Empire. Once known as Kaba, the area was a core province of the Mali Empire. After winning the Battle of Kirina in 1235, Sundiata Keita proclaimed the Manden Charter, also known as the Kouroukan Fouga after the field near Kangaba where it was created, perhaps the oldest constitution in the world. Ceremonies are still held in the town to honor the ancient traditions and promote a message of peace and fraternity. The Kamablon is a sacred circular mudbrick building with a conical roof in the bara, or large public square, at the center of town, built in 1653. The oldest of its kind in the Manden cultural zone, its septennial re-roofing ceremony brings together the traditional castes, founding dynasties of the Mali Empire, and griots who recite the oral history and tradition of the region. This ceremony was listed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009. The relationship between Kangaba and the Keita clan is disputed. Some sources claim that the town was the boyhood home of Sundiata Keita and the first capital of the Mali Empire. The Keitas likely, however, only established a base there after the decline of the larger empire, and it thus became associated in popular imagination with the original legend.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Shirley Chisholm, elected in 1968.
