From Zanzibar to the Shrine of the Black Madonna

Part 7 of 13 in our journey from Timbuktu to Kalamazoo
(Connecting Landmarks in Michigan and African History)

The diverse colors of Africa

As an African-American I've always want to travel to Africa; to somehow re-trace the steps of my ancestors. I've even had the strange experience of being mistaken for a Somalian (until I opened my mouth). As a child, while classmates could call themselves Irish, or German, my roots were tied to an entire continent. But as I grow older, I realize that the countries that make up Africa are as different as the color blue is from red. By calling oneself Black, you are essentially calling yourself a composite of all colors as a place holder for not knowing your actual African lineage.

African-Americans are different than any other immigrant population that arrived in the US: we are a people who were forced to come to America. For African-Americans, assimilation means forgiving a country's past mistreatment and believing in its potential to change. It takes the leap of faith that the principles that this country was founded upon can transcend the problems we face today. That these principles are tools for change and that using them will make things better. And it's this faith that gives the choice to assimilate or separate its religious connotations.

Shrine of the Black Madonna

Shrine of the Black Madonna

This debate erupted for Detroit in 1967. On Easter of that year, Rev. Albert Cleage unveiled an 18 foot painting of the Black Madonna and renamed his Central Congregational Church the Shrine of the Black Madonna. His actions launched the Black Christian National Movement, which called for all Black churches to reinterpret Jesus' teachings to suit the social, economic, and political needs of black people. In his own words,

"I use the concept of a nation within a nation to describe the separation that's enforced on black people... The white man has done too good a job. I was separated from the day I was born... You can't ask me if I'm advocating a separation... I just inherited it." [1]

W.E.B. Dubois and the Niagara Movement

W.E.B. Dubois in 1904

Rev. Cleage's actions are part of a century old debate. The two arguments were eloquently argued by W.E.B. Dubois and Marcus Garvey. W.E.B. Dubois was a proponent of demanding equal rights for African-Americans. As a leader of the Niagara Movement, he believed in full civil rights and political representation. A prolific writer, a major theme of Dubois's literary work was the  double consciousness that African-Americans were faced with. In Dubois's words,

"A world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world. It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his two-ness,--an American, a Negro; two warring souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder." [2]

Marcus Garvey and the Back-to-Africa Movement

Marcus Garvey in 1924

Marcus Garvey founded The Black Star Line. His organization arranged for the migration of Africa-Americans back to Africa. As part of the Back-to-Africa Movement, it promoted the return of "the African Diaspora to their ancestral lands."

Many whites tried to help African-Americans with the dilemma, helping to fund and recruit the repatriation of Blacks to Africa. The American Colonization Society was founded by white supporters of gradual emancipation and actively worked to re-settle free African-Americans in Africa. Detroit's Reverend William C. Monroe of Second Baptist Church (Detroit's first African-American church) immigrated to Liberia, along with other members of the Society. African-Americans would also migrate to Ghana, Ethiopia, and Sierra Leone.

Detroit politics have always been infused with the question of assimilation or separation. Today's City which is 82.2% Black and its neighboring City of Dearborn which is 89.1% white is still dealing with the legacy of the line politicians drew at the City's Eight Mile border.
 
In Detroit, as in America, the question has always been: Are we African or are we American?

Zanzibar

As polarizing as this issue is among Americans, it seems odd that if we travel a few thousand miles, to a small island that exported many blacks to the US and Middle East as slaves, we will find a people struggling with the same question, but through a different lens. For the people of Zanzibar, the question is: Are we African or Arab?

Figure within Zanzibar
Slave Monument

For over 2,000 years, east coast Africa traded with the Indians, Chinese and Europeans. But with the arrival of the Portuguese, the slave trade began to dominate its economy. The height of east coast slave trade was reached during a period from 1770-1870. Zanzibar became its center sending half its victims to Arabia and Egypt and half to the Portuguese (and eventually the New World). Under the rule of the Sultan of Oman, the number of slaves passing through Zanzibar each year has been estimated at 15,000, though some estimate as high as 45,000. [3]  In the 1870s, up to 2/3rds of the Zanzibari population were slaves.[4]  The British would finally end slave trade on the island in 1873.



Zanzibar Slave Monument

This created a dilemma. As explained by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., during slave times, it was a mark of status to call oneself Arab. To be Swahili (or African), was to be culturally inferior or descendants of slaves. But when the slave trade ended, it became a liability to be Arab, since they were the harsh perpetrators of the slave industry. Therefore, despite the reality that the vast majority of people can trace their descendants to the African mainland, they created a more specific Arab identity. They traced their lineage to Persia calling themselves Shirazi (from the Shiraz in modern Iran). Thus they created a way to avoid the stigma of being African and being associated with the evils of the Arab slave traders.

Stone Town


Stone Town

But despite this racial hierarchy, the entire island is filled with examples of Arab, Indian, European and African assimilation. The small island sits on a boundary and like the point where salt water meets fresh water, something fresh and new was created. Below are Zanzibar's keys influences:

Zenj Bar (Black Empire)

Zanzibar's Kizimkazi Mosque

During the 8^th-10^th centuries a group of coastal cities made up the Zenj Bar. Under the influence of peoples on mainland Africa, ruins of some of these cities have been unearthed (but left mostly unstudied). Our next chapter will talk more about these cities and their contact with Chinese, Indians, Arabs and Romans. At Kizimkazi, one can find a 12^th century mosque still in use, the oldest evidence of an Islamic presence in east Africa.

Palace of the Sultan Barghash
(House of Wonder)

Omani Arabs
Stone construction was introduced to Zanzibar by the Omani. The name "Stone Town" comes from the use of coral stone as the main construction material and gives the town its unique warm reddish color. The oldest building, the Old Fort (Ngome Kongwe,) was built by the Omani Sultan in the 17^th century. The Omani would build the City's oldest mosque with its distinctive conical minaret (Malindi Minaret Mosque) in 1831. And in 1896, the Palace of Sultan Barghash (the House of Wonder) was built.
 

Indian style carved door

India
The Indians introduced two key architectural features to Zanzibar. First, as Indian merchants began to buy Omani homes, they added wide verandas protected by carved wooden balustrades. Secondly, they introduced the tradition of carving elaborate entry doors. The doors come in two styles: Indian style with rounded tops (and lotus flowers) and Omani style which are rectangular (with Islamic content).

Anglican Cathedral
 of Christ Church

Britain
At the end of the 19^th century, the British arrived. They purposefully built on the site of the biggest slave market in Zanzibar the Gothic Anglican cathedral of Christ Church. Then in 1893, construction of the Romanesque styled Catholic Cathedral of St. Joseph was begun.

Conclusions
The demons of slavery continue to haunt two countries. In both, the descendants of slaves struggle with their identity. Both African-Americans and Zanzibari struggle with regenerating the history of their African heritage.

The Swahili Style

For me, the beauty of Swahili lies in the wonderful assimilation of all its influences. I love the fact that for Americans Swahili is the most recognized African language. It's the language used to celebrate the African-American holiday of Kwanzaa. It's the language my daughter's name is derived from. And though Swahili was spoken by very few of the slaves brought to American, it's the perfect language to represent the joining of African and American traditions. And it gives me hope that the demons of slavery will someday be overcome in both America and Zanzibar by the beauty of Swahili culture.

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[3] Gates, Jr., Louis, Wonders of the African World, pg. 182.
[4] Ibid, pg 187.